Mr. John Wilson is based at North Caroline State University. His research interests revolve around conservation planning in a non-static environment subjected to interacting threats. Much of his work is done in remote areas or at large scales, and is thus heavily dependent on satellite-based systems such as Argos, which offer unequaled opportunities to acquire continuous, unbiased, high resolution environmental data in a consistent and repeatable way.

 

Because he believes the best-informed decision-makers are those people who can draw from a broad knowledge base, he solves many of his research problems using an inter-disciplinary approach. Thus, while constantly updating his knowledge on natural history, he has gained research experience in habitat loss and restoration, macroecology, population ecology, landscape ecology, biogeography, invasion biology, and conservation genetics, covering forests, deserts, savannas, wetlands, grasslands, marine systems and the sub-Antarctic. John’s research has ranged across individual organisms, populations and communities of mammals, birds, invertebrates and plants at local and regional scales in southern, eastern and western Africa, North America and the southern oceans. His collaborations include universities, NGOs, private individuals, and governmental agencies. John extensively uses statistics and geospatial analysis in his research endeavors, and expands into genetics and physiology where needed.

 

Currently John’s main research activities form part of his PhD dissertation.  He conduct his thesis research in partnership with the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to implement recovery plans for the federally endangered St. Francis’s Satyr butterfly, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to design and implement a monitoring protocol for the federally endangered Miami Blue butterfly, and Global Vision International to investigate the effects of Afromontane forest loss. Lastly, a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship enable John to refine conservation priorities in the Guinean Forests of West Africa.