DR. ANNA ORTEGA
Education
Ph.D. in Ecology, University of Wyoming; advisor: Dr. Matthew Kauffman (2023)
Graduate Minor in Statistics, University of Wyoming (2023)
B.Sc. in Environmental and Organismic Biology, Fort Lewis College (2014)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Certificate, Fort Lewis College (2014)
Research background and expertise
Anna Ortega defended her Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Wyoming in February 2023. Ortega has more than fifteen years of experience conducting research on a variety of taxa, from understanding plant-pollinator interactions in the Colorado Rocky Mountains to monitoring plant communities in Nevada, from helping capture and monitor Emperor Geese on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska to researching ungulates in Wyoming. As a fellow of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, her dissertation focused on understanding the maintenance of partial migration in a herd of mule deer that shares a common winter range in southcentral Wyoming. Specifically, she evaluated the costs and benefits for different migratory tactics along with the benefit of long-distance migration for herd-level performance and stability. During her time in Wyoming, she also researched (1) the effects of naturally occurring wildfire on the habitat selection of mule deer and elk, (2) the efficacy of partial sedation in reducing stress for captured mule deer, and (3) state-dependent expenditure of energy for mule deer over winter. She has a strong analytical background on movement behavior, habitat selection, tradeoffs in life-history, and population demography. Ortega is also highly skilled with R and co-instructed R Intro for Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wyoming.
Professional Service
December 2023-June 2025, Vice President, The Wildlife Society, Central Mountains and Plains Section
Hobbies
Ortega enjoys spending time outside. She loves trail running, mountain biking, rafting, hunting and fly-fishing with her husband, son, and dog.
Selected publications
Ortega, A. C., T. N. LaSharr, P. W. Burke, P. Lionberger, M. Valdez, K. L. Monteith, and M. J. Kauffman. 2026. Foraging benefits promote fitness in migratory mule deer. Current Biology 36: 799–808.
Becker, J. A., Ortega, A. C., J. L. Beck, C. B. Buchanan, T. Bills, L. E. Hall, J. D. Hennig, P. Hnilicka, K. S. Huggler, M. J. Kauffman, A. D. Middleton, T. W. Mong, K. L. Monteith, A. K. Reinking, H. Sawyer, J. D. Scasta, B. M. Scurlock, and J. A. Merkle. 2025. The role of spatiotemporal variation in resources in the diverse movement strategies of temperate ungulates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 292: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.1973.
Gelzer, E. R., T. N. LaSharr, A. C. Ortega, P. Ramsey, C. Jourdonnais, and K. M. Proffitt. 2025. Age and spatial behavior determine survival of male elk during the hunting season. Journal of Wildlife Management 90: https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.70132.
Thomas‐Kuzilik, R. R., J. A. Becker, J. L. Beck, J. G. Clapp, A. B. Courtemanch, G. L. Fralick, C. Geremia, L. E. Hall, M. J. Kauffman, B. Lowrey , M. C. Metz, H. M. Miyasaki, K. L. Monteith, A. C. Ortega, H. Sawyer, D. W. Smith, E. E. Stahler, D. R. Stahler, T. L. Verzuh, and J. A. Merkle. 2025. Expression and mechanisms of behavioral plasticity in large mammals. Ecosphere 16: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70432.
Gelzer, E. R., J. A. Becker, S. P. H. Dwinnell, G. L. Fralick, L. E. Hall, R. C. Kaiser, M. J. Kauffman, T. N. LaSharr, K. L. Monteith, A. C. Ortega, J. E. Randall, H. Sawyer, M. A. Thonhoff, and J. A. Merkle. 2025. How sampling design of GPS collar deployment influences consistency of mapped migration corridors over time. Journal of Wildlife Management 89: https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.70009.
Ortega, A. C., K. L. Monteith, B. Wise, and M. J. Kauffman. 2025. Do mule deer surf peaks in forage quality while on summer range? Ecology 106: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70068.
Ortega, A. C., J. A. Merkle, H. Sawyer, K. L. Monteith, P. Lionberger, M. Valdez, and M. J. Kauffman. 2024. A test of the frost wave hypothesis in a temperate ungulate. Ecology 105: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4238.
Paterson, J. T., A. N. Johnston, A. C. Ortega, C. Wallace, and M. J. Kauffman. 2023. Hidden Markov movement models reveal diverse seasonal movement patterns in two North American Ungulates. Ecology and Evolution 13: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10282.
Tucker, M. A., A. M. Schipper, T. S. F. Adams, N. Attias, T. Avgar, N. L. Babic, K. J. Barker, G. Bastille-Rousseau, D. M. Behr, J. L. Belant, D. E. Beyer Jr., N. Blaum, J. D. Blount, D. Bockmüh, R. L. P. Boulhosa, M. B. Brown, B. Buuveibaatar, F. Cagnacci, J. M. Calabrese, R. Černe, S. Chamaillé-Jammes, A. N. Chan, M. J. Chase, Y. Chaval,Y. Chenaux-Ibrahim, S. G. Cherry, D. Ćirović, E. Çoban, E. K. Cole, L. Conlee, A. Courtemanch, G. Cozzi, S. C. Davidson, D. DeBloois, N. Dejid,V. DeNicola, A. L. J. Desbiez, I. Douglas-Hamilton, D. Drake, M. Egan, J. A. J. Eikelboom, W. F. Fagan, M. J. Farmer, J. Fennessy, S. P. Finnegan, C. H. Fleming, B. Fournier, N. L. Fowler, M. G. Gantchoff, A. Garnier, B. Gehr, C. Geremia, J. R. Goheen, M. L. Hauptfleisch, M. Hebblewhite, M. Heim, A. G. Hertel, M. Heurich, A. J. M. Hewison, J. Hodson, N. Hoffman, J. G. C. Hopcraft, D. Huber, E. J. Isaac, K. Janik, M. Ježek, Ö. Johansson, N. R. Jordan, P. Kaczensky, D. N. Kamaru, M. J. Kauffman, T. M. Kautz, R. Kays, A. P. Kelly, J. Kindberg, M. Krofel, J. Kusak, C. T. Lamb, T. N. LaSharr, P. Leimgruber, H. Leitner, M. Lierz, J. D. C. Linnell, P. Lkhagvaja, R. A. Long, J. V. López-Bao, M-C. Loretto, P. Marchand, H. Martin, L. A. Martinez, R. T. McBride Jr., A. A. D. McLaren, E. Meisingset, J. Melzheimer, E. H. Merrill, A. D. Middleton, K. L. Monteith, S. A. Moore, B. Van Moorter, N. Morellet, T. Morrison, R. Müller, A. Mysterud, M. J. Noonan, D. O’Connor, D. Olson, K. A. Olson, A. C. Ortega, F. Ossi, M. Panzacchi, R. Patchett, B. R. Patterson, R. Cunha de Paula, J. Payne, W. Peters, T. R. Petroelje, B. J. Pitcher, B. Pokorny, K. Poole, H. Potočnik, M-P. Poulin, R. M. Pringle, H. H. T. Prins, N. Ranc, S. Reljić, B. Robb, R. Röder, C. M. Rolandsen, C. Rutz, A. R. Salemgareyev, G. Samelius, H. Sayine-Crawford, S. Schooler, Ç. H. Şekercioğlu, N. Selva, P. Semenzato, A. Sergiel, K. Sharma, A. L. Shawler, J. Signer, V. Silovský, J. P. Silva, R. Simon, R. A. Smiley, D. W. Smith, E. J. Solberg, D. Ellis-Soto, O. Spiegel, J. Stabach, J. Stacy-Dawes, D. R. Stahler, J. Stephenson, C. Stewart, O. Strand, P. Sunde, N. J. Svoboda, J. Swart, J. J. Thompson, K. L. Toal, K. Uiseb, M. C. VanAcker, M. Velilla, T. L. Verzuh, B. Wachter, B. L. Wagler, J. Whittington, M. Wikelski, C. C. Wilmers, G. Wittemyer, J. K. Young, F. Ziȩba, T. Zwijacz-Kozica, M. A. J. Huijbregts, T. Mueller. 2023. Behavioral responses of terrestrial mammals to COVID-19 lockdowns. Science 380: 1059–1064.
Ortega, A. C., E. O. Aikens, J. A. Merkle, K. L. Monteith, and M. J. Kauffman. 2023. Migrating mule deer compensate en route for phenological mismatches. Nature Communications 14: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37750-z.
Kauffman, M. J., R. Jakopak, L. Olson, A. C. Ortega, J. Randall, G. Rozman, J. Berg, S. Bergen, J. K. Garcia, E. Greenspan, M. A. Hurley, and C. Schroeder. 2023. Migration. In Ecology and Management of Black-tailed and Mule Deer of North America, edited by J. R. Heffelfinger and P. R. Krausman, 383–394. London, United Kingdom: Tayler & Francis Ltd.
Kaur, P., S. Ciuti, F. Ossi, F. Cagnacci, N. Morellet, A. Loison, K. Atmeh, P. McLoughlin, A. K. Reinking, J. L. Beck, A. C. Ortega, M. J. Kauffman, M. S. Boyce, M. Salter-Townshend. 2023. Assessing bias and robustness of social network metrics using GPS based radio-telemtry data. bioRxiv.
Ortega, A. C., T. N. LaSharr, M. J. Kauffman, and K. L. Monteith. 2022. Energy expenditure of fat in a large herbivore is non-linear over winter. Ecology 104: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3952.
LaSharr, T. N., S. P. H. Dwinnell, B. L. Wagler, H. Sawyer, R. P. Jakopak, A. C. Ortega, L. R. Wilde, M. J. Kauffman, K. S. Huggler, P. W. Burke, M. Valdez, P. Lionberger, D. G. Brimeyer, B. Scurlock, J. Randall, R. C. Kaiser, M. Thonhoff, G. L. Fralick, and K. L. Monteith. 2022. Evaluating risks associated with capture and handling of mule deer for individual-based, long-term research. Journal of Wildlife Management 87: https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22333.
Nuñez, T. A. M. A. Hurley, T. A. Graves, A. C. Ortega, H. Sawyer, J. Fattebert, J. A. Merkle, and M. J. Kauffman. 2022. A statistical framework for modelling migration corridors. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 13: 2635–2648.
Aikens, E. O., A. Mysterud, J. A. Merkle, F. Cagnacci, I. M. Rivrud, M. Hebblewhite, M. A. Hurley, W. Peters, S. Bergen, J. De Groeve, S. P. H. Dwinnel, B. Gehr, M. Heurich, A. J. Mark Hewison, A. Jernemo, P. Kjellander, M. Kroschel, A. Liccope, J. D. C. Linnell, E. H. Merrill, A. D. Middleton, N. Morellet, L. Neufel, A. C. Ortega, K. L. Parker, L. Pedrotti., K. M. Proffitt, S. Said, H. Sawyer, B. M. Scurlock, J. Signer, P. Stent, P Sustr, T. Szkorupa, K. L. Monteith, and M. J. Kauffman. 2020. Wave-like patterns of plant phenology determine ungulate movement tactics. Current Biology 30: 3444–3449.
Ortega, A. C., S. P. Dwinnell, T. N. LaSharr, R. P. Jakopak, K. Denryter, K. S. Huggler, M. M. Hayes, E. O. Aikens, T. L. Verzuh, A. B. May, M. J. Kauffman, and K. L. Monteith. 2020. Effectiveness of partial sedation to reduce stress in captured mule deer. Journal of Wildlife Management 84: https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21929.