Tim Seastedt is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at CU. He obtained a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Georgia in 1979 and began his academic career at Kansas State University. Tim’s interest in grassland ecology was initiated at KSU and moved with him to CU. While much of his academic efforts focused on the alpine tundra during the 1990s, he continued grassland studies and became a weed manager in 1997 when Boulder County commissioners offered him a chance to control diffuse knapweed on a parcel of county land. That work resulted in an acknowledgement of his research in the Congressional Record of the 107th Congress in 2001, and a Boulder Pacesetter Award in 2005 for work in the environment. Most recently, this work on invasive species has been merged with studies on local and regional manifestations of global environmental change, and the synthesis of these activities is the subject of the ecosymposium talk.

Pieter Johnson is an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at CU. He is also a research fellow with the David and Lucille Packard Foundation. His research focuses on two pervasive forms of biological change in aquatic ecosystems: disease emergence and species invasions. Since 1996, he has investigated the causes and consequences of limb deformities in North American amphibians. This research has highlighted the importance of Ribeiroia ondatrae, an emerging trematode pathogen that is highly sensitive to environmental change. Additional projects include studies of (a) the interactions between invasive bullfrogs and the chytridiomycete, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, and how they jointly affect western populations of the Northern leopard frog, (b) the influence of climate change on host-parasite interactions, and (c) how ongoing biodiversity losses affect pathogen transmission in multi-species communities.

Will Keeley was born and raised in Chicago, IL.  He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from CU-Boulder in 1999 and a MS in Raptor Biology from Boise State University in 2006.  From 2002-2006, he worked for Hawks Aloft, a non-profit organization located in New Mexico, where he contributed to projects relating to raptor and songbird ecology. His master’s thesis compared diet and behavior of Ferruginous Hawks in two grasslands that differed in anthropogenic alteration.  Will lives in Boulder with his wife, Vanessa, and 16-month old son, Sean. He currently works with the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Department as a wildlife ecologist where his projects include avian monitoring as well as the impacts of forest thinning and human disturbance on animal communities.

Cèsar Nufio grew up in California and received his undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies and Biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. After receiving his PhD at the University of Arizona, Tucson, in Insect Sciences, he coordinated a tropical biology field course for graduate students in Costa Rica for the Organization for Tropical Studies. Currently, he is a post-doctoral fellow in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at CU.  His research utilizes museum collections to understand the effects of climate change on organisms. The focus is to resurvey the grasshoppers of the region to determine whether the recorded changes in regional climate over the last 50 years have affected the timing of life history events and the distribution and abundances of grasshoppers. The grasshoppers provide an opportunity to explore how other animals may be impacted as well.

Connor Bailey is the GIS Director for the Center of Native Ecosystems. He grew up in Washington D.C. but feels much more at home in the West. He received his B.A. in Geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2000, with an emphasis in GIS and physical geography and recently completed an Advanced Certificate of GIS from the University of Denver. He is experienced in map production and database management. Connor has also worked in New Zealand and Rocky Mountain National Park researching invasive plants, and served as the GIS Director for the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project. Connor is now pursuing a Masters in GIS at the University of Denver.

Heather Swanson is a Colorado native and received her PhD from the University of Colorado in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.  Her research has focused on bird community impacts of forest fragmentation, brown headed cowbird parasitism, recreation, and forestry management.  Heather has also spent time researching bird communities in Queensland, Australia and lowland wet forests of Costa Rica.  In her current position as a wildlife ecologist with the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Department, she has done research on a variety of taxa including mule deer, mountain lions, raptors, and amphibians. 

Stephen Jones is author of several books on the natural history of our region, including The Last Prairie, a Sandhills Journal; Colorado Nature Almanac; and the Peterson Field Guide to the North American Prairie. Steve organized the first comprehensive small owl and wintering raptor surveys in Boulder County and helped organize and carry out the Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas. His consulting work includes more than two-dozen resource inventories for city, county, and state open space programs. He is a founding member of Boulder County Nature Association and serves on the board of directors of Boulder County Audubon.

Linda Andes-Georges was resident of the East for 22 years, then France, then the Midwest, and since 1993 of the West. Linda has enjoyed field ornithology all her life. However it was only in 1995, when she became active with BCNA (and subsequently its newsletter editor from 1994 to 1998), that she became an educated field ornithologist, thanks to BCNA and its knowledgeable instructors. Since then she has participated in many bird-related studies for the City and County, and served on the City Open Space Board from 1997 to 2003. At present, she continues to be active with BCNA, Boulder County Audubon Society, and with field work: two blocks of the 27-year-old Indian Peaks count, as well as the ongoing Colorado Bird Atlas effort, and the Coal Creek count, which she joined as a regular transector in 1998.

Paula Hansley is a consulting geologist who has participated in bird surveys since the age of six when she was living in southwestern Ohio. Her aptitude for discriminating and recalling bird sounds, apparent even as a child, later led to her association with the Cincinnati Nature Center where she organized bird study programs. Since coming to Colorado in 1962, Paula has been active in local bird and nature groups. Additionally, she worked as an environmental consultant conducting bird transect surveys for the Denver Water Board in the early 1970s. For decades, she surveyed an Audubon breeding bird study plot in Rocky Mountain National Park and has participated in local breeding bird counts. She helped organize the Coal Creek Riparian Renaissance Project, and has taught several classes for the Boulder County Nature Association.

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