Dr. Charles Nilon is the William J. Rucker Professor in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Missouri. Charlie’s research considers the impact of urbanization on wildlife habitats, populations, and communities. From 1997–2020, he was a co-principal investigator on the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES)—one of two urban ecosystems included in the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research program. Charlie’s work with the BES focused on understanding how ecological and socioeconomic factors influence bird species composition and abundance. Charlie’s research also considers the role of nature as part of an individual’s day-to-day environment and environmental justice issues associated with access to nature. Charlie and his students have worked on projects in Columbia and St. Louis, Missouri, seeking to understand how people perceive open spaces in their neighborhood. Charlie has recently collaborated with colleagues from the University of Missouri School of Medicine on a project studying the kinds of open spaces where children are active. Since 2010, he has been a principal investigator on four synthesis projects that are compiling data from more than 150 of the world’s cities. The projects seek to understand global patterns of biodiversity in cities, the filters that shape species composition in cities, and the social and ecological factors that shape patterns of abundance in cities; they then seek to apply that information to management, conservation, and planning programs. Charlie served on SESYNC’s Scientific Review Committee.
External Links:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sW1E4foAAAAJ&hl=en
