Carolyn Coyle
Ph.D Student, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
Carolyn Coyle is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and PhD student in Dr. Liba Pejchar's lab in the department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology and the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology at Colorado State University. While working towards a B.S in Fisheries and Wildlife Science at Oregon State University, she conducted an independent research project under PI Dr. Aaron Liston exploring the role that Orange-crowned Warblers may play in vine maple pollination. This experience pushed her to pursue higher education to explore if a broader suite of songbirds may be maintaining plant populations across western North America. Carolyn’s interests include avian conservation, pollination ecology, plant ecology, landscape ecology, and outreach through citizen science.
![Liba Pejchar - head shot[71].tiff](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ea7837_0ed3ec0c207848e0a1b2c90d8a82c86c~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_281,h_277,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ea7837_0ed3ec0c207848e0a1b2c90d8a82c86c~mv2.png)
Liba Pejchar
Professor; Colorado State University - Dept. of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
Liba Pejchar is a Professor in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University. Before joining CSU, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, and earned a BA from Middlebury College and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services in the places where people live and work. Among other projects, she and her terrific students study the loss and recovery of birds on invasion-prone pacific islands, bison reintroduction in western North America, and innovative ways to sustain nature and human well-being in agroecosystems and areas undergoing residential and energy development.
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Liba provides oversight and support with all components of development and implementation of the SaP project.
Teia Schwizer
M.S Student, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
Teia Schweizer is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow in Dr. Liba Pejchar’s lab at Colorado State University, in the Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology department. After 10 years working as a field research technician and laboratory manager in Panama, Hawai’i, California, and Colorado, Teia applied for and was awarded an NSF GRF to support her Masters research. As a field research technician, Teia fell in love with conservation while researching and restoring habitat for the critically endangered bird, the Kiwikiu, in Maui, Hawai’i. Her Master’s will assess how habitat restoration impacts distribution and occupancy of native and non-native avian communities. This work will inform future restoration efforts and the likelihood that these efforts can support species like the Kiwikiu.
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With her extensive background in lab work, Teia is an integral collaborator; assisting with all stages of pollen DNA analysis and providing technical support.
Caitlin Wells
Assistant Professor; Colorado State University - Dept. of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
Dr. Caitlin Wells is a conservation ecologist, who uses theory from multiple disciplines to understand, protect, and restore biodiversity. Her approach to applied conservation merges evolutionary ecology, animal behavior, and conservation genomics to predict the responses of wild vertebrates to environmental change. She works with birds and mammals of conservation concern primarily in the mountains and the tropics, with long-term work in Hawai`i, the Rocky Mountains, and Uganda. Emerging work in her lab is focused on using molecular tools to understand individual movement and trophic interactions, such as those between predators and prey.
Caitlin supports the lab work for the SAP project.