Invited Seminar at CES on 18 June 2018 at 3:00 pm titled "Models & Field Sampling to Inform Terrestrial Reptile Conservation in the Great Plains of the U.S." by Danny Martin from Colorado State University

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Topic: 
Models & Field Sampling to Inform Terrestrial Reptile Conservation in the Great Plains of the U.S.
Speaker: 
Danny Martin, Colorado State University
Date & Time: 
18 Jun 2018 - 3:00pm
Event Type: 
Invited Seminar
Venue: 
CES Seminar Hall, 3rd Floor, Biological Sciences Building
Coffee/Tea: 
Before the talk
Abstract:

Conservation of native wildlife species remains a challenge in the face of continuing changes in climate and available habitats. Reptiles are likely to be particularly susceptible to environmental change due to their reliance on their environment to maintain body temperature and their limited ability to disperse relative to larger vertebrates. In addition, we know relatively little about the environmental requirements of many reptile species, which makes conservation planning difficult. Here, I use historical occurrence records to model species' historical (1900-1977) and contemporary (1986-2012) distributions using four Species Distribution Model approaches. Because these historical records are known to be biased, I then used a probability-based sampling design and five visual encounter survey methods to estimate occupancy while accounting for imperfect detection. I briefly discuss the benefits of this approach to future monitoring of reptile populations.

Speaker Bio: 
Daniel (Danny) Martin is a PhD Candidate in Ecology at Colorado State University. His research focuses on landscape-scale models of terrestrial reptile distributions in the Great Plains region of the central United States. This effort includes: using presence-only historical records to model species distributions, evaluating several visual encounter survey methods for detecting reptiles across the landscape, and estimating occupancy for select species while accounting for imperfect detection. Danny worked in wildlife conservation for Colorado Parks & Wildlife (state wildlife agency) for 7 years prior to his PhD, studied nearctic river otters for his M.S. research, and worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 2 years. His B.S. is in Wildlife Biology from Kansas State University. Danny is interested in ecology and natural history of most terrestrial wildlife, particularly in arid and semi-arid environments, and how we can improve our understanding of these species to improve conservation planning and actions. For more information about the project: www.reptilemonitor.org