Meet Marita Davison, a biologist specializing in how human activities affect individual species and the ecosystems they call home. Born in the U.S. and raised in Bolivia, Marita is an expert in bird ecology and has a wide range of experience in the education and development sectors. She holds an M.Sc. from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University, and is the co-founder of Habitat Seven, a media lab that works with science organizations.

Read this page and watch the first two of three videos (In the Field, and The Tools I use) (~5 min each) featuring Marita Davison’s research activities.

Read this article about illegal wildlife trafficking.

Read this Abstract Link about bird habitat.

Now, please consider and reflect on these questions:

• What was most interesting or most confusing about the videos and articles?
• What did you learn about research, ecology, and conservation? How might Marita Davison’s work be of value to the general public?
• What do these videos/article tell you about the type of people that do science?
• What new questions do you have after reviewing these videos/article?

Your writing should be at least 250 words and should be original! This is not a group project. Each student should turn in their own independently written assignment.