Peter Sherman
Faculty
Areas of Study
Contact
Peter is a rainforest ecologist, animal behaviorist, and conservation biologist teaching at Prescott College, where he teaches in the undergraduate program of Field Ecology and Conservation. From 2010 to 2017, Peter directed the MA program in Environmental Studies, and from 2017 to 2023, the Sustainable Community Development degree. He has also worked as a sustainability consultant with resorts and schools among his clients. He was also Prescott College’s Chief Sustainability Officer and currently leads the College’s Arbor Day Foundation’s “Tree Campus USA” Advisory Committee and co-leads the Lower Butte Creek Restoration Council.
Peter and his wife, Mariana Altrichter (IUCN peccary specialist), conduct immersive research and, with their two daughters, adventure travel in some of Central and South America‚ more remote regions. In the past several years, most of their research has been in collaboration with indigenous groups living subsistence lifestyles in the forest regions they study. Together, Peter and Mariana (often with kids in tow) have led over 20 expeditions to Costa Rica, and Peter has led several trips to the Peruvian Amazon, Switzerland, Mexico and elsewhere. When not further south, the family regularly immerses itself in the US backcountry for weeks at a time.
Peter’s research interests involve better understanding the role that animal populations play in maintaining the extreme biodiversity of lowland tropical rainforests. Peter has taught over 40 different courses with a focus on ecology, environmental science, sustainable and regenerative design, research methods and statistics, environmental photojournalism, rainforest ecology, and community-based conservation.
Sherman, P.M., 2016. An important training guide in critical thinking for young scientists to navigate a complex world. Ecology 97(4): 1084-1085. Book Review of Jenkins, Stephen H. 2015. Tools for critical thinking in biology. Oxford University Press.
Kappelle, M, (ed.) 2015. Costa Rican Ecosystems. U. Chicago Press. Chapter 12: “The Southern Pacific Lowland Evergreen Moist Forest of the Osa Region”, Authors: Lawrence E. Gilbert, Catherine Christen, Mariana Altrichter, John T. Longino, Peter M. Sherman, Rob Plowes, Monica B. Swartz, Kirk O. Winemiller, Jennifer A. Weghorst, Andres Vega, Pamela Phillips, Christopher Vaughan, Maarten Kappelle http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo20691894.html
Stoker, P., Willett, C., Altrichter, M., & P.M. Sherman. 2012. Use of habitat by coyotes (Canus latrans) in Joshua Tree National Park, California. The Southwestern Naturalist 57(2): 218-220.
Lindquist, E.S., Krauss, K.W. Green, P.T., O’Dowd, D.J., Sherman, P.M., & T.J. Smith (alphabetical after two primary authors). 2009. The role of land crabs: key factors in tropical coastal forests recruitment. Biological Reviews 84: 203-223. Cambridge Philosophical Society.
Sherman, P.M. 2006. Faunal effects on ecosystems: Land crabs influence distributions of organic carbon and roots in a mainland neotropical rainforest. International Journal of Tropical Biology 54(1): 149-161.
Sherman, P. M. 2003. Effects of land crabs on leaf litter distributions and accumulations in a mainland tropical rainforest. Biotropica. 35(3): 365-374.
Sherman, P. M. 2002. Effects of land crabs on seedling densities & distributions in a mainland neotropical rainforest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 18: 67-89.
Altrichter, M. & P. M. Sherman 1999. Distribution and abundance of the American alligator
(Alligator mississippiensis) in the Welder Wildlife Refuge, Texas. Texas Journal Science 51(2):139-146.
Sherman, P. M. 1994. The orb web: An energetic & behavioral estimator of a spider’s foraging and reproductive strategies. Animal Behaviour 48: 19-34.