[ECOLOG-L] Job Announcement - Environmental Policy Specialist
I.M. Systems Group, Inc. (IMSG) (www.imsg.com) seeks a talented individual to serve as an Environmental Policy Specialist to support the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Response and Restoration ORR (www.response.restoration.noaa.gov) located in Silver Spring, MD. ORR is a program office in the National Ocean Service that responds to threats in order to protect and restore coastal resources. To do this ORR provides scientific response to releases of oil, chemicals, and contaminants, protects and restores NOAA trust resources. Duties: • This position serves as a general policy specialist, supporting the policy and program needs of ORR, coordinating, facilitating, and tracking activities, legislation, and policy. • Serve as the ORR point-of-contact and knowledge expert for specific policy issues and actions, and supports the ORR Deputy Director and Chief of Staff. • Responsible for implementing both short and long term special projects as needs arise and policy and requirements evolve • Utilize independent judgment and analytical skills in interpreting and reviewing policy, legislation, information requests and identifying impacts of proposed policy and legislative changes • Responsible for implementing and tracking activities, prioritizing needs, resolving or recommending solutions for critical problems and developing new approaches for ORR • Establish and coordinate a proactive legislative strategy that builds awareness of ORR core capabilities and key ORR programs and draft congressional briefing materials and responses to congressional inquiries related to ORR programs • Additional responsibilities may include strategic planning and participation in the program planning and budget process • This position requires extensive contacts with ORR technical and administrative staff; NOAA and NOS policy, legislative affairs, and budget staff; NOAA offices and programs; and other Federal, state, and local agencies, and other stakeholders. Qualifications: Required: • Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of three years’ experience in a communications capacity • Excellent written and oral communications skills. Experience in communicating effectively with congress. • Strong organization skills and attention to detail • Self-motivated energetic strategic thinker • Ability to work well individually and cooperatively with a range of individuals • Ability to work on several projects simultaneously and to shift priorities as needed. Preferred: • Master’s Degree in communications or environmental policy. Experience working for a government agency in a marine science related field • Experience in media and public relations To Apply: Please submit your resume, a writing sample, salary requirements and the contact information for three (3) references, your salary requirements and a cover letter explaining how your qualifications meet the requirements of the position to j...@imsg.com with the following subject line: NOA10056 – Environmental Policy Specialist. The salary for this position will be in the low to mid $50,000 - $60,000. IMSG offers an outstanding benefits package including company paid medical benefits and three weeks paid time off. IMSG is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Veteran friendly.
[ECOLOG-L] Hilton Pond 12/22/10 (House Finch Follow-ups)
After our photo essay last week about possible diminished migration in eastern House Finch populations, we got some great questions and comments from visitors to our Web site. As a result, This Week at Hilton Pond we're revisiting the finch topic with some follow-up information about conjunctivitis, banding effort, foreign recaptures, and our sure-fire method for differentiating Purple Finches from House Finches. To view the latest installment for 22-28 December 2010, please see http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek101222.html While there don't forget to scroll down for our usual list of birds banded and recaptured, a couple of miscellaneous notes about still-frigid weather, an obligatory photo of Christmas snow at Hilton Pond, and a shout out to some folks who made tax-deductible contributions this week in support of our education, research, and conservation activities--including on-line publication of This Week at Hilton Pond. Happy (End of Year) Nature Watching! 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 office cell (803) 684-5852 fax (803) 684-0255 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 ==
[ECOLOG-L] The Great Plowshare Tortoise Robbery of 1996
The Great Plowshare Tortoise Robbery of 1996 Speaker: Jennie Erin Smith, author of Stolen World: A Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers, and Skulduggery New York Turtle and Tortoise Society Presents Sunday January 16, The Arsenal Gallery, Central Park 65th ST, Fifth Avenue, 11:00 A.M. Ms. Smith will be speaking about the unsolved mystery of the stolen plowshare tortoises from Madagascaran interesting, surprising, and complex whodunit, some of which is told in Stolen World. Her book will be available for signing. Jennie Smith writes: In 1996, 75 plowshare tortoises, Geochelone yniphora, were stolen from a breeding facility in Madagascar owned by the Jersey Wildlife Conservation Trust in the United Kingdom (now the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust). Plowshares were considered the most endangered tortoise species in the world at the time of the theft, which became international news and ultimately, following the emergence of some of the animals in Holland many months later, an international incident, as the governments of Holland, the United States, and Madagascar tussled over the fate of about 40 recovered animals. In reporting for my book, Stolen World, I endeavored to find out what had happened to the tortoises, traveling to Madagascar, Malaysia, and Holland, interviewing not only the investigators but some of the suspected thieves, who revealed bits and pieces of what had happened and why. The story that emerged was a surprising one, involving not just wildlife smugglers but international conservation institutions confronted with one of the most difficult tasks imaginablesaving a species in the face of corruption, greed, and dwindling resources. Unfortunately, there are no heroes in it. Save these NYTTS meeting dates for 2011: January 16, February 13, and March 13. An April date for the Annual Seminar to be announced soon. Please visit www.nytts.org.
[ECOLOG-L] Attention Graduate Students: AIBS is Accepting Applications for the 2011 Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) Public Policy Office is pleased to announce that applications are being accepted for the 2011 Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award (EPPLA). This award recognizes graduate students in the biological sciences and science education who have demonstrated initiative and leadership in science policy. EPPLA recipients receive first-hand experience at the interface of science and public policy. The 2011 winners will receive an expense paid trip to Washington, DC to participate in meetings with their congressional delegation, training and information on the federal budget and appropriations process, a certificate and 1-year AIBS membership, a complimentary 1-year subscription to BioScience , and a copy of Communicating Science: A Primer for Working with the Media. The deadline to apply is 5 pm EST on 22 January 2010. Application information is available at http://www.aibs.org/public-policy/student_opportunities.html
[ECOLOG-L] Conference: Multitrophic Interactions, Warren Abrahamson
The Bucknell University Department of Biology and Dean of Arts and Sciences are pleased to announce a two-day international symposium entitled Evolutionary Ecology across Trophic Levels - A Symposium in Honor of Warren Abrahamson to be held in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA on Monday, June 13 and Tuesday June 14, 2011. The conference will feature over 20 scientific talks to be given by alumni, collaborators, and friends of the Abrahamson Lab. Topics will address the diversity of subjects and approaches taken by Abe over his career, from the ecology and evolution of plant-insect interactions, to community and ecosystem approaches to fire ecology, restoration, and conservation of natural landscapes. Please visit the symposium website for a complete list of speakers. A contributed poster session is also planned. Activities will include a banquet, picnic, and talent show, as well as regional natural history excursions (tentative). Events will be held in the Elaine Langone Center on the Bucknell Campus. Anticipated costs include registration fees of $35 for students and $75 for all others. These fees will include meals and snacks but not lodging. Additional tickets to the picnic and banquet will be available at cost. Registration is not currently active, but will be available in February at the conference website. Convenient lodging in Bucknell dormitories will be available for $38/ night single and $30/night double occupancy, with a one-time key charge of $10. There are many high-quality hotels, inns, and BBs in the region as well. The Bucknell University campus provides easy access to the downtown shopping, dining, and entertainment district of Lewisburg, a town noted for its historical preservation and vibrant culture. Details can be found at: http://www.lewisburgpa.com/ This conference will celebrate Warren Abrahamson's 38 years of service to Bucknell University and the scientific community in anticipation of his upcoming retirement in the summer of 2012. During his career, Abe has supervised approximately 200 undergraduate research students, 18 Master's recipients, and 21 postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have remained active in science. In 2009 he was named a AAAS fellow. His main research interests include 1) multitrophic plant-insect interactions using the goldenrod system and 2) fire ecology and plant demography in Florida's upland communities. Please visit the conference webpage for more information and updates: http://bucknell.edu/x65430.xml For more information on Warren Abrhamson and his work, please visit his lab website: http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/abrahmsn/ Questions and comments can be addressed to steve.jor...@bucknell.edu
[ECOLOG-L] Environmental Assessment for trial release of exotic mycoinsecticide for grasshopper control
An environmental assessment (EA) for the release of two fungus species under development for grasshopper control in western US rangelands is available for comment. These fungi are tropical in origin and exotic to US grasslands. The EA is available at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/grasshopper/index.sht ml. Comments on the EA are due January 28, 2011 and can be emailed to: john.gas...@ars.usda.gov; or sent by mail to: Charles Brown , National Grasshopper Program Manager, USDA/APHIS/PPQ, 4700 River Road Unit 26, Riverdale, MD 20737 As stated in the Purpose and Need for Action of the EA: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) Pest Permit Branch (PPB) is proposing to issue permits for release of two commercial formulations of the fungus Metarhizium acridum (M. acridum) (Green Muscle and Green Guard). The fungus would be used by the applicant for an experiment to determine the efficacy of M. acridum against grasshopper species in the continental United States. Before permits are issued for release of M. acridum, PPQ needs to analyze the potential impacts of the release of this agent into a site in either Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, or Arizona. Because M. acridum is being introduced as a non-recycling mycoinsecticide and not as a persistent, classical biological control organism, only these specific sites will be analyzed. An analysis of impacts to the continental United States typical for first time releases of classical biological control organisms is unnecessary because of the short-lived nature of this organism in the environment where it will be released. Organisms for classical biological control are considered capable of establishing and reproducing in the environment.
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Graphing software for undergrad courses
Whether or not we like EXCEL using for graphing and statistics, reality is that almost all people (business, academic, government, NGO, etc) use EXCEL for those purposes. Even those who use R regularly, use EXCEL for data entry and simple summary statistics. (How many of R users directly input data to R using data - c()? ) I also know that many my coworkers took stats using R, but now most of them use EXCEL for data summary, graphing, and simple stats. In today's work environment, all graduating students must have fluency in EXCEL or similar spreadsheet programs. For this reason, I use EXCEL for my introductory stats class. Even they forget all stats they were taught, they will remember how to use EXCEL, which will be their benefit for job. If EXCEL is costly, then Open Office Calc is a better alternative. Almost similar (EXCEL 2003) interface and functionality, and free. Yes, some of EXCEL Stats calculation is very questionable quality in precisions, but many ecologists often ignore fundamental statistical assumptions: unbiased sampling, assurance of samples representing a population of interest, valid replications, no measurement errors, assurance of independent and identically distributed random variables, etc. Ignoring those issues will result in wrong estimates, even using R or other best stats programs. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, 濱崎俊秀PhD Alaska Department of Fish and Game Diivision of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: (907)267-2158 Cell: (907)440-9934 -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of malcolm McCallum Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 10:35 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Graphing software for undergrad courses Use R, it will do any graphs you need and you are giving them the opportunity to work with a legit widely used program that everyone should use. malcolm On Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 11:26 AM, Corbin, Jeffrey D. corb...@union.edu wrote: Hello Ecologgers - Does anyone have recommendations for alternatives to Excel for graphing and/or spreadsheet applications in undergraduate labs? I have finally decided that Excel's graphing is so nonintuitive that it is not worth the waste of time to teach in an undergraduate lab. Requirements: - It only needs to do very simple graphs - bar graphs of means +/- SE for several treatments, regression, etc.; - I am very happy with SigmaPlot for my own research applications, but I am looking for something (e.g. Freeware) that we can install on dozens of Department computers without the licensing fees. Also, may students complete assignments on their own laptops so having something that they can install themselves would be preferable. - If it also has spreadsheet capabilities (e.g. sorting, formulas, calculation of means and SE, etc.) it would be even better. Could be a different program, though. While we're on the subject, any recommendations for free, but user-friendly, stats packages for undergrad labs (t-test, ANOVA, regression) would be helpful too. Thanks, and Happy New Year. -Jeff *** Jeffrey D. Corbin Department of Biological Sciences Union College Schenectady, NY 12308 (518) 388-6097 *** -- Malcolm L. McCallum Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive - Allan Nation 1880's: There's lots of good fish in the sea W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. 2022: Soylent Green is People! Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.
[ECOLOG-L] Registration now open for the 2nd International Marine Conservation Congress
Registration is open for the 2nd International Marine Conservation Congress. Please go to www.conbio.org/imcc2011http://www.conbio.org/imcc2011 Early registration is open until February 15th. Information on Pre and post IMCC workshops and focus groups, special events, field trips, and accommodation are all available! Looking forward to seeing you in Victoria!
[ECOLOG-L] Positions Announcement
Sub-Antarctic Ecosystems and Biocultural Conservation Research Cluster Announces 2 New Faculty Positions The University of North Texas ( UNT: www.unt.eduhttp://www.unt.edu/) has embarked on a major, multi-year university-wide initiative to hire new faculty in priority areas, add new professional staff and make infrastructure improvements to enhance and expand its scientific research. In this context, the Sub-Antarctic Ecosystems and Biocultural Conservation Research Cluster seeks candidates in the following areas: · Plant Ecologist at the Associate/Full Level with a Ph.D. in ecology or related field and research and teaching activities in aspects of global environmental change and preference for a sub-discipline related to bryology (taxonomy, systematics, biogeography and/or ecology) · Ecosystem Services Researcher (rank open) with a Ph.D. in a social science, philosophy, environmental/ecological economics or related discipline and research and teaching activities in a specific sub-area related to values, metaphors and/or perceptions of global environmental change. The successful candidate will be an integral part of the new interdisciplinary Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program (www.chile.unt.eduhttp://www.chile.unt.edu/) with a focus in the interrelationship of ecology and culture in the temperate and sub-Antarctic ecoregion of southern Chile and its relevance and connections to the rest of the world, particularly other high latitude biomes. The selected individual will become part of a “cluster” research team at UNT that includes a multi-year hiring process to further enhance research activities in the science and practice of ecology and conservation. The position will be expected to support the instructional goals of the university at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The Program at UNT is coordinated by the Departments of Biological Sciences and Philosophy Religion Studies with ongoing initiatives linked throughout the university and an intense collaboration with scientists at the Chilean Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (www.ieb-chile.clhttp://www.ieb-chile.cl/), the nascent Chilean Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research Network (www.ieb-chile.cl/ltserhttp://www.ieb-chile.cl/ltser) and the Universidad de Magallanes (www.umag.cl/williamshttp://www.umag.cl/williams). For posting details and how to apply visit: https://facultyjobs.unt.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=51115 and https://facultyjobs.unt.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=51116 For more information contact: Dr. Christopher B. Anderson, Coordinator of the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program – UNT and UMAG (christopher.ander...@unt.edumailto:christopher.ander...@unt.edu, christopher.ander...@umag.clmailto:christopher.ander...@umag.cl)) About UNT: With over 36,000 students, UNT is an emerging research institute (U.S. News World Report 2009) located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and offering doctoral degrees in 50 different areas. Excellent research facilities as well as competitive salary and start-up funds are available through this cluster hiring process. UNT is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution committed to diversity in its employment and educational programs, thereby creating a welcoming environment for everyone.
[ECOLOG-L] POSTDOC in ECOSYSTEM SERVICES at CEDAR CREEK, U of MN
We are seeking applications for a post-doctoral associate in ecosystem services and/or environmental economics to work with Drs. Stephen Polasky and David Tilman as part of the Cedar Creek LTER program at the University of Minnesota. The appointment is for one year with potential for renewal, to begin as soon as possible. The specific research project to be conducted will depend on the interests of the successful applicant, however its focus will be on ecosystem services, the factors contributing to their quantity and quality, and their value to society. This work would be at least partially based on analyses of the Cedar Creek dataset gathered from long-term observational and experimental field studies, as well as cross-LTER syntheses. Questions should be addressed to Drs. Stephen Polasky, pola...@umn.edu or David Tilman, til...@umn.edu, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. Visit http://cedarcreek.umn.edu/ for more information about the site and ongoing research projects. To apply, send a statement of research interests, a CV, and three letters of recommendation to Belinda Befort, bef...@umn.edu, with the subject line: Cedar Creek Post-Doc Search. Review of applications will begin January 21, 2010, and continue until the position is filled.
