Kaitlyn Gaynor, PI

Postdoctoral fellow, National Center for Ecological Analysis & Synthesis
PhD, Environmental Science, Policy, & Management, University of California, Berkeley
BA, Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University
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pronouns: she/her, they/them
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E-mail: gaynor [at] zoology.ubc.ca

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My entry point into science was a fascination with animal behaviour, and as I spent more time observing wild animals, I came to realize that so many aspects of their behaviour are shaped by various forms of human disturbance. My interests have since evolved to include the cascading consequences of human disturbance for ecological communities, and the social dimensions of human-wildlife coexistence. My current research program is thus grounded in a fundamental interest in behavioural and community ecology, with an increasingly applied and interdisciplinary focus, and collaboration is my favorite aspect of research. Outside of science, I find joy in cooking vegetables, riding my bike, fostering community, finding new hiking trails, and exploring new cities.

Gaurav Singh-Varma
Lab Manager

Pronouns: he/him
Email: gaurav.singhvarma [at] ubc.ca
Gaurav Singh-Varma joined the lab as a Lab manager in Fall 2023. Gaurav has completed a MSc with Dr. Claire Kremen and Dr. Angela Brennan in the Working to Restore Connectivity and Sustainability Lab (WoRCS) where he investigated the effects of sustainable and diversified agricultural systems on mammalian movement and functional connectivity in European landscapes. He is generally interested in employing, quantitative, spatial predictive models to elucidate relationships in movement and connectivity ecology across hostile, disturbed landscapes, while applying his research to environmental policy monitoring and evaluation. In the future, Gaurav hopes to apply his knowledge and skills to questions pertaining to the behavioural and demographic consequences of anthropogenic development on movement and functional connectivity. Outside of research, Gaurav loves playing ice hockey, hiking, cooking, and spending time with friends and family, who count on his knack for finding the best spots to eat.

Kwasi Wrensford
Postdoc, Biodiversity Research Centre, UBC

Pronouns: he/him
Email: kwrensfo [at] mail.ubc.ca
Kwasi Wrensford joined the lab as a Biodiversity Research Centre Postdoc in Fall 2023, funded by a US National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology. Kwasi's work focuses on developing models to predict climate change induced range shifts in a variety of mammalian taxa, as well as deploying a wildlife monitoring program in southern Canada to study variation in bobcat's climate-induced range shifts. Kwasi received his PhD in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, where he studied the role of behaviour in population responses to climate change in two species of chipmunk. Outside of research, Kwasi enjoys exploring the outdoors, cooking, and making music!

​See more at Kwasi's website: http://kwrensford.weebly.com/​

Jenny Green
MSc student, Geography, UBC

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Pronouns: she/her
Email: jg1121 [at] student.ubc.ca​
Jenny joined the Gaynor Lab in Fall 2022 as a MSc student in Geography and is co-advised by Dr. Naomi Schwartz. She is working with the National Park Service in Yosemite to analyze black bear movement and behaviour in relation to human recreational patterns. She strives to do research that could ultimately improve human-wildlife coexistence. Her prior experience includes camera trap analysis for understanding puma movement in Northern California, Sherman-trapping of small mammals on Mt. Evans, CO to study high-altitude ecophysiology, as well as grey wolf “cluster searching” in Cody, Wyoming to investigate wolf kills and the associated wolf-livestock conflict. When she’s not in school or in the field she enjoys hiking, birdwatching, climbing, and attempting to ski!

Gopal Khanal
PhD student, Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, UBC

Pronouns: he/him
Email: gkhanal [at] student.ubc.ca​
Gopal is a PhD student at IRES, UBC. He is interested in understanding the interface between humans and wildlife. His doctoral research seeks to better understand the socio-ecological drivers of livestock depredation by snow leopards, capitalizing on the recent conceptual advances in prey-predator interaction and landscape of fear theories. Before joining UBC, Gopal worked for the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC), Government of Nepal for four years as a conservation officer. His prior research engagement encompasses diverse species, including conducting camera trapping surveys of snow leopards to estimate their abundance and distribution, and socio-ecological surveys of river dolphins to understand their responses to anthropogenic factors. Apart from his work, Gopal loves running, hiking, and playing outdoor games.

Nicholas Wright
PhD student, Zoology, UBC

Pronouns: he/him
Email: nwright5 [at] student.ubc.ca
Nick joined the lab as a PhD student in Zoology in Fall 2023. He is interested in mammal community ecology, trophic downgrading, and human-wildlife coexistence in African ecosystems. For his graduate research he will study the cascading effects of the reintroduction of African wild dogs on herbivore niche space, vegetation structure, and human livelihoods in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. He has previously done research in a wide range of socio-ecological systems including studying salmon in California, land-use change in Southwestern agricultural communities, and the effect of hunter-gatherer communities on wildlife populations in Tanzania. Nick loves spending time hiking, playing board games, discovering obscure animal facts, and hanging out with his dog.

Sofia Nhalungo
MSc student, Biodiversity Management and Conservation, UEM

Pronouns: she/her/ela
E-mail: sofia.nhalungo [at] gmail.com
Sofia André Nhalungo is a Masters student in Biodiversity Management and Conservation at Eduardo Mondlane University, in Maputo, Mozambique, supervised by Dr. Valério Macandza and co-supervised by Kaitlyn. She is studying the flight behaviour and population structure of impala in hunting and ecotourism areas in Niassa Special Reserve. Her studies are funded by the Mozambique Conservation Leadership Programme, implemented by the Foundation for Biodiversity Conservation, which has the main objective of attracting and motivating talented young people to conserve biodiversity in the country. Before starting the Masters degree, under the same programme, Sofia was the beneficiary of a 1-year professional internship at the institution responsible for managing biodiversity in Mozambique (National Administration of Conservation Areas), where she worked on the licensing of trophy hunting and where the inspiration for her Masters thesis came from. In addition to studying and working, she enjoys spending time at church, listening to music, and reading Christian books.

Beto Tenente
Research Associate

Pronouns: he/him/ele
E-mail: betot [at] gorongosa.net
Beto Soares Campaunde Tenente is a Research Associate affiliated with the Gaynor Lab, holding a primary appointment in the Pringle Lab at Princeton University. In his work with the Gaynor Lab, Beto leads the fieldwork for WildCam Gorongosa, our long-running camera trap program in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. Beto has a degree in Forestry Engineering, a postgraduate degree in Management of Development Projects in NGOs, and was part of the second class of the Masters in Conservation Biology in GNP. His passion is conservation and restoration of biodiversity and natural ecosystems, especially terrestrial ecosystems. His plans for the future are to continue to work on monitoring biodiversity restoration and ecosystem changes, and interactions between species. Beto would also like to contribute to biodiversity management programs looking at the development of communities residing in and around conservation areas.