Mike Allen

Ecologist

Research

I’m an ecologist who enjoys making sense of complex systems to advance environmental conservation.

Biodiversity Monitoring & Rare Species Detection

Improving sampling schemes for rare and hard-to-sample wildlife is vital to effective conservation

Spatial population dynamics of a grassland bird as revealed by the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Code available here.
Spatial population dynamics of a grassland bird as revealed by the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Code available here.
Field photo illustrating biodiversity monitoring

I am interested in… I am working on:

Animal Populations and Global Change

Ecosystems across the planet are vulnerable to global changes in climate and land use

Bobolink relative abundance
Bobolink relative abundance trends and habitat relationships across landscapes.

I’m especially interested in understanding how climate and land-use changes affect animal populations and ecosystems.

Spatial Population Dynamics & Social-Ecological Systems

Spatial population dynamics can be driven by complex interactions within human-natural systems

Spatial synchrony of populations
Spatial synchrony of populations in human-natural systems and implications for conservation planning.

Much of conservation work benefits from understanding these complex interactions at landscape and regional scales.

Ecology of Biological Invasions

Biological invasions are costly to ecosystems, economies, and society

Acadian flycatcher on nest illustrating invasive impacts
An Acadian flycatcher on nest illustrating the challenges posed by invasive species.

How do we best detect, monitor, and mitigate the impacts of invasive species on native communities?