A guest post by Teresa Mourad, ESA  Director or Education and Diversity Programs with help from Arietta Fleming-Davies of QUBES and Radford University. Gaby Hamerlinck and Kristin Jenkins from QUBES and BioQuest, and Sam Donovan from QUBES and the University of Pittsburgh collaborated on this project. As computational power has expanded and cloud-based analytical tools become more accessible, the science…

By Dana Miller, postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia’s Fisheries Economics Research Unit in Vancouver, Canada. “Pirate” evokes images of legendary figures from the days of the great tall-masted sailing galleons, like Captain Henry Morgan, the famous 17th century “pirate of the Caribbean.” But piracy is still with us today, and modern pirates do not only steal from passing…

David Lodge, Director of the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Cornell University, became President of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) on August 12, 2016. As President, Lodge now chairs ESA’s governing board, which establishes the Society’s vision, goals and objectives. “The need is greater than ever for rigorous scientific information about the dependence of humans on nature, and…

Orie Loucks, Chair of Ecosystems Studies for the State of Ohio Miami University, conducting a field trip in Rock Creek.

Conservation: IUCN World Conservation Congress Every four years, the National Science Foundation (NSF) updates its strategic plan. NSF is inviting feedback from the ecological community on the vision, core values, strategic goals and strategic objectives in its current strategic plan. The strategic plan presents an evaluation framework to measure agency performance and describes core approaches and new methods for measuring…

Although the protection of livestock from predators like wolves, cougars, and bears is hotly contested in the United States and Europe, control methods are rarely subjected to rigorous scientific testing. Non-lethal methods face higher standards of evidence—and are also generally more effective than killing predators, say Adrian Teves, Miha Krofel and Jeannine McManus. The trio conducted a systematic review of the…

By Elise Lipkowitz, Science Policy Analyst for the National Science Board Office   It’s time again for the National Science Foundation (NSF, Foundation) to revise its Strategic Plan.   As part of this process, the Foundation is looking for feedback from the science community on NSF’s current strategic plan (FY 2014-2018) and input on possible future strategic goals for the agency. If you…

ESA joined 56 of America’s leading nonpartisan organizations in posing 20 questions on current science issues to the Presidential candidates.

NSF Strategic Plan Requesting input from the ecological community USGS Climate Change Ecosystems in the Southeastern U.S. Are Vulnerable to Climate Change EPA Climate Change Clean Power Plan Appeal Ordered for En Banc U.S. Court of Appeals Hearing, September 27 NOAA Data Tools U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System Program Office Releases New Data Integration and Visualization Tools Federal Register Notices…

Black-billed magpies and American crows, both members of the clever corvid family of birds, have adapted comfortably to life in urban and suburban communities. In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the two species often nest nearby each other in backyards and parks. Nesting near their much larger crow cousins affords magpies a margin of extra safety from a common enemy—ravens, an even…

To offset the environmental cost of bringing ecologists to the 101th Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, FL., ESA is contributing $5 for each person attending to support a biodiversity hotspot in the region When over 2,400 individuals from across the United States and around the globe convene for a scientific conference such as the Ecological Society of America’s (ESA) meeting in Fort…

Ecological scientists are not known for elevated fashion sensibilities. Many take pride in a sartorial identity rooted in a field work chic of practical hats, cargo pants, and judicious applications of duct tape. Button-downs in botanical prints and ties in tiny repeating motifs of anatomically correct fish are favored formal attire when researchers gather for the Annual Meeting of the…