Personal Summary

I am an applied quantitative ecologist and conservation community builder. I am currently working on a PhD in Fish and Wildlife Biology at the University of Montana, in Missoula, MT. My PhD research uses the northern distribution of pronghorn as a model system to tackle two major problems: (1) understanding how climate, landscape and human factors influence wildlife populations; and (2) understanding how diverse stakeholder collaborations can help sustain wildlife communities in the American West. In most of my work, I partner closely with state wildlife managers to build and apply analytical tools that (1) measure spatial abundance variability, (2) identify changes in survival across demographics, and (3) help understand the individual and population-level fitness consequences to different movement behaviors and space-use. All in all, I want to truly learn how different variables influence wildlife population trends across time and connect this knowledge to the needs of practitioners making on the ground conservation decisions. Looking forward, I am really interested in better understanding the interconnectedness of biological and socioeconomic processes to bring people together and positively impact on-the-ground wildlife and wildland conservation.

Education

M.S. in Wildlife Biology, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana December 2019
Thesis Title: Methods for estimating mountain goat occupancy and abundance

B.S. in Environmental Science, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon June 2012
Concentration: Conservation Biology; Minors: Spanish & Anthropology

Research Interests

Quantitative Ecology
Applied Conservation Biology
Understanding and improving tools for building and maintaining relationships between research institutions and conservation managers
Field Research (my true roots)

Projects

Check on my talk to University of Saskatchewan's Wildlife Ecology Graduate Seminar on how my research partners and I are working to address animal movement in abundance estimation: WildEcol Webinar Series: Pronghorn and Mountain Goat Population Monitoring - YouTube

Here is a cute video on work I did with Idaho Department of Fish and Game to collect data for estimating mountain goat population sizes: https://www.facebook.com/ScienceTrek/videos/science-trek-mountain-goats-how-to-count-mountain-goats/746643129132511/

Finally, when in grizzly country, make sure to carry bear spray (courtesy of the National Parks Service): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGtrhatX8LA

Selected Publications

McDevitt, M. C. (2022). Measuring abundance: methods for the estimation of population size and species richness. Graham, J. G. Upton. 2020. Pelagic Publishing, Exeter, United Kingdom. 226 pp. $45.00 paperback. ISBN 978-1-78427-231-9. Journal of Wildlife Management. http://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22337

Specht, H., J. D. Golding, E. M. Pero, M. Crane, J. G. Karlen, C. Hansen, M. C. McDevitt, W. Ortiz Calo, J.J. Millspaugh (2022). A framework for evaluating the implications of technical assumptions in conservation practice. Conservation Science and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12758

McDevitt, M. C., E. F. Cassirer, S. B. Roberts, P. M. Lukacs (2021). A novel sampling approach to estimating abundance of low-density and observable species. Ecosphere. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3815