Academic CV

Education

• B.S. in Biology, University of Padova, 2010
• M.S. in Environmental Biology, University of Trieste, 2012
• Ph.D in Biodiversity and Ecology, University of Gottingen, 2019

Work experience

• 2024 - ongoing: Research fellowship
  • Urban Wildlife Institute
  • Hauman-wildlife coexistence, One Health, Hierarchical Bayesian Analysis
  • Supervisor: Dr. Seth Magle, Dr. Maureen Murray
• 2019 - ongoing: Research fellowship
  • University of Toronto
  • Habitat selection models, landscape connectivity, Species occupancy, Agent-based modeling, Machine learning
  • Supervisor: Dr. Marie-Josee Fortin
• 2014-2019: Doctorate research
  • German Primate Center
  • Agent-based modeling, Behavioral sampling, Population genetics sample, extraction and analysis.
  • Supervisor: Dr. Eckhard W. Heymann
• 2013-2014: Research assistant
  • Max Planck Institute
  • Molecular methods
• 2012-2013: Master research
  • Helmholtz centre for Ocean research
  • Mesocosm design, behavioral observation, photosynthetic productivity assessement, Environmental calibration to recreate climate change
  • Supervisor: Dr. Martin Wahl
• Summer 2011: Internship - Behavioral observations - University of Victoria
• Summer 2010: Internship - Ecotoxicological lab - University of Trieste
• Summer 2010: Internship - WWF protected area Miramare

Publications

Effects of zoochory (animal seed dispersal) on the spatial genetic structure of plant populations.

Gelmi-Candusso, T. A., Heymann, E. W., and Heer, K. (2017). Effects of zoochory on the spatial genetic structure of plant populations. Molecular Ecology. 26, 5896–5910. https://doi:10.1111/mec.14351.

Frugivore behavior and plant spatial genetics

Gelmi-Candusso, T. A. (2019). Frugivore behavior and plant spatial genetic. Doctorate thesis. http://dx.doi.org/10.53846/goediss-7285

Estimating seed dispersal distance: a comparison of methods using animal movement and plant genetic data

Gelmi-Candusso, T. A., Bialozyt, R., Slana. D., Zarate–Gomez R., Heymann, E. W., and Heer, K. (2019). Estimating seed dispersal distance: a comparison of methods using animal movement and plant genetic data on two primate–dispersed Neotropical plant species. Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5422

Seeds and the City: The Interdependence of Zoochory and Ecosystem Dynamics in Urban Environments

Gelmi-Candusso, T.A., Hämäläinen, A. (2019) "Seeds and the city: the interdependence of zoochory and ecosystem dynamics in urban environments." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00041

Building urban predator-prey networks using camera traps

Gelmi-Candusso TA, Brimacombe C., Collinge Ménard G., Fortin MJ. (2023) Building urban predator-prey networks using camera traps. Food Webs https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2023.e00305

The effect of urbanization and behavioral factors on coyote net displacement and its implications for seed dispersal

Gelmi-Candusso TA, Wheeldon TJ, Patterson BR, Fortin MJ. (2023) The effect of urbanization and behavioral factors on coyote net displacement and its implications for seed dispersal. In review. Urban Ecosystems.

Unveiling Urban Complexity: Research note on integrating OpenStreetMap to enhance representation of fine-scale landscape heterogeneity

Gelmi-Candusso, Tiziana A. ;Rodriguez, Peter; Fortin, Marie-Josée (2023) Unveiling Urban Complexity: Research note on integrating OpenStreetMap to enhance representation of fine-scale landscape heterogeneity bioRxiv

Dynamic connectivity assessment for a terrestrial predator in a metropolitan region.

Gelmi-Candusso TA, Chin ATM, Thompson CA, McLaren AAD, Wheeldon TJ, Patterson BR, Fortin MJ. (2024) Dynamic connectivity assessment for a terrestrial predator in a metropolitan region. Frontiers in Ecology and the environment. . doi:10.1002/fee.2633.

Talks

The influence of animal behavior on plant population genetics

September 05, 2016

Presentation at Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Marburg, Germany

How does territoriality behavior of seed dispersers affect spatial genetics of dispersed plants?

February 06, 2017

Presentation at European Conference of Tropical Ecology, Brussels, Belgium

Landscape connectivity for coyotes in the Toronto region

May 10, 2020

Presentation at IALE-North America Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada

Landscape connectivity for coyotes in the Toronto region

April 16, 2021

Presentation at Atwood Colloquium in Ecology & Evolution, Toronto, Canada

A review of key urban features affecting mammalian mesopredator movement across cities

May 25, 2021

Presentation at International Urban Wildlife Conference, Portland, Oregon

Coyotes as seed dispersers in urbanized landscapes

August 14, 2021

Presentation at Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution Meeting, Vancouver, Canada

Training an object classifier for the urban ecosystem

September 29, 2022

Presentation at CamTrap Ecology meets AI Workshop, Virtual venue

The spatial ecology of urban mammals in Toronto

November 18, 2022

Invited Seminar at Seminar series Biology, University of Toronto: Mississauga

Teaching

Omniscape workshop

Service and leadership

• Lead partner for Toronto in the Urban Wildlife Information Network (UWIN)
• Selection panel for undergraduate and graduate awards at EEB, University of Toronto
• Mentorship of ten undergraduate student and one graduate student at EEB, University of Toronto.

Full version

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