I'll admit that my knowledge of mosquitoes is not great, but I wouldn't
necessarily go so far as to label them a keystone species. Since there are
several different genera of mosquitoes in North America (let alone
species!), is the term keystone "species" even appropriate? Can the concept
be exte
>
>
> I agree with you the rest of your post, except to say that not all
> mosquitoes are human-feeders, and not all are WNV-vectors (only those
> that bite both birds and mammals are).
>
> > Fewer bees probably does equate with fewer flowering plants.
In the same spirit, I should add that man
Conor,
I am a graduate student in Rick Relyea's lab at the University of
Pittsburgh. Our lab has been looking at the direct and indirect impacts of
many types of pesticides on amphibians for the better part of this decade.
We have found that the direct impacts of pesticide exposure on amphibia
Changing a little the topic, I have a question about the statement of Edwin. He
wrote:
"If the statistics are grossly inappropriate (for example running an
ANOVA with 12 treatments, but only 1 or two replicates per treatment),
adequate peer review was clearly not in place."
Well, I published a pap
On behalf of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory at the University of
Minnesota, we would like to share the following announcement with your list
members:
Position opening: Ecogeomorphology and Stream Restoration Research Associate
The St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) and the National Cent
On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 7:57 AM, Michael
Cooperman wrote:
> Hello Conor,
> Thank you for sharing these observations. Unfortunately, these are not
> simple questions to answer, as it would take a prolonged and rigorous
> discourse on many of the disciplines of ecology to address all the issues. I
Taking to heart the ad nauseum admonishments to think critically regarding this
issue, I put on my well worn critical thinking cap and, using skills from a
long ago recieved degree in toxicology, cursorily looked up the list of
insecticides used by the Alamosa mosquito abatement program. It too
Flynn's questions are:
1. Are these (and other) species directly affected by the insecticide (which
chemicals are used post-DDT?) and/or are mosquitoes ecologically
important -- even keystone -- species?
2. What happens when you remove a parasite from the foodweb?
3. Our field crew is, among
Michael Cooperman wrote:
> I respectfully disagree with you. It is not wild speculation to posit
> widely applied broad-cast insecticides have impacts to non-target
> organisms,
You said the mosquito chemical: "would affect other insects
just as strongly" which is speculation.
Paul Cherubini
E
Bill Silvert wrote:
> Flynn indicated that he had a team of colleagues working
> over several years who made this observation.
Flynn made no mention of the number of years they had
been observing.
> Nor is it unreasonable to postulate that maybe the
> reason that there are fewer mosquitoes is
In the quoted text below, Michael Cooperman says only that whatever chemical
Conor's county uses to control mosquitoes probably affects other insects as
strongly as it affects mosquitoes. The implication is that he agrees it's
plausible that the chemical used to control mosquitoes near Alamosa wou
Research Technician Position
Position description: A research technician position is available to work on
a project assessing the impact of climate change on productivity and carbon
cycling in the Superior National Forest, Minnesota. A joint effort between
the USFS Northern Research Station, the
My tone in response to Martin's comment was more argumentative than I'd
intended. I think his point is a good one, if I understand it correctly.
With peer review, there's a real risk of group-think, where evidence for a
point of view accumulates merely because most people in a given field share
th
Paul, I agree completely. Then why on earth is the city spraying without
any evidence that it is having any effect? What a waste of taxpayer's
money.
Charles Davis
Honorable Forum:
As many of the 9,000+ Ecolog subscribers may not be interested in such an open
discussion, I propose that it take place off-list, and when it has run its full
course, the results be summarized and posted to Ecolog after that has happened.
Each participant may remain anonymous b
It is not clear what Paul means by "extensive direct evidence". Flynn
indicated that he had a team of colleagues working over several years who
made this observation. Isn't this extensive direct evidence? Nor is it
unreasonable to postulate that maybe the reason that there are fewer
mosquitoes
If you are planning to attend the 2009 ESA Annual Meeting in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, check out this handy online tool that allows you to browse and
search the online program and to flag sessions, individual talks, events and
meetings that you dont want to miss. You can create a customized schedul
Paul,
Forgive me if I am wrong here, but aren't these kinds of observations the
very ones that lead to the formation of hypotheses-which will then be later
falsified or confirmed? Although one might consider such "wild
speculation," would you not agree that such questions and observations are
fou
Acting Director, 1 Year Part Time Position
Category: Administrative and Professional
Department: Wohlsen Center for the Sustainable Environment
Locations: Lancaster, PA
Posted: Jul 06, '09
Type: Part-time
Job Description:
The Acting Director of the Wohlsen Center for the
Conor_Flynn wrote:
> we've noticed something interesting: there are no
> mosquitoes in or near Alamosa. This is because the
> city sprays for them regularly. We have also noticed
> fewer grasshoppers, bees, and frogs than we might
> otherwise expect.
Michael Cooperman wrote:
> I don't know w
Hello Conor,
Thank you for sharing these observations. Unfortunately, these are
not simple questions to answer, as it would take a prolonged and
rigorous discourse on many of the disciplines of ecology to address all
the issues. I don't know what chemical your county uses for mosquito
cont
Date: July 6, 2009
Position Title: Research Assistant I/II, Arctic Tundra
Ecosystems
Position Summary: The Ecosystems Center is seeking a Research
Assistant I or II to participate in a research project on CO2 exchange and
vegetation canopy structure of arctic tundra ecosystems
FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
Closing Date: Friday, 24 July 2009
CTFS-TEAM Project Coordinator
Position Description: Vertebrate Biologist/Ecologist
The Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) of the Smithsonian Tropical
Research Institute (STRI) and the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring
Networ
I believe one of the original questions was how to discern reputable
journals from those that publish dubious or biased results...or do not
accomplish proper peer review. I can point to a couple of red flags that
can be noticed without too much effort and I have observed:
1) If the articles in th
Conor,
I believe the product used now is Malathion:
"Malathion is a man-made organophosphate insecticide that is commonly used
to control mosquitoes and a variety of insects that attack fruits,
vegetables, landscaping plants, and shrubs. It can also be found in other
pesticide products used indoor
Unfortunately Martin is looking for a magic bullet that doesn't exist.
There are too many cases where scientific concensus has been wrong. Although
quarks and Higgs bosons may exist, phlogiston and W-rays do not even though
they were once well-accepted physical concepts. As for current climate
A fine intro Ecology text is Ricklefs "The Economy of Nature". It's more
community-based than some others, but for a small text it covers the basics
pretty well. I have the second edition, but there appears to be a fifth with
updated data analysis... at the price they're selling it for, I might jus
27 matches
Mail list logo
