Ecology and Management of Terrestrial Vertebrate Invasive Species in the United States

About

William C. Pitt is the deputy director at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the associate director of Conservation and Science at the Smithsonians National Zoological Park. He manages the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institutes science centers and research programs. He is responsible for the financial and facility programs the operations of the SmithsonianMason School of Conservation and SCBIs 3200-acre conservation and research facility and the Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation in Front Royal Virginia. He oversees more than 220 scientists postdoctoral fellows and students from universities around the world. Pitt works passionately to improve the conservation of endangered species through collaboration education and research. As a researcher he spent more than a decade researching methods to reduce the effects of invasive vertebrates on native species mediating humanwildlife interactions and evaluating the effects of species management in Pacific islands ecosystems. He has worked extensively as a researcher for the USDAs National Wildlife Research Center in Hawaii. He has published more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals and science-related publications. He earned both a PhD in Ecology and a MS in Wildlife Ecology from Utah State University. He holds a BS in Fish and Wildlife Biology from the University of Minnesota. He spent 24 years in the military working as an environmental science officer for the United States Army Reserve where he identified and assessed potential environmental and entomological hazards to humans. James C. Beasley is an assistant professor at the Savannah River Ecology Lab and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. Beasley earned a BS in Wildlife Science from SUNYEnvironmental Science and a MS and PhD in Wildlife Ecology from Purdue University. His research is focused on understanding the effects of anthropogenic activities on wildlife populations ecology and management of wild pigs and other invasive species carnivore ecology and management and scavenging ecology. Jim is actively involved in research on these topics both nationally and internationally including studies on large mammal populations in Chernobyl and Fukushima. Jim is a Certified Wildlife Biologist with the Wildlife Society and currently serves as the chair of the research subcommittee for the National Wild Pig Task Force. He also serves as the International Atomic Energy Agencys wildlife advisor to the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan in response to the nuclear accident that occurred in 2011. Gary W. Witmer is a supervisory research wildlife biologist and rodent research project leader with the USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins Colorado. He earned his PhD in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University with minors in statistics and forest management a MS in Wildlife Ecology from Purdue University and a MS and BS in Biology from the University of Michigan. His research focuses on resolving humanwildlife conflicts and has included ungulates carnivores and rodents. Most recently he has been working on invasive species and has designed successful eradication strategies for invasive rodent species on several islands. He has also worked with a large number of native rodent species in a wide array of settings.