Join us on Zoom to learn about the research conducted by our Kendeigh Grant Recipients from 2023!
Meeting ID: 833 0787 7940
Passcode: CCAS
Overview:
Our two 2023 awardees will each give a short talk about their research and how they used their grants from the generous donations of our CCAS members to the Kendeigh Research Grants fund.
Lauren Leischner is a graduate student at Illinois State University in the department of Biological Sciences, lab of Pirmin Nietlisbach. She conducts research with the House Wren population in the Mackinaw study area, collaborating with Charles Thompson and Scott Sakaluk. Some House Wren females, after successfully laying a clutch of eggs and feeding their young until they leave the nest, go on to produce a second nest, called a second brood. This is beneficial because raising offspring a second time increases the chance some offspring will reproduce and carry her DNA on. However, surprisingly, not all females do so. Lauren studies the factors that contribute to whether an individual produces a second brood: timing and individual quality. Her work includes cross-fostering experiments in the field as well as analysis of the long term dataset. She plans to graduate in the spring of 2024.
Cullen Mackenzie is currently a Ph.D student in the Eichholz lab at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Broadly, Cullen’s research is focused on anthropogenic disturbance ecology and community related interactions. Current work investigates the potential effects prescribed burn management has on tall grass prairie snakes and associated flora, and fauna in Southern Illinois. The Kendeigh Grant provided by the Champaign County Audubon Society has helped support this project that aims to better understand the relationship between grassland bird nesting success, prescribed burns, and snake predation in tall grass prairie ecosystems. In his free time Cullen enjoys swimming, biking, hiking, dancing, and building naturalistic terrariums.
About Our Monthly Programs:
Guest speakers present on a variety of topics throughout the year. Programs are typically held in the Urbana Free Library auditorium (no programs in January, June, July, or August).