Hayden Hoos

Hayden Hoos

Animal Science Pre-Veterinary

Growing up in the country of the plains of Nebraska observing the diverse wildlife and livestock was always a favorite pastime. It’s this simple passion that most interested me in the One Health Internship. The internship allows me the opportunity to focus on observing and studying certain species and their interactions with other species while contacting professionals in multiple other species to expand my knowledge, ideas, and understandings of organisms that while don’t interest me highly are heavily important to the ecosystem as a whole; thereby my focus species. The internship also gives me the opportunity to be a part of something safeguarding the Nebraska prairie for future generations. All of these are the most basic reasons for my interest in the One Health program and it has been a blast. 

In the One Health Program my primary focus is on the Red-winged Blackbird where during the months of May-July I collect eggs to measure pesticide residues within the yolk and albumen (whites) of the egg. In this focus, I primarily work with Dr. Larkin Powell, Dr. Elizabeth VanWormer, graduate student Courtney Brummel, fellow One Health Intern Bird Co-lead Spencer Schroder, other One-Health Interns, and multiple other individuals. In the future summer(s) I hope to further expand the Red-winged Blackbird research to include some kind of pesticide residue measurements in the mother birds of these eggs to compare the residues in parent and offspring.  While Red-winged blackbirds are my focus species being a One Health Intern you can always expect working with the unexpected. In my internship experience so far I’ve helped with collections of data on native bees, honey bees, water invertebrates, tadpoles, various key pollinator plants (such as milkweed & etc.), soil, and water. One great thing about what I do is that it is never boring or repetitive.