[toggles] [toggle title=”President’s Budget Proposes Cuts to Science, Research”] * Check ESA’s federal appropriations tracker for updates on the president’s FY 2019 budget request and funding levels for agencies and programs of interest to the ecological community. * On Feb. 12, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2019 (FY 2019) budget…
[toggles] [toggle title=”Congress Reaches Budget Deal and Budget Caps Raised”] * President Trump released his FY 2019 budget on Feb. 12. The president’s budget includes an addendum that accounts for the budget agreement and modifies the budget request to account for new cap levels. Check ESA’s blog and federal appropriations tracker for updates on the president’s FY 2019 budget request…
A special issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment looks for new solutions to old problems by pooling the knowledge of scientists, ranchers, feds, community groups, and tribes Thursday, 8 February 2018 For Immediate Release Ecological Socitey of America Contact: Liza Lester, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, LLester@esa.org University of Idaho Contact: Phillip Bogdan, 208-885-4155, pbogdan@uidaho.edu Tension between the needs of…
Thursday, 8 February 2018 For Immediate Release Contact: Alison Mize, 202-833-8773 ext. 205, alison@esa.org Washington D.C.—The ESA Governing Board announced today that Dr. Catherine O’Riordan, interim co-CEO and chief operating officer of the American Institute of Physics (AIP), will join the Society’s staff as its new executive director on April 16. O’Riordan, an ocean scientist and highly accomplished association…
[toggles] [toggle title=”National Park System Advisory Board Resigned en masse”] Earlier this month, nine of twelve members of the National Park System Advisory Board resigned en masse. Board members are citizen advisors and not necessarily scientists. The board was chartered by Congress in 1935 “to help the National Park Service care for special places saved by the American people so…
[toggles] [toggle title=”Department of the Interior Adopts Political Review of Grants, Reverses Rules, Proposes Drilling Expansion”] Political Screening for Interior Grants According to a Dec. 28 directive obtained by The Washington Post, the Department of the Interior has instituted a new screening process for science grants to outside groups. This new system requires political appointees to approve grants to nonprofits…
Tuesday, 19 December 2017 For Immediate Release Contact: Liza Lester, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, LLester@esa.org In a frozen lake in Quebec, tiny red creatures zip about under the ice. Guillaume Grosbois and Milla Rautio, researchers at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Saguenay, Québec, Canada report the discovery of active life in a winter lake today in the Ecological Society…
[toggles] [toggle title=”Trump Announces National Monuments Review Decisions”] President Trump announced proclamations dramatically modifying and reducing the management and size of the Bears Ears (BENM) and Grand Staircase-Escalante (GSENM) national monuments on Monday Dec. 4. The following day, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke released a revised final report summarizing the findings of his broader review of national and marine monuments under…
Dark nights offer best chance of survival for sixbar wrasse leaving the open ocean for the reef, but risky moonlit swims may grant a fitness edge to survivors Monday, 18 December 2017 For Immediate Release Contact: Liza Lester, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, LLester@esa.org Parents’ choices about when to breed have lifelong consequences for offspring. For the sixbar wrasse, the flexibility of…
A study published in Ecological Monographs follows 9,685 wandering albatrosses throughout their long lives, seeking the intrinsic differences that make some individuals outstanding performers Thursday, 7 December 2017 For Immediate Release Contact: Liza Lester, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, LLester@esa.org When ecologists study populations of animals, they commonly round off the individuality of individuals, treating animals of the same species, sex, and…
[toggles] [toggle title=”NOAA Nominee Agrees, Humans Are Main Cause of Climate Change”] Barry Myers, nominee to serve as administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), faced a confirmation hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Wednesday, Nov. 29. The hearing was notable because when pressed on climate change, Myers said, “If the ice is…
The recovery of the wild turkey is a great restoration success story. But concerns have been rising over the specter of declines in some areas. Lack of reliable tools to estimate abundance of turkeys has increased uncertainty for managers. So wildlife researchers at Michigan State University investigated how to harvest wild turkeys sustainably when information is imperfect in a study published this fall in the Ecological Society of America’s journal Ecological Applications.
[toggles] [toggle title=”ESA Joins Other Societies in Opposition to Higher Education Changes in Tax Bill”] The tax reform bill passed by the House on Nov. 16 includes changes that would affect higher education, making it less affordable and less accessible by eliminating tax provisions for graduate students and imposing an excise tax on nonprofit private university endowments. In response to…
[toggles] [toggle title=”EPA Science Advisory Committees, Installs Many Industry-Linked Advocates”] On Oct. 31, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt announced a directive to “ensure independence, geographic diversity and integrity in EPA science committees.” The new directive prohibits science advisors to the agency who also receive EPA grants, with Pruitt indicating the potential for conflicts of interest. “Whatever science comes…
[toggles] [toggle title=”EPA Cancels Its Ecologists’ Speaking Appearances”] Read ESA’s statement in response to this cancellation in the article below. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cancelled the speaking appearances of three scientists at an event launching the “State of the Narragansett Bay and Watershed” report in Providence, RI. The report includes the effects of climate change on the bay. EPA…
Montana scientists project pathways to wider mating pools in the Northern Rockies, based on characteristic movements of male bears
[toggles] [toggle title=”Infrastructure Spending Must Address Coastal Resilience”] Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, each making U.S. landfall as Category 4 storms, break modern records for a single U.S. hurricane season. Hurricane Nate, a Category 1 storm, made landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi this weekend. It is now making its way along the Appalachian Mountains and will soak the…
[toggles] [toggle title=”Trump Administration Climate Update”] International Climate Agreements President Trump addressed the 72nd annual general session of the U.N. General Assembly for the first time, Tuesday, Sept. 19. In his comments, Trump called out the global threats of “terrorists and extremists,” “rogue regimes,” and “international criminal networks.” Tensions with North Korea and conflicts in the Middle East figured prominently….
Penguins caught on camera eating jellyfish Monday, 25 September 2017 For Immediate Release Contact: Liza Lester, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, LLester@esa.org Footage from penguin-mounted mini video recorders shows four species of penguin eating jellyfish and other gelatinous animals of the open ocean, a food source penguins were not previously believed to partake of, scientists report this month in the Ecological…
Thursday, 21 September 2017 For Immediate Release Contact: Alison Mize, 202-833-8773 ext. 205, Alison@esa.org Rich Pouyat, National Program Leader for Air and Soil Quality Research, United States Forest Service became President of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) on August 11, 2017 during the Society’s annual meeting in Portland, Oregon. Elected by the members of ESA for a one-year term,…