Ram Mountain, June 2021

Research Goals
​My research seeks to understand how individual differences affect reproductive success, reproductive strategies and population dynamics of large mammals. Large mammals are long-lived, highly iteroparous, and their population dynamics often show time lags. Therefore, long-term monitoring of marked individuals is the best approach to test theories on their reproductive success and population dynamics. My students and I produce knowledge useful for wildlife management and for the conservation of biodiversity.  With mixed success, we argue that evolutionary ecology is important for conservation and for wildlife management. 

Conservation Activities

• Chair of COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) 2002–2006
• Co-Chair of the Terrestrial Mammals Subcommittee of COSEWIC 1998–2008
• Chair of the IUCN Caprinae Specialist Group 2001–2016​

Awards

• 2022  Ian McTaggart Cowan Lifetime Achievement Award, Canadian Section of The Wildlife Society
• 2016  Aldo Leopold Award, American Society of Mammalogists
• 2006  Cesar Kleiber Medal for Wildlife Management
• 1997  "Bourse de Haut Niveau", French Ministry of Higher Education and Research

Marco Festa-Bianchet

Degrees and Positions

• B.Sc. (Zoology), University of Alberta (1981)
• M.Sc. (Zoology), University of Alberta (1982)
• Ph.D. (Behavioral Ecology), University of Calgary (1987)
• NATO Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Large Animal Research Group, Cambridge, UK (1987–1990)​
• Assistant Professor Biology Department, Université de Sherbrooke 1990-1995
• Associate Professor, Université de Sherbrooke 1995-1999
• Full Professor, Université de Sherbrooke 1999-2025​
• Council Member CSEE (Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution) 2006–2009
• President SQEBC (Societé Québécoise pour l'Étude Biologique du Comportement) 2007–2009
• Honorary Principal Fellow, Zoology/School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne (2011–2018)
• Honorary Professor, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University (2017– )
• Visiting Professorial Fellow, BEES, (School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences), University of New South Wales (2024- ) 
• Chair, Biology Department, Université de Sherbrooke (2019-2024)
• ​Emeritus Professor, Université de Sherbrooke (2026- )

Associate Editor

• Mammal Review (2016– )
• Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy (2016– )
• PLoS One (2012–2019)
• Ecology Letters (2010–2015)
• Ecological Monographs (2009– 2022)
• Ecology (2009– 2022)
• Ecosphere (2009– 2022)
• Canadian Journal of Zoology (2008– 2022)
• Acta Ethologica (2006–2009)
• Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (2004– )​
• Wildlife Biology (2001–2011)​