Congratulations to ABS Student, Kenny Wallen, on acceptance of his article “Structure and process facilitate integration and mainstreaming in conservation” for publication in Conservation Biology!
ABS Perspectives Series Issue 6 Now Available
The Applied Biodiversity Science Perspectives Series has released its 2016 issue.
The Perspectives Series is a student-created, student-managed publication whose mission is to communicate the conservation research being conducted by undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty of the Applied Biodiversity Program (ABS) at Texas A&M to a broader audience of academics, practitioners, and the public.
This year’s issue can be read and downloaded here.
The collection of articles in this year’s “Perspectives” shares with you the insights and experiences of ABS graduate students and faculty focused on conservation and biodiversity issues in Africa. By sharing with a broader audience real-world examples and stories of the complex, interconnected relationship between humans and the natural systems they live, the Perspectives Series advances scientific communication and promotes the Texas A&M Applied Biodiversity Program as a leading applied research and graduate education program.
Learn how Aggies connect biodiversity research and on-the-ground conservation practices.
The ABS program brings multiple perspectives together—from ecology and psychology, to genetics and anthropology—to address the global challenge of reducing the loss of biodiversity and its impacts on human livelihoods.
Interested in learning more or participating? Check out other ABS offerings:
The Ecoexist Project: Pathways to Coexistence
An Official Selection of “The American Conservation Film Festival 2015”, The Ecoexist Project: Pathways to Coexistence documents the work of the Ecoexist Project, including ABS Co-director, Dr. Amanda Stronza, to reduce conflict and foster coexistance between people and elephants in Northern Botswana.
“The film is a production of the Ecoexist Project, a collaborative effort of farmers, scientists,
village leaders, policy makers, and business people, working together to find solutions to
human-elephant conflict.
The story is set in the Eastern Okavango Panhandle, where 15,000 people share space and
resources with 15,000 elephants. The 18-minute feature includes voices and experiences of
people who live every day with elephants and know first-hand the challenges of competing
for space, food, and land with the world’s largest population of free-roaming elephants.“
Click here to view the 18-minute documentary and read more about the film and project.
Congratulations to Drs. Margot Wood and Chris Schalk
Drs. Chris Schalk and Margot Wood both PhD students in Applied Biodiversity Science Program and Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences, received their PhD degrees this August.
Chris’s research in Dr. Lee Fitzgerald’s lab examined community ecology, landscape ecology, and conservation of the amphibians and reptiles of the Bolivian Gran Chaco. Visit his website to learn more.
Margot’s dissertation research in Dr. Tom Lacher’s Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring lab focused on government payment for ecosystem services programs, biological corridor policies, and how these policies/programs influence target conservation mammalian species within the biological corridor of Paso de Las Nubes in Costa Rica. Read more about her research on her website.
Congratulations to both of these outstanding scientists!
ABS welcomes Jason Martina, our new ABS Coordinator
Jason Martina recently joined Texas A&M as the coordinator of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Doctoral Program and Applied Biodiversity Science Program. He earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Plant Biology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior working on the impacts of plant invasion on carbon and nitrogen cycling in Michigan wetlands. After which he did a postdoc at the University of Michigan where he continued investigating the causes and consequences of plant invasion in coastal Great Lakes wetlands through a combination of computational modeling, mesocosm experiments, and field surveys. Before starting this position at Texas A&M, Jason was an assistant professor at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, TX. Recently, he received funding to determine the efficacy of different management techniques using computational modeling to inform management decisions focused on the control of common reed (Phragmites australis) in the Saginaw Bay area in Michigan. Jason is very interested in the integration of conservation theory with practice because without such interaction real-world progress will be hard to achieve.
