Species evolve quickly on islands. These “natural laboratories” often offer freedom from predators and competitors, isolation, and new foods and resources. Animals on islands tend to be larger or smaller than their mainland relatives. First described by Foster in 1963, this pattern is so striking that it was dubbed “the island rule” by Leigh van Valen ten years later. Many…
A guest post by Clare Fieseler (twitter: @clarefieseler), a PhD candidate in the Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology at UNC-Chapel Hill. Fieseler has co-organized a workshop on “Educating the Interdisciplinary Ecologist: Assessing Educational Ecosystems to Help PhD Students Succeed, Get Hired, and Push Boundaries” at ESA’s 100th Annual Meeting in Baltimore on Saturday, August 8, with fellow UNC-Chapel Hill…
A guest post by Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale and senior lecturer and research scholar at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Tucker wrote and produced an Emmy Award winning documentary broadcast on PBS titled Journey of the Universe, which is also a book from Yale and a series of Conversations…
This year, we learned a lot about pollinators, especially native bees, bumble bees and honey bees at the 2015 SEEDS Leadership Meeting in North End, Md.
Addressed to everyone on this planet, the letter issued on 18 June 2015 is an eloquent plea for responsible Earth stewardship.
SEEDS alumna Betsabé Castro is a recipient of prestigious 2015 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award. Castro completed her BS at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, and is currently completing her MA at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She will begin her PhD program at the University of California, Berkeley in the fall of 2015. ESA’s SEEDS program is…
Ecologist Karen K. Lips wants to protect wild salamanders from exposure to a deadly new fungal infection spreading through the pet trade.
Ecosystem Health and Sustainability showcases applications of ecological science in support of sustainable development during an era of extensive and accelerating human and environmental change. Today, the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and the Ecological Society of China (ESC) jointly launch a new open access scholarly research journal to foster communication of applied ecological research across national and disciplinary boundaries….
Sagebrush ecosystem recovery appears to be hobbled by loss of soil complexity when topsoil is remixed at oil and gas development sites, losing the “islands of fertility” associated with mature shrubs. Related news stories: “Sage Advice: Couple’s research plants seeds for reclamation of sagebrush.” Dennis Webb. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Monday, February 2, 2015. “State should improve reclamation process.” Editorial. The…
Sustaining Biological Infrastructure training course, 9-11 June 2015 Living stocks, field stations, museum collections, data archives – a wealth of material and data infrastructure support the everyday activities of biologists. Collections and tools require steady funding to maintain materials and services and infrastructure managers must also be able to innovate, developing their resources to get the most value for users….
In December 2015, the Ecological Society of America will celebrate a big birthday: 100 years since the first group of botanists and zoologists, parasitologists, geologists, physiologists, and marine biologists gathered in Columbus, Ohio, to unite their shared interest in the relationships of the great diversity of living organisms to each other and their surroundings. To kick off our centennial year,…
When wild birds are a big part of your diet, opening a freshly shot bird to find worms squirming around under the skin is a disconcerting sight. That was exactly what Victoria Kotongan saw in October, 2012, when she set to cleaning two of four spruce grouse (Falcipennis canadensis) she had taken near her home in Unalakleet, on the northwest…