Despite more than fifteen years of legal protection, the Mt Graham Red Squirrel, a subspecies of red squirrel in North America, is critically endangered at approximately 100 individuals and continues to face a myriad of challenges, including wildfire, insect infestations, and invasive species. The species is found only in the highest elevations of a single mountaintop, and available habitat is rapidly dwindling as climate change causes ecotones to shift higher and wildfires increase in frequency, intensity, and size. Managers are now considering translocating Mt.

Translocation is a valuable management strategy that can be used to augment and reestablish populations or increase the range of a species by establishing new populations. Gambel’s quail (Callipepla gambelii) are a popular game species and are the only native upland game bird in many desert areas of the American Southwest, making them an important species for management by state wildlife agencies.

The Chingaza Massif is one priority area for the maintenance of Andean Bear population in the east range of Colombia. This massif provides drinking water for Bogotá D.C., the biggest city of Colombia and maintains a large area of paramo and Andean Cloud forest ecosystems. Given the human density of the Chingaza massif there is low connectivity and a high density of Andean bear populations that generates negative interactions with human communities.

Currently, the marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea) is undergoing population declines in the bushveld savanna ecosystems of Southern Africa. This decline is often blamed on elephants, as marula is one of their favorite food sources and elephants have a significant impact on woody vegetation. That said, much of this decline is driven by lack of recruitment of marula trees into the populations rather than adult mortality. Elephants do not target small trees and are primary seed dispersers for marula, so would not cause a lack of recruitment.

The borderlands ecology and applied research project aims to understand the movements of mammals between Mexico and the United States. In this arid and mountainous landscape, we are interested in the role of water, but also in how human activities and infrastructure affects diversity patterns and how animals move across the landscape. The project is focused on the Sonoran and Arizonan borderlands in the Sky Islands, including desertic grasslands, oak and pine forests, and riparian areas.

Gathering ecological base knowledge, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement can guide effective wildlife conservation management decisions. Zoological institutions offer invaluable conservation benefits including public education and awareness, species reintroduction programs, and ex situ (i.e., offsite) studies that can inform in situ (i.e., in nature) efforts. Our research bridges zoo conservation with field ecology.

Invasive species are among the leading global threats to native wildlife and are a factor in the decline of 42 percent of threatened and endangered species. Invasive species can influence the ecosystem health through parasite loads that they introduce during establishment in new areas. There is little understanding of parasite loads between invaders and imperiled endemic species, including Abert's and Mt Graham Red Squirrels; we will identify and quantify parasites in this important system.

Climate change has brought with it wildfires that are larger, more intense, and more frequent than historically typical. Though species living in wildfire-prone areas are well-adapted to handle wildfires in general, the new "megafires" emerging across the American West are novel challenges that wildlife may not be equipped to handle, especially smaller mammals with lower mobility. The Chiricahua fox squirrel was rarely seen before the Horseshoe II fire, and hasn't been seen since.

The rapid change of our planet induced by humans and our activities affects species ecology, habitat and their life history. When we study how environmental changes may threaten the future of single species we gain knowledge to protect these species and make them survive. The Eurasian red squirrel in the Italian Alps and the endangered American red squirrel of Mt. Graham (AZ, USA) are two similar tree squirrel species that live in high-elevation mountain conifer forests.