[ECOLOG-L] Graduate student opportunity at the University of Oklahoma
*Graduate Student Opportunity at Oklahoma University** * *Fluvial Geomorphology/Water Resources/Stream Ecology* The Geography Department at the University of Oklahoma has an opening for one graduate student (Master’s or PhD) to work on a project at the interface of fluvial geomorphology, ecology, and public policy. We would like to admit a student who is interested in studying landscape effects on any of the following river resources: water availability, sediment transport, primary productivity, temperature, and water quality. Full funding is available through a teaching assistantship and potentially a research assistantship after the second year. Supplementary fellowships are also available to exceptional candidates. The University of Oklahoma is located in Norman, OK, which sits at the boundary between the Central Great Plains and the Cross Timbers physiographic regions in central Oklahoma. Oklahoma is made up of 12 different ecoregions, providing for a diversity of research opportunities, as well as leisure activities. Norman is a traditional college town, and is just 15 miles south of Oklahoma City. Please send a CV, statement of research interests, contact information for three references, and unofficial transcripts to jjul...@ou.edu mailto:jjul...@ou.edu by Feb 5. Jason P. Julian Assistant Professor Department of Geography University of Oklahoma Email: jjul...@ou.edu mailto:jjul...@ou.edu Website: http://ags.ou.edu/~jjulian/ http://ags.ou.edu/%7Ejjulian/
[ECOLOG-L] Summer job – Forest Ecology/ Forestry/ Fire
The U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station (www.fs.fed.us/psw/redding/) anticipates filling four temporary positions for the summer of 2009 (approximately late May or mid June through late August or mid September - start and end dates somewhat flexible) at the GS- 4 to GS-6 levels to assist with forestry and forest ecology research. The duty station for the positions will be at Pinecrest, CA, 35 miles east of Sonora in the Central Sierra Nevada. Job description: Successful applicants will assist with forestry and fire- related research projects in the Stanislaus-Tuolumne Experimental Forest, near Pinecrest, CA. The objectives of the studies are 1) to evaluate the influence of stand spatial structure on natural regeneration and resilience to wildfire, and 2) develop methods for minimizing mortality of large pines when fire is reintroduced after a long period of fire suppression. Duties will include laying out study plots using GPS, GIS, and compass, and taking data on forest structural attributes. We will also be collecting tree cores using increment borers to investigate tree growth rates in changing competitive environments over time. These jobs are an excellent opportunity for students interested in gaining field experience. One of the positions will be for a crew leader; for this position an undergraduate degree is required with some graduate work or experience beneficial. Incoming graduate students looking for thesis/ dissertation research possibilities are especially encouraged to apply for the crew leader position. Pay commensurate with education and experience (GS-4 = $13.18/hr [some undergraduate coursework specifically relating to the position], GS-5 = $14.74/hr [completed undergraduate degree, or one year of experience at the GS-4 level], GS-6 = $16.44/hr [some graduate coursework and/or experience]). Employees are paid for federal holidays and accrue vacation time (4 hours per two week pay period). Housing in a nearby community and daily transportation to and from the work locations will be provided. Qualifications: o Must be a student or will become a student in the fall. No exceptions. o Coursework in forestry or ecology; GIS or GPS skills a plus but not necessary o Must be physically fit and capable of hiking long distances over difficult terrain o Enjoys being outdoors, and can deal with inclement weather and the occasional mosquito and stinging bee o Capable of living and working closely together with others The Stanislaus-Tuolumne Experimental Forest is in a spectacular location just west of the Emigrant Wilderness and north of Yosemite National Park and contains some of finest remnant old-growth sugar pine mixed conifer forest outside of the National Parks. Please send resume, along with the name, title, address, phone number, and email address of at least three references to: ekn...@fs.fed.us. While we will accept resumes as late as February 20, applicants are encouraged to apply promptly. Positions are open until filled. For more information call Eric Knapp (530) 226-2555.
[ECOLOG-L] Job Announcement - Coral Program Specialist
I.M. Systems Group, Inc. (IMSG, http://www.ismg.com/) is looking to hire a Deep/Shallow Water Coral Program Specialist to work in the NOAA Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation (OHC), which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The position will be located at the OHC headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. The holder of this position will serve as a program specialist for coral- related matters, supporting NOAA Fisheries activities under the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP, www.coralreef.noaa.gov/). Duties will relate to both shallow-water (tropical) and deep sea (cold water) coral communities and will focus on program coordination and development, strategic planning, partnership building, and data analysis and assessment. Responsibilities: With regard to shallow water (tropical) corals, the employee’s duties will include: • Managing regional coral reef efforts; facilitating and coordinating meetings; developing priorities and monitoring performance; providing budget forecasting and preparation of funding requests (May require occasional travel to Pacific and/or Caribbean locations.) • Supporting strategic planning efforts including identifying priorities, developing performance measures, and implementing programmatic changes in response to the CRCP’s recent external program review • Reviewing and providing comments on CRCP documents and reports; assisting with editing and formatting of technical reports • Participating in Staff Evaluation and Assessment (SEA) team planning meetings, proposal evaluations, and internal team planning • Assisting with coral reef conservation grants With regard to deep sea corals, the employee’s duties will include: • Assisting in the implementation of a new, congressionally-mandated Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program • Supporting strategic planning efforts including identifying priorities, developing performance measures, and implementing an external program review process • Collecting and organizing information on existing NOAA and external research on deep sea corals and management efforts that support their conservation • Assisting with the collection and organization of information on known locations of deep sea coral habitats within U.S. waters, and assisting with interagency and international collaborations to manage this information • Reviewing and providing comments on NOAA documents and reports; assisting with editing and formatting of technical reports, including the Report to Congress on Implementation of the Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program • Staffing the NOAA Deep Coral Team and participating in planning meetings, proposal evaluations, and internal team planning In addition, the employee will assist in managing outreach and communication efforts for both shallow and deep coral and will participate implementing the CRCP Communication and Outreach strategic plan. Qualifications: Required: • Master’s degree (strongly preferred) or Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline such as marine science, biology, marine policy, environmental management, or policy • Strong verbal and writing skills • Strong organizational skills and attention to detail. • Self-motivated energetic strategic thinker • Ability to work well individually and cooperatively with a range of individuals • Ability to work on several projects simultaneously and to shift priorities as needed • Willingness to learn new skills • Technical proficiency with Microsoft Office programs Desired: • 2-3 years of program or project planning experience • Familiarity with coral conservation and management issues Facility with ArcGIS applications To Apply: Please send your resume, three (3) references and a cover letter describing how your knowledge and skills fulfill the requirements of the position to j...@imsg.com with the following subject heading: NOA09007 - Deep/Shallow Water Coral Program Specialist. The vacancy announcement is open until filled. The salary for this position is commensurate with experience. IMSG is an equal opportunity employer.
[ECOLOG-L] Ecology Certainty Uncertainty Illusion/Delusion, was Re: Ecological Modelling
Bill/Forum, May I/we have the Weigert reference/link, please? Does anyone (Weigert?) have any idea WHY performance goes down as complexity goes up? Is it because we humans have trouble with more that a small handful of variables or is it the nature of the program? Is it because the phenomena we're trying to observe are bigger than we in space and time, not to mention degree or quality (he said fuzzily)? Why is it that some of us now and then come to a point where it seems clear, when we have dropped our objective guards and spears, and we fall down some rabbit or worm hole into some place other than our conscious minds and find, to our surprise, that, as Edna St. Vincent Millay once put it, I found that I had translated the line.* Speaking of predator-prey population dynamics, has anybody ever figured out mouse plagues? On avoiding parameters, to put it poetically (Robert Frost, The Mending Wall): Before I built a wall I'd ask to know ~ What I was walling in or walling out. I presume you did. But does everybody? With respect to your other email, several years ago I suggested fuzzy logic to a sizeable (regional) group of ecologists . . . The atmosphere was, shall we say, odd. I got one linear question about how one could do real science that way. All else was silence. WT *For those interested in the context: My attention was caught by a line in quite another poem; and a few minutes later, with something of the terror which a person must feel who realizes that he has undoubtedly been bitten by a mosquito and that he is in a notoriously malarial climate, I found that I had translated the line! I was breathing hard. . .I had entirely forgotten what I was looking up. . .Fatally in my mind was the sickening conviction that I was in for it, that I had caught the fever, and that neither quinine nor wise counsel could save me. --Edna St. Vincent Millay on translating Les Fleurs du Mal [Her introduction to the translation, Flowers of Evil. (From http://geocities.com/bostonpoet2000/articles/trans.html )] - Original Message - From: William Silvert cien...@silvert.org To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 3:07 AM Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Subject: Ecology Certainty Uncertainty Illusion/Delusion, was Re: Ecological Modelling Highly detailed models seldom work well. In a classic paper by Weigert he showed that the best models have an intermediate level of complexity beyond which performance gets worse. The interactions between closely related species are so difficult to quantify that some degree of aggregation is essential. Galtman didn't specify what the purpose of the model was and what he expected it to do, but for a long time people have modelled predator-prey systems successfully. We did this by avoiding the use of parameters that we couldn't measure. Sure the models don't answer every question, but so long as they answer the questions we posed that was enough. That doesn't mean that every question can be answered by modelling. Many years ago we had a joint workshop with the fishing industry and they wanted us to predict biomasses of cod and haddock. I pointed out that we had already developed a model that predicted the total landings of cod+haddock, but the two stocks varied unpredictably with inverse correlation so that we could not break the total down into the two components. They were dissatisfied with that, but that was the best we could do. Bill Silvert - Original Message - From: joseph gathman jpgath...@yahoo.com To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 9:12 PM Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Subject: Ecology Certainty Uncertainty Illusion/Delusion, was Re: Ecological Modelling That means, I suspect, that ecology is, in the view of literal believers, doomed to be applied. I don't know about that, but I DO think that what may well be doomed is our ability to accurately model complex systems. In my own limited attempt at modelling, I tried to model a simple predator-prey system, but it quickly led me into a rat's nest of uncertainties. It would have taken years to collect reliable data from field samples and experiments in order to make the model realistic. And that was with an artificially simplified model system. I can't imagine what it would have taken to build a real model. Even the climate modellers acknowledge that over the last decade, all they've managed to do is confirm what their models CAN'T do (and likely never will). Somebody should tell the IPCC that bit about models not being predictive tools. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.12/1911 - Release Date: 1/23/2009 7:28 AM
[ECOLOG-L] REU Summer Research Program in the Arkansas Ozarks
REU Summer Research Program in the Arkansas Ozarks Assessment and Sustainable Management of Ecosystem Services The University of Arkansas is conducting a Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF/REU) during summer of 2009 for up to 15 undergraduates who have completed at least 3 semesters of coursework. The focus of this REU is on field-based research on ecological services, and each student will work with a faculty mentor on issues ranging from water quality to ecology of birds and black bears in the Ozarks. This program works primarily with federally recognized Native American tribes and Native American students. However, all other interested students are encouraged to apply. This 10-week program consists of a one-week emersion course on field methods, 8 weeks of intensive Research Experience and a one week Data Analysis and Symposia. Room and board are included at the University of Arkansas, as well as a $400 weekly stipend and a travel allowance. University of Arkansas REU Program: 10-week summer program, 1 June to 7 August 2009 Stipend $4000, onsite room and board, round-trip travel costs Detailed Program Information: www.ecoreu.uark.edu/ Applications due: February 15, 2009 For applications and more information, contact: Heather Sandefur 207 Engineering Hall University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR 72701 ofc: 479.575.7585 email: hsan...@uark.edu Questions about this program can also be directed to Dr. Marty Matlock (mmatl...@uark.edu) or Dr. Kimberly Smith (kgsm...@uark.edu). * Kimberly G. Smith Department of Biological Sciences University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR 72701 479-575-6359 (note new phone number) fax:479-575-4010 email: kgsm...@uark.edu *
[ECOLOG-L] ResearchGate
I would like to invite all of You to very interesting platform for reserchers. Take a few minutes and register at www.researchgate.net Best regards, Tomasz Kaluski
[ECOLOG-L] Postdoc position available: Biomixing and Ecosystem Engineering
Reminder: Review of applications will begin 01 February, 2009. Biomixing and Ecosystem Engineering: Postdoctoral Scholar position available A full-time, NSF- funded, postdoctoral position is available immediately to develop a whole-ecosystem coupled-biophysical model for marine lakes. The research will focus on the contributions to mixing of tidal, weather/climate, and biological components of the system, and their effect on population dynamics of the plankton. Specifically, we wish to examine (1) the importance of biological mixing, a currently controversial mechanism in oceanography, and (2) the role of ecosystem engineering in causing jellyfish blooms which are of increasing concern globally. This project is a collaboration between the Dawson lab, Dr. John Dabiri (CalTech), and Professor Eric Wolanski (AIMS), also supporting a graduate student at UC Merced and a field assistant in Palau, Micronesia. Related research includes ongoing long-term ecosystem monitoring, which to date has generated a 10-years long dataset for testing the model, and biodiversity surveys of marine lakes that may support extension of the model to explore colonization-extirpation dynamics and community assembly. Qualifications: Applications are encouraged from recent Ph.D.s experienced in limnology, mathematical biology or ecology, and/or ecosystem modelling who are actively publishing in leading disciplinary and interdisciplinary journals. Salary: At least $36,000 p.a. plus benefits. Salary may be negotiable depending upon applicants qualifications and the University of California pay scale. The position is available for at least 1 year with continuation dependent upon performance and funding. Closing Date: Review of applications will begin 01 February, 2009. The position will remain open until filled. For more information contact Dr. Michael N Dawson: (209) 228-4056, mdaw...@ucmerced.edu. Also see the Dawson labs website (mnd.ucmerced.edu), the NSF press release 08-216, and the NSF special report Jellyfish Gone Wild (www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/jellyfish/index.jsp). Additional information is available online about the School of Natural Sciences (http://naturalsciences.ucmerced.edu/) and the University of California at Merced (http://www.ucmerced.edu/). To Apply: Submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, 1-3 example publications, and names and contact information for three referees. Please do not submit individual letters of recommendation. Applications must be submitted via the relevant announcement (job number ASNS 1946A) on the UC Merced website https://jobs.ucmerced.edu/n/academic/position.jsf?positionId=1946.
[ECOLOG-L] Graduate Research Assistantship-M.S. Northern Arizona University
GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIP (M.S.) School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona There is an opening for a two-year graduate research assistant position at School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University (Starting July 1, 2009) in the field of ecological economics. The selected candidate will have the opportunity to work closely with the Ecological Restoration Institute to estimate economic impacts of ecological restoration treatments and biomass utilization (job and income creations). With the worsening condition of the U.S. economy, there is a greater need for information on how to create more employment opportunities in economically depressed rural areas. We will estimate potential economic impacts (output, job, and income creations) of ecological restoration treatments and biomass utilizations, including biomass energy development. This project will generate time-sensitive information that communities and land managers can use to attract public funding for enhancing their social and economic environment while promoting ecosystem health. The successful applicants should work well with people and have good communication (written and oral) and organizational skills. Candidates should have background and interest in forestry, natural resource economics and policy, or other related disciplines. Application procedures Candidates should submit: - A one-page letter (email is satisfactory) describing qualifications and experience - An up-to-date curriculum vitae or resume - Copies of undergraduate college transcripts - Names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of three professional references to: Dr. Yeon-Su Kim School of Forestry Box 15018 Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011 Phone: (928) 523-6643 e-mail: yeon-su@nau.edu Graduate school admissions applications are completed separately through NAU and the School of Forestry. See the NAU web site (http://www.for.nau.edu) for details.
[ECOLOG-L] Call for Abstracts
ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM AND MEMBERSHIP MEETING of the SOUTHEASTERN CHAPTER OF THE SOCIETY FOR ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION RESTORATION ON MILITARY LANDS AUBURN, ALABAMA SCHOOL OF FORESTRY BUILDING, AUBURN UNIVERSITY March 24 - 26, 2009 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS The Southeastern Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration is seeking abstracts for contributed oral presentations at the Annual Symposium and Membership Meeting to be held on March 24 through March 26 at the School of Forestry Venue at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Participants will be provided current project and research updates from around the southeastern US during two days of presentations and an evening poster session. Thursday, March 26, is scheduled for field trips to restoration sites in the Auburn area. Topics should focus on current restoration projects in the southeastern US; these may include (but arent limited to) upland restoration, wetland restoration, rare species restoration, landscapescale ecosystem restoration, impacts of restoration on wildlife, monitoring of restoration projects, invasive species eradication, philosophy of restoration and case studies. Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words to Randy Mejeur by Friday, February 6, 2009. Abstracts should include contact information, presentation type (poster or oral presentation) and preferred length of presentation (15 min or 20 min.) Email (preferred) abstracts in Microsoft Word format to rmej...@glatting.com or mail a CD containing a digital version of the abstract to Randy Mejeur at the following address: Randy Mejeur Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, Inc. 120 North Orange Avenue Orlando, FL 32801 rmej...@glatting.com Submitters will be notified no later than February 20, 2009 about inclusion in the program. For the third year, the Chapter will provide an annual monetary award for the best student oral presentation at the conference. Please note the status of the presenting author (i.e. student, nonstudent) on the abstract for consideration in this award program. For Questions or Information about the Meeting or the Chapter, contact: Randy Mejeur Southeastern Chapter, President rmej...@glatting.com 407.843.6552 Sean McGary/John McGuire Westervelt Ecological Conference Co-chairs smcg...@westervelt.com 334.821.1999 Dr. John Kush School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Auburn University Conference Co-chair kush...@auburn.edu
[ECOLOG-L] Call for Abstracts SER World Conference Perth
REMINDER The call for abstracts is open until March 4th for the SER World Conference on Ecological Restoration which will be held in Perth, Australia, August 23-27, 2009. This is the 19th International conference of the Society for Ecological Restoration International and the theme this year is Making Change in a Changing World. For details on the status of the conference to date and instructions for submitting an abstract, go to: http://www.seri2009.com.au/pages/abstract.html We hope to see you there. Also for a comprehensive listing of 2009 conferences related to ecological restoration, go to: http://www.globalrestorationnetwork.org/conferences/
[ECOLOG-L] Sexual Selection Papers
Does anyone have any suggestions for review papers on sexual selection?
