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David Millican
Biological Sciences
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]David joined the Walters Lab in the fall of 2014. He earned a B.S. in Biology from Davidson College, where he was a student research fellow in the Herpetology and Ornithology Labs. David’s interests in ecology were first perked by snakes and salamanders, but during a semester in Northeastern Australia he became captivated by avian behavior and pivoted his research interests.
When David returned to Davidson in the Spring of 2010, he immediately joined the Ornithology lab run by Dr. Mark Stanback, taking part in research investigating the breeding ecology of cavity-nesting passerines in the Piedmont of North Carolina, including Eastern Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, Brown-headed Nuthatches, and Carolina Chickadees.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”34287″ img_size=”275×355″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As a postgraduate, David spent three years working within multiple areas of avian research, including environmental consulting on windfarms in Pennsylvania, non-profit work with Hawkwatch International, academic research teams in Oregon, Illinois, Canada, and Argentina, and the USGS in Hawaii. David’s research interests include avian ecology and conservation, natural and sexual selection, and human dimensions of wildlife.
David’s current research investigates the community ecology of a cavity-nesting community in central Namibia. Based outside of Otjiwarongo, Namibia, David seeks to identify the major components of this threatened community, including the types of cavities available to cavity-nesters, the nest site preferences of different species, and the direct and indirect interactions between community members. David hopes that his work will identify how a shortage of nest cavities might impact each species individually in order to help develop conservation strategies that can overcome threats facing this community.
David is excited by the goals of by the IGC program, especially the emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and translating research into policy. David has used the IGC network to team up with Professor Ashley Dayer, an expert in Human Dimensions of Wildlife, to conduct a systematic assessment of the potential for a flagship species to emerge from Namibia’s cavity-nesting community. David believes that it is the responsibility of scientists to do more than just collect impartial data and design conservation strategies. It is our responsibility to make our findings accessible to the public, and to ensure that empirical facts trump theoretical conjecture in shaping the direction of environmental management.
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In the News
David Millican studies impact of climate change and deforestation in Namibia
Postcards from the field: Dave Millican in Namibia
Assessing the potential of the Monteiro’s Hornbill (Tockus monteiri) as a flagship species in Namibian conservation[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]