Carroll, four others earn awards, honors

Five from SNR earned awards or honors this month.
Five from SNR earned awards or honors this month.

School of Natural Resources Director John Carroll was appointed co-chair to the Galliformes Specialist Group under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission. The group is committed to the world-wide conservation and sustainable management of all native populations of Galliformes species and their habitats.

Carroll’s term will begin in September; his co-chair will be Simon Dowell of Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom. The two were founding members and the first two chairs of the Partridge, Quail and Francolin Specialist Group, a forerunner to the Galliformes group. They also co-authored the group’s first Conservation Action Plan in 1995.

“The Galliformes Specialist Group has over the years been a leader among Specialist Groups in leveraging very scarce conservation money to create impact for conserving species throughout the world,” Carroll said. “Simon and I feel very privileged to be tasked with coordinating a large group of biologists from around the world in continuing this work.

“Most people think of the Galliformes as just the wild relatives of chickens and are commonly hunted species. What they do not realize is that although some species are very common and adapt to human environments very well, many of the Galliformes have conservation status and are threatened with extinction. Simon and I hope we can continue the momentum developed over the last two decades to further research and conservation of those species."

The pair are supported by an advisory board made up of 13 fellow scientists.

Learn more about the group here.

Other awards

Dave Gosselin, director of University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s environmental studies program, will be presented the 2016 Spirit of Service Award for his work in environmental studies at the College of Agriculture Sciences and Natural Resources faculty meeting later this month. Each year the Center for Civic Engagement recognizes stellar faculty that exemplify what it means to truly serve the community. Gosselin also is professor of Earth science in the School of Natural Resources.

Larkin Powell, director of the Great Plains Cooperative Ecosystems study unit, co-authored an article, “Factors affecting female space use in ten populations of prairie-chickens,” which was awarded The Wildlife Society’s research paper of the year award. The paper was published in September 2015 in the journal Ecosphere; Ginger Winder from Benedictine College in Kansas was the lead author.  She took 10 data sets of prairie-chickens from the Great Plains and combined them for an analysis. The data set from prairie-chickens from southeast Nebraska studied by SNR doctoral student Ty Matthews was included, and Matthews; Jennifer Smith, former SNR doctoral student; and Larkin were co-authors. The paper will be presented at the Society’s international meeting in October. Read it here.

Hannah Birge, SNR graduate student, has been selected to receive an Irvin A. and Agnes E. Nelson Memorial Fellowship. Funds from the fellowship are to be used for professional development, purposes related to research or for the student’s training.

Jazmin Castillo, fisheries and wildlife major, recently was named a University of Nebraska-Lincoln McNair Scholar. She and nine others from UNL presented their research at the national California McNair Symposium at University of California-Berkeley on Aug. 4 to 7, 2016. Castillo was chosen to be a plenary speaker for her research on the spotted hyena population in Botswana, Africa.

—Natural Resources

More details at: http://unl.snr.edu