Nature is a composition of tensions that ecology seeks to understand. Tensions are generated by opposing incentives acting on wildlife: the incentive to develop a trait or to occupy a location are a culmination of energy costs and gains through time. I develop novel quantitative frameworks to evaluate these trade-offs.

System	Summary	Cost	Gain
Wolves in Riding Mountain	A cooperate carnivore has switched from a rare historical prey to a more abundant but dangerous prey	Energy and time lost from hunting, increased risk of injury	Increased encounters and energy gained from capture
Caribou in Newfoundland & Elk in Riding Mountain	Gregarious prey respond predation risk by increasing their movement synchrony in predator domains	Resource competition	Risk dilution
Wolves and moose in eastern Manitoba	Linear features can act as corridors, barriers, risks and resources depending on human activity and habitat variation	Risk of mortality	Ease of movement and prey capture
Elk in southwestern Alberta	The risk response to roads (avoidance, increased movement) is an added pressure during the winter, a nutritionally and energetically restricted period	Reduced resource access, energy to increase movement	Risk avoidance

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Consulting

I have conducted quantitative analyses and synthetic literature reviews for governments and work with Management and Solutions in Environmental Science. 

My projects include:

• Individual differences in wood buffalo space-use behaviour
• Response of wolves and deer to forestry
• Fence feasibility for disease containment and selective wildlife passage
• The effects of wolf predation on prey

If you are looking for a quantitative wildlife ecologist to support your research objectives please contact me at prokopenko [dot] chris [at] gmail [dot] com