PhD Program in Biology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior

Michael Usai

City College
email: usaimike@aol.com

Education

• Doctoral Candidate, City University of New York Graduate School and University Center
• Master of Arts, City College of New York, June 2000
• Bachelor of Science, State University of New York at Plattsburgh, June 1992

Dissertation Objectives

In the Atlantic Flyway, the temperate-breeding Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) population is expanding at 15% per year with much of this growth in suburban areas, resulting in an increase in citizen complaints. Geese use lawns, parks, golf courses and ball fields to forage during the day, and fly to large water bodies such as reservoirs to roost at night. Overpopulation and defecation at these sites create an aesthetic problem, habitat degradation, property damage and potential health threats as Canada Goose feces contain fecal coliform bacteria and pathogens including Cryptosporidium, Giardia and Salmonella.

Lethal control is politically unfeasible in many suburban areas, therefore non-lethal control is the primary method of managing goose problems. Non-lethal control is primarily dispersing geese with border collies or pyrotechnics. However, this management only addresses the problem at the level of the landowner and shifts the problem elsewhere.

This study will investigate age specific natal and breeding dispersal and the feasibility of using the dynamics of a source-sink metapopulation via a coordinated program of non-lethal and minimal lethal management to reduce the regional population. Theoretically, if dispersal from source populations to sink populations is high enough, the growth rate of the metapopulation will decrease. There are data to suggest the Canada Goose population in Rockland County, in southeastern New York State acts as a source-sink metapopulation. The dispersal and dynamics of the Canada Goose population in suburban Rockland County will be investigated using radio transmitters, colored tarsal bands and ten years of banding and neck collaring data obtained from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

A matrix model will be developed using MATLAB to predict the effects of differing types and levels of management action on dispersal and thus the local and regional population dynamics of this species. The model will be temporally and spatially scaleable and can be a tool for wildlife managers to evaluate lethal and non-lethal management actions on a local and regional scale to predict subsequent dispersal patterns and formulate a suitable management plan. The product will be a hierarchically structured model, including modular subsets, such that the effects of various management options can be simulated on several spatial and temporal scales.

Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Robert Rockwell
Hudson Bay Project: Ecosystem Studies and Conservation of Coastal Arctic Tundra

Publications/Presentations

1998: Poster Presentation - Nadareski, Christopher, and M. L. Usai. The Management of Waterfowl and Gull Populations on a New York City Reservoir. New York Natural Heritage Conference V. NY State Museum, Albany.

Usai, Michael L. 1998. Dovekie (Alle alle), in Bull’s Birds of New York State. E. Levine, ed., Comstock Publishing Associates. Pgs 310-311.

Usai, Michael L. 1998 Razorbill (Alca torda), in Bull’s Birds of New York State. E. Levine, ed., Comstock Publishing Associates. Pgs 310-311.

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