In July 2013, I had the good fortune to attend the 26th International Congress of Conservati0on Biologists in Baltimore, Maryland at the Inner Harbor. I helped lead a Focus Group on Conservation Forensics and I presented a talk on approaches to try and mitigate poaching activity. Met some great people in the conservation field. A lot of information was shared. Wish I had more time to see more talks.
The Conservation Biology Class took a Kayak trip to see some oyster bed restoration efforts being conducted by the Nature Conservancy. In addition, we stopped by the Nature Conservancy eel grass restoration facility. Bo Lusk, a Marine Biologist for the Nature Conservancy, went over the restoration process and took questions from the students.
The Conservation Biology class visited Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge today. They were greeted by Supervisory Wildlife Biologist Kevin Holcomb who talked about Conservation Management on the refuge. We visited numerous management sites and learned about Chincoteague’s Comprehensive Conservation Strategy.
Conservation Biology students spent the morning conducting habitat measurements on nest trees for hawks.
Pictures above include glossy ibis, short-billed dowitchers, black skimmer (with chick), gull-billed terns and Forster’s terns.
Today we had students in the field practice with radio telemetry. They had to find a one inch by one inch transmitter within a 1 square kilometer area. Good practice.
Mimosa Tree and Trumpeter Creeper.
The Conservation Biology students were back to work today setting traps for rodents. They followed trap transects using compasses and GPS and used meter tape to evenly disperse rodent traps in a grid. We will see what we catch tomorrow.
On Saturday, the Conservation Biology class joined the Marine Ichthyology class for some down time at the beach. This also included a great crab feast. Thanks to Dr. Didier for organizing this get together. Below are some pictures of students taking it easy before heading back into the lab or field.
Just ended my first week of teaching Conservation Biology at the Marine Science Consortium. Overall, things are going well and the students are doing a great job, thus far 🙂 While students have been busy with their research, service learning projects, papers and homework assignments, they have also had opportunities to enjoy the work they are doing. This goes for me as well. Below are some images of us having fun in the field.
