Danielle Bradke

Understanding what drives population processes, such as survival and dispersal, and designing monitoring that can detect changes in populations over time is important for successful wildlife conservation and management. Danielle is interested in using genetic tools and integrated population models to improve our knowledge of diamondback terrapin dispersal and to facilitate effective management and monitoring of terrapin populations in Georgia. Because of their cryptic nature, long-lifespan, and difficult to access habitat, diamondback terrapin populations are challenging to study using traditional direct approaches like capture-recapture and radio telemetry, especially at large spatial scales. Specifically, we hope that these new genetic and demographic methods will lend insight into what is driving current patterns of terrapin abundance, when assisted recovery (e.g. translocation) may be needed to aid natural dispersal, and cost-effective sampling design for natural resource managers to monitor the effectiveness of their management strategies. When not wrangling turtles, Danielle enjoys running, learning to make pottery, and hiking.