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William C. Wetzel PhD Candidate Population Biology Grad Group University of California, Davis wcwetzel {a} ucdavis dot edu Office: 2350 Storer Hall |
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Spatial ecology of an insect food web:
I am interested in how food web dynamics and animal movement may interact to produce spatial distributions of species abundances.
The distribution of a consumer species depends on the distribution of its resource, and consumers can influence the distribution of their resources.
I seek to understand how bottom-up (resource) and top-down (predation) forces shape the distribution of a food web that includes sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), a gall-making fly (Eutreta diana), and several species of ants and parasitoid wasps.
My field sites are in the eastern Sierra Nevada at the University of California's Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve.
My research combines field observation and experiments with mathematical models using statistical methods including maximum likelihood and hierarchical Bayes.
Press: "Lord of the Flies," The Sheet News, September 2, 2011.
Rangeland conservation:
For a second major project, I work with an interdisciplinary team of graduate students ( NSF IGERT) to predict how changing land tax policy will affect ranchers and rangeland conservation in California. The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (the Williamson Act) until recently provided counties with funds that allowed them to reduce property taxes for land owners who agreed to restrict their land to agricultural uses. The Governor cut nearly all funding to this program, thereby jeopardizing the future of millions of acres of California rangeland. Our group aims to estimate how important the Williamson Act is for the ranching industry and then predict what California would look like if the program were cancelled. For more information, see http://reach.ucdavis.edu/programs/williamsonact.html.
Press: "Loss of Williamson Act would threaten wildlife habitat," Western Farm Press, March 8, 2011. "Survey finds loss of Williamson Act would threaten wildlife habitat," The Davis Enterprise, March 21, 2011.
↑ An adult female Eutreta diana and the puparium from which she emerged
↑ An adult female Eutreta diana. Drawn by Devyn Orr.
↑ A Eutreta diana larve feeding inside its gall. Drawn by Devyn Orr.
↑ An ant attacking a Eutreta diana gall
↑ The pupa of a parasitic wasp next to the remains of its Eutreta diana meal
↑ Experiments restricting movement or haunted shrubs?
Affiliations:
Population Biology Graduate Group
National Science Foundation IGERT: Responding to Rapid Environmental Change
Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve, University of California Natural Reserve System
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