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Julia Monk
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Contact |
EducationB.A., 2013, Columbia University, Environmental Biology
Curriculum VitaeResearch
Broadly speaking, I am interested in trophic interactions and how predator-prey relationships influence community structure and ecosystem function. I am also interested in teasing out issues of scale in wildlife research, specifically how small-scale trophic relationships can be understood in the larger context of species distribution and conservation. Understanding how predator-prey-habitat interactions at local levels relate to ecosystem- and distribution-wide patterns particularly interests me in the context of wide-ranging species such as mammalian predators, whose large individual home ranges in addition to overall species ranges encompass a diversity of communities and landscapes. In my research, I hope to study the role that puma predation on vicuñas plays in the mediation of carbon cycling in northern Argentina.
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Phone: (315) 256-2640
Fax: (203) 432-3929 Email: julia.monk [at] yale.edu Office: Greeley Laboratory, Rm 119 Mailing Address: Yale University School of Forestry & Enviro Studies 370 Prospect Street New Haven, CT 06511 USA 
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Previous Research
Virginia Tech Shorebird Program - From 2014-2016, I worked on the Virginia Tech Shorebird Program's Fire Island project, studying the effects of Hurricane Sandy and subsequent beach stabilization projects on piping plover demography and habitat use. I was particularly involved in researching habitat use and community structure of migratory shorebirds, as well as the effects of human activity on piping plover chick survival.
The Nature Conservancy/Columbia University - From 2010-2013, I worked as a biological assistant for The Nature Conservancy in the Centennial Valley in southwest Montana. I returned to the Centennial Valley to conduct my senior thesis research on the effects of fire on greater sage-grouse brood-rearing habitat and food resources. I found that in the presence of three-tip sagebrush (Artemisia tripartita), which re-sprouts after burning, small fires do not reduce sage-grouse occupancy and may have increase invertebrate prey availability. University of Montana/SUNY Stony Brook - From 2006-2008, I worked as a research assistant for Dr. Charles Janson's brown capuchin monkey behavioral study. We implemented banana feeding platform experiments to understand foraging decision-making in capuchin monkey groups. We also deployed predator model and audio recording experiments to understand methods of capuchin monkey predator detection. PublicationsMonk, J.D., A. DeRose-Wilson, J.D. Fraser, D.H. Catlin and S.M. Karpanty. 2016. Observations of Fish Consumption by Piping Plovers. Northeastern Naturalist 23: N22-N25.
DeRose Wilson, A., J.D. Fraser, D.H. Catlin, S.M. Karpanty and J.D. Monk. (In preparation). Piping plover chick survival reduced by human presence. 
​Juvenile brown capuchin monkey in Iguazu National Park, Argentina
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Banding and measuring a male piping plover
Newly hatched piping plover chicks
Study site in Centennial Valley, MT
​Vegetation sampling in a post-burn sagebrush landscape
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