Guest Speaker: Dr. Olivia Sanderfoot
Climate change is driving more frequent and intense wildfires. Around the world, communities and wildlife are increasingly exposed to dangerous levels of smoke pollution — even in places hundreds of miles from the fires. Birds are especially vulnerable to smoke inhalation, yet little is known about how exposure to wildfire smoke impacts birds. In this talk, Dr. Sanderfoot will present an overview of the effects of wildfire smoke on the health and behavior of birds and share findings from ongoing research. Her talk will highlight the value of community science data in addressing these important research questions and demonstrate how your contributions to these programs can advance scientific knowledge and inform conservation.
Dr. Sanderfoot is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she studies impacts of wildfire smoke on the distribution and movement of birds in the Western U.S. Before moving to Los Angeles, Dr. Sanderfoot conducted her doctoral research in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her dissertation explored how wildfire smoke and urban air pollution impacted detection of birds in Washington state. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Dr. Sanderfoot is driven by her passion for environmental policy and conservation, her love for birds, and her strong belief in the Wisconsin Idea, the philosophy that a university’s research should be applied to solve problems and improve the health, well-being, and environment of the community it serves.