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Although born in London, England,
J.D. Willson grew up in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, spent summers on the Maine coast, and generally tried to catch any animal he could
lay his hands on. J.D. went on to attend Davidson
College, in North Carolina, where he received his B.S. in biology
in 2002. While at Davidson, J.D. worked with Dr.
Mike Dorcas, a herpetologist and former SREL post-doc, on a variety
of projects including long-term studies on the effects
of urbanization on box turtles, a study of small fossorial snakes
in the western Piedmont of North Carolina, studies of new trapping techniques
for aquatic amphibians, and herpetofaunal surveys of several local conservation
easements. J.D.’s most significant work at Davidson, though, was his study
on the effectiveness
(or ineffectiveness) of buffer zone regulations in conserving populations
of stream-dwelling salamanders. Following graduation from Davidson,
J.D. spent a little over a year working as a technician at SREL with primary
focus on herpetofaunal
surveys of the Southeast Coastal Network National Parks. J.D. began
his PhD studies at UGA/SREL in the fall of 2003. His research focuses on the role snakes play in ecosystems as both predators and prey. Along with PhD student Chris Winne, J.D. has initiated a long-term study study of semi-aquatic snakes inhabiting a large isolated wetland, with the goal of understanding the interaction between environmental variation, prey levels, and snake population and community dynamics. Check out J.D.'s CV for PDFs of recent publications.
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