Colton Padilla, PhD Student
I am a PhD student in the Walsh Lab co-advised by Nick DeCesare from Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. I received both my bachelor’s (2018) and master’s degrees (2023) from New Mexico State University. My master’s research focused on two separate disease systems: flea parasitism in deer mice and pneumonia in bighorn sheep. For field work, I trapped deer mice and surveyed them for fleas to determine if long-term vegetational change from mega-fires impacted flea parasite dynamics. On the other hand, I used management-focused disease testing data to quantify the impacts of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, climate, and population abundance on both desert and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep lamb:ewe ratios. My current research focuses on creating an adaptive management framework to evaluate management actions aimed at improving population trends of bighorn sheep and mountain goats across Montana. To do this, we will be using integrated population models (IPMs) to link multiple data sources together and quantify impacts of management actions on vital rates, disease prevalence, and space-use. I am interested in quantitative ecology as a whole; however, I am particularly interested in habitat use, migration, and how space/resource use impacts the survival rates of ungulates. Apart from my research, I spend most of my free time hunting and fishing.