Brogan Holcombe
M.S. Student
Wildlife Conservation & Sciences
Virginia Tech
Research Interest
I am broadly interested in wildlife behavioral ecology, how species utilize the landscape, and how species are potentially interacting with humans (possibly leading to human-wildlife conflicts).
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I have experience working with large-scale data sets and mentoring undergraduate students on data entry and research projects. In graduate school, I am honing my quantitative ecology skills as well as developing a GIS skillset. Additionally, I enjoy mentoring undergraduate students and increasing diversity through public outreach.
Current Research
Master's Thesis, Virginia Tech | January 2020 – Present
Video Collar Video Data from Black Bears for Behavioral & Foraging Analysis
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Analyzed videos from video-enabled camera output and recorded each behavior the black bear exhibited in addition to habitat variables, species interactions, and foraging variable
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Combined video-enabled camera output with simultaneously captured GPS data to better interpret wild black bear behavior (type, timing, duration, location) and identify valuable information for bear management
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Utilized data to document and analyze wild black bear foraging activity and resource selection patterns in a predominantly forested landscape to evaluate elements of black bear foraging decision
Fieldwork | January 2020 – June 2020-
Assisted in collection of bear collars in remote locations within Bath County, VA
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Set up trail cameras at collared black bear den sites to study den emergence
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Black Bear Behavioral Data Analysis for Hibernation Research
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Analyze video-recorded observations of five hibernating captive female black bears at Virginia Tech’s Black Bear Research Center (September 2015 to May 2016) to better understand hibernation behavior and its implications to management
2019-2020 - Mentored 2 students for this research project
Resulting in 2 presentations, 1 Fralin Undergraduate Research Fellowship (FURF)
2020-2021 - Mentored 3 students for this research project
Resulting in 1 VT internal report, 1 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
Selected Past Research Experience
Smithsonian National Zoological Park | Elephant Research Team | Washington D.C.
Animal Behavior Research Intern | January – June 2019 | 25 hrs/week | Supervisor – Jilian Fazio, Ph.D.
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Worked closely with zoo researcher and animal care staff on an ongoing study to evaluate the addition of automatic feeders, enrichment items, and barrel feeders to enclosures and their effect on Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) behavior and welfare at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park.
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Conducted live behavioral observations and past recorded video behavioral observations (30-minute continuous observations & 24-hour sampling observations) of 7 Asian elephants (6 females & 1 male) to monitor behavior activity patterns before and after installing automatic feeders, enrichment feeders, and barrel feeders in hopes to reduce and minimize stereotypic, bored and stress behaviors in all individuals.
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Analyzed 24-hour data, 30 minutes continuous, and live observations to get a comprehensive understanding on the herd and individual elephant's behaviors before and after installation of various feeders to produce activity budgets for keeper's use (to adjust activities for individuals as needed) and for on-going feeder study.
Virginia Tech, Department of Fish & Wildlife Conservation, Blacksburg, VA
Lab Manager | Wildlife Habitat & Population Analysis (WHAPA) Lab
June 2017 – January 2020 | Supervisor – Marcella Kelly, Ph.D
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Trained and supervised 100+ undergraduates in photo data entry, ocelot & jaguar individual identification, and video behavioral observations while maintaining up-to-date data entry as to not fall behind in analysis
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Supervisor to three paid lab members & responsible for overseeing activities & approving timesheets
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Conduct quality check on data collected from 2001-present entered by undergraduates within the lab and prepare it for use by Dr. Kelly, researchers, and graduate students through various modeling methods
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Coordinated and executed server organization plan to systematize raw data (photo and video), field data, habitat data, data entry, analysis, reports, and other resources used in the WHAPA lab
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Organized and analyzed data for seven different projects (listed below) in the WHAPA lab
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Mentored thirteen past and three current undergraduate students on independent undergraduate research projects
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Manage social media accounts activities and post for the WHAPA lab on Twitter (@whapavt) and Facebook
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Assisted Dr. Kelly in the planning of outreach events and workshops in association with the WHAPA Lab and with the Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society at Virginia Tech
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Assist with writing annual reports submitted to the Belize Dept. of Forestry and other reports for government departments (i.e., Rio Bravo Conservation & Management Area and S.C. Dept. of Natural Resources).
Jaguar Ecology Project Field Assistant
Orange Walk District, Belize, Central America
May – June 2017 & 2019 | Supervisor – Marcella Kelly, Ph.D
8-10 hrs a day | 5-6 days a week
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Setting up, programming, checking, and troubleshooting 140 trail cameras across four different study sites in the Orange Walk District (Programme for Belize: Rio Bravo Conservation & Management Area (Hill Bank & La Milpa), Gallon Jug Estates, and the Yalbac Ranch and Cattle Company)
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Learned manual GPS orienteering and extensive map orienteering skills
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Hiked long distances regularly (between 3km-16km a day) in humid, tropical weather conditions, cutting trails through a thick rainforest with machetes to reach camera stations
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Lived in rugged living conditions in the field house in a remote village for five weeks, daily field house maintenance, and preparation of daily meals
2016 – 2019 Belize Jaguar Population Density Estimations Annual Reports
March 2017 – February 2020 | Supervisor – Marcella Kelly, Ph.D.​
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Sorted raw photo data and built "capture histories" identification logs in Excel for individual jaguars
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Created input files with detection and non-detection data for camera stations to determine population levels across four study sites in Belize with human impacts (sustainable logging, agriculture)
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Used population density modeling with program DENSITY to find jaguar population levels for the annual report for the Rio Bravo Conservation & Management Area and Belize Department of Forestry
2018-2019 - Mentored four students on this process (resulting in 2 presentations)
Co-Existence Ecology of Large Predators in Belize
Senior Capstone Project - Independent Research
April 2017 – July 2020 | Collaboration – Marcella Kelly, Ph.D.
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Built "capture histories" identification logs in Excel for individual ocelots and jaguars; including date, time, and location of capture, for ocelots across study sites
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Created input files with detection and non-detection data for camera stations to see occupancy and detection to test if co-occurrence between species is influenced by density or sex
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Ran 400+ occupancy modeling with program PRESENCE to determine how large predators (jaguars, pumas, and ocelots) co-occur across four study sites in Belize
Publication - Holcombe, B.E.; and Kelly, M.J. (2020). "Co-occurrence Modeling Uncovers Temporal and Sex-Mediated Trends in Occupancy and Detection of Jaguars (Panthera onca)." Wild Felid Monitor. Vol. 14, Issue 1 (Found here)
Efficiency and Accuracy Comparison of HotSpotter v. Wild-ID
January 2018 – March 2020 | Collaboration with Marcella Kelly, PhD. & Rob Nipko, M.S. student
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Worked with HotSpotter & Wild-ID, free downloadable pattern recognition software, to identify 350+ individual ocelots by coat pattern from non-invasive camera data collected in Belize
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Conducted efficiency and accuracy trials for both programs to determine their ability to correctly identifying individual ocelots based on a database of reference images of varying quality
Publication - Nipko, R.B.; Holcombe, B.E.; Kelly, M.J. (2020). "Identifying individual felids via pattern-recognition software: comparing HotSpotter & Wild-ID." Wildlife Society Bulletin, 1-10. DOI: 10.1002/wsb.1086 (Found here)
South Carolina Black Bear Hair Snare Data Analysis
July 2019 – February 2020 | WHAPA Lab collaboration with Kayla Brantley, S.C. Dept. of Natural Resources
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Assisted in the analysis of photo data from hair snare sites setup for black bears in South Carolina in hopes to assess the efficiency of snare design through the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
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Analyzed photo data to find patterns in snare design based on hair findings from snares over eight weeks at 20 stations and understand the effectiveness of the snares
Scavenging Behavior Study with Dual Trail Camera
January 2019 – December 2020 | Virginia Appalachian Carnivore Study (VACSII)
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Assisted in designing data entry method & sheet for entry and analysis
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Assisted in analyzing photos and videos of trail cameras put by deer carcasses to study predatory and scavenging behaviors of target species (black bears, bobcats, and coyotes)
2018-2019 - Mentored one student on this process (resulting in 1 presentation)
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Fieldwork | November 2019 – June 2020
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Assisted in collection of deer carcasses (with permission from the Virginia Department of Transportation) to study predatory and scavenging behaviors of black bears, bobcats, and coyotes
Bobcat Identification in South Florida through HotSpotter Program
November 2019 – February 2020 | Supervisors – Michael Cherry, PhD., Heather Abernathy, Ph.D.
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Worked with HotSpotter (a free downloadable pattern recognition software) to identify 5000+ images of 600+ individual bobcats by coat pattern from non-invasive camera data collected in South Florida as a part of Virginia Tech's Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) study across three years and two different sites
Image from The Virginia Wildlife Center - https://www.wildlifecenter.org/critter-corner/archive-patient/bobcat-17-2495
Collared Bobcat Behavioral Data Analysis
July 2018 – February 2020 | Virginia Appalachian Carnivore Study (VACSII)
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Watched videos of collared bobcats and recorded each behavior of a bobcat over the duration of the video
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Analyzed data used to study the behavior of collared bobcat in a controlled area v. collared bobcat in the wild
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Assisted in designing data entry method & sheet for entry
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Conducted in-depth analysis of behavioral changes over time to gain greater insight into bobcat's behavior
2018-2019 -Mentored 2 students on this project
(resulting in 1 presentation)
Collared Coyote Behavioral Data Analysis
July 2018 – October 2018 | Virginia Appalachian Carnivore Study (VACSII)
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Examined videos of captive collared coyote and recorded each behavior coyote exhibited during the video
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Analyzed data used to study the behavior of collared coyotes in a controlled area v. wild collared coyotes
Deer Hair Sample Analysis for Scat Identification Project
September 2016 – February 2019 | Marcella Kelly, PhD., J. Bernardo Mesa-Cruz, Ph.D., Tim Calhoun, B.S.
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Organized 300+ hair samples, collected from the head, back, and belly of deer of fawn and adult deer collected by the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries (now Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources) & the Wildlife Center of Virginia
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Prepared 300+ hair samples on a microscope slide for measuring
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Measured the width of five different locations on each hair, including proximal, medial, and distal portions, using a microscope viewing & measuring program
2018-2019 - Mentored one student (resulting in 3 presentations, one publication in review - link coming soon!)
Mystic Aquarium | Research Department | Mystic, CT
Research Intern | September – December 2018
40-45 hours per week | Supervisors – Paul Anderson, Ph.D
Project #1: Five Year Analysis of Marine Fish Survival from Vendors to Mystic Aquarium
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Statistical analysis of incoming shipments into Fish & Invertebrates Department to
assess vendor survival, individual survival, species survival, and seasonal survival
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Project #2: Florida Native Marine Fish Sustainable Species Selection Analysis
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Researched life-history traits of top 100 marine tropical fish that are collected in
Florida annual and rain principal components analysis to assess if species are
best suited for aquaculture or wild-caught
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Project #3: USA Imported Marine Fish Sustainable Species Selection Analysis
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Researched life-history traits of top 130 marine tropical fish that are imported into the USA annually for the aquarium trade to see which species are best suited for aquaculture or be sustainably wild-caught
Writing Manuscript | December 2018 – Present
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Writing a manuscript for Project #3: USA Imported Marine Fish Sustainable Species Selection Analysis for peer-reviewed publication on the results from the analysis to aid researchers in choosing sustainable and feasible species for aquaculture research and development.
