Laura Prugh

Postdoctoral Researcher

prugh@berkeley.edu
Phone/Fax: 510-643-3918
Mailing address: 137 Mulford Hall #3114 University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3114

PhD Wildlife Ecology University of British Columbia, 2004
B.A. Biology Earlham College, 1996

Research Interests

Food web interactions and multi-species conservation

My primary research interest is the role of food web interactions in multi-species conservation. Increasingly, we are facing conservation dilemmas in which endangered species eat each other or compete for resources; thus, actions which help one sensitive species could inadvertently harm another. I am starting a large-scale experiment to address this issue in the Carrizo National Monument, a hotspot of endangerment in California with imperiled species at every trophic level. We are examining the impact of a federally endangered keystone species, the giant kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ingens), on other species in the community, using replicated exclosures.

Details of the project and results from the first year can be found here: Carrizo preliminary report

Curriculum Vitae

Publications

Prugh, L.R., S.M. Arthur, C.E. Ritland. In press. Use of fecal genotyping to determine individual diet. Wildlife Biology.

Mooers, A. O., L. R. Prugh, M. Festa-Bianchet, and J. A. Hutchings. 2007. Biases in legal listing under Canadian endangered species legislation. Conservation Biology 21:572-575.

Prugh, L.R., C.E. Ritland, S.M. Arthur, C.J. Krebs. 2005. Monitoring coyote population dynamics by genotyping feces. Molecular Ecology 14: 1585-1596.pdf

Prugh, L.R. 2005. Coyote prey selection and community stability during a decline in food supply. Oikos 110: 253-264.

Prugh, L.R. and C.E. Ritland. 2005. Molecular testing of observer identification of carnivore feces in the field. Wildlife Society Bulletin 33: 189-194.pdf

Prugh, L.R. and C.J. Krebs. 2004. Snowshoe hare pellet decay rates and aging in different habitats. Wildlife Society Bulletin 32: 386-393.

Reich, P.B., C. Uhl, M.B. Walters, L. Prugh, D.S. Ellsworth. 2004. Leaf demography and phenology in Amazonian rain forest: a census of 40,000 leaves of 23 tree species. Ecological Monographs 74: 3-23.pdf