Research Projects/Interests

The behaviour, ecology and management of mammals; Wildlife crime; Air quality and environmental justice, Environmental games in teaching and research; Environmental psychology & behavior; Human-wildlife conflict; Wild horses - ecology, history, philosophy and politics; Environmental science in society and its communication.

Available student projects

I have a number of projects in progress and ideas for new projects that would make excellent studies for student research, internships or thesis. For example:

- People's relationships with nature and biodiversity

- Urban wildlife conflict and management

- Invasive species - auditing evidenced-based policy and practice.

Finding me on-line

Listen to my podcast on 'Talking Feral'...

or watch my presentation to Flora & Fauna, Aotearoa about New Zealand's conservation culture.

Also find me writing on-line: On SciBlogs or On my WordPress weblog

Find me on Twitter: @Politecol; @Perissodactyla

and on Facebook: Perissodactyla; Politecol

Select, recent publications

For a complete list of publications and projects visit ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Wayne_Linklater

Do environmental education fieldtrips strengthen children's connection to nature and promote environmental behaviour and wellbeing? Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology 5, 100163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2023.100163.

An update on allegations of invasive species denialism. Conservation Biology 38(1): e14223. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14223.

Games as experiments to understand why wildlife devaluation may not reduce the number killed. Journal for Nature Conservation 126219. Rudman S, Linklater W. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2022.126219

Oxpecker guarding rhino: an antidote to human overkill? Current Biology 30: 1965-1969. Plotz R, Linklater W. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.03.015

When all life counts in conservation. Conservation Biology. Wallach A, Lundgren E, Batavia C, Nelson M, Yanco E, Linklater W, Carroll S, Celermajer D, Brandis K, Steer J, Ramp D. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13447

Meta-analysis of human connection to nature and proenvironmental behavior. Conservation Biology 34: 180-193. Whitburn J, Linklater W, Abrahamse W. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13381

A conciliatory and persuasive social campaign changes owner bhavior to reduce cats' hunting. Conservation Science and Practice 6(7): e13152. MacDonald E, Farnworth M, van Heezik Y, Stafford K, Linklater W. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13152. 

Prioritizing cat-owner behaviors for a campaign to reduce wildlife depredation. Conservation Science and Practice. Linklater W, Farnworth M, van Heezik Y, Stafford K, MacDonald E. DOI: 10.1111/csp2.29

Single compounds elicit complex behavioural responses in wild, free-ranging rats. Scientific Reports, 8. Jackson M, Keyzers R, Linklater W. 2018. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-30953-1

Courses That I Teach

Introduction to Environmental Science - ENVS 10

Conservation & Society - ENVS 137

Environmental Internship - ENVS 195 (links to the course's syllabi)

Trained first as a freshwater ecologist and then later in wildlife biology, I've spent almost 25 years researching, writing and teaching about the ecology, behavior and management of a variety of animals, from caddisflies to voles, and horses to rhinoceros and elephant, in Africa, Australiam, New Zealand, North America, and Southeast-Asia.

Today, more and more of my work is about the behavior of the world's most abundant large mammal - people. I still work in wildlife biology but also to understand better the environmental behavior of people and our relationships, good and bad, with the natural world and biodiversity.

Find out more:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wlinklater

ResearchGate - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Wayne_Linklater