Marcella Kelly of Virginia Tech will deliver the keynote address of the School of Biological Sciences Phi Sigma Research Symposium.
Kelly, an associate professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, will give a talk titled “Non-evasive sampling reveals insights into carnivore community structure in forested ecosystems” at 4 p.m. Friday, March 24, in the Circus Room of the Bone Student Center. The campus community is invited to attend.
In the talk, Kelly will discuss the work of her lab to study how competition among predators shapes carnivore communities. Using remotely triggered cameras, sign surveys, and non-invasive genetic sampling, combined with mark-recapture and occupancy modeling, researchers gain insight into carnivore co-existence in forested ecosystems across multiple study sites in the U.S. and abroad.
This talk will focus primarily on jaguars and tigers from long-term monitoring projects and the lesser known carnivores in Madagascar.
Kelly has worked with the Nepal Tiger Genome Project, the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment (UWICE), Conference and Training Workshop in Bumthang, Bhutan, and with Wildlife Conservation Society in Madagascar. She is currently the director of the Black Bear Research Center.
For additional information, contact the School of Biological Sciences at (309) 438-3664.
