UM Professor Earns New Funding to Continue World’s Longest-Running Elk Study
MISSOULA – University of Montana ungulate habitat ecology Associate Professor Mark Hebblewhite recently received a $435,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to continue a 15-year study of migratory elk in Alberta, Canada.Since 2001 Hebblewhite and co-principal investigator Evelyn Merrill of the University of Alberta have collared and tracked more than 500 elk in one of the longest-running field research projects on the species.
By monitoring this large herd over their lifespans – through reproduction, migration and survival – this long-term study provides clues on why elk migrate, how their migrations change, the role of predators like wolves and grizzly bears on elk populations, and the effects of fire, logging, climate change and management actions, such as hunting, on the herd.
Additionally, 10 graduate students have worked on the project and hundreds of undergraduate students from both UM and University of Alberta have learned about elk and ungulate migration through the study. One former graduate student, Scott Eggeman, now is employed with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area.