Tristan Nuñez

Tristian is the Assistant Unit Leader for Wildlife in the Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and Assistant Professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology at the University of Maine. Prior to joining the Maine Unit in 2023, Dr. Nuñez served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington (researching how animals help plants move in response to climate change) and at the University of Wyoming (developing methods to predict deer migration routes). He received a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, during which he studied the movement ecology of hippos, and a master's from the University of Washington focused on mapping corridors for species to move in response to climate change.  Dr. Nuñez's research interests center on understanding why animals are found where they are, how animals move, how animal movements affect their conservation and the ecosystems around them. He uses a range of methods, including movement, connectivity, and habitat analyses, spatial data science, and traditional statistical and optimization approaches.