My Slime Research

Presentation - Deakin Three Minute Thesis Finals

Virtual Poster - Australian Freshwater Sciences Society

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In the Media

Water for Our Future – Partnership Bewteen Barwon Water and Deakin University 

Aireys Inlet & District Association Announcement

 

Past Interviews

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USA Today – New Mexico on Cutting Edge of Climate Change

Santa Fe Reporter – Running Dry

Albuquerque Journal – Fires Can Damage Important Watersheds

Wild Climate – Impossible is the New Normal

 

Fire Projects

Dog Head Fire Private Land Treatment Effectiveness

Assessed performance of thinning and fuel reduction treatments on private land affected by the Dog Head Fire near Chilili, New Mexico.

David Canyon Collaborative Forest Restoration Project

Managed three-year, 516 acre thinning project under U.S. Forest Service CFRP grant . Coordinated 21 community partners in delivering diverse outreach campaign to more than 2000 people. Designed and implemented ecological and socioeconomic monitoring.

Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP)

Coordinated stakeholder engagement and hazard mapping to protect communities from the threat of catastrophic fire. Led series of public meetings to address concerns and gather input on priority action items.

RGWF Citizen Science

Designed and implemented ecological monitoring program to engage community members and provide data to assess fuel treatment effectiveness on sites funded through the Rio Grande Water Fund.

Monitoring Software

Fuels Measure App

Developed mobile app for iOS and Android to record and map fuel load measurements. Fuel loads calculated by algorithms specific to each U.S. forest cover type.

Forest Measure App

Developed Android app on Cybertracker platform for recording and mapping vegetation and fire monitoring data based on U.S. Forest Service Common Stand Exam protocol. Designed to facilitate data collection by multiple team members.

Grants & Awards

  • Australian Freshwater Sciences Society Conference Best Poster
  • Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment
  • USDA Forest Service Collaborative Forest Restoration Program Grant
  • The Nature Conservancy Rio Grande Water Fund Citizen Science Grant
  • New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Share with Wildlife Grant
  • The Nature Conservancy Rio Grande Water Fund Education Grant 
  • Georgia Sea Grant Marine Education Fellowship                        

Community Leadership Roles

  • Firewise Community President, Sandia Park Scenic Byway, 2015-2017
  • New Mexico Chapter Chair, Society of American Foresters, 2016
  • Deep Well Protest steering committee & Aquapalooza fundraiser chair, 2010-2017
  • Wildfire Network Board Member 2016-2018 & President 2017-2018
  • Old Sandia Park Water Service Co-op Board Member 2005-2017 & President 2015-2017 

Papers & Presentations

Bonfantine KL, Trevathan-Tackett SM, Matthews TG, Neckovic A, Gan HM. 2021. Dumpster diving for diatom plastid 16S rRNA genes. PeerJ 9:e11576

Bonfantine, K., 2020. eDNA – the roots of a new ecology. Deakin Centre for Integrative Ecology Wild Webinar Series

Bonfantine, K., 2020. A molecular test of e-flow effectiveness using biofilms as bioindicators. American Water Resources Association Virtual Conference

Bonfantine, K. 2019. How does stream biofilm respond to small environmental flow releases? Australian Freshwater Sciences Society Annual Conference. Deakin University. Waurn Ponds, VIC

Bonfantine, K. 2018. Do small flow releases alter the composition and nutritional quality of biofilms? Virtual poster at the Australian Freshwater Sciences Society Annual Conference.  Adelaide, SA.

Bonfantine, K. 2016. Highest is best use – water conservation at a landscape scale. Institutional Constraints to Water Management in New Mexico Conference. University of New Mexico.  Albuquerque, NM. Invited speaker

Bonfantine, K. 2016. New methods and technology to support crowdsourced ecological monitoring. Oral presentation at the Association of Fire Ecology Annual Fire Congress, Tucson, AZ

Bonfantine, K. 2016. Tree ring education builds understanding of watershed health. Oral presentation at the Association of Fire Ecology Annual Fire Congress, Tucson, AZ

Bonfantine, K., J. Zebrowski, and A. Egan. 2011. Guidelines and protocols for monitoring riparian forest restoration projects. A publication of the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute, www.nmfwri.org           

Bonfantine, K. 2008. The value of improving watershed health with woody biomass. Oral presentation at the New World Biomass Conference, Albuquerque, NM

Bonfantine, K.L., 2007. Ecohydrologic Effects of Applied Woody Biomass in a Semiarid Ecosystem. Poster presented at the 2007 National Conference of the Society of American Foresters. Portland, OR

Bonfantine, K. 2007. Fuel reduction treatment effects on ecohydrology in a semiarid woodland. Oral presentation at American Water Resources Association Annual Conference, Albuquerque, NM

Bonfantine, K. 2007. Fuel reduction treatment effects on semiarid woodland ecohydrology. Department of Water Resources Professional Project Report. University of New Mexico   

Stockwell, J.D., K.L. Bonfantine and B.M. Johnson. 1999. Kokanee foraging: a Daphnia in the stomach is worth two in the lake. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 128:169-174

Training

General Ecology

  • Multivariate Analysis in Ecology using Primer v7
  • ESRI ArcGIS
  • Wetland delineation
  • Herbalist apprenticeship

Fire Courses

  • Basic Wildland Firefighter Certification (S-130/190, I-100, LCES) 
  • Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior (S290)        
  • Single Resource Crew Boss/Engine Boss (S230/231)                      
  • Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior Calculations (S390)   
  • Introduction to Fire Effects (RX310)
  • FSVEG database training             

Outreach & Education

  • FireWorks Curriculm Training
  • GLOBE Teacher Training
  • Project Wild and Aquatic Wild Instructor             
  • National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)
  • Wilderness First Aid

Community Outreach Examples

Tree Rings for Teachers Workshop

Designed and coordinated a half-day workshop that introduced teachers to dendrochronology and the connections to climate science, water resource management, and archaeology. Teachers received tools to implement activities in The Tree Rings’ Tale by John Fleck.

Matchstick Forests

Facilitated several workshops for children and their families using Matchstick Forests activity from the FireWorks Curriculum to investigate fire effects related to tree density and slope.

Kids First Fire Outreach

Coordinated three-year program for K-2 students to introduce water and fire science and improve community fire preparedness in a wildland-urban interface.

Watershed Fair

Organized educational fair for 450 students to introduce soil and water processes and showcase local animals and plants.