• UC Davis 1996 International Medicine / Wildlife Health DVM 1996
• UC Berkeley 1993 Disease Ecology / Parasitology PhD 1993
• CU Boulder 1986 Population Ecology / Biology MA 1986
• UC Davis 1983 Zoology BS 1983

• WLDF 210 - Introduction to Wildlife Conservation & Administration
• WLDF 244 - Wildlife Policy & Animal Welfare
• WLDF 302 - Environmental Ethics
• WLDF 421 - Wildlife Management (Upland Game)
• WLDF 426 - Field Trip
• WLDF 450 Principles of Wildlife Diseases
• WLDF 480 - Selected Topics in Wildlife Management
• WLDF 485 - Senior Seminar in Wildlife Management
• WLDF 495 Senior Project
• WLDF 550L Advanced Topics in Wildlife Diseases Lab

I am generally interested in wildlife disease ecology and maintenance ecology of zoonotic pathogens. Current projects involve studies of the prevalence and distribution of pathogens associated with mid-size carnivores, patterns of abundance and distribution of ticks and other ectoparasites from mid-size carnivores, prevalence and distribution of different strains of the agent that causes Lyme disease, distribution of the agent that causes salmon poisoning disease in fish collected Lassen National Forest. I have conducted most of my recent field studies in the areas surrounding Hoopa, north-coastal areas of Humboldt County, and Lassen National Forest. I remain active in research, in part, to help tribal, state and federal agencies with problems related to disease ecology and wildlife management and to train students interested in wildlife disease ecology.

Prospective Graduate Students

Prospective students should have a deep desire to study the ecology of wildlife diseases. I often receive inquiries from students asking whether I’ll be considering new students for admission during the upcoming year. For the most part, that answer will be “yes.” Prior to contacting me, please review my web site and read several of my more recent publications. You should carefully consider how your own interests in wildlife ecology might parallel my interests. I plan to focus my upcoming research on the ecology of vector-borne diseases and the ecology of pathogen maintenance in carnivore communities. However, I will also consider other topics related to wildlife disease ecology.

When you contact me, please send a resume and a sample of your writing. I tend to make decisions about graduate applicants based on prior field (or other research) experience, a demonstrated passion for wildlife diseases, recommendations from other scientists who know you well or have worked directly with you, and our communications prior to my seeing the application. Of course, your GRE scores and GPA will also be carefully evaluated and higher scores are obviously more competitive. Applicants should carefully consider their own commitment to graduate school and graduate research. Graduate school is not a cake walk, and I will only consider applicants who can demonstrate enthusiasm and passion for wildlife diseases -- and who plan to work once accepted. I work closely with each of my students through all phases of their training (including proposal development, grant writing, sample collection, analysis of data, and thesis review), and I prefer to work with students who are highly motivated and enthusiastic about their work. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with questions about my program, projects, or your potential involvement.

• PhD, Zoology, University of Wales, Cardiff, UK, 1987
• Cert. Ed. (Certificate in Education), Hiram College, Ohio, 1982
• BA, Biology/Zoology, Hiram College, Ohio, 1982

• WLDF 210 - Intro to Wildlife Conservation & Administration
• WLDF 309 - Case Studies in Environmental Ethics
• WLDF 311 - Wildlife Techniques
• WLDF 420 - Wildlife Ecology & Management (Waterfowl)
• WLDF 475 - Wildlife Ethology
• WLDF 490/495 - Field Problems (Senior Thesis) & Honors Thesis
• WLDF 580 - Behavioral Ecology

Honors

• Humboldt Medal: Scholar of the Year 2014
• Who’s Who in Science & Engineering 2011
• FCAS - Fellow, California Academy of Sciences 2009
• Full Professorship, Humboldt State University 2003
• DSc - Doctorate of Science, University of Wales, Cardiff 2001
• Outstanding Contribution to Humanity Award: Hiram College 1995

Looking for an Honors Thesis or Masters research question?

An Honors thesis or MS thesis focuses on a research question. I coach students who want to pursue questions within the realm of the long-term studies outlined above. Get in touch if you're interested; tell me what you'd like to study and why in the form of a 1-2 page pre-proposal outlining a research question (including problem/phenomenon, hypotheses, methods). Include your resume/Curriculum Vitae and be sure to mention funding sources if you have them. MS applicants will eventually send a formal application to CNRS Graduate Studies if encouraged to do so.
 

Honors Thesis and MS candidates in the ‘Black Lab’ ask questions from an evolutionary perspective contributing to journals like Animal Behaviour, Behavioral Ecology, Ethology, Journal of Wildlife Management, Northwestern Naturalist, and Wildfowl. See below for a complete list of current and previous student projects and publications. 

• PhD in Animal Behavior, University of California, Davis. 2008
• BS in Biology, Purdue University. 2002

• WLDF 460 - Conservation Biology
• WLDF 464 - Urban Wildlife Ecology
• WLDF 485 - Senior Seminar in Wildlife Management
• WLDF 482 - Wildlife Conclave
• WLDF 300 - Wildlife Ecology and Management
• WLDF 311 - Wildlife Techniques and Scientific Methods
• WLDF 475 - Wildlife Ethology
• WLDF 495 - Senior Project
• WLDF 585 - Graduate Seminar

I am interested interspecific interactions and how they affect species survival, behavior and the conservation of biodiversity. My work uses field, experimental and comparative approaches and lies at the interface of conservation, animal behavior, ecology, and evolution. My current research projects fall into several broad categories which are briefly outlined below.

Integrating Conservation Biology and Animal Behavior

Understanding how best to manage and conserve species naturally involves understanding their behavior. We can also use animal behavior to develop solutions to conservation issues.

For example, with undergraduate students, I am developing and testing the effectiveness of strategies to monitor squirrel species using behavioral methods (e.g., acoustic playbacks).

I am also working with my graduate students to integrate an understanding of common raven behavior into management of the threatened western snowy plover.

Urban Ecology

I am addressing how urbanization influences species diversity (in particular birds) in urban areas. I am interested in examining how and why certain species persist in urban areas while others do not.

Large-scale Biodiversity Monitoring

In collaboration with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, my graduate students and I assessed the influences of human disturbance, drought and species co-occurrences across two ecoregions in California: the Central Valley and Mojave Desert. This project utilized remote monitoring of vertebrates (e.g., camera traps and acoustic recorders) across approximately 600 sites.

Non-Invasive Survey Techniques for Small Mammals

My graduate students and I are working to develop survey techniques for small mammals (squirrels, mice, rats, voles and shrews) using camera traps and acoustic recorders.

Human Dimensions of Conservation

An understanding of the most influential species in urban ecosystems and their effects on other ecosystems is a must for conservation. My research uses human survey techniques to understand how human interact with wildlife and how their actions can impact biodiversity in urban areas and beyond.

Previous Research                                                                                                                                

My past research examined how interspecific flocking affects communication behavior in songbirds (Clucas et al. 2004), how predator-prey interactions can lead to the evolution of unique antipredator behavior in ground squirrels (Clucas et al. 2008a,b and Clucas et al. 2010) and how interactions between humans and birds in urban areas can influence both human and bird behavior (Clucas and Marzluff 2011, Clucas et al. 2011, Clucas and Marzluff 2012, Clucas et al. 2013), the economic valuation or urban birds (Clucas et al. 2015) and how urbanization influences biodiversity (Clucas and Marzluff 2015, Marzluff et al. 2016).

My dissertation work at the University of California, Davis focused on the evolution of predator-prey interactions between rattlesnakes and ground squirrels species. I investigated a unique behavior in ground squirrels - predator scent application - experimentally testing its function in the field and lab and tracing its evolutionary history with phylogenetic comparative methods and the fossil record.

I discovered that snake scent application in ground squirrels reduces rattlesnake foraging behavior and that this unique antipredator behavior likely evolved at least 30 million years ago in the common ancestor of ground squirrels and chipmunks. I also found that squirrel species that historically and currently co-occur with rattlesnakes exhibit snake scent application, but that the behavior has been lost in species that currently do not co-occur with rattlesnakes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/science/05obsqui.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/squirrel-masks-scent-with-rattlesnake-skin/13399/

For my postdoctoral research at the University of Washington and Humboldt Universität, I led an international comparative study investigating human-avian interactions in Berlin, Germany and Seattle, Washington. I found that variation in actions and attitudes of humans towards birds influenced avian diversity, abundance and behavior in these urban areas. My results and studies in other urban areas suggest birds and humans have a reciprocal relationship in urban areas: humans can create bird habitat and feeding opportunities and in turn, birds can provide a window into nature, which can improve human well-being. A full understanding combining biological and socio-economic components of these reciprocal relationships will increase our ability to conserve and restore urban ecosystems that benefit both humans and birds. Furthermore, the importance of understanding urban ecosystem processes will only increase as urban areas expand worldwide.

During my postdoc in Seattle, I also worked with undergraduate students on a project investigating whether American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) responded to different human facial features in urban areas (Clucas et al. 2013). We compared flight initiation distances and urgency of escape behavior to human approaches varying in eye contact and facial expression. We examined if crows distinguish between an approaching human that is directly gazing at them versus a human approaching them with an averted gaze and if crows differentiate a smiling versus scowling human approaching them. We found that crows fled sooner and more urgently when humans were directly gazing at them, however, they did not react differently to varying human facial expressions. Crows likely perceive a human directly gazing at them as a reliable threatening visual cue while they either do not perceive differences in facial expression or do not use them as a reliable cue of threat. These results possibly represent an adaptation to living in human-dominated, urban areas. This work also suggests that disturbance of birds during sensitive periods (nesting) could perhaps be lessened by humans avoiding direct eye contact with certain susceptible species.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=crows-show-off-social-skills

Prospective Graduate Students

If you are interested in joining my lab, please send me an email with the subject line “Prospective Graduate Student” and in the email describe your research interests and why you want to pursue a master’s degree in Wildlife Biology (also attach your CV and unofficial transcripts).