Roger A Powell - Professor
Department of Zoology
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Roger A Powell

Roger A Powell
Professor Emeritus
Department of Biology
North Carolina State University

Raleigh, NC 27695-7617
Phone (919) 515-4561
Fax (919) 515-5327
Email newf@ncsu.edu

Other Appointments

Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences

Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources, College of Forest Resources

Research Interests
      Over the past 30 years, my research has emphasized how limiting resources affect animals. I have learned that the energy budgets of fishers (Martes pennanti) are interdependent with their foraging choices and their sexual dimorphism in body size. Fluctuations in small mammal populations cause weasel populations never to have stable age distributions or survival schedules and significantly affect sexual dimorphism and mating patterns of weasels (Mustela spp.). Fluctuations in small mammal populations also allow the coexistence of more than one weasel species. Productivity of food explains whether black bears (Ursus americanus) defend territories or tolerate home range overlap and changes in productivity of food can affect intrasexual territoriality in a range of mustelid species. Tunnel systems, and not food, appear to be the limiting resource for woodland voles (Microtus pinetorum) and the low availability of tunnel systems delays dispersal in young voles, leading to cooperative breeding.
      During the past 2 decades, my field research has emphasized animals' home ranges and spacing: how animals space themselves on a landscape, depending on the home ranges of other individuals and on the distributions of pertinent resources. I now envision animals living in a fitness landscape where habitat value at each place is the potential contribution of that place to an animal's fitness. From 1981 through the early 2000s, my field research was on black bears. Over that time, my graduate students and I developed approaches to estimating fitness landscapes. Our approach and results can be applied widely and generalized to other forest animals. Beginning in 2009, I have multifaceted research aimed at applying these approaches to fishers (a instance of "back to the future"). I still do not know what a home range is but am convinced that animals continue to give us us clues. Studying my own home ranges has provides me with important insights.
      I continue to study weasels and their kin through cooperative research with Dr Carolyn King at Waikato University in Hamilton, New Zealand, and through new modeling work and analysess.
      My research has led to diverse applications through state wildlife agencies, the USDA Forest Service, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service.
      I support using well-trained dogs in research.

GRADUATE STUDENTS
      Students in the graduate program at NCSU demonstrated their potential for graduate work through strong backgrounds in biological and other sciences from their undergraduate or MS programs and through good GRE scores, generally 1300 or above (Verbal plus Quantitative). I have a personal preference (not hard and fast) for students with broad backgrounds including interest in the humanities, languages, and math beyond calculus.

My present graduate students arre
      Candace Davis (PhD)
      Aaron Facka (PhD)
      Ben Hess (MS)
      Scott Robertson (PhD)
      Aimee Rockhill (PhD)
      Rob Swiers (MS)

Teaching
Behavioral Ecology of Mammals and Wildlife Management, field course taught
      occasional summers at the Wilderness Field Station of Coe College
      (formerly administrated by the Associated Colleges of the Midwest).
      This field station takes advantage of the adjacent Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
      for biology and other courses relevant to the wilderness setting. Other recent courses include
      Wetlands Ecology, Conservation Biology, Boreal Forests, History of the Wilderness Movement,
      and Northwoods Research Experience.
Former Teaching
Wildlife Management (FW/ZO 353); every Fall Semester
Mammalogy (ZO 544); every Fall Semester
Community Ecology (ZO 718); every other Spring Semester
Advanced Topics in the Study of Mammals (ZO 784); every other Spring Semester
      Recent offerings have been:
            Darwin Revisited [reading several of Darwin's books]
            Behavioral Ecology of Mammals
            Predation
            The Marsupial/Placental Dichotomy)

Some Recent Publications:

BOOKS

2007. Natural History of Weasels and Stoats: Ecology, Behavior and Management. Oxford University Press, New York. (C. M. King & R. A. Powell).

1997. Ecology and Behaviour of North American Black Bears: Home Ranges, Habitat and Social Organization. Chapman & Hall, London. (R. A. Powell, J. W. Zimmerman, & D. E. Seaman).

1994. Martens, Sables and Fishers: Biology and Conservation. (Buskirk, S. W., A. S. Harestad, M. G. Raphael & R. A. Powell, eds). Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.

1993. The Fisher: Life History, Ecology and Behavior, 2nd edition. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis.

RECENT PAPERS and BOOK CHAPTERS

2008. Estimated home ranges can misrepresent habitat relationships on patchy landscapes. Ecological Modelling 216: 409-414. (Mitchell, M S & R A Powell)

2008. An evaluation of long-term capture effects in ursids: Implications for wildlife welfare and research. Journal of mammalogy 89: 973-990. (Cattet M, J Boulanger, G Stenhouse, R A Powell & M J Reynolds-Hogland)

2007. Understanding contributions of cohorts to growth rates of fluctuating populations. Journal of Animal Ecology 76: 946-956. (Wittmer, H U, R A Powell & C M King)

2007. The optimal use of resources structures home ranges and spatial distribution of black bears. Animal Behavior 74: 219-230. (Mitchell, M J & R A Powell)

2005. Evaluating welfare of black bears (Ursus americanus) captured in foot snares and handled in winter dens. Journal of Mammalogy 86: 1171-1177.

2004. Home ranges, cognitive maps, habitat models and fitness landscapes for Martes. Pp. 135-146. In: Harrison, D J, A K Fuller & B J Hearn (editors). Martes in human altered landscapes. Columbia University Press, New York.

2004. A mechanistic home range model for optimal use of spatially distributed resouces. Ecological Modelling 177: 209-232. (Mitchell, M S & R A Powell).

2003. Linking fitness landscapes with the behavior and distribution of animals. Pp 93-123. In: Bissonette, J A & I Storch (editors). Landscape ecology and resource management: Linking theory with practice. Island Press. (Mitchell, M S & R A Powell).

2003. Trapping and marking terrestrial mammals for research: Integrating ethics, performance criteria, techniques, and common sense. Institute of Laboratory Animal Research Journal 44: 259-276. (Powell, R A & G Proulx).

2003. Reproductive success of male black bears. Canadian Journal of Zoology 81: 1257-1268. (Kovach, A I & R A Powell).

2002. Test of a habitat suitability index for black bears in the Southern Appalachians. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 30: 794-808.(Mitchell, M S, J W Zimmerman & R A Powell).

2001. Who limits whom: Predators or prey? Endangered Species Update. 18: 98-102.

2000. Animal home ranges and territories and home range estimators. Pp 65-110. In: Research Techniques in Animal Ecology: Controversies and Consequences. Boitani, L & T. Fuller (eds). Columbia University Press, New York.

Return to the NCSU Biology Department Faculty/Staff listing
Modified October 2009/ Roger A Powell / newf@ncsu.edu
All photos (c) Roger A Powell except photo of RAP (c) Consie Powell


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