Thank you for offering me the $1,000.00 travel support last summer. This financial support allowed me to attend the 60th annual conference of the Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) in Kigali, Rwanda. During the conference, I presented some preliminary results from my third dissertation chapter, which focused on understanding the physiological response of birds to plantation forestry in SW China. My talked sparked some interesting discussions about how to achieve conservation gains in production landscapes such as plantation forestry.
In addition to my own talk, I established several important connections. Most notably, I met up with Dr. Eben Goodale from Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University. Dr. Goodale is a renowned behavioral ecologist whose expertise lies in interspecific interaction and public information. Dr. Goodale have recently expressed his interest in hiring me as a postdoc to work on a behavioral project in Thousand Island Lake in Suzhou, China. This project would bring me back to my home country and allow me to continue contributing to our knowledge of Asian ornithology.
Besides all academic-related activities, I was fortunate enough to join some fellow scientists on a wildlife safari in Akagera National Park. Not only did we find all members of the African big five, but we also had many interesting discussions about the conservation topics. Through these discussions, I gained lots of new perspectives for doing scientific research with birds. Of course, since all of us were birders, we searched for birds very hard and found almost 200 bird species in the park.
I would like to thank you once again for offering the travel support last summer, which made it possible for me to accomplish what I have accomplished.
Wenyi Zhou is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology, advised by Dr. Scott Robinson, Katharine Ordway Professor of Ecosystem Conservation and Eminent Scholar here at the Florida Museum.
The 2024 Summer Student Travel Awards are supported by the FLMNH Department of Natural History, including funds from the Louis C. and Jane Gapenski Endowed Fellowship and the B.J. and Eve Wilder Endowment. If you would like to help support this fund for future student awards, please go to:
Louis C. and Jane Gapenski Endowed Fellowship
B.J. and Eve Wilder Endowment