Slaney is a first year Masters student in biology at Chico State University. She graduated from CSU Chico with a Bachelors degree in Biological Sciences in Spring 2021, and decided to continue pursuing this field that allowed her to be outside and study what she loves. She grew up in Placerville, a small mountain town in Northern California, where her passion for wildlife and the outdoors was cultivated. Since she was young, she has been curious about interactions in the environment and always wanted to work in the field of conservation or ecology.

Slaney’s specific interests are animal behavior, adaptations, and how the interactions between species impact entire ecosystems. During her undergraduate time, she researched the territorial behavior of western fence lizards in response to temperature and parasites, and she is currently studying the habitat use of mountain quail in response to fire and forest management.

She has volunteered for biologists with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife on many surveys that have helped her gain fieldwork experience and see the importance of managing our environment and wildlife sustainably. She is currently also working for a salmon habitat restoration project alongside her graduate research. When she’s not studying wildlife, Slaney loves to hike, camp, waterski, rock climb and most things outside! She also loves to sing and enjoys playing music!

What are you hoping to gain from the conference?

I am really looking forward to connecting with other biologists who have much more experience and knowledge than me. I hope to learn from their research projects and gain inspiration / feedback on how to improve my project. I also hope the conference will open my eyes to many of the topics and subjects I didn't even know were being studied; gaining a broader understanding of science and the world from many perspectives is very valuable to me.

Which program topics or sessions are you most looking forward to?

I am particularly interested in all of the talks related to the topic of wildfire resilience. One of the main goals of my research is to understand how a specific game bird (but also other forest species as a whole) are responding and adapting to wildfires and how we manage our forests. I am eager to hear what other research is being done in that area! I am also excited to hear about the ecology of bats, as they have always been a creature that interests me and I would love to learn more about them!

What else does 2022 have in store for you?

I will be starting the fieldwork portion of my research project that I have been preparing for, for the last several months! Hopefully, I will trap many quail and be able to monitor their locations so that I can start the bulk of the data collection and analysis for my study! This year will be the main part of my Masters program, so I hope to get in some good research and exciting fieldwork!

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