National Wildlife Research Center Scientist Travis L. DeVault

National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC)

Dr. Travis L. DeVault
Research Wildlife Biologist

Contact Information

Address: Wildlife Services, NWRC Ohio Field Station, 6100 Columbus Avenue, Sandusky, Ohio 44870
Telephone: 419.625.0242
Fax: 419.625.8465
E-mail: travis.l.devault@aphis.usda.gov

NWRC Research Project: New Technologies to Deter Wildlife from Airports and Aircraft

Dr. Travis L. DeVault is the Field Station and Project Leader for the USDA APHIS Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) Sandusky, OH, Field Station. He earned a Ph.D. in wildlife ecology from Purdue University where he studied foraging behaviors and movement patterns of vultures and other vertebrate scavengers at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. After a postdoctoral appointment at Purdue, Dr. DeVault worked as a research wildlife biologist for NWRC in central New York for two years. While there, he researched issues associated with predation on sportfish by double-crested cormorants in the Great Lakes states. He has been at the NWRC Ohio Field Station since 2008.

Dr. DeVault has led multiple studies in basic and applied wildlife ecology, including investigations of vertebrate food habits and foraging strategies, trophic interactions in terrestrial ecosystems, endangered species management in highly altered environments, and wildlife depredation in agricultural systems. In his current work at the NWRC Ohio Field Station, he leads a research program dedicated to the development of strategies to reduce wildlife strikes with aircraft. In addition to his appointment with NWRC, Dr. DeVault is an adjunct professor at Purdue University and Cornell University.

Expertise Keywords

Agriculture, aviation, birdstrike, community ecology, fish-eating birds, food habits, foraging behavior, scavengers, trophic interactions, wildlife hazards

Taxonomic Groups of Interest

Double-crested cormorant, turkey vulture, black vulture, least tern, American crow, raccoon, ring-billed gull

Current Research

Alternate land uses at airports
Bird responses to aircraft approach
Lethal enhancement of nonlethal hazing
Reproductive status of double-crested cormorants at colonies in the eastern United States
Evaluation of the response of fish populations in Oneida Lake, New York to cormorant management

Products/Techniques Developed or Tested

Fencing and barriers
Wildlife harassment
Lethal control

Education

Ph.D., Purdue University, Wildlife Ecology, Scavenging by vertebrates: patterns of resource acquisition and implications for multi-trophic dynamics
M.S., (thesis), Indiana State University, Ecology and Systematics, Avian communities of large reclaimed mine grasslands in southwestern Indiana
B.S., Indiana State University, Life Sciences

Certifications

USDA Wildlife Services Mentoring Program (2009-2010)
USDA, APHIS, Legislative and Public Affairs, Risk Communication Training (2009)
Congressional Operations Seminar, The Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University (2009)
Master Bird Bander (2008)
Qualified Airport Biologist (2008)
Certified Wildlife Biologist, The Wildlife Society (2007-present)
Firearms Training for Wildlife Services Biologists, Mississippi State Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy (2007)
Use of Immobilization and Euthanasia Drugs, USDA Wildlife Services Certification Course (2006)

Previous Positions

Adjunct Professor, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University (2007-present)
Research Wildlife Biologist, USDA Wildlife Servcies, National Wildlife Research Center, Central New York Office (2006-2008)
Adjunct Assistant Professor and Member of Graduate Faculty, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University (2006-present)
Postdoctoral Research Associate and Instructor, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University (2003-2006)
Visiting Graduate Researcher, University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (2000-2003)
Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University (1999-2003)
Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant, Department of Life Sciences, Indiana State University (1996-1999)

Publications:

Olson Z.H., Beasley J.C., Devault T.L., Rhodes O.E. (2012) Scavenger community response to the removal of a dominant scavenger. Oikos 121:77-84.

Moore B.A., Baumhardt P., Doppler M., Randolet J., Blackwell B.F., DeVault T.L., Loew E.R., Fernández-Juricic E. (2012) Oblique color vision in an open-habitat bird: spectral sensitivity, photoreceptor distribution and behavioral implications. The Journal of Experimental Biology 215:3442-3452. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.073957.

DeVault T.L., Belant J.L., Blackwell B.F., Martin J.A., Schmidt J.A., Wes Burger L., Jr., Patterson J.W., Jr. (2012) Airports offer unrealized potential for alternative energy production. Environ Manage 49:517-22. DOI: 10.1007/s00267-011-9803-4.

DeBruyne R.L., DeVault T.L., Duerr A.E., Capen D.E., Pogmore F.E., Jackson J.R., Rudstam L.G. (2012) Spatial and temporal comparisons of double-crested cormorant diets following the establishment of alewife in Lake Champlain, USA. Journal of Great Lakes Research 38:123-130.

Blackwell B.F., DeVault T.L., Seamans T.W., Lima S.L., Baumhardt P., Fernández-Juricic E. (2012) Exploiting avian vision with aircraft lighting to reduce bird strikes. Journal of Applied Ecology 49:758-766. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2012.02165.x.

Beasley J.C., Olson Z.H., Devault T.L. (2012) Carrion cycling in food webs: Comparisons among terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Oikos 121:1021-1026.

Biondi K.M., Belant J.L., Martin J.A., Devault T.L., Wang G. (2011) White-tailed deer incidents with U.S. civil aircraft. Wildlife Society Bulletin 35:303-309.

DeVault T.L., Olson Z.H., Beasley J.C., Rhodes O.E. (2011) Mesopredators dominate competition for carrion in an agricultural landscape. Basic and Applied Ecology 12:268-274.

Fernández-Juricic E., Moore B.A., Doppler M., Freeman J., Blackwell B.F., Lima S.L., Devault T.L. (2011) Testing the terrain hypothesis: Canada geese see their world laterally and obliquely. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 77:147-158.

Greiner E.C., Fedynich A.M., Webb S.L., Devault T.L., Rhodes Jr O.E. (2011) Hematozoa and a new haemoproteid species from cathartidae (New World Vulture) in South Carolina. Journal of Parasitology 97:1137-1139.

Martin J.A., Belant J.L., DeVault T.L., Blackwell B.F., Burger L.W., Riffell S.K., Wang G. (2011) Wildlife risk to aviation: a multi-scale issue requires a multi-scale solution. Human-wildlife interactions 5:198-203.

Wenny D.G., DeVault T.L., Johnson M.D., Kelly D., Sekercioglu C.H., Tomback D.F., Whelan C.J. (2011) The need to quantify ecosystem services provided by birds. Auk 128:1-14. DOI: 10.1525/auk.2011.10248.

Wenny D.G., DeVault T.L., Johnson M.D., Kelly D., Sekercioglu C.H., Tomback D.F., Whelan C.J. (2011) Perspectives in ornithology the need to quantify ecosystem services provided by birds. Auk 128:1-14.

Keirn G., Cepek J., Blackwell B., DeVault T. (2010) On a quest for safer skies. The Wildlife Professional Summer 2010:52-55.

Bernhardt G.E., Blackwell B.F., Devault T.L., Kutschbach-Brohl L. (2010) Fatal injuries to birds from collisions with aircraft reveal anti-predator behaviours. Ibis 152:830-834.

Blackwell B.F., DeVault T.L., Fernández-Juricic E., Dolbeer R.A. (2009) Wildlife collisions with aircraft: A missing component of land-use planning for airports. Landscape and Urban Planning 93:1-9.

Fike J.A., Devault T.L., Rhodes O.E. (2009) Identification of 24 polymorphic microsatellite markers for the double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus). Molecular Ecology Resources 9:1183-1185.

Humberg L.A., Devault T.L., Rhodes Jr O.E. (2009) Survival and cause-specific mortality of wild turkeys in northern Indiana. American Midland Naturalist 161:313-322.

Chipman R.B., DeVault T.L., Slate D., Preusser K.J., Carrara M.S., Friers J.W., Algeo T.P. (2008) Non-lethal management to reduce conflicts with winter urban crow roosts in New York: 2002 - 2007, Proceedings of the vertebrate pest conference. pp. 88-93.

DeVault T.L., Kubel J.E., Glista D.J., Rhodes Jr O.E. (2008) Mammalian hazards at small airports in Indiana: impact of perimeter fencing. Human-wildlife conflicts 2:240-247.

Glista D.J., DeVault T.L. (2008) Road mortality of terrestrial vertebrates in Indiana. Proceedings of the Indiana academy of science 117:55-62.

Glista D.J., DeVault T.L., DeWoody J.A. (2008) Vertebrate road mortality predominantly impacts amphibians. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 3:77-87.

Shwiff S.A., DeVault T.L., VanDeValk A.J., Coleman J.T., Jackson J.R. (2008) Methodology to quantify the economic impact of the double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) to the Oneida Lake Region, New York. Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings : 103-107.

Humberg L.A., DeVault T.L., MacGowan B.J., Beasley J.C., Rhodes Jr O.E. (2007) Crop depredation by wildlife in northcentral Indiana. Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium 9:59-65.

Beasley J.C., Devault T.L., Retamosa M.I., Rhodes O.E. (2007) A hierarchical analysis of habitat selection by raccoons in northern Indiana. Journal of Wildlife Management 71:1125-1133. DOI:10.2193/2006-228.

Beasley J.C., Devault T.L., Rhodes O.E. (2007) Home-range attributes of raccoons in a fragmented agricultural region of northern Indiana. Journal of Wildlife Management 71:844-850. DOI: 10.2193/2006-022.

DeVault T.L. (2007) Oneida Lake's cormorant harassment program--frequently asked questions. Oneida Lake Bulletin Summer 2007:3-4.

DeVault T.L., Beasley J.C., Humberg L.A., MacGowan B.J., Retamosa M.I., Rhodes Jr O.E. (2007) Intrafield patterns of wildlife damage to corn and soybeans in northern Indiana. Human-Wildlife Conflicts 1:205-213.

DeVault T.L., MacGowan B.J., Beasley J.C., Humberg L.A., Retamosa M.I., Rhodes Jr O.E. (2007) Evaluation of corn and soybean damage by wildlife in northern Indiana. Proceedings of the Wildlife Damage Management Conference 12:563-570.