Quresh Latif

picture of Quresh

Research Wildlife Biologist (Post-doctoral Ecologist)

Phone:(406) 994-3002
Fax:(406) 994-5916
Email:qlatif@fs.fed.us

Address

USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station
1648 South 7th Avenue
Montana State University Campus
Bozeman, MT 59717-2780

Education

  • Ph.D., University of California (Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology), 2009
    (Dissertation: The influence of predation on avian nest habitat selection and the processes underlying nest predation patterns)
  • B. S., University of California, Davis (Wildlife and Fisheries Biology), 1998

Research Interests

  • Application of ecological models to inform wildlife conservation and management
  • Interrelationships between avian nest site selection, nest predation risk, and brood parasitism
  • Causes and consequences of habitat selection in animals

Current Projects

  1. Applying habitat suitability models and occupancy models to describe and understand forest woodpecker distributions.
  2. Simulation study of bias in occupancy model estimation of habitat relationships and occupancy trends.
  3. Analysis of avian community responses to wildfire (collaboration with V. Saab, J. Sanderlin, and W. Block).
  4. Review of literature describing wildlife responses to mountain pine beetle outbreak (collaboration with V. Saab, M. Rowland, and T. Johnson).

Publications

  • Latif, Q. S., S. K. Heath, J. T. Rotenberry. 2012. Effects of parents and Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) on nest predation risk for a songbird. Ecology and Evolution 2: 3079-3097. PDF
  • Latif, Q. S., S. K. Heath, J. T. Rotenberry. 2012. How avian nest site selection responds to predation risk: testing an "adaptive peak hypothesis". Journal of Animal Ecology 81: 127-138.
  • Latif, Q. S., S. K. Heath, J. T. Rotenberry. 2011. An "ecological trap" for Yellow Warbler nest microhabitat selection. Oikos 120: 1139-1150.
  • Latif, Q. S., S. K. Heath, G. Ballard. 2012. The nest predator assemblage for songbirds in Mono Lake basin riparian habitats. Western North American Naturalist 72: 276-287.
  • Latif, Q. S., K. D. Fleming, C. Barrows, J. T. Rotenberry. 2012. Modeling seasonal detection patterns for burrowing owl surveys. Wildlife Society Bulletin 36: 155-160.
  • Latif, Q. S., J. L. Grenier, S. K. Heath, G. Ballard, and M. Hauber. 2006. First evidence of conspecific brood parasitism in song sparrows with comments on methods sufficient to document this behavior. Condor 108: 452-458.
  • Heath, S.K., C. McCreedy, and Q. S. Latif. 2006. Recovering mixed willow black cottonwood riparian. Bird Populations 7:97-98.