Dr. Casey Setash
Researcher at Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Date: November 14, 2025
Time: 12:00pm- 1:00pm
Location: Science Building, Room 2001
Applied Avian Ecology in the Anthropocene (or Why Humans Ruin Everything)
Species can be generalists, but so can researchers! This seminar will follow the ways applied research allows for the exploration of many ecological sub-disciplines in the name of better wildlife management. Some landscapes have been altered by humans in ways that enhance wildlife habitat while other alterations entirely destroy existing habitat, but nearly all have been altered in some way. My research explores how we optimize these alterations for as many bird species as possible, using the basic principles of demography, habitat selection, life-history theory, and more. From using flood-irrigated hay agriculture as a means of producing duck habitat to minimizing renewable energy impacts on passerines, my primary goal is to inform wildlife managers in order to maintain stable bird populations in the face of numerous extrinsic threats.