Three UW Students to Present Research During Science Café Nov. 7

Three University of Wyoming doctoral students will present their research to the public during a Science Café Friday, Nov. 7, from 6-8 p.m.

The event, hosted by UW's Biodiversity Institute, will take place at Bond's Brewing Company, located at 411 S. Second St. in Laramie. The event is free and open to the public.

The three UW graduate students will present casual talks -- 10-15 minutes each -- about their research, with time for a question-and-answer session following each talk and at the end of the event.

"At the Biodiversity Institute, we believe it's important that students receiving our biodiversity graduate student research enhancement grants communicate their projects with the public. We encourage our awardees to connect with communities through public outreach that best suits their projects and audiences," says Abbey Morales, communications and marketing specialist for the Biodiversity Institute. "Our Science Cafés are particularly popular with communities and students as a way to share the amazing research that's happening at the University of Wyoming. We've hosted Science Cafés all over the state -- in English and Spanish -- and look forward to connecting with people in a casual way."

The three UW graduate students and their projects are:

-- Alexis Hollander, "Wyoming's Mighty Mussels." Her research generally focuses on the growth and distribution of Wyoming's native mussels and snails. Hollander has conducted modern population surveys to document any population growth or declines and studying shells in Wyoming's archaeology collection to look at long-term changes in shell growth or species' distributions in the state.

Her research involves a variety of sampling methods, such as snorkeling, in Grand Teton National Park, Devils Tower National Monument and F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.

"My work with snails is to conduct some of the first official surveys of what freshwater species we have in different river basins across the state. For most of the river basins in Wyoming, this has never been done before, and managers lack information on what species we have living in our lakes, streams and ponds," Hollander says. "In my talk, I will be sharing with the audience the importance of Wyoming's native freshwater mussels; what they do for our aquatic ecosystems; and some of the early findings of our project in Grand Teton."

Hollander, of Portage, Wis., is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Program in Ecology and Evolution in the UW Department of Zoology and Physiology.

-- Emily Schertzer, "The Varied Migrations of Wyoming Songbirds." Schertzer is researching and identifying where migratory birds in North America are going and what regions they are using during the non-breeding period, information that can be vital for conservation efforts. The non-breeding period makes up most of the year for many migratory birds in North America.

Additionally, the flexibility of individuals during migration can have important consequences for their survival, especially as landscapes change with human development. Yet, little is still known about the non-breeding movements of species too small for standard GPS technology, including songbirds that breed in the sagebrush steppe of Wyoming.

"For the first time, we tracked the non-breeding movements of three declining sagebrush-associated songbirds, the Brewer's sparrow (Spizella breweri), sagebrush sparrow (Artemisiospiza nevadensis) and sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus), using miniature tags called light-level geolocators," Schertzer says. "We identified the non-breeding grounds in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. We also documented diverse migratory behavior across a single breeding population and assessed the flexibility of individuals during their migrations, with some surprising results.

"Overall, our research suggests that some Western songbirds may have much more diversity in their movement behavior than previously thought, which may change approaches to conservation for these species," she continues.

Schertzer, of Philadelphia, Pa., is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Program in Ecology and Evolution.

-- Renee Lile, "Bats as Habitat: Exploring Parasites of Bats." Lile is researching the population, diet and parasites of bats from the Black Hills of South Dakota. A main component of her research is understanding how these bats are responding to the introduction of the deadly fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome. Her aim is to provide tangible solutions for bat conservation management in a post-white-nose syndrome landscape.

"Bats may have a reputation for being mysterious, but their parasites are even more so. In this talk, I will present preliminary findings on the occupancy and co-infestation patterns of ecto- and endoparasites found on and in bats from the Black Hills of South Dakota," Lile explains. "By examining both external and internal parasite communities, this work sheds light on the complex ecological relationships between bats and their parasites, contributing to a broader understanding of host-parasite dynamics."

Lile, of Lakewood, Colo., is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Program in Ecology and Evolution.

For more information, go to the event's Facebook page or email Morales at [email protected].