The 17th Alaska Bird Conference, this year hosted by the Prince William Sound Science Center, will be held Dec. 6-8 at the Cordova Center in Cordova.
The conference attracts 150 to 200 participants who report on their latest findings and new initiatives.
The conference welcomes new students and ornithologists into the fold, and is a gathering place for those working with and caring for Alaska’s birds.
Keynote speakers are Steven Beissinger, a professor of conservation biology at the University of California Berkeley, and Cheryl Rosa, deputy director and Anchorage–based Alaska director of the United States Arctic Research Commission.
Beissinger studies conservation, behavior and population biology with a goal of understanding influences of climate change, managing endangered or commercially-valuable wildlife , and understanding factors shaping life histories to satisfy curiosity about how nature works. His current research focuses on five areas, including the response of California birds and mammals to 20th century climate change, as part of the Grinnell Resurvey Project at UC Berkeley.
Rosa is a wildlife veterinarian and wildlife biologist who has worked with subsistence communities on the North Slope and in the Russian Far East on studies involving wildlife health and zoonotic disease, marine mammal stranding response, subsistence food safety and oil spill/offshore discharge research.
She also serves on the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee, as well as other federal and non-federal boards and steering committees.
More information is online at
www.alaskabirdconference.org
