Brenda Hanley

I am a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health at Cornell University. I employ mathematical and statistical techniques to adapt or invent analytical tools that enable natural resource professionals to address emerging questions regarding wildlife populations and their system-scale health.

I hold a BA in Geography and Land Studies, BS in Mathematics, MS in Statistical Science, and a PhD in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.

Select Publications

2025

Environmental contaminants assessment for frequently harvested migratory waterfowl in the Northeast Atlantic Flyway . Dayan D, Hanley B, Stiller J, Richter W, Gregg I, Huck N, Huang M, Nichols T, Spliethoff H, Becker J, Murphy L, Schuler K. . Science of the Total Environment

2024

Sample size calculator for declaring a population free of infectious disease (Version 1) [Software] . Hanley, B.J., Booth, J.G., Hodel, F.H., Thompson, N.E., Bloodgood, J.C.G., Dion, J.P., Van de Berg, S., Gonzalez-Crespo, C., Huang, Y., Wang, J., Miller, L.A., Hollingshead, N.A., Peaslee, J.L., Schuler, K.L. . Cornell University Library-eCommons

Real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) is robust for chronic wasting disease detection in white-tailed deer retropharyngeal lymph nodes. . Darish J, Kaganer A, Hanley B, Schuler K, Schwabenlander M, Wolf T, Ahmed M, Rowden G, Larsen P, Kobashigawa E, Tewari D, Lichtenberg S, Pedersen J, Zhang S, Sreevatsan S. . Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation.

Predicting chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer at the county scale using machine learning. . Ahmed M, Hanley B, Mitchell C, Abbott R, Hollingshead N, Booth J, Guinness J, Jennelle C, Hodel F, Gonzalez-Crespo C, Middaugh C, Ballard J, Clemons B, Killmaster C, Harms T, Caudell J, Westrich W, McCallen E, Casey C, O’Brien L, Trudeau J, Stewart C, Car . Scientific Reports

Predicting the odds of chronic wasting disease with Habitat Risk software . Walter WD, Hanley BJ, Them CE, Mitchell CI, Kelly JD, Grove DM, Hollingshead NA, Abbott RC, Schuler KL . Spatio and Spatio-Temporal Epidemiology

2023

Sample Size for Estimating Disease Prevalence in Free-Ranging Wildlife Populations: A Bayesian Modeling Approach . Booth, James & Hanley, Brenda & Hodel, Florian & Jennelle, Chris & Guinness, Joseph & Them, Cara & Mitchell, Corey & Ahmed, Md & Schuler, Krysten . Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics

Population impact to bald eagles by ingested lead in New York State, 1990–2018 . Hanley, B. J., Them, C. E., Hynes, K. P., Connelly, P. J., Bunting, E. M., & Schuler, K. L. . Wildlife Society Bulletin

2022

Occurrence of Mange in American Black Bears (Ursus Americanus) in New York State, USA . Zulma Rojas-Sereno, Rachel C. Abbott, Kevin Hynes, Elizabeth Bunting, Jeremy Hurst, Steve Heerkens, Brenda Hanley, Nicholas Hollingshead, Patrick Martin, Krysten Schuler . Journal of Wildlife Diseases

Informing Surveillance through the Characterization of Outbreak Potential of Chronic Wasting Disease in White-Tailed Deer . Hanley, B. J., Carstensen, M., Walsh, D. P., Christensen, S. A., Storm, D. J., Booth, J. G., Guinness, J., Them, C. E., Ahmed, M. S., & Schuler, K. . Ecological Modelling

Environmental lead reduces the resilience of bald eagle populations . Hanley, B. J., Dhondt, A., Forzan, M., Bunting, E., Pokras, M., Hynes, K., Dominguez-Villegas, E. & Schuler, K . Journal of Wildlife Management

2021

Identifying population management strategies for avian predators: a decision tool. . Currylow, A., Hanley, B., Holcomb, K., Shields, T., Boland, S., Boarman, W., & Vaughn, M. . Human-Wildlife Interactions

Lead reduces growth and limits the resiliency of bald eagle populations. . Hanley, B.J., A.A. Dhondt, E.M. Bunting, M.A. Pokras, K.P. Hynes, M.J. Forzan, E. Dominguez-Villegas, and K.L. Schuler . Journal of Wildlife Management

Davenport living snow fence demonstration : fifteen-year survival and growth update . Perleberg, A., Hanley, D., Kuhn, G., Robinson, D, & Hanley, B . Washington State University Extension

2019

Using time series data to assess recent population dynamics of Bald Eagles in the Northeast United States . Hanley, B., Dhondt, A., Dennis, B., & Schuler, K. . Ecosphere

Another look at the eigenvalues of wildlife population matrix models . Hanley, B., Connelly, P., & Dennis, B. . PeerJ

Another look at the eigenvalues of a population matrix model. . Brenda Hanley, Patrick Connelly, Brian Dennis . PeerJ

Novel management tools for subsidized avian predators: a case study in the conservation of a threatened species . Shields, T., Currylow, A., Hanley, B., Boland, S., Boarman, W., & Vaughn, M . Ecosphere

How can we augment the few that remain? Using stable population dynamics to aid reintroduction planning. . Brenda Hanley, Elizabeth Bunting, Krysten Schuler . PeerJ

2018

Analytical expressions for the eigenvalues, demographic quantities, and extinction criteria arising from a three-stage wildlife population matrix. . Hanley, B., & Dennis, B . Natural Resource Modeling

For More Info

Contact Information

bhanley@cornell.edu

Projects

Active Projects

Bald Eagles Population Impact Study 2018-2021

Uncovering the history of lead toxicity and the population level impact on bald eagles...

Surveillance Optimization Project for Chronic Wasting Disease (SOP4CWD)

Our Surveillance Optimization Project for Chronic Wasting Disease (SOP4CWD) collaboration has developed the CWD Data Warehouse, an online platform for CWD surveillance planning and data management available at no cost to wildlife agencies across North America.