[ECOLOG-L] Research Technician - FSU Biological Sciences

[Sarah Lester]

Research Technician
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida State University

Responsibilities: The research technician will be based in the 
Department of Biological Sciences at FSU in Tallahassee, Florida, 
supervised by Dr. Andrew Rassweiler, but will also work closely with Dr. 
Sarah Lester in FSU’s Department of Geography.  The technician will help 
support an exciting portfolio of projects focused on the topics of 
marine biodiversity, coral reef resilience, ecological state change, 
marine spatial planning, and sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. 
Research in the lab is inherently interdisciplinary, focusing on 
addressing fundamental questions in marine ecology, but also on applying 
those insights to conservation and management. The position includes a 
broad diversity of responsibilities and the ideal candidate is excited 
to participate in a range of research activities. 

The initial focus of the position will be on measuring marine 
biodiversity as part of a multi-institution Marine Biodiversity 
Observing Network project (http://sbc.marinebon.org/about/).  For this 
project, the technician will help to develop a tradeoff framework to 
estimate costs and benefits of alternative sampling methods and guide 
decisions about the design of future monitoring.  The technician will 
work with ecological data from diverse sources, and will participate in 
the development of cutting-edge techniques for biodiversity monitoring.  
In addition to this focal project, there will be opportunities to engage 
in other research projects in the lab, including field work.

The research technician will be expected to:
- Assist with data acquisition, management, processing, and analysis of 
large disparate datasets.
- Help with parameterizing and running simulation models.
- Conduct literature reviews and assist with preparing scientific 
manuscripts and presentations, with the potential to be involved as a 
co-author on papers.
- Assist with managing the lab, including purchasing supplies and 
equipment, organizing the lab, coordinating lab logistics, and 
recruiting and coordinating undergraduate research assistants.
- Participate in local marine fieldwork in coastal, intertidal and 
possibly subtidal habitats.

Qualifications: 
Required: 
- Bachelors or Masters degree in Marine Science, Ecology, Environmental 
Science, or related field.
- Strong quantitative and statistical skills and/or interest in 
developing those skills
- Experience with programming or scripted analysis in programs such as 
R, SAS, Matlab or similar.
- Strong skills in data acquisition and management.  
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a team and 
independently
- Strong initiative and problem-solving skills

Preferred (but not required): AAUS certification, experience operating 
small boats, proficiency with GIS.

Terms: Ideally the position would start in September 2017, but start 
date is flexible. Initial appointment would be for one year, with strong 
potential for renewal contingent on performance. Salary commensurate 
with experience. 

How to apply: Apply by submitting a cover letter, CV, and names and 
contact information for three professional references as a single PDF to 
rasster@gmail.com.  Contact Dr. Andrew Rassweiler at 
rasswei...@bio.fsu.edu with any questions. This position will remain 
open until filled.  Application review will begin on July 15, 2017, 
although all applications received before August 1 will be considered.

[ECOLOG-L] Requesting Assistance with Tabanid ID

[John A.]

Thanks to heavy rainfall over the past few months, the place where I live 
has more than its share of deerflies this summer, and I’m very interested in 
identifying which species are present—especially since there seems to be a new 
species in the mix which I haven’t seen before.

Since I don’t have a background in entomology, I’d be very glad of any help 
in identifying these species.  I have several specimens which are fresh, albeit 
somewhat two-dimensional, and collecting additional specimens presents no great 
challenge.  If anyone is able to help, please contact me off-list with my 
thanks in advance.


  - J. A.

[ECOLOG-L] US removes 17 sites from UN Biosphere Reserve Network, including the Niwot Ridge LTER site

[David Inouye]

https://www.ecowatch.com/un-biosphere-reserve-2442151611.html?xrs=RebelMouse_fb=1497542727


--
Dr. David W. Inouye
Professor Emeritus
Department of Biology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4415
ino...@umd.edu

Principal Investigator
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory
PO Box 519
Crested Butte, CO 81224

[ECOLOG-L] New book: Spatial, Temporal and Spatial-Temporal Ecological Data Analysis with R-INLA

[Highland Statistics Ltd]

We are pleased to announce the following book:

Spatial, Temporal and Spatial-Temporal Ecological Data Analysis with R-INLA
Authors: Zuur, Ieno, Saveliev


Book website: www.highstat.com
Paperback or EBook can be order (exclusively) from www.highstat.com
TOC: http://highstat.com/Books/BGS/SpatialTemp/Zuuretal2017_TOCOnline.pdf


Summary: We explain how to apply linear regression models, generalised 
linear models (GLM), and generalised linear mixed-effects models (GLMM) 
to spatial, temporal, and spatial-temporal data.



Outline
In Chapter 2 we discuss an important topic: dependency. Ignoring this 
means that we have pseudoreplication. We present a series of examples 
and discuss how dependency can manifest itself.


We briefly discuss frequentist tools that are available for the analysis 
of temporal and spatial data in Chapters 3 and 4, and we will conclude 
that their application is rather limited, especially if non-Gaussian 
distributions are required. We will therefore consider alternative 
models, but these require Bayesian techniques.


In Chapter 5 we discuss linear mixed-effects models to analyse 
hierarchical (i.e. clustered or nested) data, and in Chapter 6 we 
outline how we add spatial and spatial-temporal dependency to regression 
models via spatial (and/or temporal) correlated random effects.


In Chapter 7 we introduce Bayesian analysis, Markov chain Monte Carlo 
techniques (MCMC), and Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA). 
INLA allows us to apply models to spatial, temporal, or spatial-temporal 
data.


In Chapters 8 through 16 we present a series of INLA examples. We start 
by applying linear regression and mixed-effects models in INLA (Chapters 
8 and 9), followed by GLM examples in Chapter 10. In Chapters 11 through 
13 we show how to apply GLM models on spatial data. In Chapter 14 we 
discuss time-series techniques and how to implement them in INLA. 
Finally, in Chapters 15 and 16 we analyse spatial-temporal models in INLA.






--
Dr. Alain F. Zuur

First author of:
1. Beginner's Guide to GAMM with R (2014).
2. Beginner's Guide to GLM and GLMM with R (2013).
3. Beginner's Guide to GAM with R (2012).
4. Zero Inflated Models and GLMM with R (2012).
5. A Beginner's Guide to R (2009).
6. Mixed effects models and extensions in ecology with R (2009).
7. Analysing Ecological Data (2007).

Highland Statistics Ltd.
9 St Clair Wynd
UK - AB41 6DZ Newburgh
Tel:   0044 1358 788177
Email: highs...@highstat.com
URL: www.highstat.com


--

Dr. Alain F. Zuur



Author of:
1. Beginner's Guide to Spatial, Temporal and Spatial-Temporal Ecological Data 
Analysis with R-INLA. (2017).
2. Beginner's Guide to Zero-Inflated Models with R (2016).
3. Beginner's Guide to Data Exploration and Visualisation with R (2015).
4. Beginner's Guide to GAMM with R (2014).
5. Beginner's Guide to GLM and GLMM with R (2013).
6. Beginner's Guide to GAM with R (2012).
7. Zero Inflated Models and GLMM with R (2012).
8. A Beginner's Guide to R (2009).
9. Mixed effects models and extensions in ecology with R (2009).
10. Analysing Ecological Data (2007).

Highland Statistics Ltd.
9 St Clair Wynd
UK - AB41 6DZ Newburgh
Tel:   0044 1358 788177
Email: highs...@highstat.com
URL:   www.highstat.com

[ECOLOG-L] Worth reading! Re: [ECOLOG-L] US removes 17 sites from UN Biosphere Reserve Network, including the Niwot Ridge LTER site

[Susan Kephart]

David and colleagues

Thanks for letting us know. I hope everyone takes a moment to link to this 
website David shared below and writes their congressional representatives as 
Science and outstanding international conservation and US based efforts seem to 
be disappearing without notice. 

> https://www.ecowatch.com/un-biosphere-reserve-2442151611.html?xrs=RebelMouse_fb=1497542727


This is very troubling… of those 17 sites removed from UNESCO in the west where 
I now reside now include the well known Three Sisters Wilderness, H.J Andrews 
(used widely for education and research, both in Oregon; Konza Prairie in 
Kansas and the California Coast Ranges.

Remarkably,  in the Eastern US, it also includes, one of the iconic landmarks 
for studying the effects of deforestation on ecosystem nutrient cycling, 
Hubbard Brook. The quoted list from the website is below

"Sites that have been withdrawn by the US sites are: Aleutian Islands; Beaver 
Creek; California Coast Ranges; Carolinian South Atlantic; Central Plains; 
Coram; Desert; Fraser; H.J. Andrews; Hubbard Brook; Konza Prairie Research 
Natural Area; Land Between the Lake; Niwot Ridge; Noatak; Stanislas-Tuolumne; 
Three Sisters; Virgin Islands."

Note: in a quick search to see what is still on the web, I came across forest 
scientist Jerry Franklin's landmark summary and map of the the rationale and 
development of these sites, published originally in Science at

https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_exp_forests/coram/rmrs_1977_franklin_j001.pdf

I don't know how long some of these secondary sources will still be on line. 
Note this is a federal link. I downloaded a pdf copy and of course its 
accessible thru Science but I hope folks will try to directly access these 
related resources before they disappear.

Two conferences are set to begin this week and next in Portland, OR  
(Evolution, SSE), and Ft Worth Texas (Botany 2017), and Ft Worth Texas. ESA 
convenes in August in Portland OR as well.   I hope there will be productive 
discussions about how to create better understanding and awareness among 
scientists, citizens, educations, and policy decision makers. We have our work 
cut out for us and how we act, discuss, vote matter! 


Best regards

Susan Kephart

Dr. Susan R Kephart
Professor of Biology
Willamette University
Salem, OR 97301
skephart[at]willamette.edu

On Jun 20, 2017, at 6:40 AM, David Inouye  wrote:

> https://www.ecowatch.com/un-biosphere-reserve-2442151611.html?xrs=RebelMouse_fb=1497542727
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dr. David W. Inouye
> Professor Emeritus
> Department of Biology
> University of Maryland
> College Park, MD 20742-4415
> ino...@umd.edu
> 
> Principal Investigator
> Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory
> PO Box 519
> Crested Butte, CO 81224

[ECOLOG-L] Call for AGU 2017 Abstracts: Disturbance Impacts to Ecosystem Functioning and Services in the Southeastern, USA.

[Siegert, Courtney]

2017 AGU Fall Meeting, 11-15 December 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana



Session ID: 25425

Session Title: B025. Disturbance Impacts to Ecosystem Functioning and Services 
in the Southeastern, USA

Section/Focus Group: Biogeosciences

Link:  https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm17/preliminaryview.cgi/Session25425



***The abstract submission site is now open. The deadline for all submissions 
is Wednesday, 2 August 23:59 EDT



Session Description: Natural and anthropogenic disturbances are widespread 
across terrestrial ecosystems of the southeastern United States. Disturbances 
such as fire, floods, extreme weather, and insect/pathogen outbreaks have 
dramatic effects on ecosystem services including impacts on water, carbon, and 
nutrient cycles. The large spatial and temporal variability of both disturbance 
regime and ecosystem response creates a critical need to understand key 
ecological mechanisms that control feedback loops associated with resiliency or 
equilibrium change. We encourage contributions providing new insights into 
methods, measurements, and modeling of the hydrology and biogeochemistry of 
ecosystem disturbances, with particular focus on the southeastern United States.



Conveners: Courtney Siegert 
(courtney.sieg...@msstate.edu), Heather 
Alexander 
(heather.alexan...@msstate.edu), Heidi 
Renninger (heidi.rennin...@msstate.edu)


Courtney M. Siegert
Assistant Professor of Forest Hydrology
347 Thompson Hall
Department of Forestry
College of Forest Resources
Mississippi State University
(662) 325-7481
www.siegert-hydrolab.com

[ECOLOG-L] Sustaining Bio Infrastructure: Mini Course for Field Station Leaders

[Jill Parsons]

Sustaining Biological Infrastructure
Strategies for Success: A Mini-Course for Field Station Leaders

Is your field station or lab financially sustainable? Do you feel 
confident in your ability to manage finances, plan for the future, analyze 
your stakeholders, and diversify your funding sources?  If you want to 
build skills in these areas, please join us for a special one-day course 
on September 20th, where you’ll learn how to use the business model canvas 
in addition to other strategic planning tools. 

This special course will be held in conjunction with the 2017 OBFS Annual 
Meeting at the University of Minnesota’s Itasca Biological Station and 
Labs. The regular course fee is $200. OBFS Member Stations qualify for a 
$100 scholarship! 

Register online at: http://esa.org/sbi/2017-mini-course/ 

Contact j...@esa.org with any questions.

[ECOLOG-L] MSc and PhD positions - Northern Water Futures

[Leanne Baker]

**Please contact Andrea Lister - alis...@wlu.ca regarding these positions.**

As part of the Northern Water Futures* research initiative Wilfrid Laurier
University and University of Waterloo are actively looking to recruit 3
highly motivated graduate students in the fields of aquatic ecology and
ecotoxicology. Projects will involve both laboratory work, and field
research in the Dehcho region of the Northwest Territories, and involve
communicating with multiple stakeholders, including Indigenous peoples.  

PhD student #1 (Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,
Supervisor: Deb MacLatchy): Research will be undertaken to develop
indicators of fish and aquatic ecosystem health in a region subject to oil
and gas development. Physiological (e.g., fish condition, lipid content,
fecundity, liver-somatic index), community (e.g., aquatic invertebrate
community assemblage), and ecosystem (e.g., food web structure) endpoints
will be explored, related to existing water quality conditions, and
evaluated with respect to sensitivity to predicted development.

PhD student #2 (University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,
Supervisor: Heidi Swanson): Research will be undertaken to understand and
compare fish community structure, age and growth, and habitat use between
two connected lakes that differ markedly in stock biomass and contaminant
concentrations. The successful candidate will employ acoustic telemetry
techniques, stable isotope analyses, and fish growth analyses to newly
collected samples. Historical data will also be compiled and analyzed. 

MSc Student #1 (Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,
Supervisor: Deb MacLatchy): Research will be undertaken to compare food web
structure (including plankton, benthic invertebrates and fish) between two
connected lakes that differ markedly in fish biomass and contaminant
concentrations. The successful candidate will employ stable isotope
analyses, and fish and benthic macroinvertebrate ID skills. Results will be
analyzed in the context of understanding differences between the lakes in
fish mercury concentrations.

Interested candidates should forward their CV, transcript(s), and a cover
letter indicating their interest in, and suitability for, the positions to:
Andrea Lister - alis...@wlu.ca. Start dates: September 2017 or January 2018.

*https://gwf.usask.ca/science/pillar-3-projects.php#NorthernWaterFutures

[ECOLOG-L] AGU Session: Land Use Change and Water Resources

[Sam Zipper]

Hi Ecologgers-
I wanted to highlight an AGU session I'm co-convening on the impact of 
land use/cover change and water resources. In particular, we would love to 
see submissions on feedbacks between ecological processes (terrestrial and 
aquatic) and water resources, and how land use/cover change might impact 
those feedbacks.

Here is the session info; I've copied the abstract at the bottom of this 
message:
https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm17/preliminaryview.cgi/Session29367

Feel free to contact me with any questions, and hope to see you there!
-Sam (samuel.zip...@mail.mcgill.ca)

H126: Understanding the extent and impacts of land-use/land-cover change 
on water resources

Land-use and land cover change have the potential to drastically alter the 
hydrologic cycle and alter the spatiotemporal movements of water 
resources. The emerging challenges of land system changes from a natural 
resource perspective are (1) Observing/estimating land-use and land-cover 
change and (2) Quantifying/predicting subsequent hydrologic impacts. This 
session invites submissions that use emerging geospatial techniques such 
as remote sensing, modeling, assimilation of observed vegetation 
characteristics, and in situ observations like isotopes. Studies are 
welcomed that quantify hydrologically-relevant landscape change and/or 
examine land-use and land-cover impacts on: (i) Regional water 
balance/water resource change; (ii) groundwater resources/groundwater-
surface water interactions; (iii) Subsurface-land-atmosphere feedbacks; 
(iv) Regional climate/drought characteristics; (v) Hydro-chemical fluxes 
and nutrient cycling. We also welcome studies exploring disturbance from 
natural versus anthropogenic sources and those dealing with uncertainty in 
selection of land cover datasets, statistical methods, or numerical 
modeling.

[ECOLOG-L] Crowdfunding for the ISE Darrell Posey Fellowship program to support science and conservation projects on biocultural diversity

[JBP]

Hurry up and share this widely and pleasetry to contribute to this 
crowdfunding project (Generosity by Indiegogo) if you think biocultural 
diversity heritages should be more scientifically studied and protected by 
local people. Even few bucks would be appreciated (tax deductible 
crowdfunding). The Fellowship program is established by the International 
Society of Ethnobiology (ISE). Money will be used to fund:

- Field Fellowships of $20,000/year for two years
- PhD Fellowships of $5,000/year for two years
- Masters Fellowships of $3,000/year for one year
- Small Grants to community organizations of $5,000/year for two years
- Attendance by all fellows to the 2018 International Society of 
 Ethnobiology Congress in Belem, Brazil

Follow the link bellow to contribute: https://www.generosity.com/community-
fundraising/protect-the-world-s-biocultural-heritage


Dr Jean-Baptiste Pichancourt, manager of the Biocultural diversity 
community (20,000 members https://goo.gl/SZv58O) partnered by the 
International Society of Ethnobiology (ISE http://www.ethnobiology.net/) 

Research scientist (PhD)
Laboratory of forest and wood science 
Agroparistech/INRA -  UMR 1092 LERFOB
14 rue Girardet 54000 Nancy, France

jean-baptiste.pichanco...@agroparistech.fr

Professional profiles & social networks:
Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RbRrJgoiaYQC
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jean-
Baptiste_Pichancourt
Academia: https://csiro.academia.edu/JeanBaptistePichancourt
LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/in/jbpichancourt
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JeanBaptistePichancourt/about

[ECOLOG-L] PhD in restoration genetics, University of Nevada, Reno

[Elizabeth Leger]

The Parchman lab at the University of Nevada, Reno is recruiting a PhD student 
to conduct 
population genetic and genomic analyses on a suite of native plants in the 
Great Basin 
Desert. The student would be advised by Dr. Thomas Parchman (Department of 
Biology; 
http://parchmanlab.com) and co-advised by Dr. Elizabeth Leger (Department of 
Natural 
Resources and Environmental Sciences; http://www.ag.unr.edu/leger/Leger/ 
Home.html). 
This work, funded by a USDA NIFA grant, aims to determine the phenotypes and 
evolutionary histories that enhance seedling establishment and to analyze the 
genetic 
structure and diversity of native plant populations to inform restoration 
practices. Ideal 
applicants would have strong interest in plant evolutionary genetics and some 
or all of the 
following qualifications (or a strong desire to learn these skills): 1) 
Molecular genetic 
laboratory experience, 2) Programming experience in R, Unix, and/or Perl (or 
Python), 3) 
interest in the ecology and evolutionary biology of Great Basin native plants 
4) Past 
experience or strong interest in restoration ecology and restoration genetics. 

UNR has a strong interdisciplinary PhD program in Ecology, Evolution, and 
Conservation 
Biology (http://environment.unr.edu/eecb/). Graduate students accepted into the 
EECB 
program are guaranteed financial support through Teaching Assistantships (TAs), 
which 
includes health insurance and an out-of-state tuition waiver.  For this 
position, funds are 
additionally available for a number of semesters will be available through 
Research 
Assistantships (RAs). The successful applicant could begin the PhD program as 
soon as 
Fall 2017, with the possibility of joining the lab sooner as a technician. 

University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) is a Tier I research university located in a 
spectacular 
environment at the confluence of the Great Basin and the Sierra Nevada 
Mountains. The 
faculty and graduate students at UNR are highly interactive and include an 
internationally 
known group of evolutionary biologists and ecologists. The Parchman lab has 
recently 
been renovated, and is equipped with ample (and new) molecular and 
computational 
resources for modern genome sequence analysis. We are also located in an ideal 
setting 
for field-based projects in the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada regions, allowing 
enviable 
access to spectacular montane and desert ecosystems. Reno is only 40 minutes 
from Lake 
Tahoe, offers a high quality of living, an excellent climate, and is a large 
enough city to 
offer diverse activities and amenities. World class rock climbing, skiing, and 
mountain 
biking opportunities are in extremely close proximity.

Interested applicants should send a CV, copies of transcripts, and a statement 
of research 
experience and interests to Tom Parchman (tparch...@unr.edu) and Elizabeth 
Leger 
(ele...@cabnr.unr.edu). Consideration will begin immediately and applications 
will be 
reviewed until the position is filled.