Lisa Sorenson – Conservation in the Caribbean: Challenges, Successes and Urgent Needs

Lisa Sorenson, Research Assistant and Professor of Biology at Boston University and President, West Indian Whistling-Duck Working Group of the Society of Caribbean Ornithology, received her PhD in conservation biology, behavioral ecology, and hormonal mechanisms of behavior in birds at University of Minnesota in 1990.

Sorenson’s recent research addresses the potential effects of global warming on wetlands and waterfowl breeding in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of the Northern Great Plains, the most important breeding area for waterfowl in North America. As the climate warms due to rising atmospheric concentrations of CO2 from anthropogenic burning of fossil fuels, it is important to assess the probable impacts of this warming on this vital wetland ecosystem and wildlife resource.

Sorenson is also involved in avian and wetlands conservation efforts in the Caribbean region. As President of the West Indian Whistling-Duck and Wetlands Conservation Project, she coordinates a region-wide public education and awareness program on the importance of wetlands as well as population surveys for the endangered West Indian Whistling-Duck.