Assistant Professor of Natural Sciences
Department of Biological Sciences
777 Dedham Street
Mount Ida College Newton, MA 02459
Email: moose@nrc.umass.edu or jcompton@mountida.edu

Dr. Justin Compton has joined the Department of Biological Sciences at Mount Ida College, as an Assistant Professor of Natural Sciences. Dr. Compton is an ecologist interested in the dynamics and fate of animal populations, communities, and ecosystems. Broadly, his research is focused on: (1) community dynamics and animal-plant interactions through large-scale and long-term ecological studies, (2) animal population responses to dynamic landscapes, (3) timber harvesting effects on the structure and function of managed ecosystems, (4) the role of biological diversity for community structure and dynamics, and (5) zoonotic diseases dynamics as influenced by local, regional, and global dynamics. Justin addresses these themes by combining empirical (i.e., experiments) and theoretical (i.e., spatially-explicit modeling) approaches in order to link dynamic patterns and processes. Justin has a Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Penn State University, a M.S. in Biology from Michigan Technological University, and a B.S. in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology from the University of California, Davis.

USGS Massachusetts Co-op Unit
USGS Massachusetts Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research
Unit Leader & Research Professor
Natural Resources Conservation
160 Holdsworth Way
University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003
Email: sdestef@nrc.umass.edu

Stephen DeStefano is the Leader of the U. S. Geological Survey's Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and a Research Professor in the Department
of Natural Resources Conservation at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Wildlife Ecology from the Universities of Massachusetts-Amherst, Wisconsin-Madison, and Idaho-Moscow, respectively. His research focuses on suburban wildlife, human-wildlife interactions, and forest wildlife ecology. Current projects include demography and landscape pattern use of abundant species such as beavers, moose, deer, and carnivores in mixed suburban and rural landscapes. He leads the suburban ecology working group, a collaboration of university, state, and federal entities in Massachusetts. Steve has been a member of The Wildlife Society since 1978, was named a Fellow of The Wildlife Society in 2005, and is a member of TWS’ Urban Wildlife Working Group.