Simona Picardi has been praised by students and staff alike as one of CNR’s stellar faculty members. Joining the Fish and Wildlife Sciences Department in August 2023 as an assistant professor, Picardi established her own research laboratory and has been invigorating students with her vast knowledge of ecology and wildlife behavior. Her research has taken her around the world as it centers on quantitative ecology to inform conservation and wildlife management efforts.
For instance, Picardi has studied the movement patterns of striped hyena in Israel and found that female movement differs from males in human-dominated areas in a variety of ways. She was able to reach this conclusion by using a GPS tracking system — known to scientists as biologging technology — on collars fitted to hyenas. While biologging technology is innovative for its ability to track animal movements when humans can’t, it’s known to produce very messy, complicated and often overwhelming data that researchers are tasked to comb through.
However, Picardi had encountered this same daunting task during a roe deer project in her master’s program and was able to use the advanced statistical analysis skills she acquired then to assist in the decoding process for the hyaena project.
This is just one example of Picardi’s extensive knowledge and experience with movement data and quantitative ecology.
Quantitative ecology is a branch of science that is concerned with retrieving crucial information from untidy and complex ecological data sets. Similar to the GPS tracking system Picardi combed through, quantitative ecologists often deal with data sets that are challenging to decode without advanced statistical analysis.
Picardi has been teaching her students these analysis skills both in and outside of her lab. Picardi and her students use GPS collars deployed on wild animals as one of the primary methods of data collection similarly to her own previous experiments. GPS tracking systems are valuable tools for studying wildlife movement, offering insights into how animals choose feeding and shelter sites — critical information for balancing wildlife needs with human activities.
“These processes are hidden in movement data,” Picardi said.
In the Picardi lab, two doctoral students, four master’s students and two undergraduate students each pursue their own research with projects involving sage grouse, grizzly bear, bighorn sheep and African ungulates.
The lab has two new initiatives that Picardi is particularly excited about. The first entails using quantitative methods to study how human winter recreation — such as snowmobiling or cross-country skiing in the vicinity of deer and elk may affect not only how animals behave in response, but also their fitness. The research entails weighing ungulates at the beginning of winter in places heavily used by people, and again at the end to help quantify a pattern for weight loss or gain during the winter months.
“The results will help us manage winter recreation in a way that benefits both people and wildlife,” Picardi said.
The second project focuses on how fences affect the migration of pronghorn. Picardi explains that during their migration between summer and winter ranges pronghorn encounter fences — either property line or livestock fences — that pose obstacles to their migration. Fences are problematic for the pronghorn because the animals are not well adapted to jump over them and instead, they crawl under them. Because most old fences are too low to the ground to allow for safe passage, the new system includes a design in which the bottom wire is high enough for pronghorn to pass underneath.
Picardi’s students are testing whether this new fencing system will result in easier crossing for pronghorn. To quantify its success, her students are using historic GPS tracking data from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game as well as motion sensors the researchers attached directly onto the fences to count the number of successful migrations through fenced areas. This project is in partnership with landowners and ranchers who are interested in using new livestock fence designs.
The purpose of both studies is to ensure the conservation of wildlife while also prioritizing human needs, livelihoods, and well-being. Picardi wants to emphasize that her conservation efforts are not aimed at portraying humans as “the bad guys.”
“There are a lot of positive things that we are doing as stewards of the earth,” she said. “There’s a lot of conservation success stories to be told.”
Picardi and her students will be featured in a documentary about conservation of the Yellowstone ecosystem, which is currently in production. This development is very exciting as it aligns with Picardi’s values for her lab, which include conveying to the public, in an accurate and authentic manner, the scientific knowledge she and her students discover.
“One of our lab goals is communicating the results of our science broadly to make sure we can have the biggest positive impact possible,” she said.
Though Picardi’s lab and teaching emphasizes the importance of scientific skills and inquiry, she also ensures that her students learn other “soft skills,” as she calls them, especially the ability to collaborate.
“I would love for every student that comes out of my lab to realize how important human relationships are — for their progress and for the good of science in general,” Picardi said. “We don’t work in isolation.”
That’s the kind of vision I'm trying to create — a group of people who enjoy spending time together, helping each other, and who collaborate on science.
Simona Picardi
Associate professor of wildlife ecology and management
She remembers how, in her master’s and doctorate programs, she had the privilege of working in labs in which students prided themselves on being socially active and collaborative, as well as supportive of each other’s research. This, Picardi said, is what she aims to accomplish in her own lab.
“That’s the kind of vision I’m trying to create — a group of people who enjoy spending time together, helping each other, and who collaborate on science,” she said. “Science is a team effort always.”
Picardi brings this spirit of cooperation into her classroom, as she works with students from a variety of backgrounds and expertise. She ensures they receive a customized educational experience in both the lab and classroom.
“As an advisor, it’s my responsibility to give them what they need and tailor to them individually,” Picardi said.
Picardi currently teaches Reproducible Data Science, a graduate-level course, as well as Wildlife Management and Management and Communication of Scientific Data, two undergraduate-level courses with the former doubling as a capstone for the Wildlife Sciences major. She encourages her students to build lasting partnerships, seek out relationships with those who are more experienced in the field, and of course, create excellent reproducible science.