Posts

Research and Studies in Untamed Social Systems

The Future of Wilderness: Conservation Through a Sociological Lens

Arguing that protecting species requires protecting their social structures, traditions, and cultural knowledge.

A survey of the cutting-edge tools that allow us to observe and interpret social behaviors without intrusion.

A detailed account of how drought and human encroachment led to the collapse of social structures in a yellow-bellied marmot town.

Tracing the intellectual roots of the field, from indigenous knowledge to post-humanist philosophy and systems theory.

Mapping the territories, feeding stations, and social hierarchies of fish in Montana's clear, cold rivers.

How these small mammals build cooperative societies in the harsh, isolated world of alpine talus slopes.

Investigating how scavengers perform a crucial sociological function, redistributing energy and connecting disparate communities.

Understanding the social strategies of a seemingly asocial creature, focusing on mating rituals and cow-calf bonds.

Analyzing how massive bison herds reach collective decisions about movement, grazing, and responding to threats.

Examining the profound social meaning embedded in the annual cycles of grizzly and black bear life in Montana.

Exploring the wood wide web: how fungal networks facilitate resource sharing and warning signals between trees and plants.

Investigating the collapse and reorganization of animal communities following wildfire, a process of societal rebirth.

How the return of apex predators reshapes the social behaviors and traditions of prey species, plants, and even streams.

Unraveling the intricate hierarchies, alliances, and reputational games played by highly intelligent corvid societies in Montana.

Examining the profound moral responsibilities inherent in studying wild societies, from informed consent to data sovereignty.