Kirstin Fagan, Ph.D., Wildlife Ecology

Advisor: Erin Simons-Legaard – School of Forest Resources
Start Date: Spring 2018
M.S. 2017, Wildlife Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
B.S. 2013, Wildlife Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
kirstin.fagan@maine.edu

Brief Biography:  I grew up in the Northeast, where my love of nature started young.  During my MS, I studied ecology and human dimensions of building-roosting bats in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. When I’m not working, I’m usually indulging my ridiculous hobbies, like mixed martial arts, watching 80s anime, and medieval reenactment

Current Research: I am particularly interested in species vulnerable to human-wildlife conflict and how such species use a human-dominated environment, both temporally and spatially. My present research focuses on the effects of commercial forest management on landscape-scale habitat use by American marten in north-central Maine. The goal of the project is to build on research from the 80s and 90s to evaluate how the landscape changes related to the passage of the Maine Forest Practices Act may have altered habitat quality for marten populations. We intend to inform future management practices through an enhanced understanding of the resiliency of martens to habitat change.