Cody Aylward

Cody Aylward is a senior connectivity specialist at WWF. He uses spatial analysis and genomic tools to improve wildlife conservation outcomes in a rapidly changing world. Leveraging different monitoring approaches to understand wildlife movement in fragmented landscapes, Cody helps design corridors and connectivity areas to support biodiversity conservation and human communities. His work also integrates the latest advances in DNA technology to track species' movements, monitor population health, and combat wildlife crime.

Cody leads connectivity work in several priority landscapes across WWF's Greater Mekong and Eastern Himalayas Priority Places. In the Greater Mekong, he focuses on transboundary connectivity as the connectivity lead for Elly Allies, WWF's Asian elephant program, and in the Central Annamites Landscape of Viet Nam and Laos, where he supports monitoring and management of biodiversity corridors. He also leads connectivity work for big cats, including snow leopards in Bhutan and across their range, and tigers through WWF's Tigers Alive initiative.

Cody also works in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) in southern Africa, where he applies genomic tools to understand the connectivity of elephant populations. Across the WWF network, he helps lead the organization's conservation genomics and eDNA work, with a focus on building capacity for field-based portable DNA sequencing. His connectivity research also helps inform the global indicators used to track ecological connectivity under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Before coming to WWF, Cody received a master's degree from the University of Vermont and a Ph.D. from UC Davis. He holds faculty positions as an adjunct assistant professor in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont and an affiliate faculty member at the Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit at UC Davis. His work has been published in scientific journals such as Conservation Genetics, Landscape Ecology, and Animal Conservation.

Education

• Ph.D., Ecology - University of California, Davis
• Master's, Wildlife Science - University of Vermont
• Bachelor's, Zoology - University of Vermont

Areas of Expertise

• Wildlife conservation
• Conservation genomics
• Landscape genetics
• Wildlife and landscape connectivity
• Spatial analysis
• Ecological modeling

Appointments

• Adjunct assistant professor, University of Vermont
• Affiliate faculty, Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit, University of California, Davis