ECOLOG-L Digest - 13 Nov 2002 to 14 Nov 2002 (#2002-290)
Subject: ECOLOG-L Digest - 13 Nov 2002 to 14 Nov 2002 (#2002-290) There are 7 messages totalling 411 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Geostatistics short courses in Nevada, Scotland, and Ohio - Sign-up soo 2. RFI: Winter Hummingbirds 3. recent job postings at EnvironmentalCAREER.com 4. Benthic Symposium Update - Wednesday November 13 - Thursday November 14 2002 5. summary: simple programs for plotting GPS points 6. volunteer field positions 7. Graduate Assistantships at University of Toledo ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 08:30:14 -0500 From: wharper <wharper@OTTERBEIN.EDU> Subject: Geostatistics short courses in Nevada, Scotland, and Ohio - Sign-up soon We will be offering both of our geostatistics short courses soon. Sign-up w ile space is available. Reno, Nevada: Zero to Kriging 13-16, BYO Geostats 18-20 January 2003 Scotland: Zero to Kriging 10-14, BYO Geostats 14-16 April 2003 Columbus, Ohio: Zero to Kriging 16-20, BYO Geostats 23-25 June 2003 http://geoecosse.bizland.com/0toKriging.htm has more information on our intr ductory Zero to Kriging class. This class has been certified for 5 CEUs by he Independent Third Party Review Panel (ITRP). Our second class, BYO Geostatistics (http://geoecosse.bizland.com/BYOGeostat .htm) has been certified for 4 CEUs by the ITRP. Check http://uk.geocities.com/geoecosse/news.html for general information. You can now pay on-line directly for these classes via the shopping cart off the http://geoecosse.hypermart.net/ site or more directly to the cart at http://geoecosse.hypermart.net/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=G&Category Code=10546 Volume II of our Practical Geostatistics course will be out in 2003. Watch he above http://geoecosse.hypermart.net/ for early discounted purchases. Be the 1st one on your block to own Volume II. Please contact Isobel (drisobelclark@yahoo.co.uk) or me (WHarper@otterbein.e u) with any questions. Thanks, Bill -- William V. Harper, Mathematical Sciences, Otterbein College Towers Hall 136, One Otterbein College Westerville, OH 43081-2006 USA 614-823-1417 Fax: 614-823-3201 Faculty page: http://www.otterbein.edu/home/fac/WLLVHRPR/ For the best in geostatistics: http://geoecosse.hypermart.net/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 10:32:08 -0500 From: RESEARCH Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History <research@HILTONPOND.ORG> Subject: RFI: Winter Hummingbirds Through "Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project," Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History is investigating the occurrence of hummingbirds in winter east of the Great Plains. Several hummingbird species that occur normally in the western U.S. or Mexico are showing up in increasing numbers in the eastern U.S., especially in fall migration and during winter months. Hummingbird experts aren't exactly sure what is going on, but we are attempting to verify and band as many of these winter vagrants as possible in pursuit of answers If you know of any hummingbird in the eastern U.S. from 15 October through 15 March, let us know as quickly as possible at mailto:research@hiltonpond.org. Please include the date and city/state of the sighting, your contact information, and as much detail as possible about the hummingbird. If the hummingbird is too far away for us to investigate personally, we will forward the information to another bander closer to you. If you are an educator, it would be helpful if you could announce to your students about these winter hummingbirds, and to mention Operation RubyThroat at http://www.rubythroat.org . (If you're at a GLOBE-certified school, you can also make winter hummingbird reports through the Operation RubyThroat section on the GLOBE Web site.) More information about the winter hummingbird research project is at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ResearchHummerVagrantMain.html . Thanks, and best wishes, BILL -- ********** RESEARCH PROGRAM c/o BILL HILTON JR. Executive Director Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History 1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA research@hiltonpond.org, (803) 684-5852, eFax: (503) 218-0845 Please visit our web sites (courtesy of Comporium.net): Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History at http://www.hiltonpond.org "Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project" at http://www.rubythroat.org ********** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 12:38:08 -0500 From: ECC <eccinfo@ENVIRONMENTALCAREER.COM> Subject: recent job postings at EnvironmentalCAREER.com The following is a partial list recent jobs at EnvironmentalCAREER.com - http://environmentalcareer.com: Editor, State of the Wild Wildlife Conservation Society Bronx Zoo, NY http://environmentalcareer.info/candidates/joblist.asp Aquatic Ecologist, Project Planner J.F. New & Associates, Inc. Walkerton, Indiana http://environmentalcareer.info/candidates/joblist.asp California Conservation Director The Pacific Forest Trust Santa Rosa, California http://environmentalcareer.info/candidates/joblist.asp Environmental Field Projects Manager Planet Drum Foundation Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador http://environmentalcareer.info/candidates/joblist.asp Environmental Policy Specialist - Lands Stewardship National Wildlife Federation Boulder, Colorado http://environmentalcareer.info/candidates/joblist.asp Range & Wildlife Management Specialist City of Los Angeles Los Angeles, California http://environmentalcareer.info/candidates/joblist.asp Seasonal Naturalists (2) Audubon Francis Beidler Forest - Harleyville, SC http://environmentalcareer.info/candidates/joblist.asp Administrator II (Director of Research G.M. Sutton Avian Research Center Bartlesville, Oklahoma http://environmentalcareer.info/candidates/joblist.asp Executive Director Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment Portland, OR http://environmentalcareer.info/candidates/joblist.asp Best regards, Environmental Career Center staff EnvironmentalCAREER.com posts about 10% to 20% of the Environmental Career Center's jobs listings. ECC's entire jobs list (usually well over 500 jobs) is published monthly in the comprehensive National Environmental Employment Report. The December issue will be mailed soon to subscribers. See a sample of the September 2002 issue at http://environmentalcareer.com/sample.htm. To Subscribe: Subscriptions start at $19 for 3 months. You may receive the newspaper via email (PDF) or via first class mail to you each month. See http://environmentalcareer.com/subscribe.htm. Go to http://environmentalcareer.com to post jobs, find jobs, and learn about careers, environmental career books, and environmental career teleconferences that are broadcast to universities nationwide and internationally. ------------------------------------------------------------- Environmental Career Center 100 Bridge Street Bldg. C Hampton, VA 23669 http://environmentalcareer.com eccinfo@environmentalcareer.com 757-727-7895 757-727-7904 (fax) Helping people work for the environment since 1980 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 16:23:59 -0500 From: David Inouye <di5@umail.umd.edu> Subject: Benthic Symposium Update - Wednesday November 13 - Thursday Novembe 14, 2002 Benthic Symposium Update - Wednesday November 13 - Thursday November 14, 200 "Natural change is important to understanding how systems react when we're not around," said Linda Deegan (Marine Biological Laboratory) at the second day of the Symposium on Effects of Fishing on Benthic Habitats. Throughout the day participants listened to presentations describing natural changes of benthic habitats and the economic and ecological effects of fishing on these undersea areas. Mike Field of the USGS described some of the natural events that influence sea floors in his presentation "Living with Change: Response of the sea floor to natural events." Benthic habitats are subject to mild disturbances on a regular basis, from temperature changes, to tides and intensified currents. The greatest impact is the result of frequent events, not the level of disturbance. According Filed, if a hurricane comes through and wipes out an area every five years, the system has adjusted for this. A hurricane every year for several years, or several catastrophic events in a short time span, will cause more permanent damage. Other morning talks emphasized the importance of scale in understanding benthic ecosystems. Tara Anderson (USGS and National Marine Fisheries Service) discussed scale in relation to a study conducted on Australian seagrass beds. According to Anderson, a combination of large, intermediate (100's of meters), and fine (meters) scale sizes could prove useful for predicting the distribution and abundance of both habitat and fish. The information from these types of studies can inform managers, policy makers, and researchers on the formation of Marine Protected Areas and Essential Fish Habitats. Afternoon talks compared fishing and other human impacts with natural events. Chris Frid (University of Newcastle upon Tyne) argued that too little is understood about benthic ecosystems, and scale size studies add little to the knowledge. He suggested the popular fixation for researchers is on diversity, biomass, statistical analysis and indicator species, all too academic for what managers want to know: the activities of the system and not the ecosystem. Thursday's presentations examined social and economic issues and effects. Stephen Kellert (Yale University) described societal perceptions' roles in management, science and policy. Value systems, international agreements, profits and property rights all play a role in how fishers, managers, and conservationists react to legislation. Alison Rieser (University of Maine Law School) described the "battle of the dictionaries" that occurs with treaty agreements and legislation. The rest of the afternoon covered alternative ways to minimize adverse effects of fishing on benthic habitats, with the meeting culminating in a panel discussion on the future directions for managers, fisheries, and scientists. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 11:16:36 -0500 From: Ken Whitney <kwhitney@UCDAVIS.EDU> Subject: summary: simple programs for plotting GPS points Recently I queried the list about simple programs for plotting GPS points. everal folks have asked for a summary of the replies, so here they are (belo ). Many thanks to all who replied. The following programs were mentioned: 1) Arcview 2) Delorme TopoUSA 3) ExpertGPS expertgps.com 4) iMap (currently Mac-only) http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/bio/sys/im p/home.html 5) GPS Trackmaker Professional http://www.gpstm.com/ 6) spreadsheets ------------------ I used Delorme TopoUSA for my maps and therefore got all sorts of ancillary data. It was relatively simple to enter the data and format the map. You aren't going to be able to do things like geostatistics, but it doesn't sound like you need to anyway. It only cost me $100.00 and I got topos for the entire country. If you only need a small region, you can get a the regional version for about $35.00. The topos work well if you want to make a map of an area of a few square miles or greater, but are not as good at finer resolutions. You can purchase USGS topos to go with this package and may be able to get higher resolution if you need it. I found it worked well for a map I made of the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay. I made my own symbols to represent different cell counts and then placed them on the map based on lat and long. Because the program does not try to do everything, it is much easier to find out how to do the things that I did need to do. I have used arc info, arcview and played around with Grass (freeware GIS which seems about as powerful as Arcinfo), but getting data into the program was 90% of the battle even with arcinfo export files. With this program, the data is provided with the package. -------------------- OK, you're right about the learning curve for ArcView...but my friend Tom Orum put together a web site that let even me make maps: http://ag.arizona.edu/PLP/GIS/Case_Study_Af/Opening.html -------------------- A program like Arcview is relatively straightforward for making simple maps nd can be learned in a couple of days. It is the analysis and more advanced orkings of a GIS that tend to take a while longer to learn. I recomend the online ESRI courses for Arcview. They are about 100 bucks eac and will get you going quickly. -------------------- Check out ExpertGPS (try expertgps.com or topographics.com). They make three levels of the program: a free version that you can use to manage GPS data up to an $80 version with online access to USGS maps. I started with the free version, and within a month had purchased the full version. The tech support is pretty good too, although you are unlikely to need it. The learning curve is about 5 minutes long. I don't think they do differential corrections, but that is less of a concern these days than it used to be, depending on what you are doing. -------------------- At the very lowest end, you can treat them as x-y coordinates and use whatever software you'd make any other graph with. That's very limited, though, and you'll probably want to move up to a gis package at some point. ArcView is relatively friendly, and most academic institutions already have a site license. ---------------------- it's pretty easy to make maps in arcview for windows (depending on what you anted to put on them). ---------------------- Take a look at iMap (http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/bio/sys/imap/home.html) ---------------------- ....are the points still in the GPS unit? If it's a Garmin GPS, you can use Mapsource to download the points. If it is a Trimble GPS,use Pathfinder Office software. Both programs will generate a simple map,and both will allow you to export the points into ArcView as a shapefile.If you have the points written down somewhere in a text file or table, I would just go straight to ArcView." --------------------- For a quick map with our remote gps data, we use GPS Trackmaker Professional, a program made by designers in Brazil. I know you can use .bmp, .jpeg or .gif files, but probably more are compatable. The program can operate on Win NT/95/98/2000. You can download the basic version for free by going to http://www.gpstm.com/. --------------------- The simplest way I can think of to plot GPS points is to use UTM coordinates and plot the points using a spreadsheet or basic stats package. In Excel the e is much flexibility for adding text, lines, symbols, etc. --------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 16:46:02 -0600 From: David Broussard <brousdr@AUBURN.EDU> Subject: volunteer field positions We are seeking four volunteer field assistants needed to assist in ongoing projects dealing with Columbian ground squirrel life history and ecology in he Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada. Fieldwork entails observing, trapping, handling, and marking ground squirrels. Projects begin 10 April and end 5 August and are carried out through the R.B. Miller Biological Station owned nd operated by the University of Calgary. Projects include female mate choice, age-related reproduction of females, and maternal effects on offspring. Volunteers should be in good physical condition and be willing to work long hours in often harsh weather conditions. If interested please send e-mail t David Broussard (brousdr@auburn.edu). ********************************************************************** David Broussard 331 Funchess Hall Department of Biological Sciences Auburn University Auburn, Al 36849 brousdr@auburn.edu ********************************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 19:30:30 -0500 From: Deborah Neher <deborah.neher@UTOLEDO.EDU> Subject: Graduate Assistantships at University of Toledo We have openings for several M.S. or Ph.D. students with experience & interest in the following four topic areas in the Department of Earth, Ecological and Environmental Science, University of Toledo. Please contact the appropriate faculty members for further information on the topic of your interest. You can find application materials on the web through the Graduate School of University of Toledo (http://www.utoledo.edu/grad-school/). Please apply to the Biology, Ecology-track programs (http://www.eeescience.utoledo.edu/Academic%20Program ). Ecosystem and Landscape Ecology: Dr. Jiquan Chen (jiquan.chen@utoledo.edu). More information about the LEES Lab can be found at: http://research.eeescience.utoledo.edu/lees/ Ecological Modeling And System Ecology In Antarctica: Dr. Daryl Moorhead (dmoorhe@uoft02.utoledo.edu); activities summary (http://www.eeescience.utoledo.edu/Faculty/Moorhead/Moorhead_CV.htm). Soil Biological Indicators: Dr. Deb Neher (deborah.neher@utoledo.edu). General information about the Soil Biology Indicator lab can be found at http://research.eeescience.utoledo.edu/sobo/. Currently seeking two graduate students supported on grant-funded projects and a third supported on a teaching assistantship. Wetland Ecology: Dr. Hans Gottgens (jgottge@uoft02.utoledo.edu); see also http://www.eeescience.utoledo.edu/Faculty/Gottgens/Default.htm Environmental Microbiology and Bioremediation: Dr. Daryl Dwyer (daryl.dwyer@utoledo.edu); see also http://www.eeescience.utoledo.edu/Faculty/Dwyer/default.htm We apologize if you have received this advertisement from multiple listservs ------------------------------ End of ECOLOG-L Digest - 13 Nov 2002 to 14 Nov 2002 (#2002-290) *************************************************************** 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