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Distinguished Ecologist Series
FW5500 - CRN 83099
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| All lectures are on Thursdays at 4:00 p.m.
Hesterberg Hall
Room G002 in the U. J. Noblet Building
Fall 2007 Schedule:
Dr. Elizabeth Losos
Duke UniversitySeeing the Forest for the Trees: Changing Tropical Ecosystems
October 3-5, 2007
Forest Diversity and Dynamism: Findings from a Network of Large-Scale Tropical Forest Plots.
Setting priorities for conserving bio-diversity in tropical timber production forests.
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Elizabeth Losos is the President and CEO of the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), whose mission is to promote leadership in research, education, and the responsible use of natural resources. OTS is a consortium of more than 60 universities, colleges, and research institutions. The organization operates three scientific field stations in Costa Rica – La Selva, Palo Verde, and Las Cruces Biological Stations – and offers graduate, undergraduate, and professional field-based science and policy courses in Costa Rica, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and South Africa. Before joining OTS last year, Dr. Losos spent almost a dozen years directing the Smithsonian’s Center for Tropical Forest Science, a network of 18 long-term, large-scale Forest Dynamics Plots in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
Dr. Losos holds a doctorate degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from Princeton University, a master's degree in public administration from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. Her research interests include tropical forest community ecology, conservation biology, and science policy. |
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Dr. Jennifer Harden
USGS, Menlo Park California
A Paradigm for Soil Resilience (abstract)
October 10-12, 2007
Dynamics of soil carbon during deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
Moss and soil contributions to the annual net carbon flux of a maturing boreal forest.
Resilience and Stability of Ecological Systems Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. |
"I am a Soil Scientist on the research staff at the U.S. Geological Survey where I have served as project scientist and/or project chief since 1982. I have contributed to research on geologic mapping, geochronology, geologic faulting, paleoclimate, landform evolution, carbon cycling and biogeochemical interactions in soil systems."
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My research is currently focused on the role of soils in carbon and nutrient cycling, with an emphasis on landscape disturbances such as glaciation, agricultural erosion/sedimentation, and wildfire." |
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Dr. Paul Beier
University. Northern Arizona
Cougars, Corridors, and Missing Linkages: 20 years of science, conservation, and advocacy
October 17-19, 2007
Forks in the road: choices in GIS procedures for designing wildland linkages South Coast Missing Linkages: restoring
connectivity to wildlands in the largest
metropolitan area in the USA
Being Ethical as Conservation Biologists and as
a Society
Do Habitat Corridors Provide Connectivity? |
Paul Beier conducts research in wildlife ecology and conservation biology with a focus on conservation planning at landscape scales. His 1988-1992 study of cougars is best known for its documentation that cougars during juvenile dispersal find and use habitat corridors in urban southern California to reach distant mountain ranges where they establish home territories as breeding adults. Since then he has worked on “missing linkages” efforts in California and Arizona to promote science-based efforts to maintain wildlife corridors on large regional scales. These alliances among state and federal agencies, local planning agencies, and conservation organizations are not trying to slow down the rate of fragmentation, but to improve connectivity for wildlife and ecosystem processes.
He has also studied Mexican spotted owls, northern goshawks, and forest bird communities in the U.S. and West Africa. Since 2000, he has worked with traditional chiefs in West Africa to create and manage community-based wildlife sanctuaries for hippopotamus, elephants, and rare forest birds. In 2003, he chaired a team that undertook a massive review of scientific literature on the Florida panther. He also serves on the Recovery Team for the endangered ocelot population in Texas.
Beier serves on the Board of Governors of the Society for Conservation Biology. In this capacity, he chaired the effort that produced the Society’s first Code of Ethics, and successfully helped to make SCB the first society of professional ecologists to take responsibility for its greenhouse gas emissions. His website is http://oak.ucc.nau.edu/pb1/ |
The Series:
  Michigan Technological University, the Ecosystem Science Center and the USDA Forest Service - Northern Research Station are pleased to announce a Distinguished Ecologist Lecture Series with the following objectives:
1) To provide students, faculty and researchers at MTU and NCRS with opportunities to hear prominent ecologists discuss their research.
2) To provide graduate students with a unique seminar experience.
3) To provide leading ecologists with an opportunity to learn more about research being conducted at MTU and the NCRS.
Each fall semester, the Lecture Series will host four internationally recognized ecologists. Each visit by an ecologist will include: delivering the Distinguished Lecture, leading a graduate seminar on a topic of the ecologist's choice, meeting with students and faculty, touring MTU and NCRS research facilities, and attending social events.
The School of Forest Resources & Environmental Science is offering the Series as a 1-credit graduate-level course (FW5500 - CRN 83099) with the goals of formally introducing graduate students to the published research of visiting ecologists, and providing a seminar opportunity for students to interact with the ecologists.
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Goals:Three distinguished ecologists will visit MTU this fall semester to participate in a newly established Distinguished Ecologist Lecture Series. The School of Forest Resources & Environmental Science is offering this Series as a 1-credit course to provide graduate and advanced undergraduate students with a unique opportunity to meet with some of the world's leading ecologists and to discuss their research. To enhance the quality of this encounter, the course will include pre- and post-visit meetings to review the research of the ecologist and discuss how their work has impacted the field of ecology.
Format:This 1-credit class will have an average of 0.2 hours lecture and 0.8 hours recitation per week. For each ecologist, the course schedule will include:
A pre-visit seminar, 2 hours: Review of the career and recent work of the visiting ecologist. Readings by the ecologist will be assigned ahead of time.
A seminar with the speaker, 1 hour: An opportunity to meet with the speaker and hear about and discuss their career and recent work.
The Distinguished Ecologist Lecture, 1 hour: This will be a campus-wide event at which the Distinguished Ecologist Lecture will be presented.
A post-visit seminar, 1 hour: An opportunity to discuss the visit, including the readings, seminar and lecture.
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Requirements:
Graduate standing, or advanced undergraduates with permission of instructors. This course is offered annually in the Fall semester. Students may take this class for credit in multiple years (i.e., you can sign up for this course more than once)
Last updated:
September 19, 2007
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