Brad McRae
Brad McRae (1966 – 2017) was an American wildlife ecologist. McRae studied electrical engineering at Clarkson University, and received a bachelor's degree in 1989. After working as an engineer in New York for four years, he moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison to study wildlife ecology under Stanley Temple, and received a Master of Science degree in 1995. He then worked for the Okanagen‐Wenatchee National Forest for three years, before beginning a PhD at Northern Arizona University. For his dissertation, under Paul Beier, he studied the landscape genetics of the puma or mountain lion ("Puma concolor") in the neighboring regions of the United States.

In studying the landscape genetics of the Puma, McRae chose to model gene flow across a fragmented landscape as following the same rules for electrical conductance in a complex circuit with many resistors of varying values. This model allowed gene flow to occur across multiple paths in the landscape in proportion to their "resistance", calculated in an electrical circuit using Kirchhoff's laws. This model was different from the paradigm at the time, which assumed that gene flow would occur along the single "least cost" path. McRae's model, published chiefly in three papers between 2006 and 2008, became influential within wildlife population genetics and conservation biology. At the time of McRae's death in 2017, the three papers had been cited more than 1700 times, and a software package written by McRae implementing his model had been used in more than 200 academic papers. In an obituary, his model was described as having become the dominant paradigm for landscape genetics by 2009.

After completing his doctorate, McRae worked as a postdoctoral researcher for the US Environmental Protection Agency, and subsequently took another postdoctoral position at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara. In 2008, he began working at The Nature Conservancy, where he worked on land management and increasing habitat connectivity for wildlife. McRae died in July 2017 of stomach cancer, five months after being diagnosed with the disease. He had a wife and two children.
Q931865
Clarkson University
LOC
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bachelor's degree
Concept
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University of Wisconsin–Madison
ORG
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Stanley Temple
PER
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Master of Science
Concept
None
Okanagen‐Wenatchee National Forest
UNK
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PhD
Concept
Q139901
Northern Arizona University
LOC
None
Paul Beier
UNK
Q25510468
landscape genetics
Concept
Q35255
puma
Concept
Q143089
gene flow
Concept
Q106603432
electrical conductance
UNK
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Kirchhoff's laws
Concept
Q641498
conservation biology
Concept
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postdoctoral researcher
Concept
Q460173
Environmental Protection Agency
Concept
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National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
ORG
Q159288
Santa Barbara
LOC
Q1813186
The Nature Conservancy
ORG
Q6485081
habitat connectivity
UNK
Q189588
stomach cancer
Concept
Q84369645
Brad McRae
PER
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