Re: [ECOLOG-L] How to chose a Master's Thesis in Biology
Jeremy and others interested, In March 2010, I developed a list of "Ideas for developing graduate research questions" with the help of colleagues in my UW-Madison China-IGERT program and the Soil Science Department. Some of the ideas may be more appropriate for those interested pure vs. applied research tracks. Here are the ideas we compiled. Others -- please feel free to add to this list: • Read journal articles (especially review papers) in your area of interest, and by key researchers in your field. Hunt for unanswered questions, competing theories, and suggested research ideas. • Find ways to extend previous research, for example by applying existing methods to new areas or situations. Or plan research that modifies accepted answers to old questions, confirms contested answers to old questions, or challenges accepted answer to old questions. • Talk with other researchers, both within and outside your own field. Chat with faculty and other grad students at informal campus events. Attend classes and lectures that may spark ideas. Attend conferences and meetings to meet potential collaborators. • If you are interested in a particular study area, go there and talk with locals to learn about local issues. • Think about what information is needed for effective management of a particular environmental system or species or landscape of interest to you. • Read books and articles about doing research, such as “The Craft of Research” by Booth et al. and “The importance of stupidity in scientific research” by Schwartz 2009. • Choose research projects that are easy to replicate (i.e. not prohibitively expensive or laborious), so that others can extend or continue your research and then cite you. • Team up with other young collaborators who have most of their career ahead of them, providing opportunities for long-term future collaboration. • Consult lists of research needs in your discipline(s). Sometimes these are generated at workshops/conferences and published. • Listen to media sources (such as the NY Times, The Economist, NPR, BBC, blogs, and the web) to determine emerging issues where science will be part of the policy discussion. • Plan your research around a needed product (map, model, technique, protocol, policy recommendation, etc.) Talk with potential users (policy makers, government agencies, university extension, non-profit agencies, citizen groups, farmers, etc.) to determine specific needs. -- Nina T. Chaopricha Ph.D. Candidate, Environment & Resources T.A. Instructor, Envir St 600: Community-Scale Composting (Spring 2012) Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies University of Wisconsin-Madison
[ECOLOG-L] Graduate RA in wildlife ecology
GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIP (Ph.D.) in Wildlife Ecology The School of Agricultural, Forest, and Environmental Sciences and the South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Clemson University is seeking candidates for a graduate research assistantship (Ph.D.) in Wildlife Ecology to take the lead on a research project designed to better understand the factors affecting alligator population dynamics in coastal South Carolina. The student will lead an effort to determine alligator occupancy of varying habitat types, habitat requirements (ex. water levels as determined through remote sensing data), and habitat stressors (ex. contamination). Population and occupancy modeling of existing and newly collected data sets will be used to make recommendations of harvest limits and develop a conservation plan for alligators. This largely is a quantitative, analytical research effort but there will be some opportunities for the student to conduct fieldwork. The work will focus on developing conservation recommendations to aid state managers with decision making related to harvest and developing improved survey protocols to estimate abundance and distribution of alligator populations. This work will directly support the development of an adaptive management and conservation action plan for alligator harvest and population management in the state. The project will be focus on South Carolina populations but the results of this work will have far reaching impacts on alligator management throughout the southeast. The position will be available beginning in the fall of 2012 but will be open until filled. Research stipends are approximately $16,000, and a full tuition waiver is available. Applicants should possess an M.S. degree in Wildlife Ecology, Biostatistics, or related field, a good work ethic, and strong quantitative or modeling skills. Extensive experience with statistical analyses of ecological data, proficiency in ArcGIS, and population and occupancy modeling are required. To be competitive, applicants must have undergraduate and graduate GPAs > 3.4 and a general GRE score > 1200. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Applicants that are selected for an interview will be contacted directly by Dr. Kate McFadden. Interested applicants should send a cover letter outlining their qualifications for the project, copies of undergraduate and graduate transcripts and GRE scores, and contact information for at least 3 references. Application materials can be sent by e-mail and should be saved as a single pdf in the following format: Last Name_First Name_Alligator PHD.pdf Contact information is: Dr. Kate McFaden, G20 Lehotsky Hall, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, 29634, 864-656-4141, k...@clemson.edu
[ECOLOG-L] National Wetland Plant List Field Guides
The Swamp School is in the process of updating the wetland plant field guides used for wetland delineation. These are handy field references that are indexed by scientific and common name. They include all of the latest June 2012 wetland indicators. A separate field guide is published for each Army Corps region. We have just published the Eastern Mountains and Piedmont field guide. It is a free download and can be found at our website: SwampSchool.org We will be publishing all of the Corps regions and putting these field guides up as free downloads soon. So be sure to check back for more editions. Best, Marc Seelinger The Swamp School, LLC
[ECOLOG-L] Seeking Strepsiptera
Requesting info on and specimens of stylopized hoppers, and nocturnal Strepsiptera, aka twisted wing parasites. I'm working on the visual ecology of Strepsiptera (which basically means that of adult males). I'm now attempting to branch out from "Xenos" into other strepsipteran families. Thank you, Marisano JamesPhD Candidate, Population BiologyDept of Evolution and EcologyUniversity of California, Davis
