Outreach

RESEARCH--TEACHING--PUBLICATIONS--OUTREACH--CONTACT

Conservation

I believe all biologists can make significant contributions to conservation by volunteering their abilities to identify organisms and thus prioritize land for preservation and evaluate conservation strategies.  To this end I organized an ongoing effort to survey the flora and fauna of a recently acquired preserve in Northern Sonora, Mexico.  To date, we have cataloged many plants and birds for the organizations that oversee the preserve, and hope to publish our descriptions in the near future (see the SIAC website for more info).  In collaboration with Dan Cristol, I have also been involved in evaluating wetland creation in Virginia, by surveying the birds of created forested wetlands and comparing them to regenerating wetlands of the same age.

In future work, I am interested in applying results from basic research to conservation efforts.  For instance, can we use what we know about the evolution of plasticity to predict how populations will respond to changes in habitat and climate?

Education

I am very interested in sharing the importance of science and biological diversity to a general audience.  To this end I enjoy giving public talks on topics such as insect learning and behavior, the importance of entomology, and bird identification and conservation. I also like to engage people in hands-on activities that display insect or avian diversity, plant-insect interactions, and methods of biological research. 

Surveying plants in Mexico

Sharing an antlion

updated May 15, 2008
all photos by E. Snell-Rood