The Potomac Valley Audubon Society welcomes Dr. Amy Welsh, Director of the School of Natural Resources at WVU!
This in-person program is free and open to the public. All ages are welcome to attend.
PARKING: Both Shepherdstown City parking and Shepherd University Campus parking are available.
- A map of city parking is here. Meters are not enforced after 6 pm. Spots along High Street are recommended.
- A map of campus parking is here. You may park in any of the Red lots. C and A are closest to the Byrd Center. Part of B lot is gated, but you may park in any spots near the Facilities building that are not behind the gate.
SCHEDULE
- 6:30 PM: Social time with light refreshments. In order to reduce waste, we are asking that people bring their own mugs.
- 7:00 PM: Presentation begins!
- 8:00 PM: Approximate end of the program – though it may last longer depending on questions and discussion!
We will also be offering this program virtually! Here is the Zoom link so you can join in from home. If you are not able to attend live, in-person or virtually, you can view a recording of the Monthly Program presentation later! We typically post the recording within several days.
Presentation Description –
After being absent from West Virginia for more than a century, elk returned to the state in 2016 as part of an ambitious wildlife restoration effort. West Virginia’s elk herd is unique because it was founded using animals from two very different places: eastern Kentucky and Arizona. The hope is that this approach may ensure success where other reintroduction efforts have failed. However, one of the biggest threats to the introduced elk is brainworm. Using modern DNA tools, we studied the genetic makeup, family relationships, and brainworm susceptibility of elk introduced to and born in West Virginia to better understand whether these two source populations are mixing—and what that means for the herd’s future. Our findings highlight how careful monitoring—especially genetic monitoring—can improve the success of wildlife reintroductions and help ensure that elk remain a lasting part of West Virginia’s landscape.
Photo credit: DNR-Mark Bias
About the Presenter:
A winding path brought me to the field of conservation genetics and I have always enjoyed the journey. I grew up in Baltimore, MD and received my B.S. degree in Zoology and Psychology from the University of Maryland-College Park (1996). I then worked at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research looking at the effects of sleep deprivation on performance (1996-1999). I received my Masters of Forensic Science degree from The George Washington University (1999) and then worked at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (1999-2001), where I was introduced to genetics and its important applications. Ecology and zoology remained an important passion and I moved out west to pursue my Ph.D. in Ecology at UC-Davis (2006). The focus of my dissertation was the population genetics of lake sturgeon. I then moved to the shore of Lake Ontario and was an assistant professor at SUNY-Oswego (2006-2011). The journey has now brought me to wild and wonderful West Virginia, where I continue research on the genetics of fish and wildlife populations.
