The FWCB Graduate & Faculty Seminar Series features weekly research presentations by completing graduate students, invited scientists, and FWCB faculty. Topics span fish, wildlife, and conservation biology, highlighting current scholarship, applied science, and emerging questions in the field.
All are welcome. Colleagues from government agencies, NGOs, and private enterprise are especially encouraged to attend.
Upcoming Seminars
Songbirds as Pollinators? Flower Visitation by North American Passerines
Carolyn Coyle
Ph.D. Candidate | Ecology, FWCB
Pollination is a critical life-supporting process that is fundamental to sustaining biodiversity. Understanding and reversing pollinator declines is one of the great ecological challenges of the 21st century, yet, there are systems of potential plant-pollinator interactions that remain unexplored. In Canada and the United States, songbirds that are not typically considered nectarivorous have been regularly observed foraging in flowers. However, there has been no prior systematic research exploring the extent of songbird flower-foraging behavior for this region, nor efforts to evaluate potential niche differentiation between songbirds and hummingbirds.
Through participatory science and collaborations with bird banding groups, she reviewed more than 100,000 photographs, conducted DNA metabarcoding on hundreds of pollen samples, and mapped songbird-flower foraging networks. Her findings reveal many previously unknown bird-flower interactions, with implications for the conservation of declining songbirds.
Date: Friday, April 17
Time: 3:00 – 3:50 pm MDT
Location: Wagar Building, Room 133
Join via Zoom (Meeting ID: 974 5975 9767 | Passcode: 544997)
Add this seminar to your calendar
Different Hunting Methods: Generating Distinct African Ecologies of Fear and Conservation Consequences
Dan Briggs
FWCB masters student
How do different forms of human hunting shape the way wildlife perceive and respond to risk? In this seminar, Dan presents a literature review examining three methods of human-conducted wildlife hunting — trophy hunting, culling, and non-selective subsistence hunting — and how each creates distinct landscapes of fear with different consequences for wildlife behavior, habitat use, and physiological health. Animals under harvesting pressure make substantial adjustments to activity patterns and space use in response to perceived risk. Intense exploitation such as poaching can impose chronic stress and reduced reproductive output in species like African elephants, with effects that extend well beyond direct population loss. Effective conservation planning must integrate ecological principles with socio-economic realities, and management strategies that leverage landscapes of fear may offer powerful tools for sustaining wildlife populations in high-pressure regions.
Date: Monday, April 20
Time: 3:00 – 3:50 pm MDT
Location: Wagar Building, Room 133
Join via Zoom (Meeting ID: 912 0391 9617 | Passcode: 290606)
Add this seminar to your calendar
Seminar Schedule and Recordings
The schedule below lists the Spring 2026 FWCB Graduate & Faculty Seminar Series. Seminar titles, Zoom links, and recordings will be added as they become available.
Last updated: April 11, 2026
| Date | Speaker | Seminar Title | Zoom Link | Recording Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/23/2026 | Dr. Joel Berger, Professor, FWCB | Conservation at the Edge and Beyond | Join seminar via Zoom (Jan 23) | No recording available |
| 1/30/2026 | Robyn Bortner, Ferret Center | Conservation and Genetic Management of the Black-Footed Ferret | Join seminar via Zoom (Jan 30) | Watch the recording |
| 2/13/2026 | Jeremy Brooks, Postdoctoral Fellow, CSU | How the Biophysical Complexity of Northern Yellowstone Stabilizes Its Meta–Community, Food Web, and Ecosystem | Join seminar via Zoom (Feb 13) | Watch the recording |
| 2/27/2026 | Riley Fehr Bernard, University of Wyoming | Investigating the Ecology of Bats in the West: Filling Knowledge Gaps to Inform Conservation and Recovery Actions | Join seminar via Zoom (Feb 27) | Watch the recording |
| 3/6/2026 | Isaac Ligocki, University of Wyoming | Swimming into Unknown Waters: An Integrative Perspective of Organismal Responses to a Changing World | Join seminar via Zoom (March 6) | Watch the recording |
| 3/27/2026 | Tommy Detmer, Iowa State University | Hot Water, Low Oxygen, and Changing Fisheries: How Lake Conditions are Shifting and How Anglers Are Responding | Join seminar via Zoom (March 27) | Watch the recording |
| 4/10/2026 | Bijoya Paul, PhD candidate, FWCB | From Individuals to Populations: A Demographic Analysis of Non-gam Stream Fishes in a Seasonal Environment | Join seminar via Zoom (April 10) | Not yet available |
| 4/17/2026 | Carolyn Coyle, PhD candidate, FWCB | Songbirds as Pollinators? Flower Visitation by North American Passerines | Join seminar via Zoom (April 17) | Not yet available |
| 4/20/2026 | Dan Briggs, MS student, FWCB | Different Hunting Methods: Generating Distinct African Ecologies of Fear and Conservation Consequences | Join seminar via Zoom (April 20) | Not yet available |
| 4/24/2026 | Robyn Thomas, MS student, FWCB | Title forthcoming | Join seminar via Zoom (April 24) | Not yet available |
| 4/27/2026 | Edder Antunez, MS student, FWCB | Title forthcoming | Join seminar via Zoom (April 27) | Not yet available |
| 5/1/2026 | Trent Pearce, MS student, FWCB | Title forthcoming | Join seminar via Zoom (May 1) | Not yet available |
| 5/4/2026 | Nelson Mwangi, PhD candidate, FWCB | Title forthcoming | Join seminar via Zoom (May 4) | Not yet available |
| 5/8/2026 | Cassandre Venumiere-Lefebvre, PhD candidate, FWCB | Title forthcoming | Join seminar via Zoom (May 8) | Not yet available |
Recordings from Fall 2025 Seminars are available below.
| Date | Speaker | Seminar Title | Recording Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8/29/2025 | Rebecca Boyce, Mark Vieira & Michelle Cowardin of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, sponsor Brian Gerber | Perspective in wildlife management: Careers, Connections and Projects with Colorado Parks and Wildlife | Watch the recording |
| 9/5/2025 | FWCB Motivational Education Hour (MEH) talk | Tales from the Field | Watch the recording |
| 9/12/2025 | Dr. Yasunori Yamashita, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency | Collaborating with local anglers to eradicate invasive brown trout from a Japanese watershed | Watch the recording |
| 9/19/2025 | Dr. Tom Yamashita, Postdoctoral Fellow, CSU | Using dynamic human mobility data to predict mountain lion movement and connectivity in California | Watch the recording |
| 9/22/2025 | Simone Basile, Visiting Scholar, University of Padova, Italy | Putting Ethics into Practice: Tools for Wildlife Conservation and Coexistence | Watch the recording |
| 9/26/2025 | John Giordanengo, Ecologist, Economic Restoration Institute | The foundational components of self-regulating ecosystems and economies: Implications for conservation in a turbulent 21st century | Watch the recording |
| 10/3/2025 | Lisa Roerk, MS student, FWCB | Hawaiian waterbird movements and habitat preferences | Watch the recording |
| 10/17/2025 | Kevin Rogers, Aquatic Research Scientist, CPW | Molecular systematics run amok: requiem for hierarchical species taxonomy with examples from cutthroat trout | Watch the recording |
| 10/24/2025 | Dr. Todd Brinkman, Otis Speaker, University of Alaska | Climate-related effects on human-wildlife interaction in Alaska | Watch the recording |
| 10/31/2025 | Dr. Kaori Kochi, Associate Professor, Kindai University | River management and challenges in Japan: Case studies of aquatic insects and invasive species | Watch the recording |
| 11/7/2025 | Dr. Sara Bombaci, Associate Professor, CSU | The Enduring Case for Inclusion: Why DEI Still Matters and Where We Go From Here | Watch the recording |
| 11/14/2025 | Dr. Bradley Allf, Postdoctoral Fellow, CSU | The amateur tradition: A citizen science primer for wildlife biologists | Watch the recording |
| 11/21/2025 | Sam Lewis, PhD candidate, FWCB | From Mental Models to Management: An Interdisciplinary Path for Native Fish Conservation | Watch the recording |
| 12/5/2025 | Sam Radosevich, MS student, FWCB | Evaluation of Whirling Disease Distribution and Measures of Infection in Colorado River Cutthroat Trout in LaBarge Creek, Wyoming | Watch the recording |
| 12/12/2025 | Darian Woller, MS student, FWCB | The Development of Field-based Temperature Criteria for Bluehead Sucker, Flannelmouth Sucker, and Roundtail Chub Larvae | Watch the recording |