Applied Social Science and Systems Approaches for Managing Wildlife
Main Speaker: Dr. Ricky Berl
Research Social Scientist , USGS National Wildlife Health Center
Date: 9/2/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Abstract
Wildlife management in North America is built upon a strong scientific tradition from the biological and environmental sciences, using monitoring of populations and ecosystems to inform decision making and maintain the health and sustainability of these resources. However, influences from human activities and social systems are often primary determinants of wildlife distributions, abundances, and health, while still only rarely being considered directly as part of management decisions and interventions. Concurrently, management objectives and actions are driven by human relationships and interactions with the environment and the values that people hold toward wildlife, and are primarily concerned with providing benefits to people. To consider wildlife management as being situated within and contributing to an integrated social-ecological system opens up the potential for more sophisticated approaches to integrating insights from human dimensions and the conservation social sciences. This talk will use examples from waterfowl harvest and chronic wasting disease to illustrate emerging avenues for applied social science methods to inform wildlife management.
Speaker's Bio
Ricky is a conservation social scientist with a background in evolutionary theory, behavior, and culture change, who uses integrative quantitative and qualitative approaches to address the management challenges that arise from the complex interactions within rapidly changing social-ecological systems, particularly those related to wildlife health and the impacts of chronic wasting disease.Speaker's Contact Information
- rberl@usgs.gov
Video
Water, Agriculture, Development, and the Circles Project in Kenya
Main Speaker: Dr. Jude Cobbing
Water Resource and Environmental Specialist , Nebraska Water Center, Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, and SNR | UNL
Date: 9/9/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Abstract
Small- to medium-sized commercial agriculture is essential to employment and economic growth in Africa. But small-scale subsistence farming is most common. Moving into commercial irrigated farming needs capital, markets, know-how, skills, water, and land, amongst other things. This transition can be a surprisingly complicated problem.
A consortium of partners, including UNL’s Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, is working on a novel concept in the highlands of Kenya, East Africa – part commercial farm, part training center, and part research institution. It will provide training in modern, high-value irrigated agriculture, whilst at the same time researching diverse elements of the agricultural transition. The project will be self-sustaining, and replicable in other parts of Kenya and elsewhere in Africa. We hope it will be a gamechanger.
In this talk I’ll describe the Circles Project concept and outline how IANR, UNL, and Nebraska will be involved. There’ll be plenty of time at the end for questions.
Speaker's Bio
Jude is a water resource and environmental specialist with 23+ years of experience in the public, research, non-profit, and private sectors. His interests include groundwater resource assessment and planning, water supply and sanitation in low-income contexts, environmental project management, groundwater strategy development, transdisciplinary research, water quality, and agriculture. His work links groundwater resource evaluation and management to water supply, food security, climate, rural livelihoods, and environmental resilience. Jude has worked in Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe, and has experience in the agriculture, mining, and power generation sectors, in rural and domestic water supplies, and in transboundary water resource evaluation. He has a BS in Geology and English from the University of Cape Town, a postgraduate teaching diploma from the University of South Africa, an MS in hydrogeology from London University, and a PhD in groundwater management from Nelson Mandela University, Eastern Cape, South Africa.Speaker's Contact Information
- jcobbing@nebraska.edu
Video
Harnessing Critical Zone Chemistry to Proactively Protect Groundwater in Nebraska and Beyond
Main Speaker: Dr. Arindam Malakar
Water Research Scientist , Nebraska Water Center, Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, and SNR | UNL
Date: 9/16/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Abstract
Nitrate contamination of groundwater is a global consequence of intensive agriculture. In Nebraska, it drives some of the highest drinking water violations in the United States and imposes treatment costs on communities. Concentrations continue to rise even where land surface nitrogen application has been reduced. The reason lies below the root zone. Tens of meters of unsaturated sediment separate cropland from the water table, and this vadose zone has long been treated as inert plumbing. Here we show that it is chemically active, and that its chemistry can be managed. Building on four decades of Nebraska vadose zone records, we collected deep sediment cores across 18 Natural Resources Districts. The cores covered different irrigation practices and native prairie. We measured the full suite of reactive nitrogen species rather than nitrate alone. Nitrate stocks were higher beneath gravity irrigation than beneath center pivot, which applies 62–70% less water. Ammonium showed the opposite pattern. Reduced iron was present in unsaturated sediment, and iron-coupled dissimilatory nitrate reduction most likely drives ammonium formation in the vadose zone. Organic nitrogen accounted for 85–92% of subsurface nitrogen beneath managed land. Identifying the chemical environment guided the geochemical modeling of the redox states that favor nitrate reduction. Ultimately, we created conditions favoring nitrate remediation and lowered vadose zone nitrate by ~40% relative to the control in controlled experiments. These results establish the deep vadose zone as an intervention point for protecting groundwater proactively.
Speaker's Bio
Dr. Malakar received his Ph.D. in 2017. In his Ph.D., he worked across three continents, which include the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Sciences, Kolkata, the University of Calcutta, India, one of the top-ranking research facilities in India, the University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy, and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the European Union supported his graduate research in Europe. Malakar is a recipient of the prestigious "Water Advanced Research and Innovation (WARI)" Internship Program, supported by the Department of Science and Technology, India, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the Daugherty Water for Food Institute (DWFI), and the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF). He has received the Young Scientist award from the Materials Research Society of India for his excellent research in improving water quality. He works with the local stakeholders and leads research efforts to understand the impact of land surface processes influenced by agricultural activities on the state groundwater quality and validate and verify next-generation cropping system models. His research focuses on understanding nitrogen, carbon, and metal dynamics in the agroecosystem and critical zone.
Speaker's Contact Information
- amalakar2@unl.edu
The State of U.S. Agroforestry: Insights from the National Agroforestry Producer Survey
Main Speaker: Dr. Lord Ameyaw
Forester , School of Natural Resources | UNL
Date: 9/23/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Abstract
The National Agroforestry Producer Survey provides a national look at how producers are using and managing agroforestry practices across the United States. With responses from 5,682 producers, the survey covers the five main agroforestry practices in the US: alley cropping, forest farming, riparian forest buffers, silvopasture, and windbreaks. This seminar will focus on findings published so far for riparian forest buffers, silvopasture, and windbreaks, including how these practices are established and managed, the benefits and challenges producers experience, and how producers see the future of these systems. The presentation will also highlight what these findings may mean for research, technical assistance, and efforts to expand agroforestry in the United States.
Speaker's Contact Information
- lameyaw2@unl.edu
Reversing ecosystem disservices caused by agriculture: drivers of belowground recovery during grassland restoration
Main Speaker: Dr. Sara Baer
Senior Scientist and Director , Kansas Biological Survey and Center for Ecological Research
Date: 9/30/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Speaker's Bio
My primary research interest is the application of ecological theory to restoring ecosystems, particularly grassland. The Baer Lab studies above- and below-ground changes in structure and function during ecological restoration in response to environmental heterogeneity, interannual variability in climate, and intraspecific variation in population sources of dominant species. Much of our research has focused on agroecosystems restored to tallgrass prairie. We have found slow changes in total soil carbon pools on decadal scales, dependent on soil texture, but rapid recovery of easily decomposable organic matter pools that tie up available nitrogen as restoration proceeds. Different ecotypes of dominant species used in restoration can differentially affect species composition and traits with consequences for ecosystem processes. Some of these studies span multiple decades and demonstrate that restored grasslands are dynamic ecosystems both above and below ground, and our knowledge of these ecosystems remains in its infancy.
Speaker's Contact Information
- sgbaer@ku.edu
Bringing Climate Change Home: Making Climate Data Local, Visual, and Useful
Main Speaker: Dr. Deb Bathke
Nebraska State Climatologist , Nebraska State Climate Office
Other Speakers: Dr. Tonya Haigh, Social Science Coordinator, National Drought Mitigation Center
Date: 10/7/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Speaker's Bio
Dr Deb Bathke
In 2008, Dr. Bathke relocated from New Mexico to join the NDMC, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s School of Natural Resources and Department of Geosciences. Bathke spent the previous three years as the assistant state climatologist in New Mexico, where she chaired the state’s Drought Monitoring Working Group. She represented New Mexico in the Climate Assessment for the Southwest program, or CLIMAS, which is one of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Regional Integrated Science Assessment programs. Among the projects she collaborated on were adapting the Dynamic Drought Index for Basins in the Carolinas to the Southwest; implementing a western version of the AgClimate Tools developed by the Southeast Climate Consortium; and convening technical workshops on tree-ring reconstructions of streamflow. Bathke is supervising ongoing student research on urban landscaping and drought, and is on the Program Implementation Team of the National Integrated Drought Information System.
Dr. Tonya Haigh
Dr. Tonya Haigh is a Research Assistant Professor and the Social Science Coordinator and Project Coordinator for the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Dr. Haigh’s research focuses on the adaptive capacity of agricultural producers and others to cope with drought. Her research connects social science with climate science by informing the development of stakeholder-driven resources and tools. Dr. Haigh has worked with ranchers, advisors, and researchers to develop the Managing Drought Risk on the Ranch website and has provided social science expertise to the development of climate decision support tools for Corn Belt producers and specialty crop growers. Dr. Haigh’s academic and research expertise includes social theory related to climate risk management, survey development and administration, quantitative data collection and analysis, and qualitative data collection and analysis. Project management expertise includes outcome-based planning and evaluation.
Speaker's Contact Information
- dbathke2@unl.edu
Iron Teeth and 1000 Eyes: Developmental Keys to Extraordinary Animal Structures
Main Speaker: Dr. Rebecca Varney
Assistant Professor , School of Biological Sciences | UNL
Date: 10/14/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Speaker's Bio
Speaker's Contact Information
- rvarney3@unl.edu
No Glaciers, No Penguins; Rather Trees, Dinosaurs and Dunes in Antarctica - A Quaternary Eolian Researcher in the Czech Antarctic Research Program
Main Speaker: Dr. Jakub Holuša
Visiting Research Scientist , Department of Geography, Masaryk University, Czechia
Date: 10/21/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Speaker's Bio
Jakub holds a PhD in Physical Geography from Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. His research primarily focuses on cold-climate aeolian dunes and their (palaeo-)environmental reconstruction in both past (Czech Republic, Slovakia) and present-day (Iceland, Antarctica) periglacial environments.
Seeking new challenges, he was awarded a Fulbright postdoctoral scholarship in 2026, allowing him to study the largest dune field in the Western Hemisphere, the Nebraska Sand Hills, under the supervision of Paul Hanson. In addition to aeolian research, Jakub has been involved in studies of glacier mass balance, proglacial environmental dynamics, polar soil development and biomedicine in Iceland and Antarctica.
In his free time, Jakub enjoys listening to rock music and cooking. He is a passionate soccer player and also enjoys playing volleyball, cycling, kayaking and hiking.
Speaker's Contact Information
- jholusa@unl.edu
Pattern, Process, and Strategic Conservation of Wildlife in Working Landscapes
Main Speaker: Dr. Dan Sullins
Research Wildlife Biologist , Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Date: 10/28/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Speaker's Bio
Dr. Dan Sullins attended Texas A&M University where he graduated with a Bachelor Science in Wildlife and Fisheries in 2008. As an undergraduate he worked as a fisheries intern and upon graduation he worked multiple seasonal technician positions.
In spring 2010, he started graduate studies at Stephen F. Austin State University and since then he has conducted research related to the conservation of avian populations. As a PhD student and postdoctoral research associate at Kansas State University his work largely focused on lesser prairie-chicken ecology and conservation.
Speaker's Contact Information
- dsullins@usgs.gov
Multidimensional Application of 'Systematics: Silphium Plants and the Infinite Wasp Machine'
Main Speaker: Dr. Louis Natasi
Assistant Professor of Entomology , Department of Entomology | UNL
Date: 11/4/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Speaker's Bio
Dr Nastasi's work focuses on systematics of gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae sensu lato) and their natural enemies (primarily Chalcidoidea), integrating molecular and collections-based methods to elucidate patterns in biodiversity and evolution, delimit and describe new taxa, and produce diagnostic resources such as identification keys. Ongoing projects emphasize the robust herb gall wasps (Aulacideini),slender herb gall wasps (Phanacidini), usurper gall wasps(Ceroptresini), and various gall wasp parasitoids (Eurytomidae and Ormyridae). Emerging projects involve gall wasp pests in crop systems and evaluation of gall wasps’ ability to delimit host plant taxa.Speaker's Contact Information
- lnastasi2@unl.edu
Climate Extremes and Irrigation Impacts Across Scales
Main Speaker: Dr. Liang Chen
Assistant Professor , School of Natural Resources | UNL
Date: 11/11/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Speaker's Contact Information
- liangchen@unl.edu
From Fire to Recovery: Soil Health Response to the Bovee and Morrill Wildfires
Main Speaker: Dr. Caro Córdova
Soil Health Scientist , Department of Agronomy and Horticulture and School of Natural Resources | UNL
Date: 11/18/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Speaker's Bio
Hi, I am Caro Cordova, an agroecologist who specializes in soil health and ecosystem processes, with experience working in the United States and Latin America. Recently moved from the Great Lakes to the Great Plains to work for and with Nebraska farmers. Teaming up with a diverse group of researchers, stakeholders, and practitioners to build resilient farms and improve Nebraska soil health.Speaker's Contact Information
- carolina.cordova@unl.edu
TBD
Main Speaker: Dr. Andrew Margenot
Associate Professor , Department of Crop Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Date: 12/2/2026
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: 107 South (Platte River Auditorium)
Speaker's Bio
Dr. Margenot addresses the literal foundation of all cropping systems: soils. He advances how we monitor and manage soils as natural capital. His research team evaluates how human activities can enhance or compromise soil services to human societies, with an emphasis on food security from urban and rural agroecosystems in the U.S. Midwest and East Africa.Speaker's Contact Information
- margenot@illinois.edu
Seminar & Discussions Archives
The School of Natural Resources, its faculty and affiliated programs sponsor various seminar and discussion series. Unless otherwise indicated, all are open to the public.