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Christine A. Ribic
Title
Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology
Unit Leader, USGS BRD
Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit
Contact
Information
204 Russell Labs
1630 Linden Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1598
(608) 263-6556
caribic@wisc.edu
Background
Ph.D
1984 University of Minnesota/Ecology Dissertation: Growth of
a northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) colony.
M.S.
1983 University of Minnesota/Statistics (paper: Spatial Statistics
in Ecology)
M.S.
1980 University of Minnesota/Ecology Thesis: Autumn movements
and activity patterns of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) in California.
B.S.
1976 Colorado State University/Wildlife Biology/with
high distinction
Responsibility
As Unit Leader, I am responsible for working with the state, University,
and federal government in developing research programs in the general area
of wildlife ecology. As part of my responsibilities, I train graduate
students and teach elective graduate level courses on a wide variety of
topics (e.g., metapopulations, wildlife and agroecosystems, null models
in community ecology).
Previous
Employment
Research
Ecologist, U.S. EPA Environmental Research Laboratory, Corvallis, OR
(Oct. 1990-August 1994)
Research
Assistant Professor, Center for Quantitative Science in Forestry, Fisheries
and Wildlife, School of Fisheries, University of Washington, Seattle,
WA (April 1985-September 1990)
Professional
Affiliations
Ecological
Society of America, U.S. Chapter International Association of Landscape
Ecology, The Wildlife Society, The Biometric Society, American Statistical
Association, Phi Kappa Phi Current
Research
| Christine Ribic's current research program is focused upon
investigating the importance of the surrounding landscape to the
patterns seen in the system of interest, whether the surrounding
landscape be adjacent land-use practices surrounding a grazing system in
Wisconsin or whether the surrounding landscape is scale-related as in
the importance of physical features such as current systems on the
distribution of seabirds in the ocean. |
Wildlife and Agroecosystems
The impact of agriculture on natural resources in the Midwest has been
noted for some time but the implications of such for the restoration of
systems or the mitigation of impacts has largely been neglected from an
ecological viewpoint. The importance of the surrounding landscape to the
patterns of biodiversity and the possible mitigation of agricultural
impacts has started to be an important area of study. I have developed a
research program concerning the effect of alternative grazing practices
on wildlife in Wisconsin. Continuing with my focus on scale and
the importance of surrounding land-use, I am investigating the impacts
of changing grazing practices on terrestrial vertebrates at different
scales. I am interested not only in the localized or farm-level
impact but the impacts to the biota at a larger scale, such as the
watershed. The goal of my current and future research program is
to understand the implication of mitigation practices for terrestrial
species of concern at different landscape scales. |
Seabird Ecology
The study of seabirds outside of the breeding season has largely been
neglected because of the difficulty of doing at-sea work in contrast to
the relative ease of studying the large concentrations of seabirds at
colonies during the breeding season. However, seabirds spend 2/3
of their yearly life-cycle at sea and, before breeding, can be entirely
pelagic for 2-5 years. Thus, the information collected at breeding
colonies cannot give a complete picture of the role of seabirds in the
marine ecosystem. I am investigating the importance of
productivity and hydrographic features to the seabird community in
Antarctica during the winter. Evidence is starting to accumulate
on the influence of winter sea ice on Adelie Penguin populations
dynamics. However, little is known about the winter ecology of
these birds. This work also has implications for the effects of
global climate change on the Antarctica seabird communities. |
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