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Upcoming Events (Fall ’26 Schedule Coming Soon)

Flyer with the following text: Wildlife Seminar Fall ‘26 Professor Yun Sing Koh, Director of the Centre of Machine Learning for Social Good, Te Kura Matai Rorohiko School of Computer Science, The University of Auckland AI for Wildlife Monitoring and Ecological Intelligence: A New Zealand Perspective Artificial intelligence has achieved remarkable advances in perception and recognition, yet many AI systems continue to struggle in dynamic, open-world environments where data distributions evolve, labelled examples are limited, and new concepts emerge over time. Wildlife conservation presents precisely these challenges. Building AI that can operate reliably in natural ecosystems therefore requires advances beyond conventional supervised learning, spanning continual learning, open-world recognition, multimodal foundation models, uncertainty estimation, and trustworthy AI. New Zealand provides a unique testbed for this research. Its distinctive biodiversity, together with ambitious conservation programmes targeting introduced predators and endangered native species, creates opportunities to develop AI methods that must adapt to changing environments while supporting real-world conservation decisions. In this talk, I will present recent AI research from the Centre for Machine Learning for Social Good at the University of Auckland, where we are developing intelligent systems for long-term wildlife monitoring in dynamic, open-world environments. Our work spans computer vision, multimodal foundation models, continual learning, open-world recognition, and trustworthy AI to enable the identification of individual animals, adaptation to changing ecosystems, and learning from limited and evolving data. These challenges are motivating new advances in representation learning, robust multimodal reasoning, and AI systems capable of reliable long-term deployment beyond benchmark datasets. The talk will conclude by examining how wildlife conservation is driving advances in artificial intelligence. The need for AI systems that can recognise new individuals, adapt to changing environments, learn continuously, and make reliable decisions under uncertainty is motivating research that extends beyond conservation and contributes to the development of more general, robust, and trustworthy intelligent systems. Artificial intelligence has achieved remarkable advances in perception and recognition, yet many AI systems continue to struggle in dynamic, open-world environments where data distributions evolve, labelled examples are limited, and new concepts emerge over time. Wildlife conservation presents precisely these challenges. Building AI that can operate reliably in natural ecosystems therefore requires advances beyond conventional supervised learning, spanning continual learning, open-world recognition, multimodal foundation models, uncertainty estimation, and trustworthy AI. New Zealand provides a unique testbed for this research. Its distinctive biodiversity, together with ambitious conservation programmes targeting introduced predators and endangered native species, creates opportunities to develop AI methods that must adapt to changing environments while supporting real-world conservation decisions. In this talk, I will present recent AI research from the Centre for Machine Learning for Social Good at the University of Auckland, where we are developing intelligent systems for long-term wildlife monitoring in dynamic, open-world environments. Our work spans computer vision, multimodal foundation models, continual learning, open-world recognition, and trustworthy AI to enable the identification of individual animals, adaptation to changing ecosystems, and learning from limited and evolving data. These challenges are motivating new advances in representation learning, robust multimodal reasoning, and AI systems capable of reliable long-term deployment beyond benchmark datasets. The talk will conclude by examining how wildlife conservation is driving advances in artificial intelligence. The need for AI systems that can recognise new individuals, adapt to changing environments, learn continuously, and make reliable decisions under uncertainty is motivating research that extends beyond conservation and contributes to the development of more general, robust, and trustworthy intelligent systems. Friday 9/4/26, 12noon-1pm, Mulford Room 36 or https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/94180561590 info: wildlife.berkeley.edu

Wildlife Seminar
9/4/26, 12noon-1pm

Professor Yun Sing Koh


Director of the Centre of Machine Learning for Social Good, Te Kura Matai Rorohiko School of Computer Science, The University of Auckland


AI for Wildlife Monitoring and Ecological Intelligence: A New Zealand Perspective


Mulford Room 36 or https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/94180561590

To be added to our list, email us at berkeleywildlife@berkeley.edu

Previous Events

Flyer that says: Wildlife Seminar Spring ‘26 Mikaela Provost, Assistant Professor in Quantitative Fisheries in the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at UC Davis Fisheries in a changing ocean: the environment’s influence on harvested populations and management Bio: Mikaela Provost is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at UC Davis. She studies fish and fisheries, focusing on the influence of environmental change on population dynamics of harvested marine species. Her research uses theoretical and empirical approaches to address applied problems in fisheries management and marine conservation, including how human fishing communities respond to changes in fish populations. Abstract: Changes in the ocean environment are affecting marine species—and the fisheries that depend on them—in surprising ways. This talk explores three questions: How does environmental variability shape population dynamics and extinction risk, and what role does life history play in mediating these effects? How are fishers responding to climate-driven shifts in the distribution of harvested species? And how does the concept of climate-change refugia apply to marine species with limited dispersal? Friday 2/27/26, 12noon-1pm, Mulford Room 36 or https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/96080129595
A flyer with an image of Praseenjeet Yadav and another image of a National Geographic that featured Praseenjeets work with Tigers. The flyer includes the following info: Wildlife Seminar Spring ‘26 Prasenjeet Yadav, National Geographic Photographer and Explorer Storytelling of Science and Biodiversity : Seeing, documenting, and making people care Bio: Prasenjeet Yadav is a molecular biologist turned National Geographic photographer and Explorer who focuses on science and natural history. He holds a master’s degree in molecular biology and spent several years researching molecular ecology at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India. Early in his scientific career, he realized his true passion lay in storytelling. He now combines research experience with photography to popularize ecological and conservation science from India at a global scale. In October 2025, he both photographed and wrote National Geographic Magazine’s international cover story on Similipal’s rare black tigers, a milestone that helped bring India’s conservation science to a wider audience. He contributes to National Geographic, The New York Times, NPR, and the BBC. He is a member of The Explorers Club, New York, and his luggage is based in Nagpur and Bangalore, India. He is currently developing long-term stories from central India’s human-dominated tiger landscapes. Abstract: From forest paths to a science bench to a camera on assignment for National Geographic, this journey is rooted in India. We will travel to places where roads thin out and stories begin: sky islands where tiny birds whistle from shrinking habitats; high ridges where people and snow leopards share a narrow line; and central India, where tigers carry hidden histories in their stripes. Part field note, part experiment, the talk asks how evidence becomes image, and what images can do when they move beyond journals into classrooms, newsrooms, and decision rooms. What changes when we learn to see slowly, stay with uncertainty, and tell the edge of the wild without flattening its complexity? Ultimately, this is about attention as a method, and about testing whether a careful story can shift how we act for forests and the lives, human and nonhuman, that share them. Website: www.prasenjeetyadav.comInstagram: prasen.yadav Wednesday 2/18/26, 4-5pm, Mulford Room 36 or https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/96795511229
A flyer with an image of Emma Steigerwald and the following talk information: Wildlife Seminar Spring ‘26 Emma Steigerwald, NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of California Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Santa Cruz Bears adrift: The origin of a century of vagrant polar bears arriving to Iceland Bio: Emma Steigerwald is an evolutionary ecologist, fascinated in understanding how pressures like climate change and disease are shaping genetic and species diversity, particularly in amphibians. She did her PhD on disease dynamics and adaptation during climate-driven range shift on an extreme high-altitude amphibian at UC Berkeley, co-advised by Dr Rosemary Gillespie and Dr Rasmus Nielsen. She then moved to the UC Santa Cruz Paleogenomics Lab, where she built sedimentary and ancient DNA skills on conservation genomics projects focused on polar bears and a California endemic plant. Now, as an NSF and Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, she is bringing those skills back to the world of amphibians, with a project focused on studying how amphibian communities have been impacted by climate and disease over thousands of years. Abstract: In recent years, the arrival of vagrant polar bears to Iceland on ice floes has gained significant attention, often framed as evidence of this flagship species’ disorientation in the face of rapidly changing sea ice conditions. However, archival data have revealed that vagrant polar bears have been showing up in Iceland for at least a millennium, with over 500 bears arriving since the 9th century. So, are bears arriving today animals that human actions have, in fact, set adrift? What is the origin of modern Icelandic vagrant bears and does it match the origin of historical Icelandic vagrants, sampled before the contemporary decline and fragmentation of Arctic sea ice? We address this question using whole genome resequencing and population assignment approaches, and place these findings in the context of what we know about sea ice loss and transport across the Arctic basin. Our results can help resolve whether recent vagrancy represents a novel, climate-driven phenomenon or the continuation of a longstanding natural pattern. Friday 2/13/26, 12noon-1pm, Mulford Room 36 or https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/92163408043
A flyer with an image of Shaili Johri and the following talk information: Wildlife Seminar Spring ‘26 Shaili Johri, Research Scientist, Oceans, Stanford Doerr School for Sustainability Mapping Risk & Resilience across Indo-Pacific Reef Ecosystems with Shark Genomescapes Bio: Shaili is a research scientist in the Oceans Department at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford University. She specializes in conservation genomics and large-scale ocean surveillance approaches that inform marine policy, management, and conservation. She also serves as President of the Society for Conservation Biology’s Global Marine Program, where she leads initiatives that support marine conservation communities worldwide in addressing regional challenges through evidence-based research, collaboration, and applied practice. Working across the Indo-Pacific - from South Africa to Western Australia and across Pacific islands and coasts - Shaili’s research focuses on data-deficient and exploited marine ecosystems and the coastal communities most affected by illegal and unregulated fishing. Her work integrates cross-disciplinary innovation and capacity building to generate actionable insights on genetic diversity, ecosystem health, and fishing pressure, and to understand how these interact across environmental gradients to inform adaptive conservation. This research supports sustainable fisheries management, livelihoods, and food security, while helping safeguard some of the world’s most rapidly changing and least monitored ocean regions. Abstract: Illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fisheries pose a major threat to marine biodiversity, food security, and coastal livelihoods across the Indo-Pacific, with disproportionate impacts on apex predators and reef ecosystems. These pressures undermine ecosystem resilience, erode critical services, and challenge the effectiveness of existing management and enforcement frameworks. My work integrates genomics, artificial intelligence, and remote sensing to develop large-scale ocean surveillance systems that provide decision-relevant insights into ecosystem health and fishing pressure. Implemented through partnerships with local institutions and communities, these systems support long-term monitoring, strengthen local capacity, and improve the effectiveness of fisheries management and conservation interventions. One of the central outcomes of this work is the Reefshark Genomescape, the world’s largest shark genome repository. This platform has enabled the detection of shifts in genetic diversity across environmental and oceanographic gradients, identification of hotspots of illegal fishing, and improved understanding of which species and ecosystems are most at risk. The approach has supported the identification of critical habitats such as nurseries, rediscovery of populations thought to be extinct, and the development of locally led monitoring, enforcement and adaptive management capacity. This interdisciplinary ocean surveillance framework offers a scalable model for strengthening marine governance, supporting sustainable fisheries, and enhancing ecosystem resilience in regions with limited data and enforcement capacity. The talk will highlight key findings, policy-relevant insights, and opportunities for collaboration to translate emerging technologies into effective conservation and management outcomes. Friday 1/30/26, 12noon-1pm, Mulford Room 36 or https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/94293519975
A flyer with an image of a salmon jumping in the water and the following text: Wildlife Seminar Spring ‘26 Schedule 1/30 Shaili Johri, Research Scientist, Oceans, Stanford Doerr School for Sustainability, Mapping Risk & Resilience across Indo-Pacific Reef Ecosystems with Shark Genomescapes 2/13 Emma Cathleen Steigerwald, NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of California Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Santa Cruz, Bears adrift: The origin of a century of vagrant polar bears arriving to Iceland 2/27 Mikaela Provost, Assistant Professor in Quantitative Fisheries in the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at UC Davis, Fisheries in a changing ocean: the environment’s influence on harvested populations and management 4/10 Alex Juan, Grad Student-Ruhi and Carlson Labs, Evaluating the Trojan Y Chromosome Strategy for the Removal of Invasive Sacramento Pikeminnow from the Eel River, CA (Wiya’t) 4/17 Sam Maher, PhD Finishing Talk, Integrating Diverse and Conflicting Values for Migratory Wildlife into Conservation Practice 5/1 Kristin Barker, Research Director, Beyond Yellowstone Living Lab, Stone Center for Environmental When: 12noon-1pm Where: Mulford Room 36 (in person) See our website https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/wildlifefor more informationStewardship, Putting research into action: How wildlife scientists make conservation happen
A flyer with an image of Maya Zomer and an image of plants on fire and an image of a plant growing out of previously burned ground. The flyer includes the following info: Wildlife Seminar Fall ‘25 Maya Zomer Postdoc, UC Berkeley, Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center for Data Science and Environment Fire-Adapted Traits: Intraspecific Variability and Global Change Fire has been a prevalent and influential force in ecosystems worldwide for over 400 million years, since the origin of land plants. Species in fire-prone ecosystems, such as Mediterranean shrublands, have evolved a range of adaptive traits that allow them to persist with recurrent fire. I will discuss fire-adaptive traits in both plants and animals. I will also explore how studying intraspecific (within-species) variation can help us better understand these adaptations and how species might respond to environmental change. Friday 11/14/25, 12noon-1pm, Mulford Room 36 or https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/99519159445
A flyer with an image of Monte Neate-Clegg and an image of a Bar-tailed Trogon The flyer includes the following info: Wildlife Seminar Fall ‘25 Monte Neate-Clegg Postdoc, UC Santa Cruz Unraveling the responses of birds to global change Biodiversity is responding to global change in diverse ways, from range shifts, to altered phenologies, to urban adaptation. To fully understand these responses we must study the mechanisms underpinning them, the different response avenues available, and the way that functional traits lead to inter-specific variation in responses. In our changing world, birds, in particular, are fruitful to study given their global distribution, their wide diversity of ecologies, and their visibility to scientists and the public alike. I will begin by explaining how I have used tropical elevational gradients as a testbed for understanding upslope range shifts. Moving to North America, I will then demonstrate the relative contributions of range shifts and phenological advances to climate tracking at continental scales. Finally, I will explore the functional traits that favour urban tolerance across the world’s cities. Together, I will show how these approaches lead to a more holistic understanding of global change responses. Friday 10/31/25, 12noon-1pm, Mulford Room 36 or https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/96054309781
A flyer with an image of Juliana Valez and an image of a mountain tapir The flyer includes the following info: Wildlife Seminar Fall ‘25 Juliana Velez, Postdoc, Stanford Tightening the Conservation Pipeline: Actionable Ecological Research in Agricultural Landscapes Agriculture drives approximately 90% of global deforestation, with permanent pastures for cattle ranching representing the dominant form of agricultural land use worldwide. This expansion has major ecological consequences, including wildlife habitat degradation and disease transmission. My research combines AI tools and species distribution modeling to understand the effects of disturbance in agricultural landscapes on wildlife and human health. Focusing on tapirs, the largest terrestrial mammals of the Neotropics, I will highlight how wildlife conservation action is a cornerstone of One Health on ranches in the Llanos region and in land-use mosaics of the Andes. Friday 10/10/25, 12noon-1pm, Mulford Room 36 or https ://berkeley.zoom.us/j/95599682272
A flyer with an image of Kristin Davis and the following talk information: Wildlife Seminar Spring ‘25 Kristin Davis Postdoc, Stone Center for Environmental Stewardship & Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center for Data Science and Environment Connection in Conservation: Caring for People to Care for Place Conservation is not just about protecting land—it is about people, relationships, and the complex human systems within which we live. In this seminar, I will examine how conservation is closely linked to systems like economics and cultural values, drawing on my research within a collaborative adaptive grazing experiment in the western Great Plains and on community members’ experiences with residential development in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. I also will discuss how conservation relies on our connections to each other, sharing research conducted with my PhD lab on graduate students’ experiences of mental health struggles and sexual harassment in ecology and life sciences programs. Together, these projects highlight the importance of caring for people as a foundation for meaningful conservation outcomes. Friday 10/24/25, 12noon-1pm, Mulford Room 36 or https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/99841990687
A flyer with an image of Robert Bonnie and a scenic image from Wyoming with mountains in the background and a field of dry grass. The flyer includes the following info: Wildlife Seminar Fall ‘25 Robert Bonnie, Distinguished Scholar, Stone Center for Environmental Stewardship Conservation Roadmap American conservation is evolving. For more than a century, the U.S. conservation movement emphasized strict land protections and regulatory approaches administered by the federal government. These approaches have long faced challenges from entrenched economic interests, but in recent decades, key scientific and social trends have raised questions about their efficacy, while climate change magnifies their limitations. During the Biden Administration, the U.S. invested heavily in conservation through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and other measures. The 2024 election and recent federal actions have cast doubt on the future of environmental policy, particularly at the federal level. However, most Americans support environmental conservation broadly, even as they disagree, often across the urban-rural divide, about specific policies. This suggests the need for new conservation strategies and approaches that can build a more cohesive and inclusive movement to protect America’s natural resources and the people who depend on them. In this seminar, Robert Bonnie will introduce work he is leading to catalyze a shift in the priorities of the U.S. conservation movement towards federal policies that build on the legacy of past conservation gains with new, more flexible and collaborative approaches. Friday 9/19/25, 12noon-1pm, Mulford Room 36 or https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/96396095324
A flyer with an image of Bradley Marshall in regalia as well as some of his other work including an image of a bird, feathers, and a beaded skirt. The flyer includes the following info: Wildlife Seminar Fall ‘25 Bradley Marshall Accomplished Artist and Recognized Regalia Maker, Hupa Tribal Member Working with Feathers and Shells as a Native Artist As a Hupa regalia maker, I was born into a tradition where working with feathers and shells is not just art. It is a ceremony, a relationship, and a responsibility. The woodpecker, flicker, and abalone are more than materials; they are kin. Each one carries a story passed down from our elders, teaching us how to live in balance with the land. When I make regalia, I am not only preparing for a ceremony, I am continuing a relationship of respect with the land and the animals. Many of these species are disappearing. As they vanish, so do the stories, songs, and practices that depend on them. That’s why cultural restoration must go hand-in-hand with biodiversity conservation. We can’t separate the health of our culture from the health of the ecosystems we depend on. When we protect the birds, the shells, and the forests, we’re also protecting a way of life. My work as a Native artist is rooted in the belief that art is care, memory, and survival. Friday 9/5/25, 12noon-1pm, Mulford Room 36 or https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/94528847340
A flyer with an image of a turkey and the following text: Wildlife Seminar Fall ‘25 Schedule 9/5 Bradley Marshall Accomplished Artist and Recognized Regalia Maker, Hupa Tribal Member, “Working with Feathers and Shells as a Native Artist” 9/19 Robert Bonnie, Distinguished Scholar, Stone Center for Environmental Stewardship, “Conservation Roadmap” 10/10 Juliana Velez Postdoc, Stanford, “Tightening the conservation pipeline: actionable ecological research in agricultural landscapes” 10/24 Kristin Davis, Postdoc, Stone Center for Environmental Stewardship, “Connection in Conservation: Caring for People as We Care for Place” 10/31 Monte Neate-Clegg, Postdoc, ​UC Santa Cruz, “Unraveling the Responses of Birds to Global Change” 11/14 Maya Zomer, Postdoc, DSE, “Fire-Adapted Traits: Intraspecific Variability and Global Change” When: 12noon-1pm Where: Mulford Room 36 (in person) To join our mail list to receive a zoom link and announcements, email berkeleywildlife@berkeley.edu