Here are some highlights from the final ESA Policy News by Piper Corp, ESA’s outgoing Science Policy Analyst. Thanks, Piper, for keeping EcoTone readers informed about policy for the last couple of years and for your many other insightful posts. We will miss you! Read the full Policy News here.

Just down the street from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh—where the Ecological Society of America (ESA) is holding its 95th Annual Meeting this week—is a vacant lot adopted by the City Charter High School. Last Sunday, ESA ecologists and students visited the lot which is being restored by the 10th graders of the City Charter High School in coordination with the Student Conservation Association (SCA).

What is an innovative method to reduce both heating and cooling in buildings, reduce storm water run-off, preserve natural habitats and even refrigerate warehouse beer? According to scientists at the Ecological Society of America’s 95th Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh: green roofs. These vegetated roofs, as the ecologists explained yesterday in “Rooftop ecology: what is a green roof and why should ecologists care?” provide a wide array of economic, architectural and environmental benefits.

The reasons for sharing research with the media are relatively widely known: If a certain research topic is going to be highlighted as an important issue, then it needs to be shared with the public. And reporters are one of the best ways to give research exposure. The question, then, is what makes research newsworthy?

Last night the Ecological Society of America’s 95th Annual Meeting was off to a rousing start as an audience of over 500 applauded Mayor John Fetterman of Braddock, Pennsylvania, this year’s winner of ESA’s Regional Policy Award.  The award recognizes a regional policymaker who uses ecological science to help inform policy decisions.  Since 2005, Mayor Fetterman has used innovative approaches—including encouraging…

The topic of this year’s Ecological Society of America annual meeting is global warming. So it is fitting that Jason Aloisio, graduate student in biology at Fordham University, and Anthony Gizzi, graduate student in Pharmacology at Thomas Jefferson University are going green—all the way to the meeting, that is. Here is their story.

Bearded gobies preying on jellyfish in anoxic water, conspiracies of animal warfare, sea turtle relocation in a time of environmental disaster and instances of cheating in the animal kingdom. Here are stories in ecology from the second week of July.

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by ESA’s Science Policy Analyst, Piper Corp.

Scientists have known for decades that the human intestinal tract is home to an abundance of diverse bacteria. This microbial rainforest is introduced incrementally to infants as they grow—primarily from their mothers during birth and breastfeeding and from everyday encounters. Many of these microbes aid in digestion and fight off pathogens, but until recently, researchers were not certain if phages, viruses that infect bacteria, were also present in the human gut.

urrently, research on the possible causes of limb deformities in amphibians is expansive, with evidence supporting parasite infection, chemical contaminants, UVB radiation and amputation as possible factors. However, as Mari Reeves from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and colleagues explained in an article in the August issue of Ecological Monographs, the most likely cause of amphibian abnormalities is a combination of several stressors.

Baby chimp takes its first steps, scientists confirm male fireflies flash in sync to attract mates, researchers link parenting and homosexuality in bird species and marmots relearning society as they recover from possible extinction. Here are stories in ecology from the first week in July.

SEEDS is an education program of Ecological Society of America (ESA), and Iman is one of several SEEDS students who will be attending and presenting research at ESA’s upcoming Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh.