Photo of Kelley Stewart, Extension

Kelley Stewart

Professor

Summary

I am interested in population ecology of large mammals, and effects of density dependence on population growth, movement patterns, habitat selection, and both inter- and intraspecific competition.  I am also interested in community-level effects of population dynamics of large mammals, such as changes in plant growth, community structure, and trophic cascades.

Education

BS (1993) University of California Davis
MS (1997) Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute Texas A&M University - Kingsville
PhD (2004) Dept of Biology & Wildlife, & Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Honors and Awards

  • 2012 Teacher of the Year Award College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources
  • 2005 Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2 years) Dept. Biological Sciences, Idaho State University
  • 2004 Graduate Fellowship (6 months): Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Foundation
  • 2003 Graduate Fellowship (1 year): Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Foundation
  • 2002 Robert I. Larus Prize: 53rd Arctic American Association for Advancement of Science Conference (Best presentation by a graduate student)
  • 2002 Graduate Fellowship (6 months): Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Foundation
  • 2001 Graduate Fellowship: Graduate School, University of Alaska Fairbanks
  • 1996 Gamma Sigma Delta, Agricultural Honor Society
  • 1994 Graduate Fellowship (3 years): Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Foundation

Service

  • Chair Technical Session, Nevada Chapter of The Wildlife Society Symposium, Reno, NV. January 2012
  • Chair Honorary Membership and Special Recognition Service Award, The Wildlife Society, 2011 to present
  • Presentation for Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners, March 2011
  • Chair Technical Session, Nevada Chapter of The Wildlife Society Symposium, Reno, NV. January 2011
  • Chair Technical Session North American Moose Conference and Workshop Pocatello, ID – 2009    
  • Faculty advisor: UNR Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society 2008 - Present
  • Resolutions Committee: American Society of Mammalogists 2004 - 2010
  • Organizing Committee: 2009 Annual Meeting of The Wildlife Society
  • Organizing Committee: 10th Western Black Bear Workshop 2009

News & Journal Articles, Fact Sheets, Reports...

Book Chapter(s)
Decision making and monitoring strategies in natural resource management and conservation. Gerber, B., Williams, P. J. 2020, In Yeqiao Wang (Ed.), Handbook of Natural Resources, Second Edition. CRC Press
Bulletins
Use of private lands for foraging by California spotted owls in the central Sierra Nevada. Williams, P. J., S. H. Whitmore, and R. J. Gutierrez. 2014, Wildlife Society Bulletin 38:705-709.
Occupancy dynamics of breeding crawfish frogs in southeastern Indiana. Williams, P. J., J. R. Robb, and D. R. Karns. 2012, Wildlife Society Bulletin 36:350-357
Journals
a group of wood ducks perched on horizontal wood fence
Use of mercury in mining 125 years ago continues to impact waterfowl populations: Implications for current artisanal gold mining
Legacy mercury from historic gold mining continues to expose wildlife in Nevada’s Carson River. Using archived wood duck feathers, we show that high-flow years mobilize buried mercury and increase exposure through aquatic plants and invertebrates, posing lasting ecological and human health risks.
 Morgan A Byrne, Mae Sexauer Gustin, Chris A. Nicolai, and Perry J. Williams 2025, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 1009, 180966, ISSN 0048-9697,
Comparing contemporary models to traditional indices to estimate abundance of desert bighorn sheep Blum, M. E., Buderman, F. E., Bennett, J. R., Stewart, K. M., Cox, M., & Williams, P. J. 2024, The Journal of Wildlife Management, 88(2), e22517
Rayleigh step-selection functions and connections to continuous-time mechanistic movement models Eisaguirre, J.M., Williams, P.J. & Hooten, M.B. 2024, Mov Ecol 12, 14
A hierarchical modelling framework for estimating individual- and population-level reproductive success from movement data. Eisaguirre, J. M., Williams, P. J., Brockman, J. C., Lewis, S. B., Barger, C. P., Breed, G. A., & Booms, T. L. 2023, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 14(8), 2110-2122
Informing management of recovering predators and their prey with ecological diffusion models. Eisaguirre, J. M., Williams, P. J., Lu, X., Kissling, M. L., Schuette, P. A., Weitzman, B. P., Beatty, W. S., Esslinger, G. G., Womble, J. N., & Hooten, M. B. 2023, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 21(10), 479-488
Henslow’s Sparrow shows positive response to prescribed fire rotation Keating, M. P., Williams, P. J., Robb, J. R., Buderman, F. E., Lewis, J. P., Vanosdol, T., & Harer, R. 2023, Ornithological Applications, 125(3)
Embracing asymmetry in nature: How to account for skewness in ecological data. Williams, P. J., Lu, X., Scharf, H. R., & Hooten, M. B. 2023, Ecological Informatics, 75, 102085
Constructing flexible, identifiable, and interpretable statistical models for binary data Scharf, HR, X Lu, PJ Williams, and MB Hooten 2022, International Statistical Review 90:328-345
Estimating survival and adoption rates of dependent juveniles Street, P, TV Riecke, PJ Williams, TL Behnke, and JS Seidiger 2022, Ecology and Evolution, Volume12, Issue6 June 2022 e9005
Recursive Bayesian computation facilitates adaptive optimal design in ecological studies. Leach, C. B., Williams, P. J., Eisaguirre, J. M., Womble, J. N., Bower, M. R., & Hooten, M. B. 2021, Ecology, Volume103, Issue2
Individual heterogeneity in fitness in a long-lived herbivore. Lohman, M. G., Riecke, T. V., Williams, P. J., & Sedinger, J. S. 2021, Ecology and Evolution, 11(21), 15164–15173
Diffusion modeling reveals effects of multiple release sites and human activity on a recolonizing apex predator. Williams, P. J., Eisaguirre, J. M., Lu, X., Kissling, M. L., Beatty, W. S., Esslinger, G. G., … Hooten, M. B. 2021, Movement Ecology, 9(34)
Harbor seals as sentinels of ice dynamics in tidewater glacier fjords. Womble, J. N., Williams, P. J., McNabb, R. W., Prakash, A., Gens, R., Sedinger, B. S., & Acevedo, C. R. 2021, Frontiers in Marine Science, 8
Long-term research and hierarchical models reveal consistent fitness costs of being the last egg in a clutch. Acevedo, C. R., Riecke, T. V., Leach, A. G., Lohman, M., Williams, P. J., Sedinger, J. S. 2020, Journal of Animal Ecology, 89(8), 1978-1987
Nonlinear reaction-diffusion process models improve inference for population dynamics. Lu, X., Williams, P. J., Hooten, M., Powell, J., Womble, J., Bower, M. 2020, Environmetrics, 31(3), e2604
Estimating reproduction and survival of unmarked juveniles from marked parents. Williams, P. J., Schroeder, C., Jackson, P. 2020, Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics
The rise of an apex predator following deglaciation. Williams, P. J., Hooten, M. B., Esslinger, G. G., Womble, J. N., Bodkin, J. L., Bower, M. R. 2019, Diversity and Distributions, 25(6), 895-908.
Model Selection using Multi-Objective Optimization. Williams, P. J., Kendall, W. L., Hooten, M. B. 2019, Ecological Modelling, 404, 21-26
A guide to Bayesian model checking for ecologists. Conn, P., Johnson, D., Williams, P. J., Melin, S., Hooten, M. 2018, Ecological Monographs Volume 88, Issue 4
Monitoring dynamic spatio-temporal ecological processes optimally. Williams, P. J., M. B. Hooten, J. N. Womble, G. G. Esslinger, and M. R. Bower. 2018, Ecology 99:524-535
A guide to multi-objective optimization for ecological problems. Williams, P. J., and W. L. Kendall. 2017, Ecological Modelling 343:54-67
Estimating occupancy and abundance using aerial images with imperfect detection. Williams, P. J., M. B. Hooten, J. N. Womble, and M. R. Bower. 2017, Methods in Ecology and Evolution 8:1679-1689
An integrated data model to estimate spatio-temporal occupancy, abundance, and colonization dynamics. Williams, P. J., M. B. Hooten, J. N. Womble, G. G. Esslinger, M. R. Bower, and T. J. Hefley. 2017, Ecology 98:328-336
Combining statistical inference and decisions in ecology. Williams, P. J., and M. B. Hooten. 2016, Ecological Applications 26: 1930-194
Primates and Cameras: Non-invasive sampling to make population-level inferences while accounting for imperfect detection. Gerber, B. D., P. J. Williams, and L. L. Bailey. 2014, International Journal of Primatology 35:841-858
Surveying a threatened amphibian species through a narrow detection window. Williams, P. J., N. J. Engbrecht, J. R. Robb, V. C. K. Terrell, and M. J. Lannoo. 2013, Copiea 2013:552-561
Habitat selection by crawfish frogs (Lithobates areolatus) in a large mixed grassland/forest habitat. Williams, P. J., J. R. Robb, and D. R. Karns. 2012, Journal of Herpetology 46:682-688
Intraspecific density dependence in larval development of the crawfish frog, Lithobates areolatus. Williams, P. J., J. R. Robb, R. H. Kappler, T. E Piening, and D. R. Karns. 2012, Herpetological Review 43:36-38
Professional Papers
Late season frosts and changing snowpack may exacerbate human–bear conflicts
Black bears on the urban–wildland interface also use human food resources during times of scarcity. We examined the effect of winter severity on survival and human-bear conflict rates in northwestern Nevada. Late freeze dates were associated with a higher probability of conflict and reduced natural survival.
 Kevin T. Shoemaker, Heather E. Reich, Perry J. Williams, Megan J. Osterhout, Joshua P. Vasquez, Jon P. Beckmann, Carl W. Lackey, Kelley M. Stewart 2025, Ecosphere Volume16, Issue 8