Amanda-Veals-portrait

Amanda M. Veals Dutt, PhD
Carnivore Specialist and Research Scientist
Borderlands Research Institute
Sul Ross State University
PO Box C-21
Alpine, TX 79832
Office phone: (480) 353-6409
Email: amanda.veals@sulross.edu

Research Specialties

Spatial Ecology and Wildlife-Habitat Relationships
Big Game Ecology
Carnivore and Endangered Species Ecology
Amanda-Veals-with-fox
Species Co-Occurrence and Predator-Prey Dynamics
Gray-Fox-by-Amanda-Veals

AMANDA M. VEALS DUTT

Amanda Veals Dutt is the Carnivore Specialist and post-doctoral Research Scientist at Borderlands Research Institute. Her research focuses on the spatial ecology and interspecific interactions between mammalian predators, such as black bears and mountain lions, and their prey. Her research in the Trans-Pecos aims to inform management decisions and habitat conservation.

Before coming to BRI, Amanda graduated in 2014 with a BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from University of Arizona. During her undergraduate career, Amanda assisted on several carnivore research projects and worked in Namibia on caracals (African lynx), where her passion for carnivore conservation and management began. She earned her MS degree from the University of Arizona in Wildlife Conservation and Management in 2018, studying gray fox spatial ecology. Her thesis research informed disease management through an understanding of interspecific interactions among mesocarnivores.

Amanda completed her PhD in Wildlife Sciences from Texas A&M University-Kingsville with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute in 2021. Her dissertation focused on the endangered ocelot in an effort to reduce road mortalities. Amanda focused on ocelot spatial ecology and landscape connectivity using four decades of data. Amanda’s research program at BRI seeks to link ecology with applied conservation and management strategies. She has strong interests in spatial and landscape ecology, interspecific interactions, and predator-prey dynamics.

Research Specialties

Carnivore Specialist
Spatial and Landscape Ecology
Predator-Prey Dynamics

Selected Publications

  • Veals Dutt, A. M., C. C. Dennison, P. M. Harveson, B. W. Geary, R. W. Thompson, D. Milani, and L. A. Harveson. 2023. Mountain lion predation in a multi-prey system on private lands in Texas. Mammal Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-023-00699-x.
  • Veals, A. M., J. D. Holbrook, M. J. Cherry, T. A. Campbell, J. H. Young Jr., and M. E. Tewes. 2022. Landscape connectivity for an endangered carnivore: habitat conservation and road mitigation for ocelots in the US. Landscape Ecology (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01569-8.
  • Veals, A. M., J. L. Koprowski, K. C. VerCauteren, D. L. Bergman, and M. V. Mazzamuto. 2021. Gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) space use in southeastern Arizona. Southwestern Naturalist 66(2):166-170. https://doi.org/10.1894/0038-4909-66.2.166.
  • Veals, Amanda M., Joseph D. Holbrook, AnnMarie Blackburn, C. Jane Anderson, Randy W. DeYoung, Tyler A. Campbell, John H. Young Jr., and Michael E. Tewes. 2022. “Multiscale Habitat Relationships of a Habitat Specialist Over Time: The Case of Ocelots in Texas from 1982 to 2017.” Ecosphere 13(8): e4204. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4204
  • Veals, A. M., J. L. Koprowski, K. C. VerCauteren, D. L. Bergman, and M. V. Mazzamuto. Gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) space use in southeastern Arizona. Southwestern Naturalist. In Press.
  • Veals, A. M., J. L. Koprowski, D. L. Bergman, K. C. VerCauteren, and D. B. Wester. 2021. Occurrence of mesocarnivores in montane sky islands: How spatial and temporal overlap informs rabies management in a regional hotspot. PlosONE 16(11): e0259260. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259260.
  • Lombardi, J. V., H. L. Perotto-Baldivieso, M. Sergeyev, A. M. Veals, L. Schofield, J. H. Young Jr., and M. E. Tewes. 2021. Landscape structure of woody cover patches for endangered ocelots in Southern Texas. Remote Sensing 13:4001. doi:10.3390/rs13194001.
  • Blackburn, A., L. J. Heffelfinger, A. M. Veals, M. E. Tewes, J. H. Young. 2021. Cats, cars, and crossings: the consequences of road networks towards the conservation of an endangered felid. Global Ecology and Conservation 27:e01582. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01582.
  • Blackburn, A., C. J. Anderson, A. M. Veals, M. E. Tewes, D. B. Wester, J. H. Young, R. W. DeYoung, and H. L. Perotto-Baldivieso. 2020. Landscape patterns of ocelot-vehicle collision sites. Landscape Ecology. doi:10.1007/s10980-020-01153-y.
  • Dutt, N. R., A. M. Veals, and J. L. Koprowski. 2020. Resource selection of a montane endemic: sex-specific differences in white-bellied voles (Microtus longicaudus leucophaeus). PlosONE 15(11):e0242104. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0242104.
  • Veals, A. M., A. D. Burnett, M. Morandini, M. Drouilly, and J. L. Koprowski. 2020. Caracal caracal (Carnivora: Felidae). Mammalian Species. doi:10.1093/mspecies/seaa006.