University of Calgary

Marco Musiani

  • Adjunct Professor
  • Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Currently Teaching

Not currently teaching any courses.

Research Interests

 

I am a Professor in the Dept. of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science. I also have a Joint Appointment with the Department of Ecosystem and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Calgary, and I am Faculty Affiliate with the University of Montana, U.S.. My lab has a strong focus on landscape ecology, molecular ecology, and wildlife conservation. We demonstrated how highly vagile organisms such as caribou, elk and wolves are ideal study species to recognize Evolutionarily Significant Units, which should also become management and conservation units. As the effects of topographic barriers on reproductive isolation are limited in these species, other influences on differentiation can be studied, including a suite of traits that may be of adaptive value. With some students I also focused on human dimensions in wildlife management issues. With other students again, I studied wildlife movements and their reaction to people using multi-agent models.

I am Principal Investigator or co-PI on projects with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars deployed on elk, caribou, moose, wolves, grizzlies and other wildlife species throughout the Rocky Mountains and Foothills regions of Canada. All such projects are run together with graduate students and have applications towards impact assessment, mainly of forestry and oil and gas development.

My students and I have published papers on applied ecology journals, which also include articles on molecular ecology, wildlife ecology and management in Poland, Italy, Canada and the U.S.. I have also participated in interdisciplinary studies published in journal such as Nature and Science. Finally, I have published a couple of books on wolves with the University of Calgary Press.

My focus is on academic matters. However, I have also organized the World Wolf Congress 2003 in Banff, Canada. I served as reviewer for research and management projects such as the Wolf Reintroduction Programs in the North-western and the South-western U.S., and acted as a consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (to protect livestock from wolves).

 

Recent Publications

Google Scholar Link: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=pOA3kgsAAAAJ&hl=en

 

1. Toews, Musiani, Checkley, Visscher, Massolo. (2021). A global assessment of Echinococcus multilocularis infections in domestic dogs: proposing a framework to overcome past methodological heterogeneity. International Journal for Parasitology. Jan 19

2. Verocai , Hoberg , Simard , Beckmen , Musiani , Wasser , Cuyler , Manseau , Chaudhry , Kashivakura , Gilleard. (2020). The biogeography of the caribou lungworm, Varestrongylus eleguneniensis (Nematoda: Protostrongylidae) across northern North America. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife. (11): 93-102.

3. Pruvot, Musiani, Boyce, Kutz, Orsel. (2020). Integrating Livestock Management and Telemetry Data to Quantify Interactions between Wildlife and Livestock. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 174(104846)

4. Pigeon, MacNearney, Hebblewhite, Musiani, Neufeld, Cranston, Stenhouse, Schmiegelow, Finnegan. (2020). The density of anthropogenic features explains seasonal and behaviour-based functional responses in selection of linear features by a social predator. Scientific Reports. (10): 1-13.

5. Cavedon, Goubili, Heppenheimer, vonHoldt, Mariani, Hebblewhite, Hegel, Hervieux, Serrouya, Steenweg, Weckworth, Musiani. (2019). Genomics, environment and balancing selection in behaviorally bimodal populations: the caribou case. Molecular Ecology.

6. Muhly, Johnson, Hebblewhite, Neilson, Fortin, Fryxell, Latham, Arienti, McLoughlin , Merrill , Paquet, Patterson, Schmiegelow , Scurrah, Musiani. (2019). Functional Response of Wolves to Human Development across Boreal Ecosystems. Ecology and Evolution. 9(18): 1–15.

7. Finnegan, Pigeon, Cranston, Hebblewhite, Musiani, Neufeld, Schmiegelow, Duval, Stenhouse. (2018). Natural regeneration on seismic lines influences movement behaviour of wolves and grizzly bears. PloS one. 13: e0195480.

8. Diepstraten, Jessen, Fauvelle, Musiani. (2018). Does climate change and plant phenology research neglect the arctic tundra?. Ecosphere. 9(9)(e02362)

9. Kermish-Wells, Massolo, Stenhouse, Larsen, Musiani. (2018). Space–time clusters for early detection of grizzly bear predation. Ecology and evolution. 8: 382-395.

10. Weckworth, Hebblewhite, Mariani, Musiani. (2018). Lines on a map: conservation units, meta-population dynamics and recovery of woodland caribou in Canada. Ecosphere. 9(7)(e02323)

11. Cheng, Musiani, Cavedon, Gilch. (2017). High prevalence of prion protein genotype associated with resistance to chronic wasting disease in one Alberta woodland caribou population. Prion. 11: 136-142.

12. Gubili; Mariani; Weckworth; Galpern; McDevitt; Hebblewhite; Nickel; Musiani. (2017). Environmental and anthropogenic drivers of connectivity patterns: a basis for prioritizing conservation efforts for threatened populations. Evolutionary Applications. 10: 199-211.

13. Schweizer, Robinson, Harrigan, Silva, Galverni, Musiani, Green, Novembre, Wayne. (2016). Targeted capture and resequencing of 1040 genes reveal environmentally driven functional variation in gray wolves. Molecular Ecology. 25: 357–379.

14. Musiani. (2016). Wolf hunting and prey behaviors in the real world (book review). Ecology. 97: 1368-1369.

15. Benz, Boyce, Thurfjell, Paton, Musiani, Dormann, Ciuti. (2016). Dispersal ecology informs design of largescale wildlife corridors. PLoS ONE. 11: e0162989.

 

BOOKS
1. Marco Musiani, Luigi Boitani, Paul C Paquet Editors. (2010). The World of Wolves: new perspectives on ecology, behaviour and management. University of Calgary Press, LINK http://press.ucalgary.ca/books/9781552382691
2. Marco Musiani, Luigi Boitani, Paul C Paquet Editors. (2009). A New Era for Wolves and People: Wolf Recovery, Human Attitudes and Policy. University of Calgary Press, LINK http://press.ucalgary.ca/books/9781552382707

Curriculum Vitae

Degrees

  • PhD - Applied Animal Ecology
    University of Calgary, 2003
  • Honours - Ecology
    University of Siena, 1997
  • BSc - Biology
    University of Rome "La Sapienza", 1995
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