Coming Soon: Virtual Super Stellar Friday--Carnivores and Climate Change
Join us Friday, August 7 at 7:00 PM as we explore the impact of climate change on local ecosystems in the next Virtual Super Stellar Friday!
Join Mirka Zapletal, conservation biologist and Discovery Center Director of Education, for a Super Stellar Friday live presentation via Zoom webinar!
Description of the Event
Climate change in New Hampshire will change weather patterns, shift species ranges, and cause other disruptions to local ecosystems--wildlife populations may have to adjust to new conditions or face extirpation. How will climate change impact some of these same species now inhabiting coastal areas along the Gulf of Mexico where land loss compounds the effects?
As part of our celebration of women in STEM, Mirka Zapletal will share her research on coastal carnivore ecology in Louisiana, describing present and future species distributions for carnivores like coyotes, raccoons, and otters, and rodent species which exhibit many of the same ecological traits. Models of Louisiana’s coast suggest dramatically different landscapes in the future. In Louisiana’s dynamic coastal zone where restoration is big business, management decisions to combat those changes incorporate economic, cultural, and endangered species concerns. Those same decisions can have profound impacts on the predator communities (or lack thereof) of restored areas.
We hope to see you there!
Information for Attendees
Date/Time: Friday, August 7, 2020; 7:00 PM
Format: Live presentation via Zoom webinar
How to Participate: Pre-registration is required to enter the webinar. Click here for the registration link.
Cost: This event is free, but donations are welcome!
About the Presenter
Director of Education at McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center/Doctoral Candidate at University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Mirka received a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Tulane University and Master of Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, after which she spent 7 years in high school social studies classrooms. An opportunity assisting with conservation research convinced her to follow that passion and she went back to school for a Master of Science in Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England. She is currently working on her dissertation project in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Originally from New Hampshire, she was very happy to have the chance to move back to a land of mountains and cold weather and now gets to share her passion for science with visitors of all ages at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center.
