Team members
Justine Becker, PI
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Justine is a behavioral ecologist broadly interested in understanding the ecological causes of individual differences in behavior and the consequences of this variation for wildlife conservation and management, as well as population- and community-level interactions. She is particularly fascinated by animal movement decisions and most of her work explores why, when, and where animals decide to move, and how these individual decisions scale up to impact animal spatial distributions and ecosystem processes. Justine moved to the US from New Zealand in 2015. Her first experiences in nature and subsequent ecological education were rooted in the unique, threatened ecosystems of Aotearoa. This background instilled me with enthusiasm for and dedication to understanding and protecting Earth’s wild landscapes and wildlife through a combination of scientific knowledge and creative ingenuity. Outside of work, Justine enjoys exploring the beautiful landscapes around Bozeman, either in pursuit of prime upland or waterfowl hunting opportunities in the fall with her bird dogs, Belle and Dusky, or learning how to cross-country ski later in winter.
Our team is growing as we establish our lab at Montana State University – join us!
Anna Kusler, PhD student
Anna is analyzing long-term data from intensive monitoring of individually-known cheetahs in the greater Kafue ecosystem of central Zambia to provide the first description of their density, demography, population dynamics, space use, and movement. This data may be coupled with data from cheetahs in Zambia's Greater Liuwa ecosystem—the only other ecosystem within Zambia supporting a breeding population—to examine the threats and factors that impact cheetah distribution, movement, and connectivity across the country. Anna is co-advised by Dr. Scott Creel, and her dissertation is a collaboration between the Zambian Carnivore Programme (ZCP), Montana State University, the Zambia Dept of National Parks and Wildlife, Panthera, and the Rangewide Conservation Program for Cheetah. Before starting her dissertation, Anna served as a senior ecologist and the site manager for ZCP's Greater Kafue Project. Before her time with ZCP, Anna received her M.S. studying mountain lion ecology and conservation in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with the Panthera Puma Program. Anna received her B.S. from Cornell University, and outside of academic life is a passionate mountaineer, an avid swing-dancer, and really likes garlic bread.
Itai Namir, PhD student
Itai is studying the impacts of plague mitigation on the movement, behavior, physiology, and habitat of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) in northeast Montana. Itai is also co-advised by Dr. Scott Creel and Dr. Hila Shamon. Her dissertation is a collaboration between Montana State University, Smithsonian Institution, Fort Belknap Reservation, American Prairie, Bureau of Land Management, and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Itai received her M.Sc. in Ecology and Environmental Quality from Tel Aviv University, studying the effect of settlement proximity on temporal activity patterns of medium-large size mammals in Israel, and received a B.Sc., in Biology and Environment from Haifa University. Itai enjoys hiking and just being outside, is hoping to make a change in the conservation world, gets excited every time she sees wildlife, and chocolate makes her happy.
