People

Gavin Jones, Ph.D. | Principal Investigator

Gavin (he/him) is a Research Ecologist with Rocky Mountain Research Station – Wildlife and Terrestrial Ecosystems Program (USDA Forest Service) and an adjunct Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at the University of New Mexico. Previously he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida working with Dr. Rob Fletcher. Gavin earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the supervision of Dr. Zach Peery. He is also an Associate Editor at Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment and Fire Ecology which are the flagship peer-reviewed scientific journals of the Ecological Society of America and the Association for Fire Ecology, respectively. Download Gavin’s most recent CV here.

gavin.jones@usda.gov

Marilyn Wright, Ph.D. | Postdoctoral Researcher

Marilyn is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Jones Lab, studying how wildfire affects spotted owls in the western US. Marilyn earned her B.A. in biology (wildlife and fisheries) from the University of Great Falls (now University of Providence) in Great Falls, Montana and M.Sc. from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She is now finishing a Ph.D. in Ecology at Utah State University. Her work has focused on applied management with state and federal agencies, looking at sensitive species management and forest ecology in states such as Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Nevada. She is interested primarily in spatial and movement ecology as it relates to applied management and conservation, particularly of conifer forest species in the northern and central Rocky Mountains.

mwright32@wisc.edu

Joshua Goldberg, Ph.D. | Postdoctoral Researcher 

Joshua (he/him) is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Jones Lab, studying how wildlife will be influenced by fire, climate change, and land management. Joshua began his research career at the University of Montana, studying songbirds and large mammals. He earned his Ph.D. at University of California, Riverside with Dr. David Reznick, studying coexistence in the freshwater fish communities in the mountain streams of Trinidad. After his Ph.D., he joined the Bhutan Ecological Society as a research ecologist, studying tigers, their prey, and the conservation of Bhutan’s diverse ecosystems. In his research, Josh uses quantitative techniques to unravel the complexity and diversity of ecological systems. Read Joshua’s most recent work here.

joshua.f.goldberg@protonmail.com

Ronan Hart, M.Sc. | Spatial Ecologist

Ronan (he/they) is a Spatial Ecologist in the Jones Lab, studying past and ongoing rapid changes to the distribution of carnivore habitat in western North America. Ronan received his Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Southern Methodist University with an emphasis in Biology. He earned a certificate in Geographic Information Systems from the University of North Texas before completing his Master’s degree in Ecology from Utah State University, where he studied the space use ecology of ungulates in landscapes characterized by linear features like roads and fences. Ronan has strong interests in wildlife movement and fire ecology, how these two processes interact, and their implications in a changing world. You can read more about Ronan and his work here.

ronanhart1@unm.edu

Ceeanna Zulla, M.Sc. | Research Associate

Ceeanna (she/her) is a Research Associate in the Jones Lab. She is interested in understanding how sensitive species are influenced by trophic interactions. Ceeanna graduated from Ohio University in 2015 with dual Bachelor’s degrees in Environmental Biology and Strategic Communications, and recently finished her Master’s degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in which she used infrared nest-video cameras paired with fine-scale GPS tracking to understand trophic and foraging ecology of California spotted owls.  Ceeanna is a project leader for the lab’s Mexican spotted owl GPS-tagging project, and has years of experience capturing, handling, banding, GPS-tagging, and taking biological samples from raptors. She is one of the lab’s ‘owl whisperers’. 

czulla@unm.edu

Nick Kryshak, M.Sc. | Research Associate

Nick (he/him) is a Research Associate in the Jones Lab. Nick has a strong background in fieldwork (running around the woods studying owls) and lab work (using genetic methods to understand diet and demography of various species). Nick completed his Bachelor’s degree in Genetics from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2013. In 2022, Nick earned his Master’s degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying the invasion of barred owls into California and its potential ecological consequences. Nick is a project leader for the lab’s Mexican spotted owl GPS-tagging project and has years of experience capturing, handling, banding, GPS-tagging, and taking biological samples from raptors. He is one of the lab’s ‘owl whisperers’. 

nkryshak@unm.edu

Jessalyn Ayars, B.Sc. | Research Fellow 

Jessalyn (she/her) is a Research Fellow in the Jones Lab. Jessalyn is interested in quantitative ecology, fire ecology, and forest conservation. She graduated from Carleton College in 2021 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Math minor, and received a Carleton College Paglia Post-Baccalaureate Research Fellowship for the period 2021-2023 to conduct independent research in the Jones Lab. Jessalyn is studying the conservation of spotted owls in fire-prone forests. Specifically, she is integrating spotted owl movement data obtained via GPS tracking with demographic data to study how the habitat spotted owls are using contributes to individual fitness. Jessalyn is also working on a study to understand the effects of recent megafires on the habitat of terrestrial wildlife in California.

jayars99@unm.edu

Anna Nordseth, B.Sc. | Visiting Scholar

Anna (she/her) is a visiting scholar in the Jones Lab and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute in the Wright Lab. For her dissertation research, Anna is studying plant-animal interactions in tropical forests, and how such interactions might be leveraged to inform more effective forest restoration practices. Specifically, Anna’s work involves understanding the role that spider monkeys play in patterns of forest regrowth. Anna received her Bachelor’s degree at James Madison University, and has experience as a contributing science writer and environmental journalist. During her time as a visiting scholar in the Jones Lab, Anna will be collaborating on a project developing improved applications of central-place foraging theory for habitat selection analysis.

anna.nordseth@duke.edu

Lab Alumni

Jack Shutt, Postdoc | Current position: Postdoc, University of Cambridge.