Erin Buchholtz

Assistant Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Asst. Unit Leader - SC Cooperative Research Unit
Forestry and Environmental Conservation Department

Office: 272E Lehotsky Hall
Phone: 864-656-8558

Email: ekbuchh@clemson.edu
Vita: Download CV
Personal Website: https://buchholtzlab.weebly.com

Educational Background

Ph.D. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Applied Biodiversity Sciences
Texas A&M University 2019

B.A. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Princeton University 2011

Courses Taught

BIOL 8070: Readings in Ecology
WFB 8610: Spatial analysis for wildlife movement and landscape ecology
FNR 4700: Wild Hogs on the Clemson Experimental Forest - Creative Inquiry (undergrad research)

Profile

Dr. Buchholtz joined the Forestry and Environmental Conservation Department at Clemson University in 2022 when she became the Assistant Unit Leader of Wildlife with the South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. Prior to this position, she earned degrees in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University (BA) and Texas A&M University (PhD) before working as an ecologist with the USGS at the Fort Collins Science Center. Her research is at the nexus of wildlife movement ecology, landscape ecology, and socio-ecological systems, broadly answering the question of how landscape disturbance (be it climate change, fire, invasive species, or human development) impacts wildlife. Her work in the sagebrush biome focuses on understanding structural connectivity and connectivity for wildlife species that have different movement modalities and functional needs. She also applies principals of spatial ecology and animal movement methods to understanding human-wildlife interactions, resource access, and habitat selection, including past work with elephants in northern Botswana and upcoming work on wildlife movement in the southeastern US. She applies quantitative and spatial methods such as circuit theory and resource selection modeling to support conservation and management actions.

Research Interests

Wildlife movement; connectivity science; human-wildlife interactions

Lab Members

Tyler Tobias, MS (current)
Caroline Abramowitz, MS (current)
Sam Smith, PhD (current)
John Nettles, PhD (current, co-advised)

Publications

Buchholtz, E.K., J. Kreitler, D. Shinneman, M. Crist & J. Heinrichs, 2023. Assessing large landscape patterns of potential fire connectivity using circuit methods. Landscape Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01581-y;

Buchholtz, E. K., O’Donnell, M. S., Heinrichs, J. A., & Aldridge, C. L., 2023. Temporal patterns of structural sagebrush connectivity from 1985 to 2020. Land, 12(6), 1176. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12061176

Rogan, J.E., Parker, M.R., Hancock, Z.B., Earl, A.D., Buchholtz, E.K., Chyn, K., Martina, J. and Fitzgerald, L.A., 2023. Genetic and demographic consequences of range contraction patterns during biological annihilation. Scientific Reports, 13(1), p.1691. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28927-z;

Buchholtz, E. K., Heinrichs, J., & Crist, M. (2023). Landscape and connectivity metrics as a spatial tool to support invasive annual grass management decisions. Biological Invasions, 1-8. doi.org/10.1007/s10530-022-02945-w;

Buchholtz, E. K., McDaniels, M., McCulloch, G., Songhurst, A., & Stronza, A., 2023. A mixed-methods assessment of human-elephant conflict in the Western Okavango Panhandle, Botswana. People and Nature, 00, 1– 15. doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10443;

Sofaer, HR, CS Jarnevich, EK Buchholtz, BS Cade, JT Abatzoglou, CL Aldridge, PJ Comer, D Manier, LE Parker, and JA Heinrichs. 2022. Potential cheatgrass abundance within lightly invaded areas of the Great Basin. Landscape Ecology 37, 2607–2618. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01487-9

He, H., E. Buchholtz, F. Chen, S. Vogel, and C. Yu, 2022. An agent-based model of elephant crop consumption walks using combinatorial optimization. Ecological Modelling, 464 (109852).

Buchholtz, E.K., Spragg, S., Songhurst, A., Stronza, A., McCulloch, G. and Fitzgerald, L.A., 2021. Anthropogenic impact on wildlife resource use: Spatial and temporal shifts in elephants’ access to water. African Journal of Ecology, 59(3), pp.614-623.

Ghoddousi, A., Buchholtz, E.K., Dietsch, A.M., Williamson, M.A., Sharma, S., Balkenhol, N., Kuemmerle, T. and Dutta, T., 2021. Anthropogenic resistance: accounting for human behavior in wildlife connectivity planning. One Earth, 4(1), pp.39-48.

Buchholtz, E.K., Stronza, A., Songhurst, A., McCulloch, G. and Fitzgerald, L.A., 2020. Using landscape connectivity to predict human-wildlife conflict. Biological Conservation, 248, p.108677.

Buchholtz, E., Fitzgerald, L., Songhurst, A., McCulloch, G. and Stronza, A., 2020. Experts and elephants: local ecological knowledge predicts landscape use for a species involved in human-wildlife conflict. Ecology and Society, 25(4).

Kapsar, K.E., Hovis, C.L., Bicudo da Silva, R.F., Buchholtz, E.K., Carlson, A.K., Dou, Y., Du, Y., Furumo, P.R., Li, Y., Torres, A. and Yang, D., 2019. Telecoupling research: The first five years. Sustainability, 11(4), p.1033.

Buchholtz, E.K., Redmore, L., Fitzgerald, L.A., Stronza, A., Songhurst, A. and McCulloch, G., 2019. Temporal partitioning and overlapping use of a shared natural resource by people and elephants. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7, p.117.

Buchholtz, E., Fitzgerald, L., Songhurst, A., McCulloch, G. and Stronza, A., 2019. Overlapping landscape utilization by elephants and people in the Western Okavango Panhandle: implications for conflict and conservation. Landscape Ecology, 34(6), pp.1411-1423.

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