Marius van der Merwe’s doctoral work focused on behavioral ecology, specifically the foraging behavior of squirrels to better understand food value, habitat use, predation risk, and how animal competitors coexist. In recent years, his research has expanded to wildlife monitoring through the use of camera traps. Since 2019, van der Merwe and his students have participated in SnapShot USA, a nationwide camera trap project documenting mammal activity.
In his ecology courses, he emphasizes field-based projects and ecological survey techniques, while mentoring undergraduates in research on optimal foraging experiments and animal activity monitoring.
RESEARCH & INTERESTS
• Behavioral Ecology
• Conservation Biology