Changing the names of threads
Dear colleagues, When responding to previous emails on EcoLog, why do respondents keep = changing the names of the threads??? For the benefit of this community, = could those who respond to emails not change the subject lines, even if = they feel that the conversation has taken a turn and the subject heading = is no longer applicable? In the end, these subject line are often the = result of bickering that should be handled in personal emails, not to = the entire listserv. **PLEASE** keep the same subject line if you are = responding to a previous posting on Ecolog. Yeah, I know, this simple request will turn into 8,000 responses that = will quickly have nothing to do with this simple request... Best regards, Brian --- L. Brian Patrick Ph.D. Candidate Department of Biological Sciences Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 USA
Re: Ocean Level Rising
Hi James, While I think that your first point is essentially true, the second point assumes that the whole of the earth is covered with water, when only 2/3 of the earth's surface is water. Further, most of the ice locked up in the arctic and antarctic ice caps sits above sea level. Thus, as ice calves from those repositories, they add to the ocean. The amount of ice locked up in those polar caps is staggering, though I don't know the numbers. Further, I don't know whether there is enough to actuate a change even when correcting for the terrestrial surface subtracted from the sphere used in your calculations. In short, I neither agree nor disagree with what you have said, only offering some corrective calculations. :-) I'll let the experts argue your points. Best, Brian James T. Conklin wrote: >Inconvenient Facts regarding rising ocean level: > >1. The ocean level is unchanged when floating ice melts. > >2. The ocean is a spherical body of water. The ocean volume varies as >the cube of the ocean radius. Therefore, for the ocean radius to increase >20 feet, the ocean volume must increase 8,000 times more than for a 1-foot >radius increase. For the ocean radius to increase 40 feet, the ocean >volume must increase 64,000 times more than for a 1-foot radius increase. > > > > -- L. Brian Patrick Ph.D. candidate Department of Biological Sciences Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 USA e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
1st Call for Papers for MEEC 2007
Dear colleagues, I was asked to pass the below Call for Papers to this list. Please use the website below to contact the organinzers! Best regards, Brian --- Dear colleagues, The Department of Biological Sciences at Kent State University would like to invite you to participate in the 27th Annual Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference (MEEC) to be held March 9-11 2007. This posting is a Call for Papers for this increasingly popular and productive annual professional meeting. We cordially invite undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers in ecology, evolution, anthropology, environmental sciences, and other related fields to submit abstracts for either oral or poster presentations. While most participants of MEEC are from the Midwest, we encourage and welcome all interested individuals, nationally or internationally, to submit abstracts and/or attend. Early registration and abstract submission deadline is January 31st 2007, and may be completed at the following web site: www.midwesteec.org Awards for both the best oral presentation and the best poster presentation will receive a one year subscription to the very prestigious international journal Nature. MEEC is a migratory conference that is organized and run solely by students of the hosting university. The purpose of this conference is to provide a venue for students (graduate and undergraduate) and post-doctoral researchers to present their research to peers in a relaxed environment. In addition, the conference fosters an atmosphere for collaboration and communication between future scientists. MEEC typically has ~ 250 total attendees each year and Kent State University is excited to be this year's host. We are also proud to announce the keynote speaker for MEEC 2007 will be Dr. Robert T. Paine. To maximize attendance while minimizing costs, early registration by January 31st is only $40.00 ($50.00 thereafter until February 19th) and covers meeting attendance, a MEEC 2007 travel mug, a social mixer Friday night, continental breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, as well as a Saturday dinner banquet with the keynote address. Registration, abstract submission, travel/lodging information, and contact information may all be found at the MEEC web site: www.midwesteec.org Please feel free to pass this message on or print it out and post it for interested people to see! There is also a flyer on the web site which we strongly encourage you to post where everyone can see it! We look forward to seeing you at Kent State University for the 27th Annual Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference in March! -- L. Brian Patrick Ph.D. candidate Department of Biological Sciences Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 USA e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[Fwd: Re: Prairie dogs and bf ferrets]
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2006 4:20 PM Subject: Prairie dogs and bf ferrets Colleagues: We in Kansas need your help. There is an ancient (I think it was pre-1910) law in Kansas that permits counties to poison prairie dogs on private land and send the bill to the landowner. The landowner has no say about this. It is part of the agriculture establishment's program to completely eliminate prairie dogs. The owners of several large ranches in western Kansas are pro-prairie dogs and wildlife in general, and they have been in negotiations with federal officials to turn black-footed ferrets lose in their prairie dog towns. To avoid conflicts with adjacent landowners who do not feel the same way about p-dogs, the enlightened landowners have gone to great lengths and some expense to ensure that few of their dogs move onto adjacent ranches. Nevertheless, Logan County officials have contracted with p-dog killers to come in and poison all the dogs at the landowners' expense. The cost for just one of the ranches may be as much as $200,000. Logan County officials are paranoid that, if ferrets are released in the area, landowners' property rights will be taken from them under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act. Therefore, they are taking property rights away from landowners who are sympathetic with efforts to preserve this endangered species and who promote good wildlife practices on their ranches. Unless a court injunction prevents the poisoning from taking place, it may happen within two weeks. We desperately need emails to the editors of newspapers in Kansas, emails to Kansas political officials, and especially emails to Logan County officials to stop the scheduled slaughter of thousands of prairie dogs. Time is short, so act now. Use the internet to get email addresses. Share those email addresses with others who might be of help. Thanks for your help. Jerry -- L. Brian Patrick Ph.D. candidate Department of Biological Sciences Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 USA e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Irwin approach
Okay, I have held my tongue on this one long enough. I think that the people who are bashing Steve Irwin never really liked him or his show to begin with. That said, I would suggest that those who didn't like him probably didn't watch more than a few minutes of his show, maybe only a show or two, and they simply don't "get" Irwin and his approach. Personally, I remember watching a couple of shows and thinking that he was just crazy. If you had asked me my opinion of Irwing after I had only watched a couple of shows, I would probably be agreeing with Moore, Ehmann, et al. However, Irwin had something that grabbed my attention-- perhaps his seemingly sensationalistic approach, his strange verbage, whatever. I very quickly realized that if I LISTEN to the guy I could learn quite a bit because he was quite a good naturalist and he CONSTANTLY preached conservation. In his shows he strongly supports sustainable wildlife and ecosystem management, conservation, and education. He didn't just say these things, he put his money where his mouth was and bought land for conservation, raised money for his zoo AND various conservation causes, AND he really seemed to sincerely care about trying to educate people. Did he do it like Ben Stein as the teacher on The Wonder Years (old TV show), very boring and devoid of enthusiasm? NO, he did it with excitement and that is what I think makes so many people accuse him of sensationalism. I think that because he educated with style that he turned some people off. To the general masses of folks, his personality is exactly what was (and still is) needed to turn on the light in their mind's eye. As far as I could tell, he made every attempt to ensure that his animals were not harmed. In fact, he went out of his way to save large herps and other animals from humans and human interests. Again, as far as I know, he also used fairly standard capture methods, though I think his snake handling often left a bit to be desired (at least at times). His enthusiasm generated excitement about conservation, and he actually provided at least some education to the masses-- a difficult task, don't we all know? I could go on and on, but I think that I have said enough. Just my two cents on this one, for whatever it may be worth. Best regards, Brian William Ehmann wrote: >Interesting thread and level of response. I'd like to lend support =20 >to Stan Moore's post today. > >"The Croc Hunter" always struck me as a "man vs. nature" contest, =20 >entertainingly scripted to assure Irwin came out on top, and =20 >educational morsels to broaden the audience. Irwin seemed =20 >collectively anointed by desk-bound Homo sapiens to get out there and =20= > >kick a little reptilian butt on our behalf. But rather than elevate =20 >his death to a cultural tragedy, can we just admit he wasn't (and we =20 >aren't) always in control on Planet Earth? > >The show allowed viewers (many representing the next generation) to =20 >embrace what I think are unfortunate mythologies (e.g., nature is =20 >entertainment; nature must be grabbed and subdued; nature is 'beyond' =20= > >my experience; formidable creatures are artifacts). To me, "The Croc =20= > >Hunter" was simply a muscular (and lucrative) elaboration of the =20 >animal story clich=E9s at the end of the evening news meant to amuse =20 >and reassure. > >I was surprised that a comparison to Aldo Leopold was made on this =20 >list. I don't think I am alone in thinking that Leopold is revered =20 >for transcending the old myths, not perpetuating them. > >Dr. William J. Ehmann >Saratoga Springs, NY >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > -- L. Brian Patrick Ph.D. candidate Department of Biological Sciences Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 USA e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: why italics?
To answer this question, I thought that the most logical person to ask would be a taxonomist. So I forwarded Dr. Inouye's question to Dr. Charles D. Dondale, Honorary (= Emeritus) Curator of the Arachnid Section for the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Arachnids. Here is his answer: Answer: Taxonomists operate under a set of Rules of Zoological Nomenclature. In this little book is found the rule that generic and species names are to be written in Latin, or in words that are latinized. Many following rules specify the endings for nouns, adjectives, etc. Higher categories are not latinized, but have certain endings such as -idae for family names. Most taxonomists I know keep a copy of the rules at hand. > > Why do we italicize only genus and species names when presenting > taxonomic information? > > One web site I looked at claims that "By the way, the italics are > used only because it is proper, in writing, to italicize words that > are in any language other than English." Aren't any other parts of > the taxonomic hierarchy in Latin? > > -- L. Brian Patrick Ph.D. candidate Department of Biological Sciences Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 USA e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: non-metric multi-dimentional scale analysis
Hello! The best book to use for a better understanding of NMS: McCune, B., and J.B. Grace. 2002. Analysis of Ecological Communities. MjM Software, Gleneden Beach, OR, USA. (NMS is chapter 16, pp. 125-142) Bruce McCune is also one of the authors of the software package PCORD. I cannot begin to tell you how helpful that book is and how great the software is to run the analyses. Both the book and the software can be purchased relatively inexpesively directly from MjM Software: http://home.centurytel.net/~mjm/ Best regards, L. Brian Patrick Ashwini Upadhyay wrote: >Dear All, > > Recently while starting my data analysis for looking at the habitat use > comparison between the LIvestock and wild-ungulates. I came across Non-metric > multi-dimenstional scaling. I could get the references but could not trace > out how to do it, if anyone can help me out it would be nice. I have habitat > variables as aspect, slope, distance to escape terrain, altitude, terrain typ > in categorical classes. I am using the SPSS software. > > With regards > > A.Kumar > > >- > Jiyo cricket on Yahoo! India cricket >Yahoo! Messenger Mobile Stay in touch with your buddies all the time. > > > > -- L. Brian Patrick Ph.D. candidate Department of Biological Sciences Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 USA e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
IDing Coleopterans
Hello! I am looking for someone who might know their beetles pretty well and would be willing to give me some advice/help/possible verifications of specimens-- specifically the family Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Scarabidae, and Phalacridae. If you or someone you know could help or offer advice (other than to not try to ID them myself), please email me! Thanks in advance! Brian Patrick -- L. Brian Patrick Ph.D. candidate Department of Biological Sciences Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 USA e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Update to "trying to find a book," copyrights?
Hello everyone! Thanks to all who responded-- your help is certainly appreciated. 1) I was reminded that Dr. Arnett passed away a while ago, so trying to contact him was not an option. Thanks to those who gently reminded me of this. Such a loss, he was a maverick in the Coleoptera world and beyond. 2) Amazon does sell the book for $175, though it is a special order from Bioquip as it turns out, and Bioquip doesn't have the book (I called and asked). It seems to be long out of print (even though the copywrite is 1996). Further, this is obviously a price for all volumes at once (2, maybe 3 volumes total, I think); I only need volume 1. 3) Sandhill Crane Press seems to be out of business, so contacting the publisher is not an option. Thanks to the 2 people who found me phone numbers for the publishing house-- wrong numbers now, but they weren't always wrong numbers! 4) The used and rare book sites that people suggested, and there were a good number of such sites, were fruitless. Thanks anyway! Well, I gave it the old college try. Now I ponder my next move-- photocopy the parts I need, or just keep getting it over and over again through interlibrary loan. 1 person was quite adamant about not photocopying/scanning the book, saying it is a "blatant violation of copyright" and I would "be stealing right from [the authors'] pockets." Is it okay for me to photocopy/scan the whole book if both authors are dead, the book is out of print, the publisher is defunct, and there are no copies to be located despite an enormous effort to find a copy? I would not be distributing the material, nor would I be using it for a class or with students or others-- pretty much for my own use only. Thanks again, everyone, for all the help! Brian Patrick -- L. Brian Patrick Ph.D. candidate Department of Biological Sciences Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 USA e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
