Matthew Hethcoat
PhD
Research
I am a conservation ecologist with research interests in remote sensing, tropical forests, avian ecology, and habitat degradation. Anthropogenic factors constitute the greatest drivers of contemporary ecological change and my research uses remote sensing data to better understand emerging issues that relate to global change ecology and applied conservation.
My work in the Edwards lab has largely focused on improving the detection and mapping of tropical selective logging. My PhD work advanced the detection of selective logging over large spatial and temporal scales in Brazil and was completed in 2019.
My current postdoc extends these efforts to the western Peruvian Amazon with collaborators from the US Forest Service, World Resources Institute, and a Peruvian government agency tasked with monitoring forest resources (OSINFOR). Together we are developing remote sensing tools to enable more efficient government oversight of the forestry sector in Peru.
My previous work has generally focused on understanding the impacts of habitat disturbance to populations and systems, from songbirds in western North America and southern Africa to butterflies and ants in the tropics.
About me
Life’s loves: natural history, rock climbing, avian ecology, sleeping in hammocks, good food, American IPAs, punk rock music, people who don’t care what others think.
Twitter: @mghethcoat