Christine
Rega, a doctoral student at the University of Missouri, won the award for best
poster at the First Congress of the Society of Urban Ecology. This international gathering of more than 200
urban ecologists from around the world, took place from 25-27 July in
Berlin.
Christine
describes her background and interests in this way on the BES Website: “I am originally from New Jersey and
completed my BS at the University of Massachusetts. I first fell in love with
ornithology and ecology at UMass, working with Swamp Sparrow song analysis for
my undergraduate thesis. From there, I received my MS at the University of
Delaware, under Dr. Gregory Shriver, studying the effects of soil calcium
availability on an urban forest songbird community. I am broadly interested in
habitat selection variables for urban songbirds, and how invasive plant species
affect these decisions and their reproductive success. I am currently working
on my Ph.D. at the University of Missouri with Dr. Charles Nilon. My work
focuses on unmanaged vacant lots, evaluating their effectiveness and
sustainability as a habitat resource for urban songbirds.”
Christine
is currently the Graduate Representative on the BES Project Management
Committee. We are delighted with her contribution
to and success at the first ever SURE Congress.
Christine Rega, 2nd from left,
winner of Best Poster Presentation at the First Congress of the Society for
Urban Ecology (SURE), Berlin, 2013. Also
pictured are her doctoral advisor, and BES Co-PI, Dr. Charles Nilon (far left),
Tanja Straka (3rd from left) of the University of Melbourne (prizewinner
for best oral presentation) and her advisor, Dr. Mark McDonnell, Director of
the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology.
