Matthew T. Farr

Postdoctoral Scholar
farrm@uw.edu
Quantitative Conservation Lab
School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
University of Washington

Research

I develop and apply quantitative methods for projects in ecology and conservation. I utilize hierarchical models to parse out the complexities of ecological systems into processes that can be described using multi-level statistical and mathematical models. I utilize the flexibility of a Bayesian statistical framework and rigorous computer programming to implement hierarchical models. The estimates from these models inform wildlife management, and the model development provides a quantitative framework for future ecological and conservation research.

Publications

Farr, M.T., Zylstra, E.R., Ries, L., and Zipkin, E.F. (2024) Overcoming data gaps using integrated models to estimate migratory species dynamics during cryptic periods of the annual cycle. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 15: 413-426.

Farr, M.T., O’Brien, T., Yackulic, C.B., and Zipkin, E.F. (2022) Quantifying the conservation status and abundance trends of wildlife communities with detection-nondetection data. Conservation Biology. 36:e13934.

Christensen, S.A., Farr, M.T., and Williams, D.M. (2021) Assessment and novel application of N-mixture models for aerial surveys of wildlife. Ecosphere. 12:e03725.

Farr, M.T., Green, D.S., Holekamp, K.E., and Zipkin, E.F. (2021) Integrating distance sampling and presence-only data to estimate species abundance. Ecology. 102:e03204.

Marshall, A.J., Farr, M.T., Beaudrot, L., Zipkin, E.F., Feilen, K.L., Bell, L.G., …, Wittmer, H.U. (2021) Biotic and abiotic drivers of dispersion dynamics in a large-bodied tropical vertebrate, the Western Bornean orangutan. Oecologia. 196:707-721.

Saunders, S.P., Piper, W. Farr, M.T., Bateman, B.L., Michel, N.L., Westerkam, H., and Wilsey, C.B. (2021) Interrelated impacts of climate and land-use change on an iconic waterbird. Journal of Animal Ecology. 90:1165-1176.

Zylstra, E.R., Reis, L., Neupane, N., Saunders, S., Remírez, M.I., Rendón-Salinas, E., …, Farr, M.T., and Zipkin, E.F. (2021) Changes in climate drive monarch butterfly dynamics. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 5:1444-1452.

Farr, M.T., Green, D.S., Holekamp, K.E., Roloff, G.J., and Zipkin, E.F. (2019) Multispecies hierarchical modeling reveals variable responses of African carnivores to management alternatives. Ecological Applications. 29:e01845.

Green, D.S.*, Farr, M.T.*, Holekamp, K.E., Strauss, E.D., and Zipkin, E.F. (2019) Can hyena behavior predict abundances of sympatric carnivores? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 347:20180052. *Authors contributed equally

Saunders, S.P., Farr, M.T., Wright, A.D., Bahlai, C.A., Ribeiro, J.W., Rossman, S., Sussman, A.L., Arnold, T.W., and Zipkin, E.F. (2019) Disentangling data discrepancies and deficiencies with integrated population models. Ecology. 100:e02714

Teaching

Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University
Graduate Teaching Assistant & Guest Lecturer – IBIO 831 Statistical Methods in Ecology and Evolution II, 2019 - 2020

Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University
Graduate Teaching Assistant – IBIO 365 Biology of Mammals Laboratory, 2017

Biological Science Program, Michigan State University
Graduate Teaching Assistant – BS 171 Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, 2016 - 2017

Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant – FNR 210 Natural Resource Information Management (ArcGIS), 2014

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