Debra Shier, Ph.D.

Conservation Research Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Debra Shier joined CRES in January 2006, after finishing her Ph.D. in animal behavior with an emphasis in wildlife conservation at University of California, Davis, in 2004. For the past 14 years she has been studying the ways in which an understanding of animal behavior and behavioral ecology can be applied to conservation strategies such as reintroductions and translocations.

In general, all of her research has focused on using basic theory to encourage settlement, dampen stress, and increase survival and reproductive success following reintroduction/translocation. Specifically, her research has addressed the social and ecological influences on the development of survival skills during predator training for reintroduction, how an animal's social behavior may affect it's probability of success (as measured by survival and reproductive output) following translocation, whether natal habitat preferences can be exploited to enhance release site settlement, and whether behavioral consistency (temperament) affects post-release survival.

Dr. Shier’s Postdoctoral research focuses on recovery of two endangered heteromyids—the pacific pocket mouse Perognathus longimembris pacificus and Stephens’ kangaroo rat Dipodomys stephans—via experimental translocations.

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Translocation Biology of the Endangered Pacific Pocket Mouse in Southern California