Thomas Phillips is a third-year undergraduate studying Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity with a minor in Sustainable Agriculture. He has worked with the Karp Lab on research related to avian nesting and has conducted his own project on macroinvertebrate responses to oil spills with data from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie, LA.
Thomas is interested in the relationship between wildlife and agriculture and methods for making agroecosystems more hospitable to vulnerable animal species. Specific questions include: How do the population dynamics of wildlife vary between cropping systems? What services do wildlife provide to farmers that increase crop-yields? How can human-wildlife conflicts in agricultural settings be resolved in ways that mitigate species-loss and environmental degradation?