Dr. Tyler J Grant

I am interested in applying quantitative methods to ecological and conservation problems.  Particular interests include agent-based modeling, occupancy estimation, Bayesian state-space (hierarchical) modeling, mark-recapture analysis, and sampling designs.  Currently I am applying my skills to monarch butterfly conservation.  I have developed an agent-based model for monarch butterflies to assess the implications of the spatial arrangement of habitat patches on landscape-scale monarch butterfly reproduction.  

A demonstration of this model can be found in the video below:

Modeling monarch butterfly movement and egg-laying

I have also developed a Bayesian state-space model to estimate survival probabilities for larval stages of arthropods, including monarch butterflies.  A paper describing this model and its application to monarch butterflies is in review.  

Background

In 2015 I completed my PhD in Wildlife Ecology in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University.  My research was on herpetological fauna as indicators for use in wetland restoration of the Missouri River floodplain.  From 2005 to 2009 I worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in Carlsbad, CA where I learned how the Endangered Species Act works on the ground.  I was involved in studies of monitoring flat-tailed horned lizards, coastal cactus wren, Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizards, Laguna Mountains skipper, and other species. Previous to working for USFWS, I completed my M.S. degree at Colorado State University on monitoring methods for flat-tailed horned lizards (mark-recapture, distance sampling, occupancy estimation) and manipulative experimentation to evaluate effects of off-highway vehicles.

Selected Publications

Grant, T.J., D.T.T. Flockhart, T.R. Blader, R.L. Hellmich, G.M. Pitman, D.R. Norris, and S.P. Bradbury. Submitted. Using stage-structured field counts to estimate larval survival probabilities in arthropods: An example using monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). 

Grant, T.J., D.L. Otis, and R.R. Koford. Accepted. Toward more informed amphibian conservation based on multiple life stage survey designs. Journal of Herpetology.

Grant, T.J., Parry, H.R., Zalucki, M.P. and Bradbury, S.P., 2018. Predicting monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) movement and egg-laying with a spatially-explicit agent-based model: The role of monarch perceptual range and spatial memory. Ecological Modelling 374:37-50.

Vandergast, A.G., Wood, D.A., Thompson, A.R., Fisher, M., Barrows, C.W. and Grant, T.J., 2016. Drifting to oblivion? Rapid genetic differentiation in an endangered lizard following habitat fragmentation and drought. Diversity and Distributions 22:344-357.

Grant, T.J., D. L. Otis, and R. R. Koford. 2015. Short-term anuran community dynamics in the Missouri River floodplain following an historic flood. Ecosphere 6:197.