Re: [ECOLOG-L] Are ecologists the problem?
It seems folks may be missing the main point of the initial question here. Paraphrasing, Are ecologists part of the problem? Related to, environmental footprint and lifestyle choices. Einstein was a great scientist because his thoughts were generally consumed by scientific ideas. Same goes for Beethoven with music, Emerson for writing or even Ghandi for righteousness. My point is that in being ecologists our thoughts influence our choices. I couldn't think of another course of thought that would guide choices in as positive a way (related to our footprint and lifestyle choices) as profoundly as Ecology. Just the fact that this thread has continued for so long is shows us how concerned we are about our choices. Whether or not we can effect change in others remains to be seen, but I still feel like anything other than optimism is unacceptable. One never knows... Eric North All Things Wild Consulting P.O. Box 254 Cable, WI 54821 928.607.3098 Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:50:46 -0400 From: chami...@uwsp.edu Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Are ecologists the problem? To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU I'm not sure being ecologists makes any of us that much more grounded than the average person. Look at all of these posts about lifestyle choices to trim our footprint. Only two even refer to the number of humans leaving a footprint as a potential problem. _ Get back to school stuff for them and cashback for you. http://www.bing.com/cashback?form=MSHYCBpubl=WLHMTAGcrea=TEXT_MSHYCB_BackToSchool_Cashback_BTSCashback_1x1
[ECOLOG-L] Hippos in Columbia
This story from the New York Times, September 11, 2009, raises issues relevant to the list! Bill Silvert Colombia Confronts Drug Lord's Legacy: Hippos By SIMON ROMERO DORADAL, Colombia - Even in Colombia, a country known for its paramilitary death squads, this hunting party stood out: more than a dozen soldiers from a Colombian Army battalion, two Porsche salesmen armed with long-range rifles, their assistant, and a taxidermist. They stalked Pepe through the backlands of Colombia for three days in June before executing him in a clearing about 60 miles from here with shots to his head and heart. But after a snapshot emerged of soldiers posing over his carcass, the group suddenly found itself on the defensive. As it turned out, Pepe - a hippopotamus who escaped from his birthplace near the pleasure palace built here by the slain drug lord Pablo Escobar - had a following of his own. The meticulously organized operation to hunt Pepe down, carried out with the help of environmentalists, has become the focus of an unusually fierce debate over animal rights and the containment of invasive species in a country still struggling to address a broad range of rights violations during four decades of protracted war with guerrillas. In Colombia, there is no documented case of an attack against people or that they damaged any crops, said Aníbal Vallejo, president of the Society for the Protection of Animals in Medellín, referring to the hippos. No sufficient motive to sacrifice one of these animals has emerged in the 28 years since Pablo Escobar brought them to his hacienda. Sixteen years after the infamous Mr. Escobar was gunned down on a Medellín rooftop in a manhunt, Colombia is still wrestling with the mess he made. Wildlife experts from Africa brought here to study Colombia's growing numbers of hippos, a legacy of Mr. Escobar's excesses, have in recent days bolstered the government's plan to prevent them - by force, if necessary - from spreading into areas along the nation's principal river. But some animal-rights activists are so opposed to the idea of killing them that they have called for the firing of President Álvaro Uribe's environment minister. Peter Morkel, a consultant for the Frankfurt Zoological Society in Tanzania, compared the potential for the hippos to disrupt Colombian ecosystems to the agitation caused by alien species elsewhere, like goats on the Galápagos Islands, cats on Marion Island between Antarctica and South Africa, or pythons in Florida. Colombia is absolute paradise for hippos, with its climate, vegetation and no natural predators, Mr. Morkel said. But as much as I love hippos, they are an alien species and extremely dangerous to people who disrupt them, he continued. Since castration of the males is very difficult, the only realistic option is to shoot those found off the hacienda. The uproar has its roots in 1981, when Mr. Escobar was busy assembling a luxurious retreat here called Hacienda Nápoles that included a Mediterranean-style mansion, swimming pools, a 1,000-seat bull ring and an airstrip. He needed a tranquil place to unwind with his family, said Fernando Montoya, 57, a sculptor from Medellín who built giant statues here of Tyrannosaurus rex and other dinosaurs for Mr. Escobar. Hired by private administrators of the seized estate, part of which is now a theme park (imagine mixing Jurassic Park and Scarface into a theme), Mr. Montoya rebuilt the same statues after looters tore them apart searching for hidden booty. But Mr. Escobar was not content with just fake dinosaurs and bullfights. In what ecologists describe as possibly the continent's most ambitious effort to assemble a collection of species foreign to South America, he imported animals like zebras, giraffes, kangaroos, rhinoceroses and, of course, hippopotamuses. Some of the animals died or were transferred to zoos around the time Mr. Escobar was killed. But the hippos largely stayed put, flourishing in the artificial lakes dug at Mr. Escobar's behest. Carlos Palacio, 54, head of animal husbandry at Nápoles, said Mr. Escobar started in 1981 with four hippos. Now, he said, at least 28 live on the estate. With our current level of six births a year set to climb, we could easily have more than 100 hippos on this hacienda in a decade, Mr. Palacio said. Some experts see this herd as a treasure of the natural world in case Africa's hippo population suffers a sharp decline, Mr. Palacio continued. Others view our growth as a kind of time bomb. The number of hippos on the hacienda could have reached 31 had Pepe, the slain hippo, not clashed about three years ago with the herd's dominant hippo, then left with a mate for other pastures. Once established near Puerto Berrío, the mate gave birth to a calf. Faced with the possibility of a nascent colony away from Nápoles, Colombian authorities decided to act. After all, hippos, despite their
[ECOLOG-L] DPhil (PhD) in Evolutionary Ecology/Information Engineering
Interesting DPhil opportunity - Dear Colleagues, I would be grateful if you could pass this on to anyone you may know of with interests aligned with this project. Regards Steve *THE FORM AND FUNCTION OF DYNAMIC SOCIALITY IN A WILD BIRD POPULATION* *DPhil (PhD) project in Evolutionary Ecology / Information Engineering, University of Oxford* Supervisors: Prof Ben Sheldon, Dr Teddy Wilkin, Prof Steve Roberts All organisms display social behaviour of some form, but the extent and duration of this behaviour varies tremendously between species and over life cycles within species: understanding what causes variation in social behaviour has been a major research theme in biology for decades. Until recently, very little of this work has focussed on the type of social organisation that typifies many animals, where social groups are highly dynamic, with frequent changes in their composition, and where associations between individuals vary in their strength and consistency. However, there is currently great interest in applying techniques from network analysis to animal social behaviour. This project exploits a large ongoing study of a wild bird population that has been a model system in ecology and evolutionary biology (the great tit *Parus major* at Wytham Woods near Oxford), in which thousands of individuals are marked with transponders, and a grid of recording locations generates hundreds of thousands of records each winter. The main aims of the project are to use these data to generate biological insight into social behaviour in birds, in a social network context. The first aim of this project will be: (1) for the student to develop methods for identifying individual groups from the complex temporally and spatially-structured data set based on feeding associations. Having done this the next aims will be to (2) explore the stability of groups over time, and (3) quantify the structure of groups in terms of the number, individual characteristics and relatedness of their constituents. Following these steps, the project will: (4) develop social networking techniques which integrate temporal changes in the strengths of relationships between individuals, and (5) determine the consequences, in terms of foraging and breeding performance, of social structure at the individual, group and population levels. Finally, (6) the project will explore how group stability changes in response to changes in the environment, including factors such as food availability. The ideal candidate for this post is a physical scientist with a first degree in engineering, computer science, physics or mathematics, a strong quantitative background, and a desire to use these skills to understand complex biological problems, but biologists with a very strong quantitative background are also encouraged to apply. The supervisors are skilled in ecology and behaviour (Sheldon and Wilkin) and information engineering (Roberts) and the project will work very much at the interface of these fields, as part of two large, research active groups, see: http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/egi/ http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~parg/ The stipend is £16,000 per annum. This studentship is open to candidates from the UK and the EU/EEA and Switzerland (i.e, to any student who would not be classed as paying fees at the international student level). Informal inquiries, accompanied with a CV, to Prof Ben Sheldon (* ben.shel...@zoo.ox.ac.uk* ben.shel...@zoo.ox.ac.uk). The deadline for applications is 9 November 2009, and the successful candidate would be expected to start by January 2010.
[ECOLOG-L] length-biomass equation, crayfish Orconectes virilis
Hello All, For a change of pace on this listserv from the self-flagellation of ecologists, I like to ask if anyone knows of an equation that uses carapace length of the crayfish Orconectes virilis to predict biomass. I am removing these exotic crayfish from a developed spring to prepare for the introduction of Gila topminnow and desert pupfish. I plan on trapping through the fall and introducing the fish either this upcoming spring or next fall. No, I don't expect to get all of them, but I'd like to reduce their population so these fish don't get eaten right away. I'm taking sex/carapace length info on about 10% of individuals. I'd like to estimate the amount of biomass I am removing in crayfish from this system. And yes, we are eating the ones that are big enough. Thank you, Shannon Torrence, PhD Wildlife Biologist Tonto Basin Ranger District, Tonto NF 28079 N. AZ Hwy 188 Roosevelt, AZ 85545 928-467-3218 office 928-467-3239 fax storre...@fs.fed.us
[ECOLOG-L] Teaching positions at RMBL Summer 2010
The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (www.rmbl.org http://www.rmbl.org) is looking for 2010 instructors for our 10 week summer program. We need instructors/coordinators for our field ecology (4-10 weeks) and student research programs (10 weeks). Applicants should have a PhD and experience mentoring undergraduate research. Experience at field stations and in montane ecosystems is highly desirable. Compensation depends upon the program/contact hours and experience, but will range from $1,500-$8,000 for the summer. Interested candidates should email Dr. Jennie Reithel ( s...@rmbl.org mailto:s...@rmbl.org) with questions. Interested candidates should email Dr. Reithel a two-page (maximum) resume including three references, along with a cover letter summarizing the candidate's experience and interest in participating in the program. We will keep the application process open until Nov.15, 2009. The RMBL advances the scientific understanding of nature that promotes informed stewardship of the Earth. The Lab provides scientists and students access to diverse habitats, research and education infrastructure, a collaborative and internationally-recognized scientific community, and a broad base of knowledge about the ecology of mountain environments. A deeply understood place and supportive research community make it ideal for training the next generation of field scientists. -- Dr. Jennie Reithel Science Director Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory PO Box 519 Crested Butte, CO 81224 Phone fax: 970-349-7231 Email: s...@rmbl.org
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Hippos in Columbia
Hi All, I´m sorry, I know this is not an ecological response but since this is a common mistake the more people aware of it the better. It is not Col*U*mbia, is Col*O*mbia. Thanks Juan 2009/9/11 Bill Silvert cien...@silvert.org This story from the New York Times, September 11, 2009, raises issues relevant to the list! Bill Silvert Colombia Confronts Drug Lord's Legacy: Hippos By SIMON ROMERO DORADAL, Colombia - Even in Colombia, a country known for its paramilitary death squads, this hunting party stood out: more than a dozen soldiers from a Colombian Army battalion, two Porsche salesmen armed with long-range rifles, their assistant, and a taxidermist. They stalked Pepe through the backlands of Colombia for three days in June before executing him in a clearing about 60 miles from here with shots to his head and heart. But after a snapshot emerged of soldiers posing over his carcass, the group suddenly found itself on the defensive. As it turned out, Pepe - a hippopotamus who escaped from his birthplace near the pleasure palace built here by the slain drug lord Pablo Escobar - had a following of his own. The meticulously organized operation to hunt Pepe down, carried out with the help of environmentalists, has become the focus of an unusually fierce debate over animal rights and the containment of invasive species in a country still struggling to address a broad range of rights violations during four decades of protracted war with guerrillas. In Colombia, there is no documented case of an attack against people or that they damaged any crops, said Aníbal Vallejo, president of the Society for the Protection of Animals in Medellín, referring to the hippos. No sufficient motive to sacrifice one of these animals has emerged in the 28 years since Pablo Escobar brought them to his hacienda. Sixteen years after the infamous Mr. Escobar was gunned down on a Medellín rooftop in a manhunt, Colombia is still wrestling with the mess he made. Wildlife experts from Africa brought here to study Colombia's growing numbers of hippos, a legacy of Mr. Escobar's excesses, have in recent days bolstered the government's plan to prevent them - by force, if necessary - from spreading into areas along the nation's principal river. But some animal-rights activists are so opposed to the idea of killing them that they have called for the firing of President Álvaro Uribe's environment minister. Peter Morkel, a consultant for the Frankfurt Zoological Society in Tanzania, compared the potential for the hippos to disrupt Colombian ecosystems to the agitation caused by alien species elsewhere, like goats on the Galápagos Islands, cats on Marion Island between Antarctica and South Africa, or pythons in Florida. Colombia is absolute paradise for hippos, with its climate, vegetation and no natural predators, Mr. Morkel said. But as much as I love hippos, they are an alien species and extremely dangerous to people who disrupt them, he continued. Since castration of the males is very difficult, the only realistic option is to shoot those found off the hacienda. The uproar has its roots in 1981, when Mr. Escobar was busy assembling a luxurious retreat here called Hacienda Nápoles that included a Mediterranean-style mansion, swimming pools, a 1,000-seat bull ring and an airstrip. He needed a tranquil place to unwind with his family, said Fernando Montoya, 57, a sculptor from Medellín who built giant statues here of Tyrannosaurus rex and other dinosaurs for Mr. Escobar. Hired by private administrators of the seized estate, part of which is now a theme park (imagine mixing Jurassic Park and Scarface into a theme), Mr. Montoya rebuilt the same statues after looters tore them apart searching for hidden booty. But Mr. Escobar was not content with just fake dinosaurs and bullfights. In what ecologists describe as possibly the continent's most ambitious effort to assemble a collection of species foreign to South America, he imported animals like zebras, giraffes, kangaroos, rhinoceroses and, of course, hippopotamuses. Some of the animals died or were transferred to zoos around the time Mr. Escobar was killed. But the hippos largely stayed put, flourishing in the artificial lakes dug at Mr. Escobar's behest. Carlos Palacio, 54, head of animal husbandry at Nápoles, said Mr. Escobar started in 1981 with four hippos. Now, he said, at least 28 live on the estate. With our current level of six births a year set to climb, we could easily have more than 100 hippos on this hacienda in a decade, Mr. Palacio said. Some experts see this herd as a treasure of the natural world in case Africa's hippo population suffers a sharp decline, Mr. Palacio continued. Others view our growth as a kind of time bomb. The number of hippos on the hacienda could have reached 31 had Pepe, the slain hippo, not clashed about three years ago with the herd's dominant hippo, then left
[ECOLOG-L] job announcement please post
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Canyonlands Research Station, Moab, UT, is seeking a Field Lab Project Manager. Studies at our station include how climate change will affect soil biota, nutrients, plants, and dust production in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Major duties will include supervising up to 10 technicians, coordinating resource allocation to several different lab and field projects, using complex and multivariate statistics to analyze vegetation and climate data; summarizing research results for distribution/communication to a general audience; and assisting in the preparation of high quality, peer-review publications. Applicants must demonstrate solid experience in complex statistics, supervision, logistics, lab management, and writing skills. This is a 3-year, full-time appointment, GS-11 term appointment, starting at $56,411 year, plus full benefits. Applicants MUST be U.S. citizens. Interested parties please contact jayne_bel...@usgs.gov. This job has been posted on www.usajobs.gov as announcement WR-2009-0448. It closes on September 30.
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Are ecologists the problem?
Chris, If we mostly talk about our lifestyle choices to diminish our contribution to overconsumption, it's because that's where we have the most choices to make. Also, coming mostly from wealthy countries with low growth rates, that's what we can point to to address whether we are as much a part of the problem as others around us. Yes, we can teach what we understand to be true about overpopulation, and we can push for government policies that can help reduce the global population growth rate (such as funding family planning services in poor countries where such services are not accessible to most people). However, the only lifestyle choice we can make to reduce our personal contributions to overpopulation is not to breed too much, and I'm sure most of us are aware of that option. I'm certain just about everyone here knows that the total human impact on the environment is a product of population size and per-capita environmental impact. (How to measure impact is probably something we'd argue about.) Jim Crants On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 5:50 PM, Chris_Hamilton chami...@uwsp.edu wrote: I'm not sure being ecologists makes any of us that much more grounded than the average person. Look at all of these posts about lifestyle choices to trim our footprint. Only two even refer to the number of humans leaving a footprint as a potential problem. -- James Crants, PhD Scientist, University of Minnesota Agronomy and Plant Genetics
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Are ecologists the problem?-- can cows get a break
It seems that the green movement has chosen beef as their poster child for all that is wrong with agriculture. I agree that overconsumption of any one thing, including beef, is likely to have negative effects on health and that livestock produce methane, an important greenhouse gas. Most of the vilification though appears to stem from high profile news stories about livestock production in feedlots. However, I am continually amazed to see cattle and wildlife convert the inedible semi-arid grasslands that surround where I live in Montana into something that I can use (meat and leather) and provide incomes for others in the region. I certainly could not survive by eating native plants from the northern steppe mixed-grass prairie but ruminant livestock can. This makes me think that a piece of the production cycle is likely being overlooked by the critics of livestock production as they selectively choose to portray the industry as one dimensional. Here in Montana (ranking in the top 10 cattle production states), most cattle are supported by grasslands (i.e. rangelands) for a considerable portion of the year. Our extreme winters require that many receive supplementation (hay) in the winter but use rangelands during much of the year. In fact, the production cycle has been set to maximize utilization of the natural rangeland forges/NPP (i.e. late winter/early spring calving) to build the bulk of a cow while they are mostly just maintained over winter. We still have feedlots but they are rare relatively to rangeland fed beef production systems. Although you can cherry pick examples of how livestock grazing degrades regional rangelands (probably mostly from other regions), most producers ( BLM) in the region have adopted grazing management that is sustainable. This region historically had bison, so the grasslands are resistant to grazing. In many respects, the livestock are now functional analogs to bison (see http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/04-1958). I suspect bison also emit methane. To have a sustainable business and maintain the numerous multi-generational ranches in the region, livestock producers HAD to develop sustainable practices since the days of the open range, overgrazing, and forage exploitation are long gone. This has helped to maintain relatively natural and diverse grasslands throughout the region that probably don't look that different from what they did ~120 years ago when bison grazed the region (but who really knows). This region has found what appears to be a balance between maintaining considerable natural habitat and wildlife while also providing food and fiber that provide incomes and maintain livelihoods to those in rural communities. In most cases, I would say the livestock industry is an important partner in maintaining natural lands and wildlife in this region much more than an antagonist. Most livestock operations here make money by selling cattle that are exported to other states and likely end up on feedlots at the later stages of their production cycle (e.g. 8 months or more prior to slaughter) [I know that uses fossil fuels]. They are moved to feedlots to improve their meat quality which is now part of market expectations. However, much of their body was built off of resources from natural grasslands. I suspect it is inaccurate to assume that most cattle on feedlots have been their for their entire lives eating corn. Someone out there probably has an actual statistic for the % of American beef that have spent at least a portion of their lives on rangelands. So lets not get too caught up in negative stereotypes and not forget that livestock production systems are diverse and some help to support natural systems that other forms of agriculture/development would likely degrade while still providing food, fiber, and incomes. Kurt Kurt Reinhart, Research Ecologist USDA-ARS Fort Keogh Livestock Range Research Laboratory 243 Fort Keogh Road Miles City, MT 59301 USA email: kurt.reinh...@ars.usda.gov Office: (406) 874-8211 Fax: (406) 874-8289 educational website: http://iecology.net -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of Kevin McCluney Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 8:50 PM Subject: Are ecologists the problem? I recently attended the 2009 annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America (ESA). The theme of this year's meeting was sustainability. There were many great talks on this subject and a few truly pessimistic ones. One speaker proposed that human beings are, by our very nature, destined to consume and reproduce as much as possible, and despite our best efforts, this will lead to our own demise. During the same talk the speaker also asked, who is responsible? He answered his question by saying that we at this conference are just as much a part of the problem as anyone else. Is this true? I know I myself have taken many steps to lower my
[ECOLOG-L] Technician Position
Fordham University: A grant-funded position for a full time research technician is currently available in the laboratory of Dr. Craig L. Frank, Dept. of Biological Sciences. Responsibilities include: 1) nutritional analyses of plant materials, 2) measurements of animal metabolic rates, 3) lipid extractions from tissue samples, and, 4) gas/thin layer chromatography. Minimum qualifications are a B.S. in Biology or Chemistry. Salary is commensurate with experience. Send cover letter and resume to: Dr, Craig L. Frank, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, Louis Calder Center, P.O. Box 887, Armonk, NY 10504. e-mail: fr...@fordham.edu. Craig L. Frank, Ph.D., Associate Professor Dept. of Biological Sciences, Fordham University The Louis Calder Center 53 Whippoorwill Road Armonk, NY 10504 USA telephone: 914-273-3078, ext.14, FAX: 914-273-2167 www.fordham.edu/calder_center/frank/frank1.html
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Are ecologists the problem?
Jim (and a few others), Thanks for the further thoughts on this. My biggest issue is that we are talking about reducing consumption in dozens of areas in our lives (which I agree with!). But I can't ignore that all of those are fractions that do not bring our impact anywhere near to zero. I understand that the most wealthy countries tend to have low growth rates, some are even below replacement. But one person in a wealthy country consumes many times the resources of a person in a poor country (1 American = 2 Japanese = 13 Chinese = 128 Bangladeshis = 370 Ethiopians [from mindfully.org]). I make real efforts to reduce my impact but I do not believe that it is 1/13th of the average American's rate, much less 1/370th. Then I think Wow. And the poor want to be like the wealthy. And who can blame them with those conversions?! Reproduction is the only thing mentioned that isn't fractional change but binary. I think that it is obvious, too, but that has not been my experience with the issue. I brought it up in a graduate conservation biology class co-taught by two reasonable professors. It was received with denial - one said it wasn't an issue - and hostility - the second said that he didn't see me giving up my spot. And that was it for the discussion of the human population growth in that group. We moved right along to recycling and buying locally-grown produce. I'm a 42 year old returning student who has worked professionally as a biologist for a number of Federal agencies all over the country. My experience is that those professors are not anomalies among the environmentally educated. So...obvious as it is, I see it as the elephant in the room. That is my two cents (which is normally discounted to of 1.5 cents among those who know me well). ;-) Sincerely, Chris
[ECOLOG-L] Animal Behaviorist Position at Northern Kentucky University
Assistant Professor, Animal Behavior, Northern Kentucky University The Department of Biological Sciences invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position at the assistant professor level beginning in August, 2010. We seek an animal behaviorist with a strong interest in evolutionary biology. The position requires a Ph.D. in Biology/Zoology, Primary teaching responsibilities will include animal behavior, evolution (majors and non-majors), and upper division courses in area of expertise. Post-doctoral and teaching experiences are desirable. The applicant must have an interest in developing evolution education/outreach programs for the public (K-12 and adult learners). The successful candidate is expected to engage undergraduate students in active research, with preference given to candidates having both field- and lab-based interests. More detailed descriptions of the position plus departmental information can be found at http://biology.nku.edu/. Send letter of application; brief statement of professional goals; statements of teaching/research philosophy; curriculum vitae; all transcripts; and names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of three references to Animal Behaviorist Search Committee, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY 41099. The application review process will begin November 2, 2009. NKU is a comprehensive regional university of 15,000 students primarily concerned with the advancement of undergraduates. The university is located only 10 min. from downtown Cincinnati, OH, and is in close proximity to a variety of natural areas from wetlands, lakes, streams, and the Ohio River, to deciduous hardwood forests. Opportunities also exist for research and teaching in tropical Latin America. NKU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and actively seeks applications from minorities and women.
