Subject: ECOLOG-L Digest - 27 Oct 2002 to 28 Oct 2002 (#2002-275)
There are 10 messages totalling 784 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. WNV Effects on Wildlife
2. Data on jobs trends
3. TIAA-CREF ballot: read it!
4. breeding bird habitat studies
5. Job enquiry
6. U.S.IALE Foreign Scholar Travel Award
7. Fw: Computer model suggests future crop loss due to potential increase
n
extreme rain events
8. Fw: State of Globe's Coral Reefs Chronicled on New, ReefBase, Net Site
9. Sources to purchase seeds from native New England trees?
10. Species Accumulation Curves
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 08:43:54 -0500
From: ALDEN HINCKLEY <ecologist123@MSN.COM>
Subject: WNV Effects on Wildlife
I am trying to gather information on research being done on
the effects of West Nile Virus (WNV) on wildlife, especially
bird populations.
Possible Subjects:
- population declines of susceptible species,
- sublethal effects on behavior or reproduction, and
- risks to small populations of endangered species,e.g.
California Condor or Snail (Everglades) Kite.
I plan to any information provided to write an article
for the "Potomac Flier," newsletter of the Fairfax
Audubon Society.
Dex Hinckley
703-354-1342
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 10:24:40 -0500
From: Chris Norment <cnorment@BROCKPORT.EDU>
Subject: Data on jobs trends
To ECOLOG Subscribers-
I would appreciate any suggestions as to good Internet sources for data
on current trends for jobs in envrionmental science and ecology. In
advance, thnaks!
Chris Norment
--
Christopher Norment, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Science and Biology
SUNY Brockport
Brockport, NY 14420
PHONE: (716) 395-5748
FAX: (716) 395-5969
e-mail: cnorment@brockport.edu
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 10:57:55 -0600
From: Michael W Palmer/bot/cas/Okstate <carex@OKSTATE.EDU>
Subject: TIAA-CREF ballot: read it!
A number of Ecolog-L subscribers are U.S. university profs or otherwise
have CREF (College Retirement Equities Fund) accounts - in which case you
have probably received a proxy ballot for voting at the Nov. 5
participants meeting. If you don't have a CREF account, please ignore
this message!
Usually, these ballots are rather dull and technical, and therefore
ignored. But I note this time around, there is an issue (Participant
Proposal II) involving environmental reporting and accountability of
TIAA-CREF funds. If you have ignored the ballots in the past, please do
not do so now. Read all the proposals (but especially II), and vote your
conscience!
---Mike
Michael W. Palmer
Botany Dept. OSU
104 LSE Stillwater OK 74078 USA
405-744-7717 fax:405-744-7074
http://ecology.okstate.edu/
http://www.okstate.edu/artsci/botany/
carex@okstate.edu
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 12:53:18 -0500
From: TWEBER@DNR.STATE.MD.US
Subject: breeding bird habitat studies
I asked subscribers to the Ecological Society of America list to cite papers
comparing breeding bird census data with both local-scale variables (e.g.,
vegetation composition and structure, presence of water) and landscape-scale
variables (e.g., amount of forest nearby and measures of forest
fragmentation). Here are the recommendations:
Dwight Barry. Thresholds in avian communities at multiple scales:
relationships between birds, forests, habitats, and landscapes in the Ray
Roberts Greenbelt. Dissertation available from library at the Univ. of North
Texas, Denton, Texas.
Canterbury, G.E., T.E. Martin, D.R. Petit, L.J. Petit, and D.F. Bradford.
Bird communities and habitat as ecological indicators of forest condition in
regional monitoring. Conservation Biology, in press.
Chawla, S., Shekhar, S., Wu, W., Özesmi, U., 2001. Modelling Spatial
Dependencies for Mining Geospatial Data: An Introduction. in Geographic Data
Mining and Knowledge Discovery (GKD). Harvey Miller and Jiawei Han (eds.)
Taylor and Francis Publishers.
B. R. Coppedge, et al. 2001. Avian response to landscape change in
fragmented southern Great Plains grasslands. Ecological Applications
11:47-59.
Flather, C.H, J.R. Sauer and S. Droege. landscape structure and
breeding-bird abundance: Regional patterns among eastern U.S. forests. I'm
not sure where this was finally published, I have a draft copy of the
article.
Hagan, J. M., and A. L. Meehan. 2002. The effectiveness of stand-level and
landscape-level variables for explaining bird occurrence in an industrial
forest. Forest Science 48:231-242.
Jones, K B, Neale AC, Nash MS, Riitters KH, Wickham JD, O'Neill RV and Van
Remortel RD. 2000. Landscape correlates of breeding Bird Richness across the
United States Mid-Atlantic region. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
63:159-174.
Karl et al. 2000. Sensitivity of species habitat-relationship model
performance to factors of scale. Ecological Applications 10: 1690-1705.
Lawler, J. J., and T. C. Edwards, Jr. 2002. Composition of cavity-nesting
bird communities in montane aspen woodland fragments: the roles of landscape
context and forest structure. Condor 104:890-896. Also available in pdf at
http://ella.nr.usu.edu/~utcoop/tce/
Lichstein, J.W., T.R. Simons, and K.E. Franzreb. 2002. Landscape effects
on breeding songbird abundance in managed forests. Ecological Applications
12(3):836-857.
MacFaden, S. W., and D. E. Capen. 2002. Avian habitat relationships at
multiple scales in a New England forest. Forest Science 48:243-253.
McGarigal, K., and W. C. McComb. 1995. Relationships between landscape
structure and breeding birds in the Oregon Coast Range. Ecological
Monographs 65:235-260.
Mitchell, M. S., R. A. Lancia, and J. A. Gerwin. 2001. Using
landscape-level data to predict the distribution of birds on a managed
forest: effects of scale. Ecological Applications 11:1692-1708.
Özesmi, S. L. and U. Özesmi. 1999. An artificial neural network approach
to spatial habitat modelling with interspecific interaction. Ecological
Modelling 116(1):15-31
Özesmi, U., Mitsch, W. J. 1997. A spatial habitat model for the
marsh-breeding red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) in coastal Lake
Erie wetlands. Ecological Modelling 101:139-152.
Saab, V. 1999. Importance of spatial scale to habitat use by breeding birds
in riparian forests: a hierarchical analysis. Ecological Applications
9:135-151.
Saveraid et al. 2001. A comparison of satellite data and landscape variables
in predicting bird species occurrences in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,
USA. Landscape Ecology 16: 71-83.
There are some good general papers on this in the new volume "Predicting
Species Occurrences" edited by J.M. Scott et al. (Island Press 2002). In
particular the chapters by Garrison and Lupo, and by Robetson et al.,
Shriner et al., Vernier et al. and Dettmers et al. combine bird census data
with a variety of local and regional (habitat and landscape) scale
variables. I'm sure the works cited in these papers would give you some
other leads as well.
van den Berg, L.J.L., Bullock, J.M., Clarke, R.T., Langston, R.H.W., & Rose,
R.J. (2001) Territory selection by the Dartford warbler (Sylvia undata) in
Dorset, England: the role of vegetation type, habitat fragmentation and
population size. Biological Conservation, 101, 217-228.
Also, the BBS website has lots of tools and references and the EPA's
Mid-atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA) progrom has some info. Go to
http://www.epa.gov/maia/html/reports.html#wild for a bird article.
And, the Critical Trends Assessment Program
(http://eagle.inhs.uiuc.edu/ctap/index.html) in Illinois is doing a project
addressing most of these questions.
Sincerely,
Ted Weber
Landscape ecologist
Watershed Management and Analysis Division
Chesapeake and Coastal Watershed Service
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
580 Taylor Ave, E-2
Annapolis, MD 21401
phone: 410-260-8802
fax: 410-260-8779
email: tweber@dnr.state.md.us
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 09:49:06 -0800
From: lumbwe kalumba <lkalumba2g@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Job enquiry
Dear Sir/Madam
I am a Zambian man aged 27 and posees a BSc in ecology
from the university of Zambia.
I am willing to work anywhere in the world.
Yours faithfully,
Lumbwe Kalumba
__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site
http://webhosting.yahoo.com/
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 14:22:16 -0500
From: "Dr. Sam Riffell" <riffells@MSU.EDU>
Subject: U.S.IALE Foreign Scholar Travel Award
U.S. - IALE Foreign Scholar Travel Award
for the 18th Annual Symposium of Landscape Ecology
Banff, Alberta, Canada
2 - 6 April 2003
PURPOSE
The United States Regional Association of the International Association
for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE) has a program to support attendance at
the annual meeting by landscape ecologists from foreign countries and to
foster international exchange about advances in landscape ecology.
THE AWARD
We anticipate awarding multiple Foreign Scholar Travel Awards (FSTA).
Recipients will receive US$1,000 at the Annual Meeting. It is the
recipient's responsibility to make all transportation arrangements and
cover all transportation and lodging costs associated with participating
in the meeting.
ELIGIBILITY
1. Applicants must not be citizens or current residents of the United
States or Canada. Foreign students studying in the United States or
Canada are ineligible to apply.
2. Applications from citizens of G7 countries (France, US, Britain,
Germany, Japan, Italy) will not be accepted.
3. Previous recipients of US-IALE Foreign Scholar Travel Awards are
ineligible.
4. Applicants must simultaneously submit a abstract for a paper or
poster presentation at the 2002 conference. You must submit your
abstract to the conference organizers by 6 December 2002. Eligibility
for the FSTA is contingent upon acceptance by the conference program
committee.
SELECTION CRITERIA
1. Scientific merit and application to landscape ecology. We will favor
applicants who demonstrate that their research (i) advances the
scientific basis of landscape ecology, and/or (ii) the application of
landscape ecology for natural resource protection or management. New and
established landscape ecologists are encouraged to apply.
2. Financial need. Applicants must have demonstrated financial need and
show that without FTSA support, they would not be able to attend the
Conference. Applicants currently studying or residing in G7 countries
must demonstrate the extent to which they have pursued travel funding
from their host institution.
3. Professional development. Applicants must demonstrate that attending
the US IALE Conference will represent a significant professional
opportunity for developing their expertise in landscape ecology and
establishing working relationships with landscape ecologists from other
countries. We may favor applicants in earlier stages of career
development and applicants who have not previously studied in the US or
Canada.
4. Geographical representation. Selection may be made to maximize the
number of countries and regions represented.
5. Clarity of English and expression.
HOW TO APPLY
All application materials must be in English. Incomplete applications
will not be reviewed.
A complete application contains the following:
1. Name, Institution, Email address, Postal Address, Citizenship
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Title and abstract of the paper or poster you will present at the
Conference. The abstract should also be independently submitted to the
conference organizers.
4. A summary of your research (750 words maximum) explaining how your
research extends the scientific basis or application of landscape
ecology (see Selection Criteria listed above).
5. Statement on what you hope to gain professionally from attending the
US-IALE Conference (200 words maximum).
6. An explanation (200 words maximum) of why you need financial
assistance to attend the conference (see Selection Criteria listed
above).
DEADLINES
Submit your abstract to the conference organizers by 6 December 2002 at
the conference website.
Submit your FSTA application materials to the address below by 6
December 2002.
Submit FSTA application materials by email to: riffells@msu.edu, or by
post (please include disk copy) to Sam Riffell, Department of Zoology,
203 Natural Science Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing,
MI 48824
Acceptable formats include Microsoft Word, Wordperfect, Rich Text Format
and pdf.
Awards will be announced on or before 1 March, 2003.
MORE INFORMATION
U.S. IALE: www.usiale.org
Foreign Scholar Travel Award: www.msu.edu/~riffells/fsta2003.htm
2003 Annual Conference: www.zoo.utoronto.ca/US-IALE_2003/
Other questions -- email us at riffells@msu.edu
U.S. IALE FOREIGN SCHOLAR TRAVEL AWARD COMMITTEE
Members: Sam Riffell (Committee Chair, Michigan State University); Peter
August (University of Rhode Island), John Bissonette (Utah State
University), Sarah Gergel (National Center for Ecological Analysis and
Synthesis), Russell Watkins (3001, Inc.), Jianguo Wu (Arizona State
University). Ex Officio Members: Eric Gustafson (USDA Forest Service),
Mary Santelmann (Oregon State University).
--
Sam Riffell, Ph. D
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Zoology
203 Natural Science Building
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan 48824
Homepage: http://www.msu.edu/~riffells/
Email: riffells@msu.edu
Phone: 517-353-9283
FAX: 517-432-2789
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 15:46:54 -0500
From: Karen Claxon <kclaxon@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Fw: Computer model suggests future crop loss due to potential incre
se
in extreme rain events
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anderson, Donald L" <Donald.L.Anderson@state.me.us>
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 2:02 PM
Subject: GISS: Computer model suggests future crop loss due to potential
increase in extreme rain events
Public release date: 28-Oct-2002
Contact: Krishna Ramanujan
Kramanuj@pop900.gsfc.nasa.gov <mailto:Kramanuj@pop900.gsfc.nasa.gov>
301-286-3026
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center--EOS Project Science Office
<http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/>
Computer model suggests future crop loss due to potential increase in
extreme rain events
An increased frequency of extreme precipitation events has been observed
over the last 100 years in the United States. Global climate models
project
that similar trends may continue and even strengthen over the coming
decades, due to climate change. Now, a study using computer climate and
crop
model simulations predicts that U.S. agricultural production losses due
to
excess rainfall may double in the next 30 years, resulting in an
estimated
$3 billion per year in damages.
Cynthia Rosenzweig and Francesco Tubiello, researchers at the NASA
Goddard
Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University, New York, and the
other
authors of this study, found that current assessments of the impacts of
climate change on agriculture have not accounted for the negative
impacts on
crops from increased precipitation and floods. In an effort to close
this
information gap, the researchers modified an existing crop computer
model to
simulate the extent to which excess soil moisture from heavy rain might
damage crop plants.
"The impacts of excess soil moisture due to increased precipitation need
to
be taken into account because of associated crop losses and potential
financial damages," Rosenzweig said.
The researchers argue that while droughts receive the most attention
when it
comes to assessing the impacts of climate change on agriculture, excess
precipitation should also be a major concern. The 1993 U.S. Midwest
floods,
for example, caused about $6 to 8 billion in damages to farmers,
accounting
for roughly half of the total overall losses from the flood, according
to
the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Overall precipitation and
extreme
rain events are projected to increase in the future because of stronger
water cycle dynamics associated with global warming.
Global climate model simulations used in the study project increases in
total precipitation and in the number of extreme precipitation events in
the
Corn Belt and on average for the continental United States. Over the
Corn
Belt states, the average number of extreme precipitation events was 30
percent above present levels in the 2030s, and 65 percent higher in the
2090s. The same climate projections were used for a 2001 U.S. national
assessment report on potential consequences of climate change.
The researchers also modified an existing crop model, called
CERES-Maize, in
order to simulate the effects of excess soil moisture from heavy
precipitation on corn crops. The model calculates plant development,
growth
and final yield based on weather, crop genetic traits and management
practices. The researchers modified CERES-Maize by adding in a function
that
limited the simulated plant's ability to grow roots after three
consecutive
days of soil saturation. The model simulated corn growth in nine U.S.
Corn
Belt states, including Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, North
and
South Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin, which represent 85 percent of total
U.S.
corn production.
The modified model showed that the probability of crop damage due to
water-logged soils could be even greater than the projected increases in
heavy precipitation - corresponding to 90 percent more damage in the
2030s,
and 150 percent more damage by the 2090s, compared to present
conditions.
To relate the climate and crop model results to economic losses,
Rosenzweig
and her colleagues used USDA economic data to estimate that damages to
U.S.
corn production due to excess soil moisture currently amount to about
$600
million per year.
The researchers then estimated that potential future damages to major
U.S.
crops due to excess soil moisture could lead to total losses of up to $3
billion per year by the 2030s, on average.
The study appears in the current issue of Global Environmental Change.
The
research was conducted at the Climate Impacts Group of the NASA Goddard
Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University and was supported by
Environmental Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency.
###
For more information, see:
<http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20021022cropdamage.html>
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-10/nsfc-cms102802.php
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 15:48:44 -0500
From: Karen Claxon <kclaxon@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Fw: State of Globe's Coral Reefs Chronicled on New, ReefBase, Net S
te
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anderson, Donald L" <Donald.L.Anderson@state.me.us>
To: "Andrea Lani" <Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 3:10 PM
Subject: FW: State of Globe's Coral Reefs Chronicled on New, ReefBase,
Net Site
News Release from the WorldFish Center, the International Coral Reef
Action
Network (ICRAN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
State of Globe's Coral Reefs Chronicled on New, ReefBase, Net Site
Shows 2002 to be Another Worrying Year for World's Corals
DELHI/WASHINGTON DC/NAIROBI, 28 October 2002 - A new wave of bleaching
has
swept coral reefs worldwide, with scientists linking the events to
climate
change. Over 400 cases of bleaching, a phenomenon linked with increased
seawater temperatures which can damage and even result in the death of a
reef, have been documented by a researchers so far this year.
The majority of bleaching records have come from the Great Barrier Reef
in
Australia with others from reefs in countries including the Philippines,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Palau, Maldives, Tanzania, Seychelles,
Belize,
Ecuador and off the Florida coast of the United States.
The findings, released today by the WorldFish Center, the International
Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN) and the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), have come from a new global coral reef information
system
called ReefBase which contains data on bleaching events dating back to
1963.
ReefBase has been set up by the WorldFish Center as part of ICRAN, a
global
network of more than 10 international agencies aimed at boosting the
fortunes of coral reefs by developing sustainable ways of managing them.
ICRAN is funded through UNEP by the United Nations Foundation.
Dr Meryl Williams, Director General of the WorldFish Center in Penang,
Malaysia, said: "Twenty countries in all the major oceans have so far
this
year documented over 430 cases of bleaching. This makes 2002 the second
worst year for the phenomenon after the major bleaching events of 1998
which were linked with the very strong El Nino, climatic event, of that
year.
She added: "While the impacts are much less than in 1998, we are very
concerned at what the short- and long-term impacts are going to be on
the
reefs themselves and the people who depend on them. A lot will hinge on
how well the reefs recover from these latest events and if further
bleaching events occur over the coming years".
Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director who is attending the UN climate
change talks taking place in New Delhi, this week, said: "Coral reefs
are
under threat worldwide from a variety of pressures including
unsustainable
fishing methods, such as dynamite and cyanide fishing, insensitive
tourism,
pollution and climate change. Every effort is needed to conserve these
vital habitats for fish and other marine life for the benefit of local
people who rely upon them for protein and livelihoods."
Coral bleaching occurs when stressful conditions such as high
temperatures
cause corals to expel the microscopic algae that live in their tissues.
The algae provide essential food energy for corals.
Dr Jamie Oliver, project leader of ReefBase and chair of the ICRAN
Steering
Committee whose Board of Directors is meeting in Washington DC tomorrow,
said: "Reliable and publicly available information on the frequency,
intensity and location of coral bleaching is vital for informed debate
about the causes and consequences of these events. Such information is
also crucial for making the sound decisions needed to protect and
conserve
reef systems."
ReefBase, which can be viewed at www.reefbase.org, currently holds over
3,800 records going back to 1963 which include information on the
severity
of bleaching. This is important in order to distinguish between
low-level
bleaching, which has probably always occurred on coral reefs, and
recurrent, massive bleaching of entire reefs, which may be a new
phenomenon related to climate change.
Dr. Oliver added: "The database shows an increase in the frequency and
intensity of bleaching, as well as a rise in the number of countries
affected. While some of this may be due to increased awareness of the
problem, the phenomenon has been well known among divers and scientists
for many years, so the trend is almost certainly real."
"It is too early to determine what level of mortality will occur as a
result of the current bleaching, but based on previous events we can
expect
a significant number of reefs to suffer loss of corals which could take
many years to replace", he said.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the
world,
was severely affected, with 2002 being the worst bleaching event on
record.
Virginia Chadwick, chair of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
(GBRMPA), said: "The current trends are cause for concern both for
Australia and the rest of the world. We need to continue to monitor the
situation by collecting accurate information using survey techniques,
such
as those developed in Australia, and to make these results publicly
available through the GBRMPA websites as well as global sites such as
ReefBase."
ReefBase is also working closely with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) in the United States to match bleaching events
with
global sea surface temperatures. It is planned to create automatically
updated maps displaying bleaching events with NOAA's Index of
Temperature Anomalies.
Dr Alan Strong, Team Leader in NOAA's Oceanic Research and Applications
Division and Coordinator of NOAA's C Reef Watch Program, said: "We have
found a strong correlation between our Degree Heating Week index and
coral
bleaching events and can often provide real-time predictions of
bleaching
for some areas such as observed late this summer in the most
north-western
Hawaiian Islands, at Midway and most certainly at Howland and Baker
Islands near the Equator."
Scientists, marine park managers and other experts are being urged to
provide data on bleaching, coral mortality and recovery to ReefBase.
"That way we can provide people with information on how well coral reefs
are recovering or adapting to climate change. At present the signs are
not
good, but we need to make sure that any conclusions are based on a
comprehensive analysis of all the available data. ReefBase is a key
instrument for achieving this goal", said Dr. Oliver.
For more information, please contact: Eric Falt, UNEP
Spokesperson/Director of the Division of Communications and Public
Information, in Nairobi, on Tel: +254-2-623292, Mobile: +254-733-682656,
E-mail: eric.falt@unep.org or Nick Nuttall, UNEP Head of Media who is in
Delhi between 28 October and 1 November, on Tel: +254-733-632755,
E-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org
Dr. Jamie Oliver can be contacted in Washington DC at the ICRAN Board
meeting on Mobile: +60-12-429-8573 or E-mail: j.oliver@cgiar.org
UNEP News Release 2002/77
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 16:02:17 -0500
From: Jacqueline Mohan <jem6@DUKE.EDU>
Subject: Sources to purchase seeds from native New England trees?
*Please reply to me only & not to the entire list.*
I'd appreciate any suggestion of sources to purchase seeds from
native tree species growing in the northeastern United States. I've
successfully dealt with Sheffield Seeds in NY, but they do not have all
the species I'm interested in.
If there is interest, I can compile the suggestions into a single
list for distribution.
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.
Jacqueline Mohan
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 17:20:07 -0600
From: murphyc <murphyc@MAIL.UKANS.EDU>
Subject: Species Accumulation Curves
Thanks to everyone who responded to my question about software for generatin
species accumulation curves. Here is a synopsis of the responses that I
received. They were very beneficial.
Thanks,
Cheryl Murphy
Software:
EstimateS
By Robert Colwell
You can download it free off the web at
http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/Estimates
It will draw species accumulation curves over multiple iterations, computes
Fisther's alpha, Shannon and Simpson diversity indexes, Jaccard,
Morisita-Horn, and Sorensen indexes.
Citation for EstimateS:
Colwell RK (1997) EstimateS: Statistical estimation of species richness and
shared species from samples. Version 5. User's Guide and application
This is also downloadable from the above website.
PC-ORD
Not free and has reasonable computational efficiency. Website:
http://home.centurytel.net.~mjm
(personal note: the version (4) we have says that PC-ORD was not intended fo
island biogeographical use of species area curves)
EcoSim
By Gotelli and Entsminger
Free download (examines null models) at
http://homepages.together.net/~gentsmin/ecosim.htm
BioDiversity Pro
By Neil McAleece
Free download at http://www.sams.ac.uk/dml/projects/benthic/bdpro/index.htm
ADE4
Free download at http://pbil.univ-lyon1.fr/ADE-4/
Other comments and citations:
Using Oracle database: have a looped sql-procedure to get accumulation data.
Extract the data and calculate accumulation 'points' in Excel. Then fit a
rarefraction curve to the data points.
A collection of stats approaches to ecological problems
http://www.fas.umontreal.ca/BIOL/legendre/indexEnglish.html
Paper discussing the methods available for estimating richness:
Colwell and Coddington. 1994. Estimating terrestrial biodiversity through
extrapolation. Philisophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B
345:101-118.
Use Excel: with an Add-in called BioTools that would make species accumulati
n
curves. Thought it would run on Macs and Windows
Recommendation of using a probablistic based approach if wanting to estimate
the true number of species based on samples by using jack-knife or bootstrap
approach. With this you don't assume the shape or distribution of the data
and unequal detectability of species isn't an issue.
Papers:
J. D. Nichols: describes problems and solutions of this kind of data
Rene Borgella Jr.: used this technique to estimate species numbers
Paper about sample-based vs. individual-based species accumulation curves at
http://www.uvm.edu/~biology/Faculty/Gotelli/EcologyLetters4p379.pdf
Using Access: a tool that does this. You choose the number of random 'draws
of plots and select any subset of your plots. The output is an Excel workbo
k
and Macro draws the curves on an Excel chart.
Again,
Thanks to everyone who responded!
Cheryl
------------------------------
To: ESANEWS@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Science and Environmental Policy Update for October 25, 20
Science and Environmental Policy Update for October 25, 2002
A Bi-Weekly Publication of the Ecological Society of America
Compiled by the Public Affairs Office
In this issue:
APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE
US ENERGY POLICY AND NSF AUTHORIZATION BILL
1918 MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY
STATEMENT ON SECURITY AND SCIENCE
CLIMATE MEETINGS
ESA POLICY ACTIONS UPDATE
APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE
Taking a pre-election recess, Congress has left the majority of
appropriation bills unfinished until November 2002 or later. All programs,
other than the Department of Defense bill, are operating at last year^Òs
level, and there is a high probability that new funding levels will not be
set until the next Congress is sworn in for 2003. Only five of thirteen
funding bills have been passed by the House, and the Senate has only passed
three appropriations bills. Part of the disagreement stems from overall
spending figures for the fiscal year 2003; the Senate wants to spend about
1.6% more than the Bush Administration has requested. After the elections,
Congress will resume debate and probably come to a compromise with the
Administration, bundling the remaining appropriations bills into a massive
omnibus bill. If no agreement is reached, the President will sign measures
for current funding levels to last into December or possibly even next
year, leaving the appropriations to be settled by the next Congress.
US ENERGY POLICY AND NSF AUTHOURIZATION
The energy policy bill is virtually deadlocked between the House and
Senate, and resolution of differences may not be solved under the current
Congress.
Legislation that would demonstrate Congressional commitment to the National
Science Foundation has encountered a snag. Already approved by the House,
the authorizing bill calls for a doubling of the agency^Òs budget over the
next five years. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has placed a hold on the bill,
which was slated for a unanimous voice vote by the Senate last week. The
Bush Administration, while expressing support for NSF, does not like the
reference to ^Ódoubling^Ô in the bill and also prefers to limit authorizatio
bills to three years. While largely symbolic, to many in the scientific
community, HR 4664 is the culmination of many years of effort to increase
NSF^Òs rate of growth and support for science and education.
1918 MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY
Compromising with the Bush Administration, the House and Senate have
tentatively agreed to exempt the US military from the 1918 Migratory Bird
Act. The 1918 Act was to ensure that the US obey four treaties relating to
the protection of birds and conservation management with the governments of
Canada, Mexico, Japan and Russia. The US military and the current
administration have argued that these protections impede military training
and preparedness, while environmentalists and several state government
officials suggest the military is using the events of September 11th to
undermine environmental protections.
STATEMENT ON SECURITY AND SCIENCE
A statement from the Presidents of the National Academies of Science issued
October 18th recognizes the important role of the scientific, engineering
and health research communities in responding to security issues and
cautions for a balance between the need for secrecy and scientific
openness. In the statement, Bruce Alberts, Wm A. Wul, and Harvey Fineberg,
the Academy Presidents of Science, Engineering and Medicine, respectively,
call on action by both researchers and policy makers to work together in
determining what materials and information should be safeguarded and
avoiding vague definitions that could inhibit scientific development.
CLIMATE MEETINGS
The United Nations (UN) Climate Change Convention is meeting in New Delhi,
India from October 23 ^ÖNovember 1, 2002. The meeting focuses on plans for
the implementation of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and preparing countries for
following the guidelines set out in the treaty. Three thousand delegates
from the 185 UN member states are expected to attend the meeting.
ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA POLICY ACTIONS
The Ecological Society of America, together with the American Institute of
Biological Sciences, has launched a new coalition, the Biological and
Ecological Sciences Coalition (BESC), to address funding for the
non-biomedical life sciences across all federal agencies. ESA hosted the
first meeting of BESC in September and plans were developed for near-term
activities. As one of the coalition's first undertakings, ESA Director of
Public Affairs Nadine Lymn presented comments on BESC's behalf at the
President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)
encouraging the Council to recognize the broad range of science disciplines
contributing to the nation's knowledge base. In addition, she stressed
that environmental biology, agricultural biology, ecology, and other
disciplines make up the life sciences which are currently perceived to
consist mainly of medical science. In addition, BESC successfully lobbied
CNSF (Coalition for National Science Funding) to send a letter to House
Appropriators asking that all disciplines share in NSF's budget increase.
**************************************
Sources: American Institute of Physics FYI, Associated Press, Congressional
Green Sheets, Environmental News Network Inc., The National Academies of
Sciences News, and The Washington Post.
Send questions or comments to esahq@esa.org
If you received this SEPU from a friend and would like to receive it
directly, please email the command ^Ósub esanews {your first name and last
name}^Ô to listserv@listserv.umd.edu
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send the command "signoff ESANEWS" to listserv@listserv.umd.edu.
Visit the ESA website, including the SEPU archive, at: http://www.esa.org/
From LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Tue Oct 29 20:50:20 2002
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 00:00:25 -0500
From: Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>
Reply-To: "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news"
<ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>
To: Recipients of ECOLOG-L digests <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>
Subject: ECOLOG-L Digest - 26 Oct 2002 to 27 Oct 2002 (#2002-274)
There are 3 messages totalling 258 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. News: So Cal Park Uses Pervious Concrete Paving
2. Minority Graduate Fellowship opportunity in Oregon
3. model 2 regression hypothesis testing
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 16:58:43 -0700
From: Ashwani Vasishth <vasishth@USC.EDU>
Subject: News: So Cal Park Uses Pervious Concrete Paving
I am trying to get more information on the pervious concrete mentioned in
the story, below. If you're curious too, let me know and I'll relay any
information I do get.
In this context, there is a quite useful article on the use of impervious
surface coverage as an environmental indicator. Arnold, C.L. & C.J.
Gibbons. 1996. "Impervious Surface Coverage: The Emergence of a Key
Environmental Indicator," APA Journal, (Spring 1996):243-258.
Also, American Rivers/NRDC/Smart Growth America released a report,
recently, "Paving Our Way to Water Shortages: How Sprawl Aggravates
Drought," which can be accessed at:
http://www.amrivers.org/landuse/sprawldroughtreport.htm
Ashwani
Vasishth vasishth@usc.edu
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~vasishth
--------------------------------------------------------
University of Southern California, Los Angeles
http://www.usc.edu/dept/sppd/
Southern California Association of Governments
http://scag.ca.gov
--------------------------------------------------------
* * *
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-me-park25oct25,0,5248559.story?coll=l
%2Dnews%2Dscience
Los Angeles Times:
October 25, 2002
LOS ANGELES
Park Pavement Breaks New Ground
By Wendy Thermos, Times Staff Writer
A group of people will gather in a park today to chip away at the notion
that concrete is the bane of nature.
The occasion could mark a watershed event -- literally -- in environmental
thinking.
Regional and state officials will break ground for a state-of-the-art
gateway to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the
nation's largest urban park.
The big draw will be a poured sample of "environmentally friendly"
concrete that will be used to pave parking and walkway areas of the
parkland on Mulholland Drive, just off of Topanga Canyon Boulevard.
It will be the first large-scale use of the material by a state agency in
California, officials say.
"This is unbelievable stuff," said Stephanie Landregan, chief landscape
architect for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which owns the new
park. "It's just the coolest thing to watch water go right through it."
Environmentally friendly concrete may sound like an oxymoron, but
environmentalists are going gaga over it, Landregan said.
It consists of dun-colored porous pavement that looks like a combination
of soil and gravel. The difference is that it stays put--it doesn't "give"
like dirt or crunch like gravel. And it looks natural, Landregan said. "If
you didn't look too hard, you wouldn't realize that it's artificial."
Traditional concrete sheds water that in turn digs gullies or collects in
puddles. Porous concrete allows water to percolate into the ground. It
recharges ground water, prevents erosion, filters out harmful substances
and, if it is used in urban settings, decreases the amount of water that
flows uselessly to the ocean in storm sewers, Landregan said.
"This represents the merger of green infrastructure with traditional
construction," she said.
The new 61-acre portal to the vast national recreation area straddling the
Santa Monica Mountains has been chosen as a showcase for the new material.
"This is the first state-sponsored project in California to do this,"
Landregan said. Porous concrete will be used to pave the mile-long entry
road, a 70-car parking lot and walkways.
The new parkland is also important, officials said, because it will
provide San Fernando Valley residents with easier access to the recreation
area, which is a patchwork of parks stretching from Point Mugu in Ventura
County to Griffith Park in Los Angeles.
Visitors from north of Mulholland currently have to make a long drive
through winding Topanga Canyon to get to the most popular parts of the
recreation area.
By next summer, the added parkland will allow nature lovers to zip south
from the Ventura Freeway on a short stretch of Topanga Canyon Boulevard
and be in the wilderness in record time.
"If you're not a big hiker or mountain biker, you might not want to go the
long route," conservancy spokeswoman Dash Stolarz said. "This is a very
easy-to-get-to place." The newly acquired land is surrounded on all sides
by trails leading to the heart of the recreation area.
When visitors arrive at Mulholland Gateway Park, they'll be greeted by
state-of-the-art facilities, including solar-powered lighting,
self-composting restrooms and a half-mile interpretive nature trail
accessible by wheelchair.
The land was purchased with $6 million in state funds from a
voter-approved bond measure after years of efforts by activists to prevent
residential development, Stolarz said.
Among the dignitaries expected to attend today's ceremony are state
Resources Secretary Mary Nichols, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks),
Assemblywoman Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) and Los Angeles City
Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski.
* * *
Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times
*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed, without profit, for research and educational purposes
only. ***
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 07:01:32 -0800
From: Susan Kephart <skephart@WILLAMETTE.EDU>
Subject: Minority Graduate Fellowship opportunity in Oregon
Greeetings---for graduate students who are nearing completion of their PhD
degree (but might still have up to a year to go) , we have an opening for
a Minority Graduate Fellow for academic year 2003-2004 in any discipline,
including the sciences. I've copied the announcement below--it has been
listed elsewhere but I thought there might be interest among this group as
well. We start reviewing applications Nov 11. Best wishes, Susan Kephart
WILLAMETTE The First University in the West
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS
WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY MINORITY GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP
Willamette University is pleased to invite applications for the Willamette
University Minority Graduate Fellowship. This residential Fellowship
provides an excellent opportunity for a minority scholar to complete a
Ph.D dissertation while teaching part-time either individually or as part
of a team for the academic year 2003-2004. The Fellowship is intended to
assist in preparing minority scholars for careers in American higher
education. Additionally, the presence of the Minority Graduate Fellow on
campus exposes current undergraduate students to the challenge and
opportunity of doctoral studies.
Qualified individuals must be U.S. Citizens and have completed all other
Ph.D. requirements. The selected Fellow will have access to the
university's talented faculty as well as extensive library and computing
facilities. The Ph.D. of the Fellow may be in any discipline offered in
Willamette University's undergraduate liberal arts curriculum.
The Willamette University Minority Graduate Fellowship provides a
substantial stipend, office space, library and computer privileges, and a
research fund. The Fellowship extends from August 20, 2003 through May
31, 2004.
The recipient of the Fellowship is appointed by the Academic Council of
the College of Liberal Arts, and is under the direction of the Dean of the
College.
Willamette, a selective liberal arts college in the Pacific Northwest, is
near the Portland metropolitan area, the ocean, and the
Cascades. Willamettes 2,400 students attend the College of Liberal Arts,
the College of Law, the George H. Atkinson Graduate School of Management
or the School of Education. With a student faculty ratio of 10.1,
Willamette University is committed to providing a superior education where
teaching and learning are strengthened by ongoing scholarship and
research. Willamettes reputation as a lively and challenging university
is built on over 150 years of experience preparing students for successful
professional and personal lives. Willamette maintains a strong
institutional commitment to diversity and strives to recruit, hire, and
retain candidates from communities of color and ethnic groups.
Application Process
Please submit a letter of application indicating your aspirations for
teaching and research, plan for completing your dissertation and why a
fellowship year at Willamette University might be helpful.
In addition please provide full curriculum vitae, an official copy of all
undergraduate and graduate transcripts, an abstract of the Dissertation
Prospectus (limit 2 pages), and three letters of reference (including one
from your dissertation advisor. Send application letter, transcripts,
vitae, three reference letters, and abstract of dissertation prospectus to
Dr. Susan R. Kephart, Chairperson, Biology Department and Multicultural
Affairs Committee, Willamette University, 900 State St., Salem, OR
97301. Review of applications begins 11 November 2002 and continues until
a qualified applicant is chosen.
Susan R. Kephart
Department of Biology
Willamette University
Salem, OR 97301
503 370-6481
FAX 503 375-5425
e-mail: skephart@willamette.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 11:01:45 -0400
From: smitchel <smitchel@STFX.CA>
Subject: Re: model 2 regression hypothesis testing
My two cents worth:
Three excellent references for this sort of thing:
LaBarbera (1989). Analyzing body size as a factor in ecology and evolution.
Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 20:97-117
McArdle (1988). The structural relationship: regression in biology. Can J
Zool. 66:2329-2339
Rayner (1985). linear relations in biomechanics: the statistics of scaling
functions. J. Zool Lond. A. 206:415-439
When I encountered this, I simply used Ordinarly least Squares to test for
differences between slopes, recognizing that while it may not be
statistically rigorous, if there are differences they will be demonstrated.
A cheap way out.
One other point. Zar mentions (an I agree) that really the intercept should
not be tested because it usually is an extrpolation of the regression
outside the range of measurmeents. Instead he talks of comparing slope
"elevation" (i.e., the midpoint of the lines. This is something to consider
in your analysis. Hope these references may be of some use.
Sean Mitchell
-----Original Message-----
From: ecoandy [mailto:ecoandy@YAHOO.COM]
Sent: Tue 10/22/2002 6:59 PM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Cc:
Subject: model 2 regression hypothesis testing
does anyone know how to test for differences in slope and intercept among 2
populations in a model 2 regression?
------------------------------
End of ECOLOG-L Digest - 26 Oct 2002 to 27 Oct 2002 (#2002-274)
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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