The ABS Program sponsors a speaker series each semester that features practitioners and scholars in the field of conservation science from Texas A&M or invited from other institutions. All talks will be at 4pm.
For our full calendar of events, including departmental seminars and ABS activities, click here.
Bio: Dr. Frick is the Chief Scientist at Bat Conservation International and an associate research professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. Her research is broadly focused on exploring how populations respond to anthropogenic and natural stressors and how we use science to inform conservation.
* co-hosted with Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Abstract: Virunga National Park, famed for its mountain gorillas, is located in the restive province of North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of The Congo. This region has been in conflict for over 20 years and now faces the Ebola outbreak. What solutions can work for conserving biodiversity and sustaining livelihoods around this World Heritage Site? In this talk, Dr. Ruyle will discuss some of the strategies she and others are using to promote conservation and improve lives in eastern DRC.
Bio: Dr. Leslie Ruyle is an ecologist working across disciplines to create innovative solutions for conservation, conflict, and development. She holds a PhD in Ecology from the University of Georgia, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, West Africa, and has managed university-based initiatives for NSF and USAID. Having lived in four countries and traveled to over 80 countries in her career, she has broad experience in international applied conservation and research including stints at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute- Panama, Honduran Coral Reef Foundation, Applied Biodiversity Science Program, Earthwatch, and the Center on Conflict and Development. Her work has been recognized with the UN’s Equator Prize Initiative and Dean’s Award for Interdisciplinary teams. Currently, she is building a program in DRC focused on supporting entrepreneurship in regions of conflict, conservation concern, and limited connectivity (EC3).
* co-hosted with the Dept. Of Ecosystem Science & Management
Bio: Dr. Brando is an internationally-recognized expert on tropical ecology whose research explores the vulnerability of terrestrial natural ecosystems to repeated disturbances and prolonged degradation. He aims to inform the general public and policy makers about the negative influences of climate and land use change on tropical ecosystems. His research combines field manipulation experiments, statistical and dynamic vegetation models, and remote sensing.
* co-hosted with the Dept. Of Ecosystem Science & Management
Bio: Dr. Joanna E. Lambert’s current overarching concerns center on animal species interactions, coexistence, and the biology of resilience. Her research program is oriented by the fundamental realities that all animals must eat, that how animals meet their nutritional and energetic needs shapes their interactions and coexistence with other species, including humans, and that the ways in which animals make a living are undergoing an unprecedented rate of change and intensity of selection given the Great Acceleration of habitat conversion.
Bio: Research in Dr. Gido’s Fish Ecology Lab focuses on the conservation of aquatic systems in the western and central U.S. Current and past projects can be classified into three general areas: 1) effects of global change on diversity-ecosystem function relationships in streams, 2) evaluation of patterns and processes regulating species diversity and habitat associations of fishes in streams and reservoirs, and 3) dynamics of non-coevolved fish assemblages.
* co-hosted with Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
