Datasets from long-running volunteer survey programs, calibrated with data from sporadic intensive monitoring efforts, have allowed ecologists to track the recovery of peregrine falcons in California and evaluate the effectiveness of a predictive model popular in the management of threatened species. In recovery from the deadly legacy of DDT, American peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus anatum) faced new uncertainty in 1992,…

On Monday, ESA’s Natural History Section asked you to tweet your naturalist identity with pride during their #IAmANaturalist campaign, and you obliged, coming through with humor, awe, and humility—sometimes fishy, sometimes muddy, and always with great style. Tweeters shared their love of natural history and testified to how it roots their life and their research, outreach, and education endeavors. We’ve…

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here.  APPROPRIATIONS: CONGRESS WILL TAKE UP RESOLUTION FUNDING GOVERNMENT THROUGH DECEMBER As Congress reconvened Sept. 8, House and Senate appropriators were pressed for time to craft and approve a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government after Sept. 30, 2014 in…

Are you a naturalist? Join the grassroots effort to reclaim the name. ESA’s Natural History section is calling on you to assert your naturalist identity with pride by tweeting a photo to #IAmANaturalist on Monday, September 8, 2014. Guest poster Kirsten Rowell explains why. [update: see some of the fantastic #IamaNaturalist photos and tweets in our September 10 collection or scroll…

Another fine guest post from Holly Menninger and the ESA2014 EcoCommCrew: Adorable and fuzzy, American pikas have become the spokes-critter for the consequences of climate change in alpine areas. Pika sketch by biological illustrator, Jennifer Landin.

Lesley Knoll and Peter Levi want to know how their fellow ecological scientists share knowledge about science outside peer groups. So Knoll, a director of research and education at Lacawac Sanctuary in Pennsylvania, and Levi, a postdoc at UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology, have created a survey. In this guest post, they explain the genesis of the project and how you…

When people encounter stray dogs in Jaipur, India, they cross the street to put distance between themselves and a potentially deadly bite. Street dogs are endemic in Indian cities and experience has taught citizens caution. The incidence of rabies in the stray population is uncomfortably high, resulting in about 20,000 human cases every year. Most cities have tried to solve…

In cooperation with Jared Shaw, Ben Landis, the Davis Science Café, and CapSciComm, and ESA will bring two ecologists to DeVere’s Pub in Davis, Cal. Madhusudan Katti of Cal State Fresno and Simon Brandl of James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, will lead conversations about living with nature, from city flamingoes to the underwater villages of the Great Barrier Reef….

Guest post by Clarisse Hart, Outreach and Education Manager at Harvard Forest   Today in the Hyatt hallway, I passed a colleague with an imposing nametag terraced by four colors of ribbon. He is an ESA donor, a moderator, and two other things I can’t recall (possibly a juggler). This year my nametag has a ribbon, too. It’s a regular…

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here.    GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS: SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES OPPOSE TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS BILL The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is among 70 research organizations that signed a letter expressing concern with legislation moving in the Senate that would impose restrictions on the ability of…

Fire season has arrived in California with vengeance in this third year of extended drought for the state. A series of large fires east of Redding and Fresno, in Yosemite, and on the Oregon border prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency on Sunday, August 3rd. As force of destruction and renewal, fire has a long and…

The enormous conflagration known as the Rim Fire was in full fury, raging swiftly from crown to crown among mature trees, when it entered the backcountry of Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada in late August 2013. But inside the park, the battle began to turn, enacting a case study in the way management decisions and drought can combine to fuel large, severe fires.