Josh Pickering

PhD. Student - he/him
Josh Pickering

Josh Pickering is a community ecologist interested in spatio-temporal trends and trophic interactions influencing bird communities. His current research focuses on evaluating long-term trends and response of breeding birds to adaptive white-tailed deer management at Long Point, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada, following a prolonged period of deer overabundance.

It is well-known that overabundant white-tailed deer populations in North America have significant and often detrimental effects on ecosystems, yet few studies have examined the recovery of ecological communities - especially a breeding bird community - after a period of deer overabundance. It is the goal of this research to; assess trends in breeding bird species over time, evaluate community responses to changes in vegetation, local climate, and regional bird populations, and analyze regional differences to inform bird conservation efforts in Ontario.

This research at the University of Waterloo is supported by Birds Canada, Mitacs, an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), and a President's Graduate Scholarship.