NRE Seminar Series

• 9/1 - Matt Sturchio (Cornell Ashley School, Natural Resources and the Environment) | Using ecological principles to inform a sustainable energy transition | Hybrid seminar: Zoom registration
• 9/8 - Daniel Anstett (Cornell School of Integrative Plant Sciences) | Using spatiotemporal genomics to explain resilience to climate change | Hybrid seminar: Zoom registration
• 9/15 - Olivia Sanderfoot (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) | Out of the Fire, Into the Smoke: Emerging understanding of the effects of smoke disturbance on birds | Hybrid seminar: Zoom registration
• 9/22 - Jefferson Hall (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) | Managing tropical watersheds for ecosystem services: Lessons from Agua Salud, Panama | Seminar format: In-person. Recording released at a later date.
• 9/29 - Amandine Gamble (Cornell Department of Public & Ecosystem Health) | Three years of bird flu in the Southern Ocean: what are we still learning? | Hybrid seminar: Zoom registration
• 10/6 - Amy Fraenkel (Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals) | Why international cooperation for the conservation of the environment is essential | Hybrid seminar: Zoom registration
• 10/20 - Yuqing Chen (Cornell Ashley School, Natural Resources and the Environment) | When Cultured Oysters Enter the Wilds: Aquaculture Gene Flow into Wild Populations | Hybrid seminar: Zoom registration
• 10/27 - Matt Williamson (Boise State University) | Individual values, partisan politics, and wildlife management across a divided landscape | Seminar format: In-person. Recording released after a six-month hold date.
• 11/3 - Carol Colfer (The Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry) | Evolving Views of People and Forests | Hybrid seminar: Zoom link forthcoming
• 11/10 - Caleb McClennen (Rare Conservation) | 30x30: Connecting Community Led Conservation to Global Goals  | Hybrid seminar: Zoom link forthcoming
• 11/17 - Meredith Holgerson (Cornell Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) | Small but mighty: The ecological importance of ponds from local to global scales | Seminar format: In-person. Recording released after a six-month hold date.
• 12/1 - John Benning (Cornell Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) | Ecology and evolution of species distributions | Hybrid seminar: Zoom link forthcoming

Using ecological principles to inform a sustainable energy transition

Speaker: Matt Sturchio, Cornell Ashley School, Natural Resources and the Environment

Abstract: The global transition to solar energy is occurring at a rate faster than expected. Although this rapid expansion has altered landscapes of high agricultural and ecological significance, new approaches to solar development offer several synergistic opportunities for solar energy co-location. Here, we demonstrate how fundamental ecological concepts can be leveraged to improve a sustainable transition to solar energy. More specifically, we will explore the ecophysiological realities underpinning tradeoffs between agriculture and energy in New York State, plant-water relations benefits in rangelands of the semi-arid west, and opportunities to reduce biological homogenization, enhance ecosystem services, and ensure energy security in the midwest.

Bio: Matt Sturchio's research is focused on quantifying the ecological impact of ground mounted solar development in natural and agriculturally managed lands. At Colorado State University, Matt earned his PhD studying the ecophysiological response of grasslands to dynamic microclimates created by solar arrays. At Cornell, he explores synergies for solar land use in New York State and beyond.

Host: Steve Grodsky

Hybrid seminar: Zoom registration

Using spatiotemporal genomics to explain resilience to climate change

Speaker: Daniel Anstett Cornell School of Integrated Plant Sciences, Plant Biology Section

Abstract: A key question in evolutionary ecology and conservation is whether populations can rapidly evolve in response to climate change such that the declining population undergoes evolutionary rescue. If so, can understanding the genomics of those systems allow us to better forecast which populations are most vulnerable to climate extremes? I use extensive spatiotemporal genomic and demographic data from the riparian plant scarlet monkeyflower, Mimulus cardinalis to study range-wide rapid adaptation to drought and the prevalence and predictability of evolutionary rescue. Whole genome sequencing across 55 populations reveals regions of the genome most associated with drought. Genetic changes at these sites are then tracked across 11 populations between 2010 and 2016, establishing range-wide evidence of rapid evolution in response to the 2012-2015 exceptional drought. When compared to nine years of field collected demography data at each site, we find evidence of evolutionary rescue, but only in some populations. Evolutionary rescue was predictable by the amount of climate-associated genetic diversity from before the drought, demonstrating an important role of evolutionary genomics in the conservation and management of populations. Based on these initial findings, I outline my expanding research program, which aims to upscale genomic inferences of (mal)adaptation across decadal timescales and from single species to multispecies comparisons.

Bio: Dr. Daniel Anstett received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Toronto with Marc Johnson, studying latitudinal gradients in herbivory and plant defence. He did a postdoc with Amy Angert and Loren Rieseberg at the University of British Columbia, and further postdoctoral training at Michigan State University's Plant Resilience Institute, studying spatiotemporal genomics, evolutionary ecology, and climate adaptation in plants.
Daniel is currently an Assistant Professor in the Plant Biology Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University. His research focuses on rapid evolution in response to climate change, and specifically severe drought. Daniel's work has been published in top journals including Nature Publishing Group and Science. His most recent work documenting evolutionary rescue in wild populations has been covered by the Washington Post, CNN, and NPR. Daniel’s current research leverages relationships between contemporary evolution, genomics, and species interactions to inform population and ultimately ecosystem resilience.

Host: Courtney Davis

Hybrid seminar: Zoom registration

Out of the Fire, Into the Smoke: Emerging understanding of the effects of smoke disturbance on birds

Speaker: Olivia Sanderfoot

Abstract: Wildfire activity is intensifying globally, exposing people and wildlife to more frequent and intense smoke pollution. Even here in upstate New York, wildfire smoke from megafires burning in the boreal forest has contributed to hazardous air quality conditions in the spring and summer. Birds are likely to be especially vulnerable to increased smoke disturbance due to their sensitive respiratory systems. Yet, avian smoke ecology is a nascent field. In this talk, Dr. Sanderfoot will present her research on the wide-ranging effects of wildfire smoke on birds, from impaired body condition and reproductive success to shifts in detectability and occurrence dynamics. She will highlight the critical knowledge gaps facing the field and make a case for why participatory science is the key to discovering what an inevitably smokier future means for birds.

Bio: Dr. Olivia Sanderfoot is an ornithologist and global change ecologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Her research is focused on understanding how birds are impacted by wildfire smoke, from the individual to the population level. Olivia’s research program is highly interdisciplinary, linking data and tools from ornithology, quantitative ecology, and atmospheric science. Participatory science is a common thread throughout her work: Olivia leads Project FeederWatch, a participatory science monitoring program keeping tabs on winter birds in North America, and she founded Project Phoenix, a community science initiative to monitor bird responses to smoke in the western U.S. Olivia’s work has been covered in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, and Audubon. Prior to joining the Lab, Olivia completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Washington and an M.S. from the UW–Madison.

Host: Courtney Davis

Hybrid seminar: Zoom registration

Managing tropical watersheds for ecosystem services: Lessons from Agua Salud, Panama

Speaker: Jefferson Hall

Abstract: Established in 2008, Agua Salud is a Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute facility and also a project that studies the ecosystem services provided by tropical forests and how they change with land use and climate change. The project leverages basic, basic use-inspired, applied research, and natural history observations to address broad research questions related to land and forest management in a changing world. Focal infrastructure includes high frequency streamflow monitoring in 13 different catchments, a landscape scale secondary forest monitoring network, and native species plantations and other planted lands. I will discuss recent analysis of 15 different ecosystem services across four common neotropical land uses showing how services bundle, important interactions and tradeoffs, and recovery rates of selected ecosystem services. I will also discuss a transdisciplinary forest restoration initiative in the Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca, a semi-autonomous Indigenous area in Panama.

Bio: Jeff Hall is an applied forest ecologist and conservation biologist who began his career working for 20 years in Central Africa. He received his PhD from Yale University, completing his dissertation on the regeneration ecology of African mahogany in the Central African Republic. He is the Director of the Agua Salud Project and leads a transdisciplinary reforestation initiative in the Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca in western Panama.

Host: Katherine Sinacore

Note: This talk will be held in-person only. The recording will be available after the six-month hold date.

Three years of bird flu in the Southern Ocean: what are we still learning?

Speaker: Amandine Gamble

Abstract: High-pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) was put under the spotlight in 2021, when a shift in its dynamics led to the global spread of the avian influenza 2.3.4.4b virus. Notably, in 2023, it entered the Southern Ocean for the first time ever, and soon after, Antarctica. Since then, the virus has spread further and has now been detected on all continents. It has re-emerged every Austral summer since its arrival – making it, in some sense, an old story. So what is there left to learn about a virus that seems to infect every species, is present everywhere, and against which nothing can be done?
Here we report what three years of sustained research on HPAI in the South Atlantic has revealed, including insights into re-emergence and immunity dynamics. From these results, we outline how purposeful research can inform future risk assessment and response strategies for what is now an endemic pathogen.

Bio: Amandine is an infectious disease ecologist whose work aims to unravel how different species or individuals influence pathogen dynamics in ecosystems. Whether it’s determining the populations that fuel the spread of a virus or uncovering those that ensure its persistence, addressing these questions is critical for developing more targeted and sustainable strategies to manage infectious threats. Her research blends theory with field investigations and experiments and spans across ecosystems, from peridomestic wildlife in the USA to remote seabird colonies of the Southern Ocean.

Hybrid seminar: Zoom registration

Why international cooperation for the conservation of the environment is essential

Speaker: Amy Fraenkel

Abstract: Forthcoming

Bio: Ms. Amy Fraenkel (J.D., Harvard Law School, B.A. Grinnell College) has worked for over 35 years in the area of international environmental law and policy. Most recently, she served as Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). From 2013 - 2019 she was part of the senior leadership of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). She served as the Director of the UN Environment Programme’s Regional Office for North America from 2008 - 2013. She was Senior Counsel in the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard where she worked from 2002 - 2008 on climate change, fisheries, endangered species, ocean and coastal conservation and maritime issues. Ms. Fraenkel also worked as a senior policy advisor and negotiator in the Office of International Affairs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and in private law practice for seven years. She is an avid birder, diver and hiker, as well as a songwriter and artist.

Host: Gary Tabor

Hybrid seminar: Zoom registration

When Cultured Oysters Enter the Wilds: Aquaculture Gene Flow into Wild Populations 

Speaker: Yuqing Chen 

Abstract: Bivalve aquaculture can help replenish wild populations by contributing larvae, but interbreeding can also introduce domesticated genetic material into wild gene pools. As aquaculture expands and is increasingly used in restoration, understanding how much aquaculture-to-wild gene flow occurs, how domesticated ancestry changes through time, and whether it has beneficial or detrimental consequences becomes critical. 
In this seminar, I use the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) to examine aquaculture-to-wild gene flow across spatial and temporal scales in New York estuaries and along the Connecticut coast. Using population genomic data, I quantify how much domesticated ancestry is present in wild populations and where it is most prevalent. I then combine genome-wide and variant-specific ancestry with genetic simulations to infer the demographic histories underlying widespread, low-level admixture. Finally, using juvenile oysters that settled in different years, I investigate whether wild populations retain or lose aquaculture-derived ancestry over time and what these patterns suggest about its consequences for wild populations. 
Together, I show how aquaculture-derived ancestry can become incorporated into wild oyster populations, providing genomic evidence to inform restoration and management decisions. 

Bio: Yuqing's research uses genomics and computational approaches to understand how marine populations evolve and respond to human activities. Her dissertation examines the genetic consequences of domestication in eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica), with a focus on gene flow between farmed and wild populations and the genetic health of both stocks. She hopes her work will help inform the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of marine species and the ecosystems they support.

Host: Matt Hare

Seminar format: Zoom registration

Individual values, partisan politics, and wildlife management across a divided landscape 

Speaker: Matt Williamson 

Abstract: Forthcoming

Bio: Matt Williamson (Associate Professor of Human-Environment Systems at Boise State University) studies why conservation institutions form, persist, or collapse, and how their spatial arrangement shapes ecological outcomes. He uses simulation, spatial analysis, and probabilistic models to understand the consequences of the mismatch between ecological processes and sociopolitical boundaries. A recurring question in his work is what role scientists play when governance and ecology do not align.

Host: Ginger Allington

Seminar format: In-person. Recording released after a six-month hold date.

 Evolving Views of People and Forests

Speaker: Carol J. Pierce Colfer

Abstract: Forthcoming

Bio: Colfer is a cultural anthropologist whose professional work has focused predominantly on people and natural resources. Trained in anthropology at the University of Washington (MA 1969, PhD 1974), she has conducted long-term ethnographic research in Oregon, Washington, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Oman, and Iran, much of which has been in forests. Her first two decades of professional work included international consulting (with engineers, agricultural scientists, ecologists, and education specialists). At the University of Hawaii, she developed and led the women in development program from 1981-83. 

From 1995-2009, she worked for Landscape Alliance (ex-CIFOR), planning, coordinating, and conducting multi-site studies throughout the tropics. These focused on adaptive collaborative management, criteria and indicators, governance, collective action and property rights, and landscape mosaics. Until quite recently she was a visiting scholar in Cornell’s Southeast Asia program (and previously a visiting fellow in Natural Resources). She remains a senior associate with Landscape Alliance.

Host: Reem Hajjar

Seminar format: Hybrid seminar - Zoom link forthcoming

30x30: Connecting Community Led Conservation to Global Goals 

Speaker: Caleb McClennen

Abstract: Forthcoming

Bio: As President of Rare, Caleb leads the organization' strategy and operations, to community led conservation of land and sea. Rare's 300 staff across 10 countries seek catalyze the conservation of 1.25 million km2 of land and sea by supporting millions of farmers and fishers to thrive across thousands of communities by the year 2030. Rare has expertise in behavioral science, innovative finance, policy and narratives that uses to remove barriers towards these goals. 

Before joining Rare, Caleb served as a Vice President with the Wildlife Conservation Society's Global Conservation Program, where he led cross-cutting initiatives to tackle the challenges of oceans, climate, livelihoods, and markets. Caleb has launched several strategic multi-institutional partnerships including the 50 Reefs, the Shark Conservation Fund, the Local Conservation Partners Fund, and the MPA Fund. In addition, he has served as an Adjunct Faculty at Columbia University's School of Public and International Affairs, Environmental Advisor to the Government of the Marshall Islands and Marine Scientist. Caleb holds a PhD and a Master's degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a Bachelor's degree from Middlebury College.

Host: Jim Watkins

Hybrid seminar: Zoom link forthcoming

Small but mighty: The ecological importance of ponds from local to global scales 

Speaker: Meredith Holgerson

Abstract: Forthcoming

Bio: I am a freshwater ecologist studying how ponds, lakes, and wetlands function and respond to environmental change. My research program focuses on community and ecosystem ecology, and our approaches include field studies, small-scale and whole-ecosystem experiments, and scaling local observations to global patterns. Current projects in the lab focus on aquatic greenhouse gas production and emissions, carbon sequestration, ecosystem metabolism, and phytoplankton community dynamics.

Host: Nina Overgaard Therkildsen

Hybrid seminar: Zoom link forthcoming

Ecology and evolution of species distributions

Speaker: John Benning

Abstract: Forthcoming

Bio: John received his undergraduate degree in Anthropology from UNC-Chapel Hill, then spent a couple years traveling the country doing field biology before starting his PhD at the University of Minnesota with Dave Moeller. He worked with Christopher Weiss-Lehman and Ruth Hufbauer during his postdoc, before starting the lab at Cornell in July 2025. He is an evolutionary ecologist broadly interested in the evolutionary processes that mediate ecological patterns. He lives in Ithaca with his wife, Anna, and their children, Theo and Torin. When he’s not chasing the kids down the block, John likes to grow plants, attempt various DIY projects, and play drums.

Host: TBD

Hybrid seminar: Zoom link forthcoming