It is normally an insult to call someone bird-brained, but for Evalynn Trumbo, the term may be an accurate compliment. The Conservation Research Program project manager has dedicated several years to studying various birds and other animals.
Trumbo shared her field experiences in a seminar to biology students on Monday.
Trumbo, who has a master’s degree in natural resources and environmental sciences from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, spoke to students about her own graduate research, in a presentation titled “Migrating from the Ozarks to the Plains: Birds, Bats, and Bugs.”
Trumbo’s primarily focused on her research on the golden-cheeked warbler, a type of songbird, and how their habitats affect their survival rates. She explained how her research concluded that juniper and oak trees, which the warblers use to create their nests, needed to be a focus of conservation efforts.
Graduate student Adrian Bethel is pursuing a master’s degree in biology, with hopes of going into the U.S. Forest Service. Bethel was particularly interested in Trumbo’s research and how it could be applied to his studies.
“I would look more at the vegetation community and how that influences where they’re finding (the warbler’s habitats),” Bethel said. “That proportion of juniper to oak would probably fit in more to my research on community structures when it comes to vegetation.”
Trumbo also briefly discussed her experiences researching bat boxes, ensuring the boxes would be a safe temperature for pregnant bats, and sample sorting insects, organizing them for other researchers.
Binuri Thotagamuwa, another graduate student working toward her master’s degree in biology, enjoyed hearing about Trumbo’s various experiences in the field.
“It was interesting,” Thotagamuwa said. “And I liked her because she has touched many ecosystem types and also many different species.”Trumbo’s seminar is the first of 10 scheduled seminars hosted by the Department of Biology. The seminars are hosted Mondays from 4-5 p.m. and are open to the public.
