Subject: ECOLOG-L Digest - 6 Apr 2001 to 7 Apr 2001
To: Recipients of ECOLOG-L digests <ECOLOG-L@UMDD.UMD.EDU>
Status: R
There are 6 messages totalling 454 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Zoo Drops Wildlife Research Facility (washingtonpost.com)
2. America and Climate Change (2)
3. PhD and M.Sc. opportunities - wild Atlantic salmon
4. Faculty Position Available - Quantitative (Animal) Ecology
5. generic comment
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Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 01:41:24 -0700
From: Madhusudan Katti <mkatti@ASU.EDU>
Subject: Zoo Drops Wildlife Research Facility (washingtonpost.com)
Greetings folks,
Today's Washington Post online carries the article appended below on the
planned closure of the Smithsonian's Conservation and Research Center
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46701-2001Apr5.html>.
I have also been digging a bit online (thank you Google) into the background
to this budgetary decision. Based on what I have read so far, I may owe an
apology for casting aspersions on the intentions of the Bush administration
in my message yesterday: it looks like the decision to close the CRC comes
from the inclinations of the Smithsonian's Secretary Lawrence Small, he of
impeccable corporate pedigree (Citicorp/Citibank to Fannie Mae to
Smithsonian - see, e.g., <http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0217-07.htm>
for more on this). The article below gives some indications of the research
priorities being set for the Smithsonian, with the CRC as one casualty.
I personally feel sad that a world class facility such as the CRC, which has
contributed so much to conservation and research worldwide - many of my
teachers in India received training there - can be closed down so abruptly.
Madhu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Madhusudan Katti
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER Project
Center for Environmental Studies
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-3211
Tel: +1 (480) 965-8198
FAX: +1 (480) 965-8087
Email: mkatti@asu.edu
HTTP://caplter.asu.edu/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When conservation organizations begin to advocate sustainable use of
tropical forests, it is a signal that conservation is on the run."
- John Terborgh in "Requiem for Nature"
_________________________________________________________________
------ Forwarded Message
You have been sent this message from mkatti@asu.edu as a courtesy of the
Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com).
To view the entire article, go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46701-2001Apr5.html
Zoo Drops Wildlife Research Facility
The Smithsonian Institution plans to close the Conservation and Research
Center, an internationally regarded facility in Front Royal, Va., devoted to
wildlife conservation biology.
The move is part of a far-reaching review ordered by Smithsonian Secretary
Lawrence M. Small. The announced goal, to reexamine the focus of science at
the institution, has raised questions among scientists about its long-term
commitment to research.
Lucy H. Spelman, director of the National Zoo, the Smithsonian unit that
oversees the CRC, informed the zoo's staff on Wednesday that the closing
would take place by the end of the year. "The resources are simply not
available to maintain the CRC as a world-class facility and as a center for
scientific excellence," Spelman wrote in a memo.
The CRC, set on 3,000 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains, conducts research
on endangered species and conducts specialized breeding programs. Scientists
there have reintroduced animals such as the Arabian oryx and black-footed
ferrets of the Great Plains to their native habitats. Their work in animal
biology and conservation includes using radio collars to track wild ibexes
through India's Himalayas. The CRC's education programs included a popular
summer camp run by the Friends of the National Zoo.
Devra Kleiman, a program director at Conservation International and the
former senior research scientist at the National Zoo, said the planned
closing was a colossal mistake.
"What they are doing is turning the zoo into an attractive facade. But parts
of the heart and brain of the zoo's work will be excised," she said.
Just this week, Kleiman said, the zoo's research unit won praise among
conservationists for its help in saving the golden lion tamarin, a
squirrel-size monkey of the Brazilian forest that was on the brink of
extinction. Now the population has been restored to 1,000.
The Conservation and Research Center employs 46 of the National Zoo's more
than 300 workers, an! d it is expected that some in both Front Royal and
Washington will lose their jobs. But Spelman, in her memo, didn't detail any
staff reductions, and Smithsonian officials said yesterday that any
discussion of cutbacks was premature.
David Umansky, the Smithsonian's director of communications, said, "We can
have no comment on our budget submission to the Congress until the Congress
sees it."
About half of the CRC's staff positions and operating funds will be
transferred to the control of Dennis O'Connor, the Smithsonian's
undersecretary for science, Spelman wrote.
Some CRC programs would be transferred from Front Royal to the zoo,
according to the memo. Few zoos have research divisions as an active part of
their operations, and the National Zoo's work heightened its reputation as a
world-class facility.
A review of scientific work at the Smithsonian has been underway for some
time, and a formal report is expected to be submitted by Small and O'Connor
to the regents at next month's meeting.
The Smithsonian supports researchers at many of its museums. Scientists are
an important part of staffs at the National Air and Space Museum and the
National Museum of Natural History. Other scientific units include the
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center on the Chesapeake Bay, the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., the Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institute in Panama and the Smithsonian Marine Station at
Fort Pierce, Fla.
Small has emphasized the importance of scientific research. In a speech
given last April he said, "It strikes me as one reason we do research at the
Smithsonian is that without it we would be a mere storehouse -- immense but
lifeless."
Both Small and O'Connor have said the impetus for the review is to decide
what the Smithsonian does best in the sciences and then to fully support
those divisions.
"It is also time, now that we have reviewed all of the units, to ask
ourselves the question, what are the scientific questions. Science is
driven by questions, not by organizations," O'Connor said in a recent
interview. "Everyone agreed that it was time to ask, what are the scientific
questions where the Smithsonian can make the biggest contribution to the
answer. We are organizing along those focal lines that we think really
represents our strength."
O'Connor said that the decisions would be based on recognition the
scientific work has received as well as the questions the scientists are
pursuing. They would not be guided by trendiness of the scientific areas,
cost factors or fundraising strength, he said.
"I don't think you ever eliminate something that is important simply because
it wasn't bringing in grants. That is flat out," said O'Connor.
The reorganization would emphasize structure, he said, and would be shaped
around "centers of excellence." For example, all the biology work would be
organized together.
"The organization will permit us to . . . advertise what we do," O'Connor
said.
O'Connor emphasized that the Smithsonian wants to be out front on certain
sciences and cited recent work by the astrophysics lab as an example. The
lab operates the Chandra X-Ray Observatory with Harvard University.
"It became obvious, for example, probably more than a decade ago when
satellite-based detectors picked up X-rays in the heavens, that at some
point, there was going to be a satellite devoted to X-ray astronomy. We
wanted to be there," O'Connor said. "You really have to position yourself,
and that is what the reorganization is trying to do."
In the preliminary budget submitted to Congress by the White House last
month, the Smithsonian received an overall increase of 9 percent.
"There are other programs within the Smithsonian that will also be
eliminated, and other programs that will be significantly reduced. These
changes will occur in the sciences as well as other areas," Spelman told the
staff in her memo.
She also said that funds were being "redirected to support public
services" throughout the Smithsonian.
------ End of Forwarded Message
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 09:20:13 -0500
From: "Mark E. Kubiske" <mkubiske@CFR.MSSTATE.EDU>
Subject: Re: America and Climate Change
Did Romano Prodi really believe that Bush's leadership would induce the
Senate to reverse it unanimous rejection of Kyoto that occurred under
Clinton-Gore?
--
Mark E. Kubiske
Assistant Professor
Forestry Department
Box 9681
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State, MS 39762
Phone: 662-325-3550
Fax: 662-325-8726
on 4/6/01 6:49 AM, Andy Park at andrew.park@UTORONTO.CA wrote:
> ... I offer this copied from today's (April 6th) edition of the Canadia
> newspaper, the Globe and Mail. Perhaps the outside perspective will ..
>
> Don't blow this deal
> The U.S. can go to climate hell, says EU
> president ROMANO PRODI, but we
> have no intention of following them
> ROMANO PRODI ...
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 13:12:29 -0400
From: "David W. Inouye" <di5@umail.umd.edu>
Subject: PhD and M.Sc. opportunities - wild Atlantic salmon
The production dynamics of Atlantic salmon and cohabiting fish species in
rivers of eastern Canada.
Opportunities for graduate student research on the production dynamics of
Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and cohabiting species of fish in rivers of
eastern Canada are available at the Canadian River Institute
(www.unb.ca/cri/), University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB. Graduate
projects will be available in both Ph.D and M.Sc. programs. Successful
candidates will work closely with researchers from the Department of
Fisheries and Oceans (St. John's, Newfoundland and Burlington, Ontario).
Ph.D: The objective of this applied research project is the assessment of
production rate as the quantitative measure for determining productive
capacity of fish habitat in two rivers with populations of wild Atlantic
salmon. The project will involve both field work and population modelling.
Field work will be carried out over 2 or 3 years to estimate the production
rate of juvenile Atlantic salmon in different habitats (riffle, run and
pools), and collectively for the entire stream. Instream estimates of
production will be compared to net production as estimated from smolt
counts (counting-fence data). Salmon production for the entire stream will
be modelled for all age groups of salmon from eggs to smolts using existing
(or modified) salmonid models calibrated with the field data. Production
will be compared in two systems that differ in physical and biotic
attributes Catamaran Brook, New Brunswick and Northeast Trepassey Brook,
Newfoundland. Results from 2 or 3 field seasons will be used to calculate
and calibrate estimates of production for 11 years of historic data that
are available for both rivers. Emphasis will be placed on identifying
mechanistic or functional links between the habitat and population
production. Results will be useful to habitat and fisheries managers for
validating biotic and physical surrogates of habitat productive capacity,
for identifying critical habitat, and for assessing the carrying capacity
of salmon streams for stock assessment. Tentative start date - September,
2001 or January, 2002)
M.Sc.: The objective of the M.Sc. program will be to estimate for 2 field
seasons the production rate of freshwater species of fish that cohabit the
stream reaches with Atlantic salmon (see above project description).
Examples of candidate species are Salvelinus fontinalis, Cottus cognatus
and Rhinichthys atratulus. Estimates of fish production by co-habiting
species will provide insight into fish community energetics, and the
potential influence of competing species on total stream production. The
estimation of the production rate of non-salmonid fish species has rarely
been done in rivers of eastern Canada. Emphasis will be placed on
developing regression models that link fish production to biomass ratios
(P/B) to fish size. P/B ratios of these cohabiting species can then be
applied to historic biomass data to estimate production during a number of
years. There will be strong linkages and collaboration between the Ph.D.
project (above) and M.Sc. project(s). The M.Sc. work will be applied
research, and provide valuable information for fish and habitat managers.
Tentative start date - September, 2002
These projects form part of a collaborative research program between the
Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Rivers Institute
(www.unb.ca/cri/)
For further information, contact Dr. R.A. Cunjak, Director, Canadian Rivers
Institute (cunjak@unb.ca).
________________________________________
Richard A. Cunjak, Ph.D.
Canada Research Chair in River Ecosystem Science
Director, Canadian Rivers Institute (http://www.unb.ca/cri/)
Meighen-Molson Professor of Atlantic Salmon Research
Department of Biology, and the Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Managemen
University of New Brunswick
Bag Service 45111
Fredericton, New Brunswick, CANADA. E3B 6E1.
ph - 506-452-6204 ; fax - 506-453-3583
email - cunjak@unb.ca
http://www.unb.ca/departs/science/biology/Faculty/Cunjak.html
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 13:13:56 -0400
From: "David W. Inouye" <di5@umail.umd.edu>
Subject: Faculty Position Available - Quantitative (Animal) Ecology
Faculty Position Available - Quantitative (Animal) Ecology
University of New Brunswick =AD Department of Biology, Fredericton, NB,
CANADA invites applications for a tenure-track position in Quantitative
(Animal) Ecology at the level of Assistant Professor, effective November 1,
2001 which will be cross-appointed with the Canadian Rivers Institute
(CRI). Exceptional candidates may be considered at a higher level. The
successful candidate is expected to develop a strong research program in
one or more of the following areas: food web dynamics, population/community
ecology in natural and managed ecosystems, limnology, stable isotope
science, or related fields.
Candidates must have a Ph.D. in a relevant field and some post-doctoral or
equivalent experience, and will be expected to teach 1-2 courses in
biostatistics (parametric, non-parametric, univariate and multivariate) for
upper level undergraduate and graduate students in Science, as well as term
course in their specialty.
The Department of Biology has a varied group of ecologists working in
terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The Department offers well-equipped
facilities including aquatic laboratory space, electron microscopy
equipment, and the Stable Isotopes in Nature laboratory with modern IRMS
and EA. The recently formed CRI (www.unb.ca/cri/) has a strong emphasis on
multidisciplinary research and graduate training with a particular focus on
river ecosystems, impact assessment and conservation biology. It is
expected that the successful candidate will complement the group of
researchers in the CRI, and will collaborate in future research projects.
Additional information on the Department can be found at the UNB web site:
http://www.unb.ca/departs/science/biology/.
Applicants should send their CV, relevant publications, and a statement of
research and teaching interests, and arrange to have three letters of
references sent to:
Prof. T. G. Dilworth, Chair,
Department of Biology,
University of New Brunswick, Fredericton,
NB, E3B 6E1.
Phone: 506-453-4583.
Fax: 506-453-3583.
E-mail: biology@unb.ca.
Applications for this position must be received by May 31, 2001. The
University of New Brunswick is committed to employment equity and
encourages applications from all qualified individuals.
________________________________________
Richard A. Cunjak, Ph.D.
Canada Research Chair in River Ecosystem Science
Director, Canadian Rivers Institute (http://www.unb.ca/cri/)
Meighen-Molson Professor of Atlantic Salmon Research
Department of Biology, and the Faculty of Forestry & Environmental=
Management
University of New Brunswick
Bag Service 45111
Fredericton, New Brunswick, CANADA. E3B 6E1.
ph - 506-452-6204 ; fax - 506-453-3583
email - cunjak@unb.ca
http://www.unb.ca/departs/science/biology/Faculty/Cunjak.html=20
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 10:42:03 -0400
From: Ted Weber <TWEBER@DNR.STATE.MD.US>
Subject: generic comment
At the risk of sounding anal, I'd like to recommend that email sent to this
list be sent as plain ASCII text, without HTML, RTF, etc, formatting. While
such formatting may look nice on the sender's computer, we utilize a wide
variety of computers and mail programs on this list, some of which display
these nice layouts as a confusing array of formatting codes.
Sincerely,
Ted Weber,
Watershed Management and Analysis Division
Chesapeake and Coastal Watershed Service
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Tawes State Office Building, E-2
Annapolis, MD 21402
phone: 410-260-8790
FAX: 410-260-8779
email: tweber@dnr.state.md.us
==========================================
Visit http://www.ecologyfund.com to protect
wild land for free, just by clicking a button!
###########################################
This message has been scanned for viruses.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 13:59:30 -0400
From: Andy Park <andrew.park@UTORONTO.CA>
Subject: America and Climate Change
Dear Ecologgers,
We've been analyzing and sharing viewpoints on the Kyoto
thing for some time. The question is whether the ESA can move
on from what is becoming an increasingly politicised debate to take
some positive action that all or most of the members can live with.
Since Kyoto, contrary to rumour, still appears to be alive, I
suggest that the ESA has some obligation to act. The problem is
to come up with a statement that is consistent with the science,
but that will not be seen as a "political" act. At a minimum, how
about something like:
"The ESA, having evaluated the findings of the IPCC, agrees
with them that substantial climate change as a result of
anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is almost certainly
taking place (or perhaps, going to take place). The ESA believes
that, although some scientific uncertainties remain, that the
potential costs of not acting now far outstrip the costs of acting to
meet committments made under the Kyoto protocol."
Could the ESA membership live with something like that? It
acknowledges uncertainty, but makes a pitch for a precautionary
principle type approach to the problem.
Actually, I probably have no place making this suggestion cos' I
am not an ESA member myself, just an Ecolog subscriber. I just
felt that, since I have contributed to the general hand wringing on
this issue, I should try to make a constructive suggestion!
Sincerely,
Andy Park Ph.D.
Faculty of Forestry,
University of Toronto,
33 Willcocks St.
Toronto,
Ontario,
Canada,
M5S 3B3
------------------------------
End of ECOLOG-L Digest - 6 Apr 2001 to 7 Apr 2001
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ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
Thanks to discussion with TVR, I have decided to put a link to back files of the discussion group. This months back files.
The link to complete archives is available elsewhere.
This text was originally an e-mail. It was converted using a program
RUPANTAR- a simple e-mail-to-html converter.
(c)Kolatkar Milind. kmilind@ces.iisc.ernet.in