Dr. Serieys is a conservation biologist specializing in urban carnivore ecology with over 15 years of field experience across three continents. She earned her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UCLA in 2014, where her groundbreaking research on bobcats revealed how urbanization and rodenticide exposure affect disease susceptibility, genetics, and immune function. Her work directly influenced legislative changes restricting consumer access to anticoagulant rodenticides throughout California.
Following her doctorate, Laurel founded the Urban Caracal Project at the University of Cape Town, establishing a comprehensive research program examining how caracals respond to urban landscapes. Over six years, she supervised 15 research assistants, captured and GPS-collared 26 caracals, and generated 14 peer-reviewed publications on topics ranging from movement ecology to toxicant exposure and disease ecology.
Laurel's postdoctoral work with Dr. Chris Wilmers at UC Santa Cruz demonstrated the real-world impact of science-driven conservation. She designed and implemented a field study to empirically guide land conservation priorities in a rapidly developing landscape. Capturing and GPS-collaring 26 bobcats, she analyzed high-resolution movement data to identify critical road-crossing hotspots and habitat selection patterns. Her findings directly informed a historic land purchase by a local conservation organization, protecting vital habitat connectivity and preventing commercial development across the landscape.
From 2021-2024, as a conservation scientist with Panthera's Small Cats Program, Laurel led multi-continental projects on fishing cats, bobcats, and oncillas, training field teams and advancing conservation planning through rigorous movement ecology research.
With over 55 peer-reviewed publications, Laurel bridges scientific research, policy change, and community engagement to protect wild carnivores in human-dominated landscapes. For more information and to access her publications, please see Laurel's personal website: LaurelSerieys.com