Isaac Morty Ortega

Associate Professor

Education:

• PhD 1991 Wildlife Sciences Texas Tech University
• MS 1985 Wildlife Management Iowa State University
• BS 1976 Ecology Universidad Austral de Chile

Professional Experience:

• 2006 – Present Associate Professor, UConn
• 1997 – 2006 Assistant Professor, UConn
• 1992 – 1996 Post-doctoral Research Associate, Texas Tech University

Courses Taught:

• NRE 1000 Environmental Science
• NRE 2345 Intro. to Fisheries & Wildlife (co-taught)
• NRE 3335 Wildlife Management
• NRE 3305 African Field Ecology

Research Interests:

My general area of research is foraging ecology. I am interested on the predator-prey relationship processes not only at the animal-animal level, but also at the animal-plant level. My concerns at the local and regional levels are related to wild carnivores (coyotes and raccoons) ecology and their behavior around people (yes, we are in the northeast and there are plenty of humans around here). At the international level I am interested on the general ecology in Patagonia. For now my research is concentrated at**Torres del Paine National Park**in Chile, where I conduct research on huemules (an endangered deer), guanacos (a llama relative), their food, and their predator (mountain lions).