Jason Riggio is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Karp Lab in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology at the University of California, Davis, in partnership with the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology. Jason earned a PhD in the Graduate Group in Ecology at UC Davis. The focus of his research was to develop new and clearer methods of mapping land conversion and human impacts, applying those maps to assess the potential for wildlife corridors between protected areas in East Africa. Prior to his work at Davis, he completed a master’s degree at Duke University and worked as a GIS Analyst for the National Geographic Big Cats Initiative, conducting an analysis of lion populations in sub-Saharan Africa.
Jason’s research focuses on applied solutions to wildlife and landscape conservation challenges. He is particularly driven to address human impacts on biodiversity at the intersection of species distributions and global change, but also appreciates that the best maps at any scale are often informed by local surveys. As a Postdoc in the Karp Lab, Jason is conducting a large-scale biodiversity monitoring project of California Department of Water Resources restoration sites across the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. He is also analyzing long-term breeding bird density trends to model the spatial and ecological predictors of avian productivity at local and landscape scales in the Putah Creek watershed of California’s Central Valley.