Citizen Science and Backyard Birds: Building Capacity for Wildlife Conservation in an Urbanizing World
A Doctoral Scholarly Seminar will be presented by Jennifer S. Malpass, PhD Candidate in Fisheries and Wildlife Science, on Tuesday, May 5th at 9:00 a.m. in 382 Kottman Hall. Jennifer will present Citizen Science and Backyard Birds: Building Capacity for Wildlife Conservation in an Urbanizing World.
Expansion of urban areas endangers the future of wildlife not just through loss of habitat to human development, but also because urbanization can promote a disconnect between people and nature. However, avian research projects in urban areas that incorporate citizen science can help mitigate these threats of urbanization to wildlife conservation. This seminar will address the following questions: How and why does urbanization affect bird communities? How do human behaviors influence these effects? What are contemporary challenges and opportunities in conserving urban birds? The answers to these questions will demonstrate that citizen science-based projects supporting urban bird research have the potential to build capacity for wildlife conservation in urban areas and beyond.