Weseloh, D.V. Chip.
Canadian Wildlife Service, Toronto, Ontario
Kai Curry Lindahl Plenary. 60 Years of Bird Colonies and Boats - My Career.
My career started, I believe, in 3rd year undergrad (1965) when my ecology prof happened to mention that in Great Blue Heron colonies, adults nest in the same tree and same nest in successive years. This meant that in raising their young, they pooped in the same spot year after year… and that greatly affected the vegetation beneath their nest trees. That remark led to a class project, which two years later evolved into my MSc (in Michigan UP). Observations on that heron colony led to my PhD (in Alberta) where the professor didn't care about herons but if I could switch to the urban ecology of gulls, he'd take me on. And that in turn led to a 35-year working career and a 13-year (and counting) Emeritus career with the Canadian Wildlife Service on the Laurentian Great Lakes, where I have been fortunate to be able to study all 13 species of colonial waterbirds that nest there. I have probably been to, or at least seen, every waterbird colony in the Canadian side of The Lakes. I have been to the colony at Snake Island, off Kingston, more than 300 times. I will discuss the trials, tribulations and some of the results of my years of research and monitoring, including my near career-ending challenge of 1984, when my position and the entire Herring Gull Egg Monitoring Program was cut from CWS' budget. I have enjoyed collaborating with over 100 colleagues from academia, government, private industry, naturalist clubs and the public. Examples of the motivation and inspiration that always keeps me going will be provided by snippets from the appropriate Rock & Roll and Country songs of the day!
Francie Cuthbert
Kai Curry Lindahl Plenary: Title TBD
David Duffy
Gerrit Parmele Wilder Professor Emeritus, School of Life Sciences, University of Hawaii
Robert Cushman Murphy Plenary. The Tau of Poo: How bird droppings deposited on a few small islands off of Peru helped to shape world history extending from Rapa Nui, to European and American agriculture and industrialization, to climate studies, and even to our DNA