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Wood, Petra

Professor Emerita of Wildlife and Fisheries Resources

Since 1992, Petra Wood has been employed as a Research Wildlife Biologist with the US Geological Survey WV Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.  Since 1992, she also has held an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Wildlife Resources in the Division of Forestry and Natural Resources at West Virginia University.  Her primary research activities focus on how anthropogenic habitat changes from timber harvesting practices and energy (coal, shale gas) development affect wildlife populations, particularly songbirds.  Petra earned her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from the University of Florida in Wildlife Ecology and her B.S. in Wildlife and Forest Management from Purdue University.


Select Publications

  1. Becker, D.A., P.B. Wood, M.P. Strager, C. Mazzarella.  2015.  Impacts of mountaintop mining on terrestrial ecosystem integrity: identifying landscape thresholds for avian species in the central Appalachians, United States.  Landscape Ecology 30:339-356.
  2. Farwell, L.S., P.B. Wood, J. Sheehan, and G.A. George.  2016.  Shale gas development effects on the songbird community in a central Appalachian forest.  Biological Conservation 201:78-91.
  3. Frantz, M.W., K.R. Aldinger, P.B. Wood, J. Duchamp, T. Nuttle, A. Vitz, and J. Larkin.  2016.  Space and habitat use by breeding golden-winged warblers in the central Appalachian Mountains.  Studies in Avian Biology 49:81-94.
  4. Wood, P., M. Frantz, and D. Becker.  2016.  Louisiana Waterthrush and Benthic Macroinvertebrate Response to Shale Gas Development. Journal of Fish & Wildlife Management. 7(2).
  5. Wood, P.B., J. Sheehan, P. Keyser, D. Buehler, J. Larkin, A. Rodewald, S. Stoleson, T.B., Wigley, J. Mizel, T. Boves, G. George, M. Bakermans, T. Beachy, A. Evans, M. McDermott, F. Newell, K. Perkins, and M. White. 2013. Management guidelines for enhancing Cerulean Warbler breeding habitat in Appalachian hardwood forests. American Bird Conservancy. The Plains, Virginia. 28 pp. 2/28/2013