John Orrock
I work on animal behavior and conservation, with a focus on invasive species, global change, and the ecology of zoonotic disease.
Professor, Department of Biology College of Letters and Science Work: 540-809-3815 — Home and cell phones available upon request jorrock@wisc.edu Home page
Topics
- The effect of habitat modification on animal behavior and biodiversity. Current focus on how animals differ in urban vs. rural environments (country mouse/city mouse).
- Linking precipitation and predators to long-term variation in disease in animal populations (focus on hantavirus prevalence in wild mice).
- Linking animal behavior and climate to understand tick-borne disease risk in the US (focus on Lyme disease)
- Exploring how invasive plants affect animal behavior: this work explores the widespread effects on invasive plants on native animals, plants, trees, and disease risk.
- The ecology of fear. I study how predators affect the choices that animals make, and how fear-mediated choices cascade through food webs.
Achievements
- Research on behavior, ecological interactions, and zoonotic disease featured on NPR, Canadian Public Radio, BBC, and in the New York Times.
- Nearly 20 years experience studying zoonotic disease (primarily hantavirus) dynamics in wild rodent populations.
- Produced over 170 published peer-reviewed papers on behavior, conservation, invasive species, and ecological interactions.
- Elected as Fellow of the Ecological Society of America.