[ECOLOG-L] Grad Student Opportunity - Plant Ecology - NAU

[Rachel Mitchell]

Recruiting 1 PhD student and 1 MS student to Rachel Mitchell’s Trait-Based 
Ecology Lab at Northern 
Arizona University.

I am seeking students for two projects:

Trait-Based Grassland Restoration:  This Masters project will examine the 
legacy effects of grazing and 
irrigation on native grass restoration in the House Rock Valley of Northern 
Arizona, and will undertake 
restoration of degraded grassland using a trait-based approach.  This project 
will address both 
theoretical questions focused on community assembly and coexistence, and 
applied question on how to 
bolster resistance, resilience, and biodiversity in degraded and grazed 
grasslands. 

Climate Response of Disconnected Ponderosa Pine Understory Communities: This 
PhD project will 
examine differing functional and species composition of ponderosa pine 
understories in Arizona, and 
their responses to climate manipulations.  Research will take place near 
Flagstaff and on the Kiabab 
Plateau.  There is also the potential for work examining trait-based integral 
projection models of key 
understory species.

Successful applicants will display strong communication and quantitative 
skills, and be able to conduct 
fieldwork in remote locations.  Exceptional PhD applicants will be considered 
for the Northern Arizona 
Presidential Fellowship Program.  PhD applicants must have a Masters degree to 
be considered at NAU.

For more information, please contact Rachel Mitchell (rachel.mitch...@nau.edu) 
with a subject line of 
Grad Recruitment and indicate either MS or PhD.  Please attach a resume/CV and 
your GPA and GRE 
scores as well as a letter of interest by November 15th (Applications are Due 
January 15th, 2018 for Fall 
2018 consideration).

Re: [ECOLOG-L] 4th SciFund challenge launches! Help support ecology research

[Rachel Mitchell]

To piggyback of of David's appeal for support:

The Engage Project (www.engage-science.com) is also running a Scifund
campaign!

https://experiment.com/projects/how-does-communication-training-benefit-scientists

We are trying to collect funding to accurately evaluate outcomes of the
Engage project.  Engage has been active for just over five years, and has
trained ~80 graduate students in public communication.  These students then
go on to give public talks at venues such as Town Hall Seattle.

Lack of evaluation of student and audience outcomes has been identified as
one of the major
Roadblocks
in
science communication training, and we plan to use the SciFund funds to
create and implement an effective evaluation package (curriculum
evaluations, student and audience surveys).  Please donate!


On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 9:56 AM, Casey terHorst wrote:

> I'll just add one more ecology-related project to the list:
>
> Can Genetic Diversity Preserve a Friendship?. Shannon Bayliss, California
> State University, Northridge.
>
> https://experiment.com/projects/can-genetic-diversity-preserve-a-friendship
>
> *Symbiodinium* is algae that reproduces in as little as 24 hours; 10,000
> times faster than the average American woman! They also play crucial roles
> in the health of coral reefs, as they form mutualisms with reef organisms.
> I will examine how diverse communities of *Symbiodinium *can rapidly evolve
> in response to increased nutrients. Evolution of one partner could be key
> to the survival of the mutualism and to the persistence of a healthy
> ecosystem.
>
> ---
> Casey terHorst
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Biology
> California State University, Northridge
> 18111 Nordhoff Street
> Northridge, CA 91330-8303
> Office Phone: (818) 677-3352
> casey.terho...@csun.edu
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 9:08 AM, David Shiffman  >wrote:
>
> > Hello, everyone!
> >
> > The 4th SciFund Challenge, a crowd-funding event for scientific research,
> > launched today! It's like KickStarter for science, and there are several
> > ecology projects included. Please consider donating (any amount helps and
> > some projects have rewards associated with different donation levels), or
> > helping to spread the word!
> >
> >
> >
> > My project is  "what are the feeding habits of threatened shark species?"
> >
> >
> >
> https://experiment.com/projects/what-are-the-feeding-habits-of-threatened-sharks
> >
> > I will be using stable isotope analysis to study the feeding ecology of
> > coastal sharks species here in South Florida, data that will help
> managers
> > to conserve threatened species.
> >
> >
> >
> > Other projects of potentially interest to ecologgers include:
> >
> > 1)  Signs of Change: creating time-lapse movies of environmental change
> > using crowd-sourced digital photography. Chuck Cannon, Texas Tech
> >
> >
> >
> https://experiment.com/projects/signs-of-change-documenting-environmental-change-using-crowd-sourced-time-lapse-photography
> >
> >
> > Almost everyone carries a smart phone or digital camera these days. This
> > project will develop a simple method of placing a sign at an
> > environmentally interesting site so that together we can document and
> > monitor changes in our landscape and its seasonality.
> >
> >
> >
> > 2) Can we predict how social primates move?. David Pappano, Princeton.
> >
> > https://experiment.com/projects/can-we-predict-how-social-primates-move
> >
> > This project uses dynamic network algorithms and geospatial data to
> > understand association and movement patterns in geladas. Geladas are an
> Old
> > World monkey that has a highly modular social system with strong
> > fission-fusion dynamics.
> >
> >
> >
> > 3) What's in that new TV Screen? Toward "greener" OLED's. Walter Weare,
> NC
> > State
> >
> >
> >
> https://experiment.com/projects/what-s-in-that-new-tv-screen-toward-greener-oled-s-at-nc-state-chemistry
> >
> > Organic LED's are the future of more environmentally friendly displays
> and
> > lighting. We are developing new and more sustainable methods for making
> the
> > light emitting materials in these future devices. With your help we can
> > speed these discoveries!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 5) Where is pollution entering the Chesapeake Bay? Claire Regan, Penn
> State
> > University
> >
> >
> >
> https://www.experiment.com/projects/where-is-pollution-entering-the-chesapeake-bay-watershed
> >
> > By identifying the pollution hotspots of the Chesapeake Bay watershed,
> the
> > three most important stressors can be targeted together for management.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 6) In the bedroom with Giant Sea Bass: Investigating mating behavior of
> an
> > endangered megacarnivore. Brian Clark, California State University
> >
> >
> >
> https://experiment.com/projects/in-the-bedroom-with-giant-sea-bass-investigating-mating-behavior-of-an-endangered-megacarnivore
> >
> > Reproductive strategies lay the foundation for an or

Re: [ECOLOG-L] Buying a new laptop for grad school

[Rachel Mitchell]

I would like to suggest Mendeley as a fantastic and powerful citation
program.  I switched from Endnote to Mendeley about a year ago, and have
been thrilled.  It is free to people at universities, and combines citation
software with paper organization.  You just download pdfs of papers to
populate your citation program, the citation information is added
automatically (but may need some checking and editing), and both the pdfs
of the papers and the citations are all stored and accessible in the same
place.  It also has a plug-in that works with Microsoft word, which makes
adding, deleting and editing citations in documents a breeze, as well as
having apps for both android and iphone, allowing you to read papers on the
fly.  It has a powerful search function, and best of all, you can sync and
backup your library in the Mendeley cloud.  There is also an interesting
social media-like function, where you can share libraries and your own
publications with other users very easily.

I really can't recommend Mendeley enough.  It is the most straight forward
and powerful citation program I have ever used.

Rachel


On Fri, Jul 27, 2012 at 2:05 PM, Cat Adams wrote:

> Hi Eco-lovers,
>
> I have the intense pleasure of starting grad school this fall, and was
> wondering if this list-serv could generate any kind of consensus regarding
> what a "best" personal computer might be for me. I converted to the Mac
> religion a few years ago, and while I don't feel intractable in my new
> computer world-view, I am pretty comfortable with it.
>
> I don't intend to do heavy climate modeling or the like on my personal
> computer - I mostly want a computer for web browsing, running R, writing
> papers, citation programs (Zotero? Endnote?), blogging (perhaps shifting to
> host my own server), some video editing, and using not-too-complicated
> graphics programs. Until I make new friends, I might also want to run
> Netflix =P Regardless, I doubt I'll do all these things simultaneously, so
> my needs aren't extravagant. In addition to adequate processing speed and
> storage space, I want something that will be the least finicky with other
> types of equipment, for doing presentations and networking and such. It
> needs to be something sturdy that can do some globe-trotting with me; ie
> not too fragile for airport security in Bolivia. A built-in webcam would be
> quite handy for Skype, too.
>
> I plan to bring ~30 gb of files from my old lab to my new school, so I have
> all the protocols I worked on and easy access to all the old data. Do you
> highly recommend an external hard-drive for that? Or should I just throw it
> on the new computer? Or both?! I'm thinking both, but I'm very curious
> about your insight, and would be grateful for advice that can help me avoid
> lost data and other tech-disasters.
>
> Ideally, I'd get a new computer before ESA, but if I'm still shopping come
> the conference feel free to give me advice early Thursday morning when my
> lab mate presents on our awesome research!
> http://eco.confex.com/eco/2012/webprogram/Paper37476.html
>
> Or, just come talk to me about fungus :) I'm super stoked to dive into grad
> school. Hope to see many of you at the conference!
>
> Cheers,
> Cat
>
> --
> Rachel M. Mitchell
> PhD Candidate
> Project for Interdisciplinary Pedagogy Fellow, 2012
> School of Environmental and Forest Resources
> University of Washington
> https://students.washington.edu/rachelmm/home.html
>
>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] Help make science understandable to everybody

[Rachel Mitchell]

> Dear Maiken and Eco-loggers,
>
> A few grad students at the University of Washington are also passionate
> about making science accessible to a larger audience.  To that end, we have
> created a graduate level course and speaker series (currently partnered
> with Seattle Town Hall) called "Engage " .
> These types of grassroots projects are easy to develop, and interest seems
> to be very high (although funding, very low).  Our events usually attract
> crowds of between 30 and 70 people, covering a wide range of ages and
> backgrounds.
>
> Although global change is important, we have decided to take an
> interdisciplinary approach to disseminating science, and thus have
> incorporated young scientists from many different backgrounds.  We feel
> that this broad approach will help engage a larger audience in the
> scientific process, which may in turn lead to civic engagement with
> scientific issues.
>
> As the ecologist of "Engage", I will definitely be joining the FAKT group,
> and hope to see many of you there, sharing ideas!
>
> --
> Rachel M. Mitchell
> PhD Candidate
> Project for Interdisciplinary Pedagogy Fellow, 2012
> School of Forest Resources
> University of Washington
> https://students.washington.edu/rachelmm/home.html
>
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 2:40 AM, Maiken Winter wrote:
>
>> Dear eco-loggers,
>>
>> isn't it amazing how we pile up more and more knowledge, and still, change
>> is so slow that it becomes less and less likely that we will manage to
>> turn
>> in time before major tipping points in the earth's system have been
>> transgressed? As the German Advisory Council on Global Change points out,
>> we
>> need a Great Transition towards a sustainable society
>> (http://www.wbgu.de/en/flagship-reports/fr-2011-a-social-contract/ ).
>>
>> But it is incredibly hard to motivate people to change, especially older
>> people that are used to a certain way of life. Therefore, I believe one of
>> the most effective areas where change is possible are young people who are
>> not yet stuck in a certain way of life and who are open and curious for
>> change.
>>
>> To help move this change forward I have started my own little enterprise
>> (www.fakt-wissen.de) to develop programs that help students and teachers
>> truly understand the methods and results of ornithology, ecology and
>> climate
>> science.
>>
>> Of course, that idea is nothing new; but there are still way too few of us
>> out there to help people truly understand the issues at hand, and those of
>> us out there are not well connected with each other.
>>
>> Because there ARE people out there trying to do the same thing, I'd love
>> to
>> connect with YOU.
>>
>> Please become part of the facebook group FAKT and share your ideas about
>> science communication, develop new programs, establish a collaborative
>> transcontinental research project on science communication, find ways to
>> truly engage people, and become even more part of making this world a
>> better
>> place.
>>
>> See you there, and thanks for your interest,
>>
>> Maiken
>>
>> "In the end, we conserve only what we love. We will love only what we
>> understand. We will understand only what we are taught."
>>
>>

[ECOLOG-L] Request for Assistance with Plant Trait Project

[Rachel Mitchell]

I would like to invite interested researchers to contribute to a graduate
student project investigating intraspecific variation in plant functional
traits across a North American latitudinal gradient.  This study will
quantify the extent of intraspecific variation present in five widespread
exotic species, as well as determining whether the observed variation is due
to acclimation to abiotic conditions or to local adaptation.

The species of interest are:

-   Poa pratensis
-   Bromus hordeaceus
-   Hypochaeris radicata
-   Plantago lanceolata
-   Rumex acetosella

Species of interest should occur on unfertilized grasslands (urban grassland
habitats are acceptable). It is not necessary that all species be present at
a given site.

Participants will be asked to measure simple functional traits in the field,
collect seed samples, and take a few lab-based measurements (e.g. Specific
Leaf Area).  I estimate that participation would require approximately 14
hours of time (~8 hours of field collection for a single person, and up to 6
hours scanning time in the laboratory).

Please contact Rachel M. Mitchell (rache...@uw.edu) for further information,
including a detailed sampling protocol and datasheets.  Any assistance would
be greatly appreciated and fully acknowledged in resulting publications.
Thanks in advance!

[ECOLOG-L] Request For Assistance with Graduate Project

[Rachel Mitchell]

I would like to invite interested researchers to contribute to a graduate
student project investigating intraspecific variation in plant functional
traits across a North American latitudinal gradient.  This study will
quantify the extent of intraspecific variation present in five widespread
exotic species, as well as determining whether the observed variation is due
to acclimation to abiotic conditions or to local adaptation.  

The species of interest are:

-   Poa pratensis 
-   Bromus hordeaceus 
-   Hypochaeris radicata 
-   Plantago lanceolata 
-   Rumex acetosella

Species of interest should occur on unfertilized grasslands (urban grassland
habitats are acceptable). It is not necessary that all species be present at
a given site.

Participants will be asked to measure simple functional traits in the field,
collect seed samples, and take a few lab-based measurements (e.g. Specific
Leaf Area).  I estimate that participation would require approximately 14
hours of time (~8 hours of field collection for a single person, and up to 6
hours scanning time in the laboratory).

Please contact Rachel M. Mitchell (rache...@uw.edu) for further information,
including a detailed sampling protocol and datasheets.  Any assistance would
be greatly appreciated and fully acknowledged in resulting publications.
Thanks in advance!