Lunch with a Scientist is an ongoing monthly lecture series at Cedar Creek. Each month, scientists present a general-audience lecture about their work at or related to Cedar Creek and take questions from the audience.
The series has been running since January 2019 as an in-person program. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was shifted online in April 2020, from which point recordings are available. Programs take place on the second Tuesday of each month (11:30am central time), either in-person at Cedar Creek, via zoom, or both. Details about speakers and delivery mode are at https://cbs.umn.edu/cedarcreek/public-programs/lunch-scientist
For her LWAS presentation, Dr. West will share details about her new research project: Green Heron as an Indicator of Wetland-Dependent Species, which focuses on understanding this species' breeding, wintering, and migratory habits to inform conservation and management efforts. After the presentation, in-person attendees can join Dr. West for a bird outing near Fish Lake.
About the Scientist
Dr. Elena West is an applied avian ecologist and her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms driving behavior and population trends of birds in human-modified landscapes. Her work draws upon interdisciplinary approaches, including community science data, spatial analyses, landscape-scale acoustic monitoring, and quantitative tools to provide applied outcomes for pressing conservation and management issues.