Conservation Biology

Students in Dr. Kristi Hannam’s conservation biology class spent a portion of their fall semester researching and designing projects that could one day provide real benefits to Genesee Valley Conservancy’s nature preserves.

Split into two groups, each was assigned a specific project identified by us as being of potential interest.

The first group researched deer exclosures. Students looked at past studies, exclosure sizes, materials, and means of using exclosures for new research projects.

The second student group looked at native seed gathering and propagation. An organized program of collecting and planting native seeds, from and on our preserves, could help the organization cost effectively restore damaged habitats and increase the biodiversity on our nature preserves.

In 2021, the Conservancy will again work with Dr. Hannam’s students, this semester focused on potential management styles for a nature preserve expansion that is currently in the works.