CBS MS Students Present Posters at 2014 NACCB Meeting

Andrea Noziglia and Sarah Geren presented posters at the North American Congress for Conservation Biology this summer in Missoula, Montana. The conference, organized by the Society for Conservation Biology, was attended by some two thousand people, a collection of conservation scientists, students, science journalists, and other stakeholders and interested parties. The research presented by Andrea and Sarah aligned with the theme of the conference: “Challenging Conservation Boundaries.”

The posters presented by Sarah and Andrea reflected their individual undergraduate theses, projects which they are currently expanding on during their final year of the Biology and Society MS program. Sarah’s poster, entitled “A framework for evaluating the ecological and human health factors in protein source decisions,” described the results of her preliminary research into the factors that contribute to human protein choice decisions. This year, Sarah will elaborate on this by studying how people use this information to make decisions.

Andrea’s poster was titled “Flame retardant contamination in seafood and significance for conservation” and summarized the collection of data quantifying contamination of seafood, which she will combine with sustainability metrics and analyze for potential links between human health and fishery health.

Andrea and Sarah represented the School of Life Sciences, the Center for Biology and Society, Leah Gerber’s marine conservation lab, and the new Center for Biodiversity Outcomes at the 2014 NACCB.