Join PVAS for their Monthly Program where Carla Dove will  teach about the techniques used to identifying species of birds from feather fragments and how that specialized field of study is applied to aviation safety and other disciplines.

Carla J. Dove is Program Manager of the Feather Identification Lab at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.  Her expertise is in the specialized field of microscopic identification of feathers.  An important application of this research is to the field of aviation safety in determining the identifications of birds that are ingested into aircraft engines (birdstrikes) such as the one that caused US Airways flight 1549 to crash into the Hudson River on 15 January 2009.  Current identification methods used includes: microscopy, museum specimen comparisons, and DNA ‘barcoding’.

Dr. Dove often collaborates with scientists in the fields of Anthropology, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology, and has consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Law Enforcement Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Customs, the USDA Wildlife Services, the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and aircraft engine manufacturers. She began at the Smithsonian in 1989 as a Museum Technician and went on to complete her Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Public Policy at George Mason University in 1998 under the direction of Roxie Laybourne.  She holds a M.S. in Systematics, Evolution and Population Biology from George Mason University and a B.S in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana.  Dr. Dove also completed studies in Natural Resource Management at Lord Fairfax Community College.

Please contact Krista Hawley at AdultPrograms@PotomacAudubon.org or 681-252-1387 with any questions you may have.

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Meeting ID: 846 0204 3799
Passcode: 321651
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