Members of the Structural Ecology Lab are interested in how the distribution and movement of organisms is affected by the physical and social structure of their environment. Within this arena, we gravitate towards applied conservation questions, such as how landscape alterations caused by humans impact the ability of animals to survive and prosper. After earlier work looking at how the spatial structure of islands and habitat fragmentation impact extinction risk, we have been focusing on animal movement. In particular, we are trying to understand why group-living animals follow particular movement paths in landscapes that have both physical structure, such as vegetation patches, and social structure, meaning the presence of other individuals. For example, a current question is whether social networks can be discovered from group movement patterns, and in turn how the social networks determine those movements. For this, we are using GPS-collared African elephants as our study system. We are also interested in the use of emerging tracking and identification technology for ecology and conservation.