Integrated Species Distribution Modelling (ISDM01)

Luca is an ecologist working at the interface of movement ecology, population biology, and biodiversity conservation. His research focuses on understanding the mechanistic processes — including movement, traits, demography, and species interactions — that shape ecological dynamics and responses to environmental change. He applies and develops statistical, mathematical, and simulation-based approaches to link individual behaviour with population- and community-level processes, with the aim of improving predictions of biodiversity change and informing sustainable policy. His work spans a wide range of taxa, from invertebrates and vertebrates to plants, and is strongly interdisciplinary, involving collaborations with mathematicians, statisticians, engineers, conservationists, and policymakers.

Luca is Chair in Ecology and Biodiversity in the Department of Biosciences at Swansea University, co-Director of the Centre for Biomathematics, and Chair/Secretary of the British Ecological Society’s Movement Ecology Special Interest Group. Before his academic career, he trained and worked as a professional freelance musician specialising in the French horn.

Education & Career
• PhD in Zoology, University of Cambridge (with visiting research at Imperial College London, Silwood Park)
• MSc in Biology, University of Pisa
• Postdoctoral fellowships in Canada (University of Guelph) and France (CNRS & INRA)
• Associate Professor, Swansea University (2013–2017)
• Professor and Chair in Ecology and Biodiversity, Swansea University (2017–present)

Research Focus
Luca’s research is question-driven, bridging behavioural, population, and community ecology in both theoretical and applied contexts. He leads the Biodiversity Dynamics and Movement Ecology Lab (BioMove), part of the Swansea Laboratory for Animal Movement (SLAM). His work integrates ecological data with advanced modelling to address challenges in conservation, management, and environmental policy across Europe, Africa, North America, Brazil, and Australia.

Current Projects
• Movement ecology of large vertebrates (e.g., red deer, sea turtles, adders)
• Trait-based approaches to predicting biodiversity responses to environmental change
• Impacts of invasive species on native communities (e.g., wallabies on the Isle of Man)
• Development of quantitative tools for analysing high-resolution movement data
• Interdisciplinary collaborations linking ecology with mathematics, statistics, and engineering

Professional Consultancy
Luca collaborates with conservation agencies, NGOs, and government organisations to provide ecological expertise on biodiversity monitoring, spatial management, and policy design. He also advises interdisciplinary teams on study design, quantitative methods, and movement data analysis.

Teaching & Skills
• Teaches ecological data analysis in R (undergraduate and postgraduate)
• Delivers international workshops on movement ecology and statistical ecology
• Experienced in supervising interdisciplinary PhD and MRes projects
• Strong advocate of open science, reproducibility, and cross-disciplinary training

Links
• University Profile
• Google Scholar
• Research Gate

Garrett is a quantitative ecologist working at the interface of habitat selection, animal movement, and landscape ecology. His research focuses on how fine-scale behavioral processes—such as thermoregulation, foraging, and habitat preference—shape broad-scale patterns in species distribution, abundance, and population dynamics. He utilizes a range of methods including statistical and simulation modeling, biotelemetry, geographic information systems (GIS), and laboratory microcosms to explore ecological processes from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. His recent work further examines animal fitness and body condition under energetic constraints, behavioral influences on habitat selection and species distribution, and the role of animal movement in the global carbon budget.

Garrett earned his PhD in Integrative Biology from the University of Guelph (supervised by Dr. John Fryxell), following a Master’s degree in Population & Conservation Biology from Texas State University (under Dr. Floyd “Butch” Weckerly). He then completed postdoctoral research at the University of Minnesota with Drs. John Fieberg and James Forester. In August 2015, he joined the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture at Mississippi State University, where he co-founded the Quantitative Ecology and Spatial Technologies (QuEST) Laboratory.

Education & Career
• PhD in Integrative Biology, University of Guelph
• M.Sc. in Population & Conservation Biology, Texas State University
• Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Minnesota
• Associate Professor, Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Aquaculture, Mississippi State University (since 2015)

Research Focus
Garrett’s work centers on elucidating how micro-scale behavioral and physiological processes translate into macro-scale ecological patterns. He is particularly interested in the energetics of movement and foraging, habitat selection dynamics, and ecological forecasting across climatic and spatial gradients. His lab, QuEST, combines cutting-edge quantitative tools and empirical data to address key questions in movement ecology and ecosystem health across diverse taxa and landscapes.

Current Projects
• Energetic constraints on animal movement and body condition
• Behavioral drivers of habitat preference and species distribution
• Modeling animal movement across spatiotemporal and bioclimatic gradients
• Exploring wildlife contributions to carbon fluxes in ecosystems
• Feral swine and white-tailed deer behavior in managed landscapes, moose habitat selection, and avian population dynamics

Teaching & Skills
• Delivers courses in wildlife biostatistics, landscape ecology, GIS applications, and movement ecology
• Expert in applying statistical modeling, telemetry data, GIS, and simulation approaches to movement ecology
• Experienced in training students and professionals in quantitative ecological methods

Links
• University Profile
• Research Gate