Dr. Jack Hopkins
President / CEO & Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Center for Wildlife Studies
Ph.D. Fish and Wildlife Biology, Ecology Department, Montana State University
B.A. Environmental Studies, concentration in Wildlife Biology, Denison University
Jack is a wildlife ecologist who is broadly interested in understanding how animals respond to human impacts and a changing environment. He primarily uses stable isotopes and other chemical tracers in combination with a variety of field methods and statistical approaches to investigate species interactions, wildlife-habitat relationships, and the foraging behavior of carnivores. He is also currently active in using chemical data from laser ablation mass spectrometry to develop statistical models for applications in wildlife forensics. Much of Jack’s research is motivated by the needs of state, federal, provincial, or tribal agencies. As such, informing wildlife conservation, management, and policy is often the primary goal of his research.
Before co-founding CWS, Jack worked as a faculty member at an environmental college in Maine and as a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC San Diego, UC Merced, University of Alberta, and Peking University in China. Before that, he worked as a field biologist for nearly a decade in Yosemite and U.S. Virgin Islands National Parks as well as the U.S. Forest Service and USGS in Montana.
Research
Teaching
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J. Stetz, J.B. Hopkins III, & B. Simpson. 2026. American black bear population density on sovereign lands in Penobscot Nation, Maine. Journal of Wildlife Management (in press).
Hopkins, J.B. III, J. Ferguson, C. Sauter, K. Rock, Y. Wang, P. Callahan, M. Callahan-Beckel, & J. Moran. 2026. Laser ablation carbon stable isotope analysis of bear hair to reconstruct dietary timelines. Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies (in press).
Hopkins, J.B. III, J. Ferguson, C. Sauter, K. Rock, Y. Wang, P. Callahan, M. Callahan-Beckel, & J. Moran. 2026. Laser ablation carbon stable isotope analysis of bear hair to reconstruct dietary timelines.
Chatfield, M.W.H., C.A. Frederick, D. York, E. Pollock, & J.B. Hopkins III. 2025. Combating the illegal turtle trade using chemical markers. Journal of Wildlife Management: e70141.
Hopkins, J.B. III, C. A. Frederick, D. York, E. Pollock, & M.W.H. Chatfield. 2023. Advancing forensic chemical analysis to classify wild and captive turtles. Diversity 15(10), 1056; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15101056. (Special issue: Stable Isotope Ecology)
Bu, H., J.B. Hopkins III, S. Li & D. Wang. 2023. Seasonal distribution and activity patterns of mesopredators and their prey in Southwest China. Journal of Mammalogy, gyad034.
Hopkins, J.B. III, J. Ferguson, C. Frederick, & K. Jerina. 2021. Measuring the impact of corn on mammalian omnivores. Journal of Mammalogy DOI:10.1093/jmammal/gyaa152.
Ferguson, J.M., J.B. Hopkins III, & B.H. Witteveen. 2018. Integrating population abundance and diet data to improve inferences on food web dynamics. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 9:1581–1591.
Hopkins, J.B. III, J.M. Ferguson, D. Tyers, & C.M. Kurle. 2017. Selecting the best stable isotope mixing model to estimate grizzly bear diets in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. PLoS ONE 12(5): e0174903.
Hopkins, J.B. III, & C.M. Kurle. 2015. Measuring the realized niches of animals using stable isotopes: from rats to bears. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 7:210–221.
Hopkins, J.B. III, P.L. Koch, J.M. Ferguson, & S.T. Kalinowski. 2014. The changing anthropogenic diets of American black bears over the past century in Yosemite National Park. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 12:107–114.
Hopkins, J.B. III, T. Clevenger, M. Sawaya, S. Nielsen, & C.C. St. Clair. 2014. Stable isotopes reveal railway-associated behaviour in a threatened carnivore. Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies 50:322–331. (Special issue: Applications of stable isotope analysis in mammalian ecology).
Hopkins, J.B. III. 2013. Use of genetics to investigate socially learned foraging behavior in free-ranging black bears. Journal of Mammalogy 94:1214–1222.
Hopkins, J.B. III, & S.T. Kalinowski. 2013. The fate of transported American black bears in Yosemite National Park. Ursus 24:120–126.
Hopkins, J.B. III, & J.M. Ferguson. 2012. Estimating the diets of animals using stable isotopes and a comprehensive Bayesian mixing model. PLoS ONE 7: e28478.
Hopkins, J.B. III, P.L. Koch, C.C. Schwartz, J.M. Ferguson, S.S. Greenleaf, & S.T. Kalinowski. 2012. Stable isotopes to detect food-conditioned bears and evaluate human-bear management. Journal of Wildlife Management 76:703–713.
Hopkins, J.B. III, S. Herrero, R.T. Shideler, K.A. Gunther, C.C. Schwartz, & S.T. Kalinowski. 2010. A proposed lexicon of terms and concepts for human-bear management in North America. Ursus 21:154-168.