Ecology students present spring seminar series

This spring, the MSU Department of Ecology will be holding a weekly seminar series stretching from Thursday, Feb. 25 to Thursday, April 22. The series is part of BIOE 555, a graduate ecology class.

I was a fly-on-the-virtual-wall for the two stellar presentations from Sean Hoy-Skubik and Claire Bresnan on Thursday, Feb. 25, in which presenters spent 15 minutes describing the academic research they have carried out as part of their graduate studies.

Hoy-Skubik’s presentation informed the audience of the various factors threatening coniferous trees in high-alpine environments. Hoy-Skubik named white pine blister rust, mountain pine beetles and climate change as the foremost perpetrators to blame for the decline of whitebark pine, limber pine and bristlecone pine. He plans to use greenhouse studies on seedlings in tandem with his research on high-elevation conifers to learn more about these trees and how they react to stressors.

Bresnan presented findings from her research on the movements and social tendencies of American bison. She used radio transmitters to track bison herds’ activity and created stunning visual representations of the patterns that these iconic North American mammals follow. Bresnan’s research is sure to interest conservationists and ranchers alike as debates over wild bison control and management intensify in Montana.

The seminar series continues with presentations on Thursday afternoons from 3:30-4:30 p.m. for the rest of the semester. The next two seminars will also be 15-minute presentations from graduate ecology students. On Thursday, March 4, Kambwiri Banda will be speaking about snares and their effects on lions and wild dogs in Zambia, and Elise Loggers will present her assessment of Yellowstone National Park’s Bear Management Areas. On Thursday, March 11, Kadie Heinle will discuss Yellowstone cutthroat trout and the effects on their population as a result of drought and competition from non-native salmonids, and Ben Goodheart will present his findings from research carried out on wild dogs in Zambia.

For the safety of both presenters and audience members, the Department of Ecology is holding the seminar series over Webex. To attend a seminar, email ecology@montana.edu for Webex login details.