Re: [ECOLOG-L] Non-Majors Biology
This subject all boils down to a simple question Why do I have to study (any) subjects that are boring, irrelevant, a turn-off, and learn little from them? That's what every school age children ask their parents and educators. Now, educators are asking Why do I have to teach subjects that are boring, irrelevant, and a turn-off to students? Interestingly, in this case ecologists are arguing on worth of teaching subjects of biology that are not of their strong interests (say, cell-DNA). I am sure that a professor of cell-DNA teaching non-major biology would question what's the worth of teaching ecology for non-biology majors?Then, this begs a question, what subjects of ecology (among us ecologists) think should not be taught to non-biology major's class because the subjects are, say boring, irrelevant, a turn-off, and learn little from them? Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, 濱崎俊秀PhD Alaska Department of Fish and Game: アラスカ州漁業野生動物課 Division of Commercial Fisheries: 商業漁業部 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: (907)267-2158 Cell: (907)440-9934
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Best way to jump start a career in ecology
Ryan, Perhaps, your experience is very typical. Looking at the ESA website on Ecology career, http://www.esa.org/education_diversity/webDocs/undergraduate.php The website sites ecologist jobs for BS degree: Intern, field/research technician, research assistant: majority of those are temp/seasonal job. MS degree: community college prof, research assistant, environmental manager/consultant, natural resource manager, field ecologist, wildlife biologist: Decent positions. Many state/federal government agencies (Fish Game, Fish wildlife) hire people that focus primarily on fieldwork and reporting such as baseline ecological evaluations, species identification (though many of them could be seasonal). However, from an employer's perspective, graduates from ecology degree are competing with graduates from fishery and wildlife management degrees who are more trained with practical fieldworks and understandings of resource management. Many graduates from those degrees also have already worked with the agency through school-agency tied internship/co-op programs. Private sector is also the same story.They are looking for people with practical experiences and skills. Unfortunately, it is often the case that ecology graduates don't have practical skills and experiences. You can see the clear differences by comparing job postings at Ecological Society of America, where 18 positions are posted, most of which are academic with phD required. http://www.esa.org/careers_certification/jobLists.php and American Fisheries Society, where 120 positions are posted, from BS degree to phD, from agencies, academics, privates. http://www.fisheries.org/afs/jobpage.php Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, 濱崎俊秀PhD Alaska Department of Fish and Game: アラスカ州漁業野生動物課 Division of Commercial Fisheries: 商業漁業部 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:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Ryan Metz Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 10:08 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Best way to jump start a career in ecology After graduating in 2009 I have bounced around a number of jobs, some of which were in my career field (ecology), some were not. So I took the advice of my former professors and volunteered. Since returning from France this summer as a volunteer ecologist for A Rocha international (due to intense competition and few opportunities) I have been largely unable to find a suitable position as an ecologist in the NYC area. I have since decided to broaden my search (nation wide), but have run into new difficulties. The first problem is the wide distribution of information scattered about the web. There seem to be any number of websites with ecological job postings which makes it very difficult to search for openings. So many of these sites are inadequate to say the least in terms of ease of use, search options, job descriptions, contact information, salary, etc. Most of these small sites are updated infrequently as well. The larger sites such as Monster, are much easier to search and use, but do not list the same positions as the smaller sites. The second problem is the apparent lack of information and direction available concerning ecological work outside of academia. I am well aware of the great number of private companies that hire scientists for any variety of work in the private sector, yet there seems to be very little anyone can tell me about these companies or the general kinds of work available to an ecologist. I've been able to contact a few people through linked in about the companies they work for, but outside of direct contact with employees, there is little to be found out about the private sector. The third issue that comes to mind are the postings on this list-serve. Most postings for job opportunities are for grad students, or research assistants with advanced degrees. I have seen a few postings for work in the public sector, but to my knowledge there has not been any mention of opportunities within the private sector. The thought occurred to me that there must be other list-serves geared towards job ops in general, yet I haven't come across any. To clarify, the jobs that I have been looking for are those that focus primarily on fieldwork and reporting such as baseline ecological evaluations, species identification, etc, and less on permitting and phase I and phase II assessments. I am hoping that some of you will be able to address these issues and/or respond with some helpful information in regard to finding a job in the private sector that will be worthwhile in terms of gaining knowledge and experience in the practical application of ecological principles. Ryan Metz
Re: [ECOLOG-L] UC-Berkeley and other 'public Iv ies'in fiscal peril
In the 1970s, there was almost no personal computers and printers. Electric calculator was noble. Library literature search means you go to the library and spend all day reading journals, follow citations, for other publications. Many ecological researches are based on field observations and simple experimental studies. Student dorm means just rooms and beds. All you needed for education were pen, paper, book, and brain. Now, everyone have PC, printer. Basic class lab work involves DNA sequences, and expensive chemical analyses machines, GIS, and yes internet. Student residential housing now have internet, AC, security, gym, pools, all amenities. All of those peripheral machines and equipments, minimum requirements for a basic education cost a lot of money to purchase, operate, maintain, upgrade, and replace. Oh, and a lot of supporting staff to keep those running without interruption. No wonder, the cost of education has become very expensive. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, 濱崎俊秀PhD Alaska Department of Fish and Game: アラスカ州漁業野生動物課 Division of Commercial Fisheries: 商業漁業部 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:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Martin Meiss Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 9:06 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] UC-Berkeley and other 'public Iv ies'in fiscal peril Hi, Rick, I don't think the answer is that simple. I went to a small, private, liberal arts college from 1970 through 1974 and it cost my father about $3,000 per year for room, board, and tuition. Now it would cost about $42,000, about a 14-fold increase. Inflation, which I'm guessing has been about three-fold since then, obviously only accounts for a small part of that, and since it is a private school, declining government subsidies are not the reason. The professors haven't all become millionaires. The campus hasn't been plated with gold. The students aren't getting an education that is ten times better than what I got. This is a general trend, not just a phenomenon of my alma mater, and I really do want to know what the hell is going on. My father had a bachelor's degree, and my annual college costs were about on fifth of his annual income. I have a PhD and the costs for my kids would be well over half of my annual income. Can someone out there tell my why higher education is becoming something only for the rich? Martin M. Meiss 2011/12/28 Rick Lindroth lindr...@wisc.edu The answer is simple and (nearly) universal: states' support for higher education has declined precipitously over recent decades, especially in recent years. In essence, states are transfering the financial burden of higher education from the general public to individuals (students and parents). Although tuition increases have been high, they cannot close the gap; hence the fiscal peril that public research institutions now find themselves in. ___ Richard L. Lindroth, Ph.D. Professor of Ecology, Associate Dean for Research, and Associate Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 53706 U.S.A. -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG- l...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Cherubini Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 6:29 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] UC-Berkeley and other 'public Iv ies'in fiscal peril The University of California at Berkeley subsists now in perpetual austerity. Star faculty take mandatory furloughs. Classes grow perceptibly larger each year. Roofs leak; e-mail crashes. One employee mows the entire campus. Wastebaskets are emptied once a week. Some professors lack telephones. If all of the above is true, then can someone please explain why for 20+ years the annual increase in the cost of college tuition has far outpaced the consumer price index, heath care, energy costs, etc. http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?doc_id=1450 http://tinyurl.com/6xq6hv Paul Cherubini El Dorado, Calif.
[ECOLOG-L] ADFG : Recruitment Notice; Fish Game Regional Supervisor, Wildlife Conservation, Region II
The Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation is recruiting for a Fish and Game Regional Supervisor. This position will lead wildlife management programs for Region II, which includes communities around Southcentral Alaska like Anchorage, Kodiak, Kenai Peninsula, and Cordova. This position is located in the Anchorage Regional Office and has a regional staff of 36 professional, technical, and administrative positions and four area offices. Program emphasis includes wildlife management and research activities primarily on moose, bear, caribou, wolf, sheep, goat, elk, deer, and furbearers. The primary responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to: * Overseeing approximately $4.9 million, comprised primarily from state and federal sources * Working cooperatively with state agencies, elected officials, municipal governments, federal agencies, and non-profit organizations engaged in wildlife conservation activities within the region * Serving as a member of the Division's senior management team, which determines program direction and recommends policy for wildlife programs statewide * Serving as a liaison to the Board of Game for developing and modifying hunting regulations that affect the region Significant management issues in this region include the following: human/wildlife interactions (primarily bears and moose in urban areas), wildlife sanctuaries, state game refuge land, and intensive management programs. Region II was comprised of eight area offices, but a recent reorganization created two distinct organizational units, each with four offices. Travel to urban and rural communities is associated with these activities, mostly by commercial or charter air carriers. http://notes4.state.ak.us/wa/postapps.nsf/3fce5e59a6a3b75189256443007a8e d2/ed1b2d83392aae6e89257943006aeeb8?OpenDocument David Thomson, Administrative Operations Manager Division of Wildlife Conservation, ADFG, 465-6194
[ECOLOG-L] FW: ADFG Recruitment for Habitat Biologist IV
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Habitat has an exciting Habitat Biologist IV opportunity to lead the Large Projects Team in their Anchorage area office. The position is a unique opportunity to conduct independent field research and protect important fish and wildlife habitat, in concert with responsible resource development in Alaska. Excellent communication and coordination skills are required to influence resource protection during review of proposed development projects. The successful applicant must have both a professional and an educational understanding of the ecological relationships among plants, animals, and their environment and of the impacts of human activities on fish, wildlife, and their habitats. Key responsibilities include: * Lead the Department's review of proposed large development projects; current examples include the Pebble Project and the Chuitna Coal Mine. The position will review and conduct fish, wildlife, hydrology, and habitat baseline studies, review and comment on National Environmental Policy Act documents, review and comment on environmental mitigation, water management, and project development plans, and represent the Department on the State's Large Mine Permitting Team. * Communicate and coordinate project review among all Divisions within the Department, other state and federal resource agencies, project proponents, and consultants. * Develop and implement appropriate long-term biological monitoring programs for water quality, fish distribution, aquatic habitat, and ecological toxicity in areas potentially affected by large development projects; author Habitat Division Technical Reports and seek opportunities for professional publication. * Manage the Anchorage Office Large Projects Team with jurisdiction of the Southcentral Region of Alaska, including supervision of two Habitat Biologists and project-specific budgeting and reporting. * Review, analyze, issue, monitor, and enforce AS 16.05.841 and AS 16.05.871 Fish Habitat Permits for activities which may impact fish habitat or fish passage and 5 AAC 95 Special Area Permits for activities within a state game refuge, game sanctuary, or critical habitat area. Permitting duties are focused primarily on exploration, baseline studies, and development activity related to large projects. * Conduct site visits to inspect exploration, baseline studies, and development projects and enforce Fish Habitat or Special Area permit requirements. * Review and comment on other state and federal resource agency authorizations, such as Alaska Department of Natural Resources water use permits, U.S. Corps of Engineers Clean Water Act permits, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits, and ADEC site-specific water quality criteria, to ensure that land and water use activities are conducted such that the productive capacity of fish and wildlife habitat is maintained and impacts to habitat and fish and wildlife resources are mitigated to the extent practicable. Success at this position will require the following demonstrated strengths: * Experience developing and advocating a course of action on behalf of a resource agency or organization OR experience with environmental compliance for large development projects, preferably in the mining industry. * Professional experience in the review or compliance of resource development projects that may impact fish and wildlife, habitat, water quality, or water quantity. * Demonstrated success funding, planning, implementing, and reporting field research projects. * Professional experience interpreting and applying environmental and water law relating to mining, water resource development, and habitat protection. * Demonstrated understanding of surface water and groundwater hydrology and the interaction between them. * Demonstrated understanding of ecological toxicity and water quality standards. * Exceptional oral and written communication skills, including organizational and negotiating skills. * Demonstrated success working effectively with others whose views are contrary to yours without conflict to accomplish habitat protection objectives. * Experience in managing projects, budgets, and personnel to achieve project objectives on time and within budgetary constraints. Please contact Mike Daigneault at michael.daignea...@alaska.gov for more information about this recruitment and check out the recruitment link below. If you think this position might be what you are looking for in your next career move, apply today! Recruitment Bulletin: Habitat Biologist IV (11-6034) http://notes3.state.ak.us/wa/PostApps.nsf/0/a703f79b1750871689257921006 01809?opendocument
Re: [ECOLOG-L] a non Ivory Tower view of invasive species
While we are still on invasive species in the US South Western Regions, what is everyone's opinion about wild horses in the US? They are apparently introduced and became invasive, yet are protected by law. BLM manages them as invasive species, while there is a law suit in the 9th circuit court of Appeals to consider them as native species. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028174.300-are-the-wild-horses-of-the-american-west-native.html http://tdn.com/lifestyles/article_71e93474-92ff-11e0-9d41-001cc4c002e0.html I always wondered about this issue while I was in NM. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, 濱崎俊秀PhD Alaska Department of Fish and Game: アラスカ州漁業野生動物課 Division of Commercial Fisheries: 商業漁業部 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: (907)267-2158 Cell: (907)440-9934
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Science in China? Washington Post.
I see nothing threatening about this. The US has been attracted/buying away/brain-drain scientists from all over the world. This may have created the US/Euro/Western centric perspective of science. Now, China is doing the same thing that the US has been doing. And, influx and enhanced interaction of foreign/Western scientists with Chinese scientist may evolve toward 'multi-cultural perspectives of science. This, I think is a welcome news for advancement of science. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, 濱崎俊秀PhD Alaska Department of Fish and Game: アラスカ州漁業野生動物課 Diivision of Commercial Fisheries: 商業漁業部 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: (907)267-2158 Cell: (907)440-9934
[ECOLOG-L] Manuscript journal submission confidentiality question.
All, Recently, I was contacted by a journalist regarding my research and a manuscript submitted to a journal. He was informed from someone about status of my manuscript, such as whether accepted, rejected, requested for resubmission with revision, etc. I thought this information was confidential among the authors, journal editors, and reviewers. Certainly, I would not reveal information to anyone about manuscript I reviewed for a journal. Or am I mistaken about this? 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
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Hypothesis Testing in Ecology
I contend that the majority of researches are NOT based on hypothesis testing. Every natural resource management agencies (Federal, state, and municipality) spends majority of their budget for data collection and monitoring to ensure that the focused natural resources are properly managed/protected. As such, the main research question is what current state of natural resources (e.g., abundance, distribution, mortality, growth, harvest, etc)? You don't need Null hypothesis testing to answer these questions. Instead, you would be using Bayesian statistics, rather than traditional frequentist null hypothesis testing statistics. And, yes, lots of grants are available, and many phD research projects were generated from those researches. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, 濱崎俊秀PhD Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: (907)267-2158 Cell: (907)440-9934
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.
Re: [ECOLOG-L] ecosystem based fisheries management
Wendee My guess is that we are still struggling with what ecosystem based fisheries management really means. In the end, fishery managers want to know the answer to this simple question: How many fish can we take this year? (I am asked this all the time.) In single stock fisheries management scheme, we know how to do in theory, such as stock-recruit analysis, etc. Although, it's not perfect, but at least this is based on theory. To answer this simple question in ecosystem base, you have answer, How many fish is needed to maintain integrity of an ecosystem, so that the fish exceeding the number can be harvested?, and How can you practically determine the number (i.e., what data do you need, what formula do you use to come up with the number)? As I feel guilty of conducting single species MSY fishery management, I pose the above questions to anybody who promote ecosystem based fisheries management. But, so far, I haven't gotten definite answers. -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of Wendee Holtcamp Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 5:43 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] ecosystem based fisheries management Are there any fisheries in the world that are actually managed using an ecosystem approach versus single-species stock assessment models? I know there's debate over whether the Bering Sea fisheries could become that way. The comprehensive research done there feeds into their regional fishery council's decisions, but I don't think it's truly an ecosystem-based approach in terms of analyzing how many of say Pollock are needed not just to feed people but also to feed the fur seals, the seabirds, etc to prevent ecosystem collapse. But my question is not about the Bering Sea but about whether there is ANY fishery that is actually managed in an ecosystem approach or whether it's still theoretical at this stage? Wendee Blogs for Nature from the Bering Sea ~ http://tinyurl.com/2ctghbl ~~ Wendee Holtcamp, M.S. Wildlife Ecology ~ @bohemianone Freelance Writer * Photographer * Bohemian http://www.wendeeholtcamp.com http://www.wendeeholtcamp.com/ http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com/ ~~ 6-wk Online Writing Course Starts Sep 4 (signup by Aug 28) ~~ ~~~ I'm Animal Planet's news blogger - http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_news
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Ecology Terminology and associated phenomena Colonizing species etc
Whether natural or cultural, every species takes advantage of opportunities to disperses/migrate to colonize and multiply. And, when they colonize/invade a new place (mostly already occupied), other species that have already there before (e.g., native species) would be affected. Some may adjust, thrive, and advance, while others may become extinct. Eventually, a new ecological community establishes, until another species invade/colonize or environmental condition changes. This is what every species does. Every species has some kind of dispersal mechanisms. Ecological community species interactions/compositions and ecosystem processes are dynamic and ephemeral, while our some of ecological disciplines are based on static perspective where set of communities and species interactions are static, complete, and integral. Nothing wrong with this. Within a limited time frame, they really can be considered static. For instance, many textbook describes the US southeastern oak-hickory forest as primary/virgin/old growth forest, but in reality, the forest was originally chestnut forest before chestnut blight wiped them out in 1900-40s. In decadal timeframe this forest is a stable oak-hickory forest, while in centuries timeframe it is an altered dynamic forest. Now, should chestnut be considered exotic species in this altered forest community? I don't think there is no objective measures to define what is considered I think it is imperative that to clearly state you own working (often subliminal) definition of native/non-native community/species in terms of time/spatial scale. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, PhD : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: toshihide.hamaz...@alaska.gov
Re: [ECOLOG-L] now I've seen it all: Decline in education
I don't think that students' education level has declined. 20-30 years ago, few high school students went to higher education, but now, having a bachelor degree is almost required for many jobs. In response to the demand for higher education, many universities increased school capacities, instead of limiting students. Consequently, we see more students who are unprepared in the classroom. If you believe in education, (I hope most of you are), then you have to work harder to raise students' level to the standard you believe in, by applying and developing various teaching techniques. I believe that's part of a college professor's job. If a professor just blames students for their unpreparedness and whatever, then I must say that the professor is also just lazy. By the way, I also have seen influx of so called just tell me what I need to know graduate students while I was at the graduate school. When I started about 20 years ago, all my graduate students peers came to the program because they were curious about ecology. Most of us stayed in the school till midnight 2-3 am, arguing about ecological theories in varieties of subjects. They chose research projects that were very difficult, time consuming, and probably far beyond thesis requirement. They worked until they were satisfied of their projects. Consequently, many students spent 7-10 years to finish and get the degree. By the time, I was about to graduate, popularity of ecology/conservation biology increased, and we had influx of students who just want to get a degree as soon as they can, so that they can do whatever with the earned degree. They were very smart, but their attitude was more like just tell me what I need to know to get the degree. They choose research p! rojects th at sure get sufficient results to write a thesis and graduate within 3-5 years, and they took only classes needed for their thesis projects. Needless to say, these new students did not mingle us old-timer graduate students at all. By the way, I saw nothing wrong with this change of attitudes. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, PhD : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: toshihide.hamaz...@alaska.gov
Re: [ECOLOG-L] real versus fake peer-reviewed journals
In regard to this issue, we should remind that we scientists also fall into this trap. In publishing a paper, we often look for a journal that has high probability of being published. In a way, all you need is several likely minded peers to have your paper published in a peer-reviewed journal. Below is a quote: Hilborn, R. 2006. Faith-based fisheries. Fisheries 31:554-555. A community of belief has arisen whose credo has become “fisheries management has failed, we need to abandon the old approaches and use marine protected areas and ecosystem-based management.” I fear that this belief has shaded the peer review process so badly that almost any paper showing a significant decline in fish abundance or benefits of marine protected areas has a high probability of getting favorable reviews in some journals regardless of the quality of the analysis. Critical peer review has been replaced by faith-based support for ideas and too many scientists have become advocates. An advocate knows the answer and looks for evidence to support it; a scientist asks nature how much support there is for competing hypotheses. http://www.fisheries.org/afs/docs/fisheries/fisheries_3111.pdf Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, PhD : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: toshihide.hamaz...@alaska.gov
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Plagiarizing methods...
As some research techniques become widely popular and standardized, I don't find any reason to cite the original paper. Nobody cite William Sealy Goseet for t-test, Ronald Fisher for ANOVA, or Howard T Fisher for GIS. In fact, you need to dig up a history book to find out who is the original inventor. PCR method was innovative when it came out in mid 80s. But, it has become widely popular on these days. Even a high school student with a PCR machine can do this. In fact, this is a cookbook method now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerase_chain_reaction When a research method is taught at undergraduate level, I don't think I need to cite the original paper for a publication. I use this rule of thumb. Does anyone have other rule of thumb for citation of a method? Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, PhD : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: toshihide.hamaz...@alaska.gov
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Plagiarizing methods...
Cara Lin, I think you are too hard on the issue about plagiarism toward non-English speakers. And as Jim pointed out, there are only so many intelligible ways to state a simple idea. And there are only a few efficient and elegant ways to state an idea. Everyone, including native English speakers learn how to speak and write by copying someone else's, which is called learning not plagiarism. For instance, when I was in a graduate school, my professor edited and rewrote my paper almost every sentences to show better ways of expressing of my idea. My professor also tasked me to read papers and list sentences that elegantly express ideas. And, of course, I read and copy writing style manual that show how to express ideas the simplest and the most efficient ways. Because of these trainings, my writing style and expressions of idea are very similar to my professor's. So, did I plagiarize? I don't think so. This is part of learning process. If your students are copying somebody's sentences because their writing style and sentence structure are better in expressing their own idea, then I call this as learning process. If students are copying the works of others to represent as their own, then this becomes a plagiarism. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, PhD : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: toshihide.hamaz...@alaska.gov -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of James Crants Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 7:10 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Plagiarizing methods... Cara Lin, I don't think it's plagiarism to state a very simple idea (like your PCR conditions) using the same words someone else did, since there are only so many intelligible ways to state a simple idea. The University of Calgary has some information on how they define academic plagiarism ( http://www.ucalgary.ca/~hexham/study/plag.html) that agrees with this position: For example many basic textbooks contain passages that come very close to plagiarism. So too do dictionaries and encyclopedia articles. In most of these cases the charge of plagiarism would be unjust because there are a limited number of way in which basic information can be conveyed in introductory textbooks and very short articles that require the author to comment on well known issues and events like the outbreak of the French Revolution, or the conversion of St. Augustine, or the philosophical definition of justice. Also, the Office of Research Integrity at the Department of Health and Human Services, USA (Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical writing. Miguel Roig. http://ori.dhhs.gov/education/products/plagiarism/plagiarism.pdf. p. 14) does not consider examples such as the ones you identified to be plagiarism: ORI generally does not pursue the limited use of identical or nearly identical phrases which describe a commonly-used methodology or previous research because ORI does not consider such use as substantially misleading to the reader or of great significance. (I include quotes AND indentations because Roig is quoting a caveat in ORI's definition of plagiarism, and I'm quoting him without knowing just what document he's quoting from.) Overall, I think it's commonly accepted that brief bits of text conveying simple ideas will offer the author only so much maneuvering room, and it's not plagiarism if there's really no sensible way of stating the idea in a novel way. So, yes, I would say you are being overly harsh if you are failing grad students for copying PCR reaction conditions, especially if the only evidence for plagiarism is that they used the same words someone else did to describe the conditions (i.e., if you don't know whether they really copied or just converged on the same wording). I would recommend checking out the above links and the loads of other good sources you can find by searching for plagiarism definition or academic plagiarism online. True, it's not always clear what is or isn't plagiarism, but I think the slope seems a lot less slippery when you look into how other people and organizations have tried to tackle the issue of defining plagiarism. Jim Crants On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 3:38 AM, Cara Lin Bridgman cara@msa.hinet.netwrote: James Crants' response is addressing the problem. Many people with English as a second or third language are trying to write papers in English. It is very easy to find sentences and paragraphs that have the grammar structure that says exactly what you want if you just change a few key words and numbers. When trying to write the methods for PCR, for example, it is easy to find someone else's methods, copy these methods,
Re: [ECOLOG-L] THE COST OF PUBLISHING RE: [ECOLOG-L] Open Access and Intellectual Imperialism
One snag with this is the language barrier for those writing papers in their second or third language: English. I agree with Cara. I always submit manuscript after being edited by my native English speaker co-workers and a professional editor. Even after those editing, journal reviewers often put low on Readability Criteria, such as * Interest: Captures and holds readers' attention. * Understandable: Uses easy-to-understand language and flows smoothly. * Development: Appropriately sequences and constructs paragraphs and sentences to support the central idea and conclusions. * Mechanics: Uses acceptable standards of spelling and grammar. In my experience, most of my Native English speaking coworkers can correct simple spelling and grammar errors. However, most of them can't correct language flow smoothly, except for them rewriting the entire manuscript, which they would not do. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, PhD : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: toshihide.hamaz...@alaska.gov CL wrote: One snag with this is the language barrier for those writing papers in their second or third language: English. I'm working hard to get my Taiwanese students to attend and follow directions, but it is an uphill battle. Some authors are just going to need some help. CL malcolm McCallum wrote: we are working to shift most of the formatting to the authors, but this requires VERY GOOD directions! ~~ Cara Lin Bridgman cara@msa.hinet.net P.O. Box 013 Shinjhuang http://megaview.com.tw/~caralin Longjing Township http://www.BugDorm.com Taichung County 43499 TaiwanPhone: 886-4-2632-5484 ~~
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Open Access and Intellectual Imperialism Approval required Re: [ECOLOG-L] Teaching Biostatistics !!!
Wow Open Access journals, open Access softwares, and plenty of undergraduates and graduate students who are interested in field and lab works. Now, I can do all of my projects almost at no cost, without hiring anyone with costly salary, benefits, and insurance. No wonder, John, the frustrated Post Doc, can't get a long-term stable career. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, PhD : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: toshihide.hamaz...@alaska.gov -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of malcolm McCallum Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 8:00 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Open Access and Intellectual Imperialism Approval required Re: [ECOLOG-L] Teaching Biostatistics !!! 1) I am a founding editor of Herpetological Conservation and Biology ( http://www.herpconbio.org).It charges nothing for anything. Our turn-around tends to be competitive with any other journal and if you look at the journal you will see that it is done pretty professionally and has a very good advisory board and editorial staff. This is done entirely by herpetologists without any cash outlay except for reserving the web address (~$25) and server costs (~$100). The layouts, editing, copy-editing, cover art, etc are all contributed. We are covered by all the major indexes, and ISI inclusion is hopefully forthcoming soon, and permanent copies are deposited in a series of major libraries. I am clearly convinced that for-pay online journals cover almost all of their overhead very early in the year. In fact, we have been approached by commercial companies who want to pick us up, and we have refused because it would escalate, not reduce costs. 2) If a discipline is not happy with the current journals, start a new one and do the buttload of work required to provide it a competitive showing. It really isn't that hard, you can even purchase, although we did not, pre-formatted websites on the web for a reasonable cost. It only takes a few folks who are dedicated, a lot of folks make it a breeze. 3) If you are a society that owns a journal consider moving your journal to your own server and abandoning the regular publishers. You can put every old paper on a website without any major problem. This can be done one of two way: (1) as an image files and then an abstract placed on the website so Google Scholar picks them up. Then go to the GS website and ask them to monitor your website. Its simple. 4) If you do not have the web programming background, get an undergraduate who is interested in the topic and make them the web manager. Today, many HighSchool students know web services and it is really no longer any harder than learning powerpoint or excel!!! 5) DON'T forget the Google Scholar database It is much more complete and refined today. YOu can also use Hartzing's publish or perish to determine your journal's relative citation rating (with some tweaking) and your personal citation rating using an h score and many other citation metrics. In 4 years, Google Scholar went from being pretty bad, to pretty good. If all the journal's make sure their papers are online and make sure they have inserted the journal into the google scholar search engine, then everyone everywhere would have access to everything. On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 6:56 PM, Wayne Tyson landr...@cox.net wrote: (Suggested replacement post) Ecolog: In my university I do not have access to literature sources like Biological Abstracts for example to reach the authors and articles . . . This is an excellent example, unfortunately, of how pricing intellectual resources out of range for outsiders is a moral indictment of much of academia. This man--or any man or woman or child (especially) should never have to hit a university firewall, be required to pay tens of dollars ($30, $40, and more) to download a pdf file, ad nauseam. Think of the burdensome expense and effort required on the part of so many even to gain the privilege of Internet access in the first place! Those truly concerned about the future of the earth and its life, even civilization, should realize that the history of intellectual development is one of free exchange of ideas and information, not its conversion into profit centers. It is not the struggling who should pay the comfortable, it is the comfortable who benefit from free intellectual synergy that compounds like a breeder-reactor, who should pay forward and backwards to ensure rather than obstruct such exchange. At long last, hath academia no sense of decency? Are there no institutions out there sufficiently well endowed and clearly beneficiaries of the wealth of intellectual struggle handed down from people like Dr. Voltolini throughout history (and still
[ECOLOG-L] More phDs working for resource managment agencies?
Colleagues, In our agencies, I have seeing more phDs applying to our positions and working for us. This is a great trend. When I was a graduate student, working for an agency was somehow looked down by our professors. So, I wonder if this trend is a sign of change of attitudes among academic faculties and graduate students, or just simple economic reality that recent graduates can’t get a permanent position (with benefits) in academic field. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, phD : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: toshihide.hamaz...@alaska.gov
Re: [ECOLOG-L] EdD vs PhD
If I can add to this clutter, qualities of phDs are vastly different among universities. Through my carrier, I have encountered many phDs and advised phD graduate students. Reviewing their manuscripts, research and dissertation projects, I sometimes wonder how they were able to receive phD and also question quality of their professors giving them phD. I can certainly say that MS students of my Alma Mater are definitely better than some phDs I encountered. Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki, phD : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: toshihide.hamaz...@alaska.gov
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Mac or PC? Hardware issue
Mac or PC? I think this discussion is just futile and largely meaningless. People make similar arguments over almost anything. What is lost in these argument is the most simple and important question: what do you want to accomplish, and does the gear you have can do the job what you want to accomplish? If the answer is yes, then who cares whatever gears you use? If the answer is yes, then find a gear that can do the job the most easily and conveniently. Again, your primary objective is to have your job done, which is mostly determined by your hard work, creativity, etc, not by your hardware, PC or Mac... Toshihide Hamachan Hamazaki : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: community-based conservation
Wendee Your description of community-based conservation sounds wonderful, but I just can't escape feeling a scent of Western Cultural Imperialism (e.g., We know better what is good for locals and conservation than they are.). One way to recognize this attitude is ask yourself a question Would you apply the same conservation methods to you or our own people here in the US? For instance, do you think the same approach will work to farmers and ranchers living adjacent to the Yellow Stone NP, so that bison, bears, wolves, etc can wander outside the park boundaries and not being shot? If the same approach does not work in the US, why do you think it will work in the 3rd world countries? -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of WENDEE HOLTCAMP Sent: Thursday, 28 June, 2007 07:31 To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: community-based conservation I guess I should better define what I meant by community-based conservation. I don't mean efforts going back to native peoples that live integrated with the land/ecology etc. I was trying to get at the concept that I believe started around the 1980s where Western conservationists recognized that to make conservation (most) effective, efforts should explicitly consider the livelihoods of the people living there (typically in 3rd world nations), and get them invested in conservation and somehow increase their livelihood or give them tangible reasons for wanting to conserve - usually monetary like jobs in parks etc. So instead of just going into African countries and setting aside a park and displacing people, to instead hire locals as guides, naturalists, guards etc - they have to be able to make more money in conservation than they were making poaching or ranching (cutting down forets, degrading land) and I guess this also goes hand in hand with teaching ranching methods that don't lead to desertification etc so even though outside influences are comi! ng into a locale, they're simultaneously needing to win the hearts and minds of the local people and convince them that they are actually helping them have better lives in the long run. It may also include teaching people to appreciate rare, local, and unique/indigenous species for various reasons - part of their history/culture, unique to their area of the world, etc. This is what I think of as community-based conservation. I always thought of it as starting in Africa but now I'm hearing of several efforts in South America around the same time so that's why I was asking - who was the first? Was there a single pioneer or a summit/conference where the conference emerged, etc. Someone mentioned a 1991 Summit but that is too late for it to be its origin. My sort of rough history is that in the 50s and 60s it was sort ofmore of an imperialist sort of conservation - just go in and make a park. But somewhere along the line, some pioneers recognized the above things should be ultimately more effective. However I don't have any book that I know of that outlines this history or has dates or people. I don't have time to do a big great literature review because in all honesty this is just a single sentence in a longer piece on a specific project. However I was sort of interested in whether it was common knowledge among those working in conservation (doesn't seem to be) or if anyone just knew offhand some person who was a clear pioneer here (or a handful of people). Thanks! Wendee ~~ Wendee Holtcamp * Freelance Writer * Photographer * Bohemian http://www.wendeeholtcamp.com Bohemian Adventures Blog * http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com The Fish Wars: A Christian Evolutionist http://thefishwars.blogspot.com ~~ Online Writing Course! Starting Aug 4. Sign Up Online! -Original Message- From: Felix Martinez [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 8:20 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Cc: WENDEE HOLTCAMP Subject: Re: community-based conservation Wendee, Community-based conservation as a concept has been around for a long time. It was widely practiced throughout the Pacific Islands prior to westernization of most of those societies. Some do still practice it at some level. In Hawaii the concept was called ahupua'a and it comes the closest I have seen to a true integrated approach to ecosystem management. I would also venture to guess that the first modern organized attempt of developing community-based approaches to solving anything most probably could be traced to the development of the Peace Corps in the 1960s. (Does anyone know when they started doing direct environmental conservation work?) Felix WENDEE HOLTCAMP wrote: Does anyone have names for the people who first created community-based conservation? I have seen (online) that it really started in the
