The next meeting of the Washington Ornithological Society is Monday, March
3rd.

Hollie Walsh will do a program on black-footed albatross genetics.

Population and Conservation Genetics of Black-footed Albatrosses by Hollie
E. Walsh, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Zoology, University of
Washington.
Recent population declines have colored the demographies of many large
pelagic seabird species. The largest of the seabirds are albatrosses
(Procellariiformes: Diomedeidae) and presently, many albatross species
exhibit decreasing population numbers. Though the causes of population
declines are manifold (interaction with fisheries, exposure to
environmental contaminants, historical poaching, habitat loss etc.), a
thorough understanding of the population genetics of a species can inform
conservation measures. DNA markers are being used to obtain information on
long-term effective population sizes, rates and directions of gene flow
(regional differentiation among colonies), and potential genetic
correlates of mate choice and/or offspring survival in black-footed
albatrosses (Phoebastria nigripes). These genetic markers allow estimation
of the proportion of the Black-footed albatross fisheries bycatch that is
derived from each of the major breeding colonies of this species. Results
of this study may have important consequences for design of albatross as
well as fisheries management practices in the Pacific.

Bio: Hollie Walsh has been working with Pacific seabirds for the past
seven years. She is interested in the evolutionary consequences of
population size changes, migration, and mate choice. She has worked in
Alaska with alcids and in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands with
albatrosses. Hollie was raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and received
her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Biology at Queen's University in
Kingston, Ontario. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department
of Zoology at the University of Washington.

Monthly Membership Meetings are held the first Monday of the month (except
July, August, & September). They are held at the Center for Urban
Horticulture on the University of Washington campus, 3501 NE 41st St.,
Seattle, and are open to all. The social begins at 7:00 p.m. and the
program starts at 7:30 p.m.

Directions: From I-5 take SR520 East. Take the Montlake Blvd NE exit and
turn North towards the University of Washington campus. Stay in right lane
and drive North on Montlake Blvd (over the bridge and past the stadium).
The road will curve to the right around the Montlake Fill and merges with
NE 45th St. You will quickly approach a 5 way intersection. At the
intersection turn right onto Mary Gates Memorial Drive. The Center for
Urban Horticulture is 2 long blocks down on the right. There is plenty of
free parking at the facility. We use the main meeting room, the backside
of which faces the road. The following bus routes stop at NE 45th and Mary
Gates Memorial Drive: #25, 65, & 75.

== Michael Hobbs
== Washington Ornithological Society Webmaster
== http://www.wos.org
== WOSWeb at wos.org