[ECOLOG-L] FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Species occurrence modelling short course: Europe, 23-27 June
Modelling Patterns and Dynamics of Species Occurrence Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies Esporles, Mallorca, Spain 23-27 June 2014 Instructor: Darryl MacKenzie, Proteus Wildlife Research Consultants Cost: 500 Euros if registered before 1 June, 550 Euros thereafter This course will cover many of the appropriate methods that could be applied to model the patterns and dynamics of species occurrence, or species distribution, while accounting for the important field consideration of imperfect species detection. For further details on the course, and to register, visit http://www.proteus.co.nz/courses.php. Enquiries should be directed to dar...@proteus.co.nz. -- Interested in attending a workshop on species occurrence/occupancy modelling? Visit http://www.proteus.co.nz/courses.php for details of upcoming workshops. Darryl I. MacKenzie Biometrician Proteus Wildlife Research Consultants PO Box 7 Outram 9062 NEW ZEALAND Email: dar...@proteus.co.nz Phone: +64 3 4861168 Mobile: +64 21 773108 Website: http://www.proteus.co.nz Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Proteus.WRC
[ECOLOG-L] Course: Introduction to GAM and GAMM with R
We would like to announce the following stats course: Course: Introduction to Generalized Additive Models and Generalized Additive Mixed Effects Models with R Where: Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia When: 25 - 29 August, 2014 URL Flyer: http://www.highstat.com/Courses/Flyer2014_08Deakin.pdf Further info: http://www.highstat.com/statscourse.htm -- Dr. Alain F. Zuur First author of: 1. Beginner's Guide to GAMM with R (2014). 2. Beginner's Guide to GLM and GLMM with R (2013). 3. Beginner's Guide to GAM with R (2012). 4. Zero Inflated Models and GLMM with R (2012). 5. A Beginner's Guide to R (2009). 6. Mixed effects models and extensions in ecology with R (2009). 7. Analysing Ecological Data (2007). Highland Statistics Ltd. 9 St Clair Wynd UK - AB41 6DZ Newburgh Tel: 0044 1358 788177 Email: highs...@highstat.com URL: www.highstat.com blog: http://www.highstat.com/wordpress/
[ECOLOG-L] PhD position in Evolutionary Ecology
The Department of Aquatic Ecology at EAWAG seeks to recruit a: PhD student in Evolutionary Ecology The PhD student will be funded by a Swiss National Science Foundation grant, entitled “The eco-evolutionary dynamics of community assembly in aquatic ecosystems”. The aim of the project is to understand how ecological and evolutionary processes jointly drive community assembly in aquatic ecosystems. The project involves a combination large-scale experiments that manipulate the ecological and evolutionary diversity of food webs under contrasting environmental conditions, as well as the analysis of existing long-term datasets of plankton biodiversity dynamics in freshwater lakes. The project is broadly focused on aquatic food webs, including microbial, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish communities. Ultimately, the research addresses fundamental links between the ecology and evolution of food webs and the physical environment and biogeochemistry of ecosystems. We are looking for a self-directed and motivated student with a broad interest in ecology, evolution, and/or ecosystem science. Ideally, the student will be interested in fieldwork, food-web experiments, analysis of biodiversity datasets, and molecular ecology. Eawag is an international research institute, and is closely affiliated with top universities that grant PhD degrees, such as ETH-Zurich. The working language of the department is English. We offer a stimulating research environment in the Aquatic Ecology department, which has locations in Dübendorf (near Zurich) and Kastanienbaum (near Lucerne). Located on the shores of Lake Lucerne, Eawag’s Center for Ecology, Evolution Biogeochemistry (CEEB: http://www.eawag.ch/forschung/cc/ceeb/index_EN ) is a strong nucleus of Eawag research groups aimed at integrating evolutionary biology, community ecology, and ecosystem science. At both locations, the student will interact with a diverse range of researchers studying community ecology, evolutionary biology, ecological genetics, ecosystem science, and applied environmental science. The project will also involve collaborations between researchers at Eawag (Dr. Blake Matthews, Dr. Helmut Bürgmann) and the University of Geneva (Dr. Bas Ibelings) The starting date for the PhD student is flexible, but a starting date in 2014 is preferred. The PhD program at ETH-Zurich generally lasts three years. Applications should include a cover letter, a curriculum vita, and three references. Copies of prior publications or theses will also be considered if made available via PDF. Applications must be submitted by 15 June 2014. We look forward to receiving your application through this webpage, any other way of applying will not be considered. Please click on the link below, this will take you directly to the application form. http://internet1.refline.ch/673277/0273/++publications++/1/index.html For further information, consult: http://homepages.eawag.ch/~matthebl/Welcome.html#8232; or directly contact Dr. Blake Matthews: Tel: +41 58 765 2120, E-mail: blake.matth...@eawag.ch
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued
This discussion reminded me of the 2007 paper by Mark Hafner (a fellow mammalogist/ecologist) titled “Field research in mammalogy: An enterprise in peril (Journal of Mammalogy, 88:1119-1128). In that paper he describes the decline of college-level field experiences for future mammalogists. Partly in response to that paper, I wrote a field manual for vertebrates that has 56 field-based exercises for college students. I say field-based, because about 30% of the exercises can be done in the lab without actually collecting field data. These use real world field datasets (available on my website) in place of the students actually collecting the data themselves. The main reason for that is the recognition that many institutions are in urban environments and have limited access to field sites. Nevertheless, students can see how the data was collected and then work with that data to analyze patterns and test hypotheses. For example, there is a data set of GPS tracking data for grizzly bears in Montana and southern Canada. Students can make predictions about bear behavior and elevation/habitat in June versus October and plot that data on Google Earth, etc. If any one is interested here is the link to the field manual: http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-ryan/field-and-laboratory-techniques-in-vertebrate-biology/paperback/product-18944438.html This may seem like shameless self promotion, but I don’t really make any money off the manual. Rather my main goal is to provide people with some ideas for field and/or lab exercises that could be used to train future vertebrate biologists. I’m planning on revising the manual again this summer so if any one has ideas for me to include, let me know. Find a detailed Table of Contents here: http://www.wildmammal.com/page15/ and a link to the datasets here: http://www.wildmammal.com/downloads.html -- Dr. Jim Ryan Biology Department Hobart William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY 14456 Www.wildmammal.com On 5/18/14, 10:54 AM, David L. McNeely mcnee...@cox.netmailto:mcnee...@cox.net wrote: Jordan mentions another aspect, the decline of courses on particular taxonomic groups of organisms. Those of us old enough to have used (or even taught) the Odum ecology text well remember his layer cake graphic of the organization of biological science. He represented biology as a layer cake, with taxonomic groups making up the cake's layers, while functional studies such as ecology, evolution, and physiology he treated as slices through the whole cake. Using that metaphor, the layers of the cake are missing from the modern biologist's education. How many institutions still offer courses in mammalogy, ichthyology, plant systematics, phycology and so on? Some do, yes, but these courses may be disappearing even more than courses with a field focus, much to the detriment of those who need or want to learn about a particular group of organisms. I realize that some of the organisms formerly grouped into some recognized taxa have been recognized to be members of disparate evolutionary lineages, but there is still reason for a prospective marine biologist to know the algae, or a fish and wildlife scientist to know the fish. We have the odd situation now where people investigate the evolution of a group of organisms, without having ever formally studied the group. Interesting, at any rate. David McNeely Jordan Mayor jma...@ufl.edumailto:jma...@ufl.edu wrote: Hi Ling, I think the onset of this discussion began with it being pointed out that many Biology Dept.’s have gone “molecular” or even “nano” and this financial refocusing, perhaps combined with increasing enrollment straining class sizes, has resulted in a reduced number of field courses being offered. I have experienced this while a T.A. at a major R1 US university. The field-trip-oriented General Ecology course was under constant pressure to eradicate field trips so more than 14 students (the maximum # of students that could fit on the dept.’s buses) could enroll in a lab section (thus removing a T.A.-ship for one ill-fated grad student). This was thankfully avoided — much to the benefit of the students, many of whom have never experienced an ecological perspective on the many unique ecosystems FL has to offer (hint: it’s not just mangrove and slash pine). When I was an undergrad I also had direct experience in hitting a “pay wall” while trying to increase my field biology experience. OTS and The School for Field Studies both offered excellent programs that very much piqued my interest but were quashed by my financial reality (loans and part-time jobs). In the end I very much enjoyed field trips and eventually found paid summer field experience chasing birds around on an undergraduate professor’s research grant. I think another big issue, besides the reduction in field trips in Ecology courses, is the general loss of taxonomist positions at universities. Taxonomy courses (plant
[ECOLOG-L] Call for Student Volunteers! - Sacramento, CA
CALL FOR STUDENT VOLUNTEERS - Great networking opportunity!! 99th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America Sacramento, CA August 10-15, 2014 DEADLINE: JUNE 19, 2014 Are you an undergraduate or graduate student with a good attitude and strong work ethic? Learning from ecology’s brightest minds at a national conference is a great opportunity and ESA can help you stretch your travel funds. ESA will reimburse registration fees for selected student volunteers who complete 14 hours of work on site. Typical volunteer assignments include: * Projectionist * Field Trip Check-In Helper * Event Ticket Taker * Advance/On Site Registration Desk Helper * Information Desk * ESA Booth Helper (Exhibit Hall) * Fun Run Helper * Pack Up Helper To apply, interested students must (1) register to attend the meeting at the student rate and (2) complete an online volunteer application. Both are required by the June 19 Early Bird Registration deadline. All accepted volunteers will receive their volunteer schedules in early July. Note that students who are presenting at the meeting will receive their scheduling information in May and should include this as one of their conflicts in the application. For more information about volunteering and to access the online application, please visit:http://esa.org/am/volunteers/ Please contact Sarah Wessel at devint...@esa.org if you have any questions.
[ECOLOG-L] Postdoc Opportunity
2-year Research Associate (Post-Doctoral) position Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The successful candidate will lead an ongoing project to develop climate change vulnerability assessments for a set of candidate species in the Upper Great Lakes region. Our approach relies on estimating species demographic sensitivities to climatic variability and quantifying the exposure of populations to historic and future climate. The research associate will: 1) identify the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on selected terrestrial wildlife species, 2) identify and process relevant digital climate and land use data, 3) develop and implement spatially-explicit population models, 4) write project reports and develop manuscripts for peer-review, and 5) collaborate with researchers, managers, and stakeholders to disseminate work and convey management implications. The post-doc will be housed at University of Wisconsin-Madison. REQUIREMENTS: Minimum requirements include: 1) a Ph.D. in ecology, conservation biology, biostatistics, or related field; 2) knowledge of principles and methods of wildlife population dynamics; 3) demonstrated proficiency in R statistical programming and ArcGIS; 4) demonstrated desire and proficiency to publish in the peer-reviewed literature; 5) ability to communicate (oral and in print) research findings to multiple audiences. The successful candidate should have excellent written and personal communication skills and be able to work collaboratively. Preferred skills include familiarity in analyzing weather/climate data, proven skills in demographic and/or species distribution modeling, and familiarity with population modeling approaches or platforms (e.g., HexSim). UNIVERSITY: The University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of the major research universities in the United States. UW-Madison has a long history of excellence in ecology, conservation biology, and remote sensing science. This project will be supported in the in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology and under the supervision of Dr. Benjamin Zuckerberg (http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/zuckerberg/). Madison, Wisconsin consistently ranks as one of the best places in the United States to live, work, and study. It is Wisconsin's capital city, with a vibrant population of approximately 240,000 that combines small town charm with a nice variety of leisure and cultural opportunities. SALARY AND CONDITIONS: The position will be available July 1, 2014 and the duration of the appointment is 24 months. The salary is $43,000 per year plus benefits. Reimbursement for relocation expenses is not available. APPLICATION/CONTACT INFORMATION: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting immediately. Candidates should send a well-crafted cover letter summarizing their research interests, CV, and contact information for three references. All applications (e-mailed as a single PDF file) should be sent to bzuckerb...@wisc.edu with the subject heading PostDoc Application. Reviews of material will begin immediately and continue until a suitable candidate is found.
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued
This is a great thing, EXCEPT that a large point of going in the field is to experience getting up a 4 AM to see birds, dealing with snow up to your knees when you wore pumps and inappropriate gear, wading in the Makinaw R. up to you manly's or womanly's as the temperature drops from 40 F to 20 F, walking through 5 ft tall Kochia getting slammed with blackberry vines and covered with ticks and chiggers, and walking through the woods to not notice the spider web, flung back tree branch or 6 ft ratsnake stretching across the path from branch to branch and having it fall in your lap. Ever climbed up a bluff or small mountain to get to a glade? SO much of the appreciation of living things is experienciing them in their habitat. sitting in a lab counting beans or doing stats tests on data (collected or imaginary) is actually the smallest part of the time commitment of a field ecologist, and frankly, not to sound to bold, ITS HARDLY THE DIFFICULT PART. Keeping your and your co-workers spirits up in the harshest and most miserable conditions is the hard part. You can't get this from sitting in an air-conditioned lab. The removal of the organism from our curricula is the true travesty affecting our discipline. If you have never experienced any of this WHILE trying to collect data and maintain observational skills and technical attention to your environment, then you have not learned what it is to be a field ecologist. this is only one of the multitude of reasons biologists need to disband the biology major altogether, it is too nebulous. Break the darn thing up like business did by the essential fields (cell/molecular/biochemecology/organismic biiology...anatomy/physiology) It is ridiculous that we continue to pretend that this is one major. Then, introduce discipline accreditation in biology in the US to mandate some kind of consistency in teh curriculum for undergrads. The BS that every program is different needs to be dropped. Europe is already doing it for these and other reasons. the minute the biological sciences institutes accreditation standards for its majorS will be the moment that we stop having programs that admin establish with 1-2 faculty who know little about at least 1/3 of what they are teaching. The students suffer when in programs posed as general biology majors that eliminate 1/3 or 1/2 of the discipline for whatever reason. this would be good for everyone from faculty to prospective undergrad, and it would allow programs to provide what is a 21st century education in these fields instead of a 1920s introduction to biology. On Mon, May 19, 2014 at 7:35 AM, Ryan, James r...@hws.edu wrote: This discussion reminded me of the 2007 paper by Mark Hafner (a fellow mammalogist/ecologist) titled “Field research in mammalogy: An enterprise in peril (Journal of Mammalogy, 88:1119-1128). In that paper he describes the decline of college-level field experiences for future mammalogists. Partly in response to that paper, I wrote a field manual for vertebrates that has 56 field-based exercises for college students. I say field-based, because about 30% of the exercises can be done in the lab without actually collecting field data. These use real world field datasets (available on my website) in place of the students actually collecting the data themselves. The main reason for that is the recognition that many institutions are in urban environments and have limited access to field sites. Nevertheless, students can see how the data was collected and then work with that data to analyze patterns and test hypotheses. For example, there is a data set of GPS tracking data for grizzly bears in Montana and southern Canada. Students can make predictions about bear behavior and elevation/habitat in June versus October and plot that data on Google Earth, etc. If any one is interested here is the link to the field manual: http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-ryan/field-and-laboratory-techniques-in-vertebrate-biology/paperback/product-18944438.html This may seem like shameless self promotion, but I don’t really make any money off the manual. Rather my main goal is to provide people with some ideas for field and/or lab exercises that could be used to train future vertebrate biologists. I’m planning on revising the manual again this summer so if any one has ideas for me to include, let me know. Find a detailed Table of Contents here: http://www.wildmammal.com/page15/ and a link to the datasets here: http://www.wildmammal.com/downloads.html -- Dr. Jim Ryan Biology Department Hobart William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY 14456 Www.wildmammal.com On 5/18/14, 10:54 AM, David L. McNeely mcnee...@cox.netmailto:mcnee...@cox.net wrote: Jordan mentions another aspect, the decline of courses on particular taxonomic groups of organisms. Those of us old enough to have used (or even taught) the Odum ecology text well remember his layer cake graphic of the
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued
Excellent, Ryan. However, I will point out that though urban environments may have limited access to field sites for study, that does not mean that there are no field sites for study in urban environments. Urban environments have substantial populations of wild mammals, some feral, some natives that have adapted to the urban environment. Perhaps a look at these populations might be in order in college vertebrate biology courses. Surely interested faculty members could find a way to use their own campus as a field site, and with cooperation from public agencies, other urban settings could be studied. Most cities have parks, public buildings, rivers and creeks, residential developments. Studying in such locales may be more difficult than in rural locations, but it could not only be educationally profitable, but could generate new information about poorly understood populations and communities. David McNeely Ryan wrote: This discussion reminded me of the 2007 paper by Mark Hafner (a fellow mammalogist/ecologist) titled “Field research in mammalogy: An enterprise in peril (Journal of Mammalogy, 88:1119-1128). In that paper he describes the decline of college-level field experiences for future mammalogists. Partly in response to that paper, I wrote a field manual for vertebrates that has 56 field-based exercises for college students. I say field-based, because about 30% of the exercises can be done in the lab without actually collecting field data. These use real world field datasets (available on my website) in place of the students actually collecting the data themselves. The main reason for that is the recognition that many institutions are in urban environments and have limited access to field sites. Nevertheless, students can see how the data was collected and then work with that data to analyze patterns and test hypotheses. For example, there is a data set of GPS tracking data for grizzly bears in Montana and southern Canada. Students can make predictions about bear behavior and elevation/habitat in June versus October and plot that data on Google Earth, etc. If any one is interested here is the link to the field manual: http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-ryan/field-and-laboratory-techniques-in-vertebrate-biology/paperback/product-18944438.html This may seem like shameless self promotion, but I don’t really make any money off the manual. Rather my main goal is to provide people with some ideas for field and/or lab exercises that could be used to train future vertebrate biologists. I’m planning on revising the manual again this summer so if any one has ideas for me to include, let me know. Find a detailed Table of Contents here: http://www.wildmammal.com/page15/ and a link to the datasets here: http://www.wildmammal.com/downloads.html -- Dr. Jim Ryan Biology Department Hobart William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY 14456 Www.wildmammal.com On 5/18/14, 10:54 AM, David L. McNeely mcnee...@cox.netmailto:mcnee...@cox.net wrote: Jordan mentions another aspect, the decline of courses on particular taxonomic groups of organisms. Those of us old enough to have used (or even taught) the Odum ecology text well remember his layer cake graphic of the organization of biological science. He represented biology as a layer cake, with taxonomic groups making up the cake's layers, while functional studies such as ecology, evolution, and physiology he treated as slices through the whole cake. Using that metaphor, the layers of the cake are missing from the modern biologist's education. How many institutions still offer courses in mammalogy, ichthyology, plant systematics, phycology and so on? Some do, yes, but these courses may be disappearing even more than courses with a field focus, much to the detriment of those who need or want to learn about a particular group of organisms. I realize that some of the organisms formerly grouped into some recognized taxa have been recognized to be members of disparate evolutionary lineages, but there is still reason for a prospective marine biologist to know the algae, or a fish and wildlife scientist to know the fish. We have the odd situation now where people investigate the evolution of a group of organisms, without having ever formally studied the group. Interesting, at any rate. David McNeely Jordan Mayor jma...@ufl.edumailto:jma...@ufl.edu wrote: Hi Ling, I think the onset of this discussion began with it being pointed out that many Biology Dept.’s have gone “molecular” or even “nano” and this financial refocusing, perhaps combined with increasing enrollment straining class sizes, has resulted in a reduced number of field courses being offered. I have experienced this while a T.A. at a major R1 US university. The field-trip-oriented General Ecology course was under constant pressure to eradicate field trips so more than 14
[ECOLOG-L] how to measure area with Photoshop
My brother's been using this technique to measure area by using images grabbed from Google Earth. Looks like it might work better for some of the areas I've been measuring by walking the perimeter with a hand-held GPS (Garmin) that can measure area that way. He provided a link to this resource for more information about the technique: http://blog.duklabs.com/?p=219 David Inouye
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued
As Malcolm pointed out it is sad when students can not obtain field experience in our backyard. I am not dishing the overseas programs - I would have loved to participate in them when I was a student but it was all I could manage to put myself through school. We need to not rely only/primarily on the already developed programs at field stations because that will focus on those more financially able to participate. I was lucky I went to California State University, Long Beach in the 1990s and the professors I had developed many field courses for the students. Most were day excursions or occurred in a three hour lab block but we also had weekend ones at a local field station. It was on one of these weekend field trips to a local marine station that I knew I was in the course of study that was right for me and was my passion. I would hate our field to lose out on a student in the future from lack of exposure. Local course need to be developed so students who can't afford to go away for a few weeks won't be left out and then not exposed to basis of our planet and out lives - nature. On Sat, May 17, 2014 at 11:38 AM, Malcolm McCallum malcolm.mccallum.ta...@gmail.com wrote: When students must travel half-way around the world to get this kind of experience, you can be assured that their will be a significant disadvantage for those who are financially disadvantaged. My attitude as an undergraduate would have been (and was) if this was really important, the school would have it on campus for everyone to take. Boy, I've learned how wrong I was about how schools often select what they offer. On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 10:41 PM, Kimberly G. Smith kgsm...@uark.edu wrote: I am following this thread with some amusement... I am in Belize with 20 undergraduates on a natural history course... next week, 45 students from University of Arkansas will travel to Dangriga Belize for your 7th summer of service/learning for 3 weeks As others have mentioned, if you feel seriously about field experiences, it is up to you to provide those experiences for your students... I find it is very rewarding and a life changing experience for many students Saludos, Kim Kimberly G. Smith University Professor of Biology Department of Biological Sciences University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR 72701 USA phone 479-575-6359 fax 479-575-4010 email kgsm...@uark.edu From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [ ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] on behalf of Andrés Santana [ andres.sant...@ots.ac.cr] Sent: Friday, May 16, 2014 5:20 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued We at OTS share this concern. We truly believe that field courses and field research present students with some of the best opportunities to do research and understand nature. I know firsthand that spending a semester out in field stations taking courses and doing research is a life changing experience. I was fortunate enough to be chosen to participate in a field semester with and OTS program. OTS specializes in field courses and we welcome any faculty member that wants to teach a course at any one of our field stations. We are constantly working on and thinking of new field course topics in ecology and evolution that will prove beneficial to students (undergrad and grad) in their professional and academic careers. We would be glad to hear your input and work with any of you setting up courses to teach your students or students from any university. Best, Andrés Santana Graduate Education Department Organization for Tropical Studies San Pedro, Costa Rica. 676-2050 (506) 2524-0607 ext. 1511 Skype: andres.santana_otscro www.ots.ac.cr twitter: @ots_tropicaledu -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Malcolm McCallum Sent: Friday, May 16, 2014 01:08 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued Bruce Bury's article... Bury, B. 2006. Natural history, field ecology, conservation biology, and wildlife management: Time to connect the dots. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 1:56-61. http://www.herpconbio.org/volume_1/issue_1/Bury_2006.pdf On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 10:19 AM, David Inouye ino...@umd.edu wrote: Paul Dayton asked me to post this: Dear Colleagues, I have enjoyed reading your laments about the loss of field courses and of course have strong opinions about this because it really is also the loss of respect for nature herself. We can't really understand nature without experiencing it and students can't experience it hiding behind computers in cloistered ivory towers. Harry Greene and I have written about this: The
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued
I mentioned in my previous post that we are happily increasing the field courses associated with our new Urban Ecology program. We have BA BS, MA MS, and combined BA-MA and BS-MS programs in UE. We have no problems working with local mammals, which are abundant. Of course they include feral cats and house mice, but also red fox, skunks, and otter here on Long Island. There's no doubt these species are adapting to suburban environments here as they have elsewhere. And there's clear evidence that coyotes are coming, invading from both the east and west ends of Long Island. We don't have to travel far to get to environments with a pretty nice assortment of mammals, some of these are on our suburban campus. Dr. Russell Burke Professor, Chair Donald E. Axinn Distinguished Professor in Ecology and Conservation Department of Biology Hofstra University 516.463.7272 -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of David L. McNeely Sent: Monday, May 19, 2014 10:35 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued Excellent, Ryan. However, I will point out that though urban environments may have limited access to field sites for study, that does not mean that there are no field sites for study in urban environments. Urban environments have substantial populations of wild mammals, some feral, some natives that have adapted to the urban environment. Perhaps a look at these populations might be in order in college vertebrate biology courses. Surely interested faculty members could find a way to use their own campus as a field site, and with cooperation from public agencies, other urban settings could be studied. Most cities have parks, public buildings, rivers and creeks, residential developments. Studying in such locales may be more difficult than in rural locations, but it could not only be educationally profitable, but could generate new information about poorly understood populations and communities. David McNeely Ryan wrote: This discussion reminded me of the 2007 paper by Mark Hafner (a fellow mammalogist/ecologist) titled “Field research in mammalogy: An enterprise in peril (Journal of Mammalogy, 88:1119-1128). In that paper he describes the decline of college-level field experiences for future mammalogists. Partly in response to that paper, I wrote a field manual for vertebrates that has 56 field-based exercises for college students. I say field-based, because about 30% of the exercises can be done in the lab without actually collecting field data. These use real world field datasets (available on my website) in place of the students actually collecting the data themselves. The main reason for that is the recognition that many institutions are in urban environments and have limited access to field sites. Nevertheless, students can see how the data was collected and then work with that data to analyze patterns and test hypotheses. For example, there is a data set of GPS tracking data for grizzly bears in Montana and southern Canada. Students can make predictions about bear behavior and elevation/habitat in June versus October and plot that data on Google Earth, etc. If any one is interested here is the link to the field manual: http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-ryan/field-and-laboratory-techniques-in -vertebrate-biology/paperback/product-18944438.html This may seem like shameless self promotion, but I don’t really make any money off the manual. Rather my main goal is to provide people with some ideas for field and/or lab exercises that could be used to train future vertebrate biologists. I’m planning on revising the manual again this summer so if any one has ideas for me to include, let me know. Find a detailed Table of Contents here: http://www.wildmammal.com/page15/ and a link to the datasets here: http://www.wildmammal.com/downloads.html -- Dr. Jim Ryan Biology Department Hobart William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY 14456 Www.wildmammal.com On 5/18/14, 10:54 AM, David L. McNeely mcnee...@cox.netmailto:mcnee...@cox.net wrote: Jordan mentions another aspect, the decline of courses on particular taxonomic groups of organisms. Those of us old enough to have used (or even taught) the Odum ecology text well remember his layer cake graphic of the organization of biological science. He represented biology as a layer cake, with taxonomic groups making up the cake's layers, while functional studies such as ecology, evolution, and physiology he treated as slices through the whole cake. Using that metaphor, the layers of the cake are missing from the modern biologist's education. How many institutions still offer courses in mammalogy, ichthyology, plant systematics, phycology and so on? Some do, yes, but these courses may be disappearing even more than courses
Re: [ECOLOG-L] how to measure area with Photoshop
There is a very interesting story behind this approach, having to do with a google earth engineer who lived near a proposed timber harvest in the Santa Cruz mountains that understated the extent of a clearcut. She successfully used google earth to accurately describe the proposal and demonstrate that it exceeded criteria for exemption. She has apparently become quite a conservation advocate. This is second hand information from a friend who works on marine protected areas for an environmental law firm. Others may have more specific information at hand? Rachel O'Malley -Sent from my telephone On May 19, 2014, at 7:41 AM, David Inouye ino...@umd.edu wrote: My brother's been using this technique to measure area by using images grabbed from Google Earth. Looks like it might work better for some of the areas I've been measuring by walking the perimeter with a hand-held GPS (Garmin) that can measure area that way. He provided a link to this resource for more information about the technique: http://blog.duklabs.com/?p=219 David Inouye
Re: [ECOLOG-L] how to measure area with Photoshop
ImageJ from the NIH works pretty well, or so I've been told. I have not used it, I used to have an old version of Image tool which predated ImageJ and it was very user friendly even though intended for microscope work. On Mon, May 19, 2014 at 9:41 AM, David Inouye ino...@umd.edu wrote: My brother's been using this technique to measure area by using images grabbed from Google Earth. Looks like it might work better for some of the areas I've been measuring by walking the perimeter with a hand-held GPS (Garmin) that can measure area that way. He provided a link to this resource for more information about the technique: http://blog.duklabs.com/?p=219 David Inouye -- Malcolm L. McCallum, PHD, REP Department of Environmental Studies University of Illinois at Springfield Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology “Nothing is more priceless and worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share as Americans.” -President Richard Nixon upon signing the Endangered Species Act of 1973 into law. Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive - Allan Nation 1880's: There's lots of good fish in the sea W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. 2022: Soylent Green is People! The Seven Blunders of the World (Mohandas Gandhi) Wealth w/o work Pleasure w/o conscience Knowledge w/o character Commerce w/o morality Science w/o humanity Worship w/o sacrifice Politics w/o principle Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.
[ECOLOG-L] Postdoctoral Researcher - Mangrove Carbon Biogeochemistry
Postdoctoral Researcher – Mangrove Carbon Biogeochemistry The Department of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii invites applications for a full-time Postdoctoral Researcher to examine aquatic carbon cycling in a mangrove estuary. Mangroves worldwide sequester atmospheric CO2 at a rate higher than other ecosystems based on net primary production estimates, but a significant part of mangrove-fixed CO2 is “missing”. This multi-disciplinary project, with investigators from University of Hawaii, NASA, NOAA and the National Park Service, aims to quantify the seasonal variability in sources and sinks of aquatic carbon in order to determine the fate of CO2 sequestered by mangroves of the coastal Florida Everglades, situated in the largest contiguous mangrove forest in North America. The appointment is for one year, with the possibility of renewal based on performance. The successful candidate must have a Ph.D. and a strong background in Biogeochemistry, and interact well in a group setting, including lab and field environments. The candidate will participate in fieldwork in the Everglades and should be able to conduct measurements in the field under occasionally harsh environmental conditions. The successful applicant will join a research group focused on studying transport and mixing in natural waters, and carbon cycling in coastal environments. In addition to a background in Biogeochemistry, experience in methodologies used in tracer release experiments and carbon cycle research is preferred (in particular, familiarity with gas chromatography, pCO2, pH, alkalinity, DIC, δ13C measurements, and knowledge of MATLAB and LabVIEW). It is expected that the candidate will actively participate in the publication of results from experiments in the Everglades. For questions about the position, or to apply for the position, please email Prof. David Ho at david...@hawaii.edu. Applicants should submit a personal statement describing research experience and interests, a curriculum vitae, relevant peer-reviewed publications, and names and contact information of three referees. Evaluation will begin immediately and position will start July 1, 2014. -- David T. Ho Professor Department of Oceanography University of Hawaii Voice: +1 808.956.3311 1000 Pope Rd, MSB 517 Fax: +1 808.956.7112 Honolulu, HI 96822 http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/~ho
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued
Dear colleagues, I have been enjoying this exchange immensely, especially because I lived through a similar shift in focus and institutional support (previously described by others) at a former institution. I was an outspoken critic of the lack of diversity in scientific approaches that ensued in that department. Coincidentally, I had written a blog entry in a similar vein a few days before the first posting in Ecolog-L (for my current university). All this to say that it seems like there are more people thinking about this than I believed, and to me that is an encouraging realization. The blog is here for those interested: http://www.auw.edu.bd/reflections-on-teaching-when-they-saw-the-birds/ Cheers, Edwin = Dr. Edwin Cruz-Rivera Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Asian University for Women 20/A M.M. Ali Road Chittagong 4000 Bangladesh Tel: +880-31-2854980 Fax: +880-31-2854988 It is not the same to hear the devil as to see him coming your way (Puerto Rican proverb) On Mon, May 19, 2014 at 9:36 PM, Russell L. Burke russell.l.bu...@hofstra.edu wrote: I mentioned in my previous post that we are happily increasing the field courses associated with our new Urban Ecology program. We have BA BS, MA MS, and combined BA-MA and BS-MS programs in UE. We have no problems working with local mammals, which are abundant. Of course they include feral cats and house mice, but also red fox, skunks, and otter here on Long Island. There's no doubt these species are adapting to suburban environments here as they have elsewhere. And there's clear evidence that coyotes are coming, invading from both the east and west ends of Long Island. We don't have to travel far to get to environments with a pretty nice assortment of mammals, some of these are on our suburban campus. Dr. Russell Burke Professor, Chair Donald E. Axinn Distinguished Professor in Ecology and Conservation Department of Biology Hofstra University 516.463.7272 -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of David L. McNeely Sent: Monday, May 19, 2014 10:35 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued Excellent, Ryan. However, I will point out that though urban environments may have limited access to field sites for study, that does not mean that there are no field sites for study in urban environments. Urban environments have substantial populations of wild mammals, some feral, some natives that have adapted to the urban environment. Perhaps a look at these populations might be in order in college vertebrate biology courses. Surely interested faculty members could find a way to use their own campus as a field site, and with cooperation from public agencies, other urban settings could be studied. Most cities have parks, public buildings, rivers and creeks, residential developments. Studying in such locales may be more difficult than in rural locations, but it could not only be educationally profitable, but could generate new information about poorly understood populations and communities. David McNeely Ryan wrote: This discussion reminded me of the 2007 paper by Mark Hafner (a fellow mammalogist/ecologist) titled “Field research in mammalogy: An enterprise in peril (Journal of Mammalogy, 88:1119-1128). In that paper he describes the decline of college-level field experiences for future mammalogists. Partly in response to that paper, I wrote a field manual for vertebrates that has 56 field-based exercises for college students. I say field-based, because about 30% of the exercises can be done in the lab without actually collecting field data. These use real world field datasets (available on my website) in place of the students actually collecting the data themselves. The main reason for that is the recognition that many institutions are in urban environments and have limited access to field sites. Nevertheless, students can see how the data was collected and then work with that data to analyze patterns and test hypotheses. For example, there is a data set of GPS tracking data for grizzly bears in Montana and southern Canada. Students can make predictions about bear behavior and elevation/habitat in June versus October and plot that data on Google Earth, etc. If any one is interested here is the link to the field manual: http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-ryan/field-and-laboratory-techniques-in -vertebrate-biology/paperback/product-18944438.html This may seem like shameless self promotion, but I don’t really make any money off the manual. Rather my main goal is to provide people with some ideas for field and/or lab exercises that could be used to train future vertebrate biologists. I’m planning on revising the manual again this summer so if any one has ideas for me to include, let me know. Find a detailed Table
[ECOLOG-L] Postdoctoral Research Associate -Plant Sciences/Genetics
Postdoctoral Research Associate - Plant Sciences/Genetics The Center for Agroforestry, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO A Postdoctoral Research Associate position is available with the Center for Agroforestry at the University of Missouri to examine morphological and physiological traits associated with shade tolerance in native warm season grasses and the extent of genetic variation. Preliminary data exists in shade tolerance among cultivars and accessions from multi-state collections for native warm-season grasses including little bluestem, big bluestem, eastern gamagrass, and switchgrass. In addition to establishing new trials and collecting data from existing trials, the Postdoc will also be involved in analyzing and publishing existing data from screening trials for grasses grown under shade cloth and under tree canopies. Opportunities also exist to quantify belowground ecological interactions in tree-grass mixed systems (e.g. savanna, silvopasture) and contribute to a breeding program. Travel to study sites, including overnight stay may be required. Initial appointment will be for one year, but renewable for an additional year contingent upon satisfactory performance and funding. Required qualifications include a Ph.D. in plant sciences/genetics/breeding/ecophysiology/soils with good oral and written communication skills as evidenced through peer-reviewed publications and presentations. Experience in the use of physiological instrumentation (e.g., infrared gas analyzers), and knowledge in soil and plant chemical analyses and plant breeding are desirable. The ideal candidate should possess a track record of accomplishments demonstrating technical proficiency, independent thinking, and scientific creativity. Candidate is expected to publish peer-reviewed articles, present at scientific meetings and assist in the preparation of grant proposals. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. Interested applicants should send (1) a letter of interest (2) resume and (3) names and e-mail addresses of three references to Dr. Shibu Jose, H.E. Garrett Endowed Professor and Director, Center for Agroforestry, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, Email: jo...@missouri.edu or Dr. Jerry Van Sambeek, Research Plant Physiologist, USFS Northern Research Station, Columbia, MO 65211, Email: jvansamb...@fs.fed.us Closing date: June 30, 2014 or until a suitable candidate is found. Shibu Jose, Ph.D., H.E. Garrett Endowed Professor and Director The Center for Agroforestry Editor-In-Chief, Agroforestry Systems 203 Anheuser Busch Natural Resources Bldg. University of Missouri Columbia, MO 65211 Tel: (573) 882-0240 Fax: (573) 882-1977 Email: jo...@missouri.edu Web: www.centerforagroforestry.org
[ECOLOG-L] Symposium on Monarch Butterflies at Chicago Botanic Garden
Please join us for a symposium by members of Make Way for Monarchs: Alliance for Milkweed and Butterfly Recovery, (www.makewayformonarchs.org). Members of this group conduct research on monarch butterfly recovery and promote positive, science-based actions to avert food web collapse in the milkweed community and the further demise of the monarch migration to Mexico. They aim to promote social engagement to implement tangible solutions in midwestern landscapes through collaborative conservation. http://www.chicagobotanic.org/education/symposia_professional_programs/monarchs --- Kayri Havens-Young, Ph.D. Medard and Elizabeth Welch Director Division of Plant Science and Conservation Senior Scientist Chicago Botanic Garden 1000 Lake Cook Road Glencoe, IL 60022 tel: 847-835-8378 fax:847-835-6975 khav...@chicagobotanic.org http://www.chicagobotanic.org/research/index.php
[ECOLOG-L] Graduate Research Assistantship: Terrestrial Laser Scanning + grassland fire ecology
Description: We are offering a Graduate Research Assistantship to apply terrestrial laser scanning (TLS, or ground-based lidar) in the study of grassland fuel composition and structure. The student will be co-advised by Drs. Devan McGranahan and Stephanie Day, in the Range Science and Geosciences departments, respectively, at North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota. The student will pursue a degree in the Range Science Program in the NDSU School of Natural Resource Sciences. The student can enter at either Master of Science or PhD levels based on qualifications and academic background. The student will conduct field experiments to develop TLS technology to determine grassland biomass and structure, data that will inform spatially-explicit fuel and fire behavior models. Field work will consist of developing and conducting TLS sampling schemes, performing conventional field sampling techniques for calibration, and applying the developed TLS method to conduct ecological research on grassland fuelbeds in the region. Requirements: The student will be expected to develop proficiency in working with TLS equipment and programming post-processing software; therefore, successful candidates for this position will demonstrate experience in computer programming, preferably in the R and/or MATLAB environments. Experience with geographical information systems is preferred. Previous experience with TLS or lidar technology is beneficial but not required. Minimum qualifications: - Bachelor’s degree in relevant field of biological, environmental, and/or computer sciences. - Proficiency with computers and computer programming. - Demonstrated ability to work both independently and as part of a team. - Ability to conduct field work. - Interest in developing and applying technological solutions for ecological research. - Valid driver’s license. - Authorization to study and work in the United States. Preferred qualifications: - Experience with statistical computing and geographical information systems. - Experience with TLS or lidar technology and/or data processing. - Knowledge of sampling and modeling grassland fuels and fire behavior. Start date: Flexible, but August 2014 preferred. Compensation: Annual GRA stipend of $14,000 – 16,000 depending on level of academic study. Full tuition waiver for both MS and PhD students. Application process: Interested applicants should submit the following preliminary materials by email to devan.mcgrana...@ndsu.edu: Cover letter/statement of intent, CV or resume including e-mail and telephone information for 2-3 references, unofficial transcripts from all post-secondary schooling, and GRE scores. Selected applicants will be invited to interview via phone and prepare official application materials for the University. About graduate research at NDSU: North Dakota State University is a leading research university in the region. The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education ranks NDSU in its top Doctoral Research University Very High Research Activity category. Not only is NDSU in the top quarter of U.S. universities in research expenditures, it is one of the top 108 universities in the country. Located in the Fargo, ND/Moorhead, MN metropolitan area, NDSU has enjoyed vigorous growth and has an enrollment of about 14,400 students, with approximately 2,200 graduate students. Stable link: http://www.ndsu.edu/range/faculty_and_staff/devan_allen_mcgranahan_phd/researchemployment_opportunities/
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued
I actually have a bit of a unique experience with my undergraduate university that may make some of you feel mildly better about this whole situation. I just recently graduated, and when I started at my university, the department I was under was classified solely as Molecular and Cellular Biology (I thought it was what I wanted to do when I started college. I was very wrong), and there was nothing close to an ecology class, much less a field course being offered, even in the intro biology classes. Since then, my university has started a field ecology class that goes over the basics of ecology, involves a final field research project as the primary grade, and has 4 Saturday field trips to areas relatively close to the university (with travel provided for the whole class by using a local school bus) where the students get to learn basic field methods (including collecting and identifying plants and insects). As an even better note, this class has maxed out its number of students in every semester it's been offered since it started. In addition, the department as a whole has renamed itself simply the Department of Biology in hopes of expanding the scope of the program outside of just the molecular and cellular scale in the future. This may be a completely and totally isolated instance, but I definitely think it shows that a resurgence in field courses is completely possible as long as professors are interested in providing a course that is accessible to students. Mitchell Owens University of Texas at Dallas On Sat, May 17, 2014 at 8:39 PM, Jordan Mayor jma...@ufl.edu wrote: Hi Ling, I think the onset of this discussion began with it being pointed out that many Biology Dept.’s have gone “molecular” or even “nano” and this financial refocusing, perhaps combined with increasing enrollment straining class sizes, has resulted in a reduced number of field courses being offered. I have experienced this while a T.A. at a major R1 US university. The field-trip-oriented General Ecology course was under constant pressure to eradicate field trips so more than 14 students (the maximum # of students that could fit on the dept.’s buses) could enroll in a lab section (thus removing a T.A.-ship for one ill-fated grad student). This was thankfully avoided — much to the benefit of the students, many of whom have never experienced an ecological perspective on the many unique ecosystems FL has to offer (hint: it’s not just mangrove and slash pine). When I was an undergrad I also had direct experience in hitting a “pay wall” while trying to increase my field biology experience. OTS and The School for Field Studies both offered excellent programs that very much piqued my interest but were quashed by my financial reality (loans and part-time jobs). In the end I very much enjoyed field trips and eventually found paid summer field experience chasing birds around on an undergraduate professor’s research grant. I think another big issue, besides the reduction in field trips in Ecology courses, is the general loss of taxonomist positions at universities. Taxonomy courses (plant tax, mycology, entomology, etc.) often require direct observation or even personal collection of organisms in their environment. Such taxonomy courses may offer the sort of field experience that will energize young field biologists — not to mention make them better ecologists ;) So please. If you are in a position to either fight to retain field courses or offer one yourself please do. And make it one to remember. -- Jordan Mayor, PhD Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU Forest Ecology Management jordanmayor.com On May 17, 2014, at 3:00 PM, ling huang ling.hu...@prodigy.net wrote: Some thoughts and questions: I'm not sure if it has clearl Hi all Some thoughts and questions: I'm not sure if it has clearly been mentioned but what are the reasons for the loss of field courses? Is it a recent phenomenon? Is it area / state/country specific? Are there reasons given? Has there been a large reduction in the numbers of field courses offered? or is it part of a reduction due to shortage of interest, shortage of student enrollment, insurance, financial etc. ? (I'm grabbing at straws)? In my previous email I did list some courses, programs offered that looked very interesting and thorough in their field component (incl. at my own school). All interesting stuff. Ling Ling Huang Sacramento City College From: Malcolm McCallum malcolm.mccallum.ta...@gmail.com To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2014 11:11 AM Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued For perspective...This is what financially disadvantaged students deal with.. Every single decision made is based on whether or not you will have to pay for it above and beyond the cost of attendance. The class has an optional
[ECOLOG-L] Postdoc in evolutionary ecology
Postdoc in evolutionary ecology A postdoctoral research position in evolutionary ecology is available in Dr. Mark Urban’s laboratory at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT. The postdoc will join a McDonnell Foundation-funded project to explore how rapid evolution affects zooplankton interactions and community dynamics in the laboratory and in the field. The postdoc will participate in all aspects of the project, including laboratory-based artificial selection and competition experiments, field-based experiments and observations, analysis, and theoretical development. Additional responsibilities include written and oral communication of research results and mentoring graduate and undergraduate students. The successful applicant will have completed a PhD degree in ecology, evolutionary biology, or a related field prior to the start date. Preference will be given to scientists with experience in one or more of the following areas: evolutionary ecology, zooplankton experiments, and wild zooplankton identification. An excellent publication record, strong organizational and communication skills, and a demonstrated ability to work independently are required. The intended start date for this position is August/September 2014. The duration is for 2 years. Salary and benefits are competitive and commensurate with experience. To apply, please send to me via email 1) a cover letter that explains your fit to the research position and your potential start date; 2) a complete CV with publications and grants; and 3) the names of two references. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. For more information, contact Mark Urban (mark.ur...@uconn.edu)
[ECOLOG-L] Research technician in aquatic ecology
Research technician in aquatic ecology A research technician position is available in Dr. Mark Urban’s laboratory at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT. The research technician will manage several grant-funded projects on aquatic ecology, including a project on the evolution of species interactions in zooplankton communities, the effect of the evolution of amphibian populations on pond communities, and the evolutionary ecology of fish in the Arctic. The research technician will participate in all aspects of these projects, including laboratory-based experiments, field-based experiments, and observations. Responsibilities include performing experiments in ecology and evolutionary biology, conducting field work in remote locations, identifying aquatic organisms, maintaining laboratory animal populations, general lab maintenance, and coordination of undergraduate assistants. The candidate will participate in fieldwork and should be able to work under occasionally harsh environmental conditions. The successful applicant will have completed a bachelor’s degree in ecology, evolutionary biology, or a related field prior to the start date. Preference will be given to scientists with experience in one or more of the following areas: evolutionary ecology, zooplankton rearing, wild zooplankton identification, and amphibian research. Preferred qualifications also include a Master’s degree in the fields listed above, research experience with zooplankton or amphibians or more generally in freshwater ponds, ability to identify wild zooplankton samples, experience with maintaining laboratory cultures of zooplankton, ability to care for and maintain amphibian populations, experience conducting wild animal surveys and experiments in remote field locations, and the ability to maintain laboratory and outdoor experiments in lentic habitats. The intended start date for this position is August/September 2014. The duration is for 2 years, with the possibility for renewal based on performance. Salary and benefits are competitive and commensurate with experience. To apply, please send to me via email 1) a cover letter that explains your fit to the research position and your potential start date; 2) a complete CV; and 3) the names of 3 references. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. For more information, contact Mark Urban (mark.ur...@uconn.edu)
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued
Mitchell, We are interested! I think that has been shown throughout this thread, ie. there are many professors interested and excited about teaching field related courses. The problem is what the first person in this thread said - universities go for the newest and greatest trend. It was molecular but now it is bioinformatics and nanotech. This is scary because I have talked with many in the bioinformatics field who do not have a basic understanding of biology let alone ecology and the big picture. I gather you are a student. Encourage all your fellow students to write/email the administration of their university/college and tell them they want field courses and ecology courses to be an important part of the curriculum. The administration will listen to many students voicing their opinions more than it will to faculty. Diana On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 2:03 AM, Mitchell Owens mco094...@utdallas.eduwrote: I actually have a bit of a unique experience with my undergraduate university that may make some of you feel mildly better about this whole situation. I just recently graduated, and when I started at my university, the department I was under was classified solely as Molecular and Cellular Biology (I thought it was what I wanted to do when I started college. I was very wrong), and there was nothing close to an ecology class, much less a field course being offered, even in the intro biology classes. Since then, my university has started a field ecology class that goes over the basics of ecology, involves a final field research project as the primary grade, and has 4 Saturday field trips to areas relatively close to the university (with travel provided for the whole class by using a local school bus) where the students get to learn basic field methods (including collecting and identifying plants and insects). As an even better note, this class has maxed out its number of students in every semester it's been offered since it started. In addition, the department as a whole has renamed itself simply the Department of Biology in hopes of expanding the scope of the program outside of just the molecular and cellular scale in the future. This may be a completely and totally isolated instance, but I definitely think it shows that a resurgence in field courses is completely possible as long as professors are interested in providing a course that is accessible to students. Mitchell Owens University of Texas at Dallas On Sat, May 17, 2014 at 8:39 PM, Jordan Mayor jma...@ufl.edu wrote: Hi Ling, I think the onset of this discussion began with it being pointed out that many Biology Dept.’s have gone “molecular” or even “nano” and this financial refocusing, perhaps combined with increasing enrollment straining class sizes, has resulted in a reduced number of field courses being offered. I have experienced this while a T.A. at a major R1 US university. The field-trip-oriented General Ecology course was under constant pressure to eradicate field trips so more than 14 students (the maximum # of students that could fit on the dept.’s buses) could enroll in a lab section (thus removing a T.A.-ship for one ill-fated grad student). This was thankfully avoided — much to the benefit of the students, many of whom have never experienced an ecological perspective on the many unique ecosystems FL has to offer (hint: it’s not just mangrove and slash pine). When I was an undergrad I also had direct experience in hitting a “pay wall” while trying to increase my field biology experience. OTS and The School for Field Studies both offered excellent programs that very much piqued my interest but were quashed by my financial reality (loans and part-time jobs). In the end I very much enjoyed field trips and eventually found paid summer field experience chasing birds around on an undergraduate professor’s research grant. I think another big issue, besides the reduction in field trips in Ecology courses, is the general loss of taxonomist positions at universities. Taxonomy courses (plant tax, mycology, entomology, etc.) often require direct observation or even personal collection of organisms in their environment. Such taxonomy courses may offer the sort of field experience that will energize young field biologists — not to mention make them better ecologists ;) So please. If you are in a position to either fight to retain field courses or offer one yourself please do. And make it one to remember. -- Jordan Mayor, PhD Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU Forest Ecology Management jordanmayor.com On May 17, 2014, at 3:00 PM, ling huang ling.hu...@prodigy.net wrote: Some thoughts and questions: I'm not sure if it has clearl Hi all Some thoughts and questions: I'm not sure if it has clearly been mentioned but what are the reasons for the loss of field courses? Is it a recent
[ECOLOG-L] Collect data at a fraction of the cost and time
Dear Ecolog, Throughout the last few years, many of you have become familiar withAdventurers and Scientists for Conservation http://www.adventureandscience.organd hundreds of you have come to us to help gather data from the remote corners of the globe (and locally too). Thank you for trusting us with your important efforts! I wanted to share a short film from one of our latest projects with you https://vimeo.com/94529851 We are now accepting applications http://www.adventureandscience.org/consulting-form.htmlto work with our extensive network of outdoor adventurers to get the data you need. We know that data collection can be expensive, time consuming, and physically challenging and we are here to help. We partner with agencies, nonprofits, landowners, reserves, and individuals to develop adventure science projects that will not only engage volunteers, but that will save you time and money. We will work with you and your team to design protocols you can be sure will provide you with data you can use. Each of our volunteers in individually trained, and we guarantee the quality of the data collected. We have proven experience in working with professionals to adapt protocols for non-scientists. To learn more visit our website: http://www.adventureandscience.org/project-management.html We look forward to working with you! Cheers, Gregg Treinish Founder/Executive Director Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation 2013 National Geographic Emerging Explorer 2008 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year 406.579.9702 www.adventureandscience.org
[ECOLOG-L] Adjunct Faculty Botany - Winthrop University Fall 2014
Ecolog Members - The Biology Department at Winthrop University, a liberal-arts, masters-granting state university in Rock Hill, South Carolina (part of the Charlotte, North Carolina metropolitan region) is looking to hire an adjunct faculty member capable of teaching an introductory Botany course in Fall 2014. This course is relatively small in size (capped at 24 students) and has both lecture and laboratory components. For more information or to inquire about the specifics of the position, please contact Dr. Matthew Heard (hear...@gmail.com). * Matthew J. Heard, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Biology Winthrop University Department of Biology 220 Dalton Hall Rock Hill, SC 29733 803-323-2111 ext. 6443 www.mattheard.com
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Loss of field courses, continued
I have recently learned of the discussion concerning field-based courses and would like to share my thoughts. Please forgive this late installment (and its length), but I have been closstered away at a remote field station in Panama and was not privy to this discussion on ECOLOG until very recently. As with many of you, my early experiences with nature is what drew me to biology in the first place, motivated me towards advanced degrees and is still the primary focus of my life. It is indeed a shame that an entire generation of scientists may never experience what it¹s like to make a discovery while sitting in the canopy of a tropical rain forest or gliding quietly along a coral reef. I too had been caught up in the push for genomics and reductive forms of scientific enquiry. While spending countless hours mixing together minute quantities of colorless liquids I found myself continually drawn to the laboratory window and the forest beyond. But I was fortunate to have had several remarkable mentors in my life who, by virtue of their enthusiasm for field ecology, and their willingness to share it, ultimately led me back to field-based research. While genomic-based study is important and valuable to be sure, it will not generally allow us to better understand our place in nature, or how to protect it (with some exceptions). You have to get out there and immerse yourself in nature to truly understand and appreciate our role in it. We need share this our students of this truth. There has been much discussion about encouraging faculty to develop their own field courses. Putting together a field course in another country is easier than you might think. Courses can be run as a travel course, changing sites every few days, or as an on site course at an established field station. For those who are new to this, I would suggest doing the latter. Located across the globe are organizations and biological field stations ready and willing to host and support courses in field biology. The advantage with these field station is that they can provide the location, logistic support and accommodations so that you, the instructor, can focus on your course. The organization for Biological Field Stations (OBFS, http://www.obfs.org/) is a good place to start. With regard to the whether field courses are relevant to students just trying to get by financially; they are. I was one of those poor, first generation students that has been referred to during this discussion, and there was no way that I could have taken a course in another country as an undergraduate. But that did not stop me from taking every field course I could that my school offered (of course, this is the problem, right?). Eventually as a graduate student the opportunity arose and I participated in a tropical field course in Costa Rica. This course was pivotal in my academic development. I would strongly encourage anyone considering doing a field course in biology to do so outside your country. I suggest tropical America. This will not only provide your students with a fresh and exciting look at biology, but it will provide them a cultural experience as well. Even with potential bumps and missteps along the way, their experiences during your course will stay with them for a lifetime. And some of them, a few at least, will earn graduate degrees and pass this love of nature on to another cohort of scientists Peter N. Lahanas * Peter N. Lahanas, Ph.D. Executive Director Institute for Tropical Ecology and Conservation (ITEC) 2911 NW 40th Place Gainesville, FL 32605, USA phn: 352-367-9128 web: http://www.itec-edu.org In Panama: 011-507-6853-2134 laha...@gmail.com Bocas del Toro Biological Station Boca del Drago, Isla Colon, Panama Field Station Manager, Enrique Dixon 011-507-6624-9246
[ECOLOG-L] Looking for Insects and Man in PDF and original (1915) copies (Insects and Man: An Account of the More Important Harmful and Beneficial Insects)
Hello, I am looking for the following book in PDF format and also original copies (possibly also a cheap reprint). Thanks! Insects and Man: An Account of the More Important Harmful and Beneficial Insects Charles Aubrey Ealand London :G. Richards, ltd.,1915. ATD of ATB and ISI -- Aaron T. Dossey, Ph.D. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Founder/Owner: All Things Bugs Inc. Capitalizing on Low-Crawling Fruit from Insect-Based Innovation http://allthingsbugs.com http://www.facebook.com/Allthingsbugs https://www.facebook.com/InvertebrateStudiesInstitute 1-352-281-3643
