Dr. Christina Prokopenko
Assistant Professor
Natural Resources Institute
317 Sinnott Building
christina.prokopenko1@umanitoba.ca
Academic Background
Ph.D. in Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador
M.Sc. in Biological Sciences, University of Alberta
B.Sc. in Science, University of Guelph
Teaching
NRI 7232 Ecological Dimensions of Resource and Environmental Management
Research Interests
Christina is a wildlife behavioral ecologist. Her research in Riding Mountain National Park uncovered novel observation of prey switching in wolves; after over 50 years of subsisting on elk, wolves’ primary prey became moose. This discovery provided the opportunity to ask questions about what motivates predator decisions to change their diet and how the landscape facilitates these interactions.
Recent Refereed Journal Publications
Turner, J.W., Prokopenko, C.M., Dupont, D.L.J, Kingdon, K.A, Zabihi-Seissan, S., and Vander Wal, E. (2023). Death comes for us all: an interplay of habitat selection, movement, and social behaviour relate to mortality among gray wolves. Oecologia. (1 citation)
Prokopenko, C.M., Avgar, T, Ford, A.T., and Vander Wal, E. (2023). Optimal prey switching: Predator foraging costs provide a mechanism for functional responses in multi-prey systems. Ecology Concepts and Synthesis.[PhD] (6 citations)
Zabihi-Seissan, S.[mentee], Prokopenko, C.M. and Vander Wal, E. (2022). Wolf spatial behaviour promotes encounters and kills of abundant prey. Oecologia. (Cover Article, 2 citations)
Northrup, J.M., Vander Wal, E., Bonar, M., Fieberg, J., Laforge, M.P., Leclerc, M., Prokopenko, C.M., and Gerber, B.D. (2022) Conceptual and methodological advances in habitat selection modeling: guidelines for ecology and evolution. Ecological Applications. 32(1), 1-31. DOI:10.1002/eap.2470 (63 citations)
Newediuk, L.J., Prokopenko, C.M., and Vander Wal, E. (2022) Individual differences in habitat selection mediate landscape level predictions of a functional response. Oecologia.(1-12) DOI:10.21203/rs.3.rs-427313/v1 (4 citations)
Street, G.M., Potts, J.R., Börger, L., Beasley, J.C., Demarais, S., Fryxell, J.M., McLoughlin, P.D., Monteith, K.L., C.M. Prokopenko, Ribeiro,M.C., Rodgers, A.R., Strickland, B.K., van Beest, F.M., Bernasconi, D.A., Beumer, L.T., Dharmarajan, G., Dwinnell ,S.P., Keiter, D.A., Keuroghlian, A., Newediuk, L.J., Oshima, J.E.F., Rhodes Jr., O, Schlichting, P.E., Schmidt, N.M., Vander Wal, E. (2021) Solving the sampling size problem in resource selection analysis. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 12 (12), 2421-2431. DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.13701 (16 citations)