Spring 2000
STATION NEWS
THOMAS MORE COLLEGE BIOLOGY FIELD STATION
Thomas More College Biology Field Station has
received funding from the Ohio River Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) to install
a "River Tap" in the Center for Ohio River Research and Education
building. The "river tap" will pump raw untreated river water directly
into the building and thereby allow for a vast array of research and teaching
opportunities in house. Installation will begin as soon as the river level permit.
ORSANCO researchers will be the first to use this new system once it is operational.
John R. Hageman, Director:
333 Thomas More Pkwy 86 Route 8
Crestview Hills, KY 41017
www.thomasmore.edu/tmcorbfs/tmcorbfs.html
john.hageman@thomasmore.ed
PINELANDS FIELD STATION
It is difficult to believe that just over 5 years
has gone by since I came over to the USA to become the Director of the Rutgers
Pinelands Field Station. I admit to having been a sleeping member of the OBFS,
but I have been wanting to get set up and a program running so that I had something
more to say than Hi, I’m here!
When I started, Rutgers was good enough to hold
a grant from Victoria Foundation for me to hire a postdoc for a year. So with
Christine Conn and Dennis Gray (our faithful and indispensable, technician)
we started developing the station to work on below ground processes. Christine
looked at the role of leaf litters influencing ectomycorrhizal communities on
roots and we started trying to get involved in educational programs, with limited
success. Amy Tuininga joined us a PhD graduate student and Heather Livesey as
MS (now at medical school!). Amy is still with us and finishing off a great
thesis on the effects of control burning on ectomycorrhizae and nutrient availability.
This she has done with Dennis doing a lot of soil analyses as a joint project.
Indeed, Dennis has become so interested in this idea, he has recently joined
the graduate program and is working on his doctorate.
With a second grant from Victoria Foundation we
added some vegetational analyses to the fire study and, together with Max Haggblom
and Bob Tate, we have been trying to see if we can use phospholipid fatty acid
and BIOLG plate methods to detect shifts in microbial communities due to this
disturbance. Shannon Nix (PhD) is working on phylloplane fungi on cranberries,
Murray McHugh is finishing his MS work on the role of mycorrhizal inoculation,
salinity, inundation and fertilizer on the establishment of Spartina seedlings,
whilst Leigh Ann Rowlan will be starting to characterize bacterial communities
associated with different ectomycorrhizal communities. Meanwhile, with thanks
to NSF and USDA grants we are working with Jim Baxter and Lena Jonsson (postdocs)
on the role of leaf litters and faunal grazing on the outcome of ectomycorrhizal
community structure and the effects of these communities on nutrient uptake.
We are also running an experimental protocol for Lou Kaplan at the Stroud Water
Research Center (PA) with Christine Edly, as part of a NSF grant.
Links with campuses at both New Brunswick and Camden have allowed joint NSF
funded research with Georgia Arbuckle (Chemistry, Camden) where Marcella Mascarenhas
investigated the use of FT-IR microspectroscopy a as tool for investigating
real-time changes in carbohydrate chemistry of leaves during decomposition.
Undergraduate internship programs from both Camden and New Brunswick, together
with a link to the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez has allowed us to develop
undergraduate research training. This has been successful form the students
point of view and we have one paper in press and another in prep to show for
it. Roxanne Robles Torre also completed her MS at UPR (joint student) on mycorrhizae
of trees in the tropical dry forest of Guanica (similarities to pine barrens,
but a different suite of plants) and we are expecting to publish her work.
Finally, we have persuaded the University to inject
some cash into the station. We now have a new phone system (no more running
between buildings to find people) and air conditioning in the office!! More
upgrades are expected in the next few months and I am hoping that this will
act as good matching funds for a NSF improvement grant to increase our pitiful
accommodation space. Then, I hope we can get some short courses underway. A
couple of years ago, we set up a Web page, but, being left to me to update,
soon got out of date. Jim Baxter recently offered to resurrect it, so please
check us out at http://celebes.rutgers.edu.
John Dighton
Rutgers University
KEMP NATURAL RESOURCES STATION
Research and Education Among Wisconsin’s
Northwoods: Located in the heart of Wisconsin’s Northwoods, Kemp Natural
Resources Station is a University of Wisconsin-Madison facility dedicated to
research, instruction and outreach on the management, conservation and preservation
of natural resources. Kemp’s 230 acres support some of the last remnants
of old-growth forest in the Lake States, and its location on the shores of the
3,500-acre Tomahawk Lake make Kemp a unique research and teaching facility.
Diverse Flora and Fauna: Kemp offers extensive opportunities for scientists
to study the forests, soils, wildlife, and water resources of northern Wisconsin.
Several distinct ecosystems are found on site, including:
• Old-growth forests of eastern hemlock, pine, and northern hardwoods;
• Second-growth forests of aspen, birch, pine, and oak;
• Several bogs, marshes, wetlands, and one bog lake;
• More than one mile of shoreline along Tomahawk Lake.
This varied environment supports a diverse wildlife
population of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and invertebrates.
In addition, Kemp is situated among 3.3 million acres of public forest land
and several thousand lakes. These features make Kemp Station ideally suited
as a center for natural resources research and education.
Laboratory, Classroom, and Lodging: Kemp Station
provides laboratory facilities and accommodations in historic northwoods-style
buildings. Facilities include laboratory, classroom, lodge, cabin, kitchen/dining
hall, boathouse, and workshop. The laboratory was recently modernized with a
National Science Foundation FSML grant. The building includes wet and dry labs,
sample preparation area, computer lab, offices, and conference room. The classroom
has space for 30 people and is well equipped with audiovisual equipment. Overnight
accommo-dations are located in the lodge and cabin. The lodge sleeps 30 people
and offers a dramatic view of Tomahawk Lake. Visitors prepare their own meals
in the fully equipped kitchen & dining hall. The cabin sleeps an additional
6 people and includes bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and living room. The boathouse
and boat launch provide ready access to the waters of Tomahawk Lake and the
Minocqua chain of lakes.
A Tradition of Research and Education: Kemp Station has a rich and varied history.
The Station was built in the early 1900s as a summer estate by the family of
Edward M. Kemp. In 1960, Susan Small and Sally Greenleaf, Mr. Kemp’s granddaughters,
donated the property to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This most generous
gift was made for the purpose of "research on the management, preservation
and wise use of land and water resources."
Today Kemp Station conducts a variety of research
projects covering a broad range of disciplines. These include botany, forest
ecology, wildlife ecology, plant pathology, entomology, limnology, and rural
sociology. An extensive curriculum of field courses trains today’s students
to become tomorrow’s scientists and resource mangers. And, an active outreach
program puts research to work, linking the residents of northern Wisconsin with
the informational resources of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kemp Station invites scientists, instructors, and outreach educators to use
its facilities for the pursuit and dissemination of natural resources knowledge.
For more information, contact:
Thomas W. Steele
Kemp Natural Resources Station
8031 Kemp Woods Road
Woodruf,f WI 54568-9643
Phone 715-356-9070
Fax 715-356-3669
Email kemp@calshp.cals.wisc.edu
Web:http://www.cals.wisc.edu/research/stations/research_stations12.html
HUMBOLDT FIELD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
New Co-sponsorship of Eagle Hill Seminar Series
in Ecological Restoration ...
Now in its second year, the Eagle Hill Ecological Restoration Seminar Series
is being co-sponsored by the Society for Ecological Restoration. The professional-level
seminars listed below, provide a wide range of opportunities to study and understand
the complex process of planning and carrying out ecological restoration projects.
Seminars are intended for restoration practitioners involved in the repair and
restoration of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, including stream and
riparian ecosystems. Introductory seminars provide comprehensive overviews of
key topics that are then presented in greater detail in followup seminars. Master
seminars provide specialized study opportunities for those with advanced backgrounds.
As a whole, the Seminar Series emphasizes the applied aspects of ecological
restoration and their basis in the science of restoration ecology.
The Eagle Hill Ecological Restoration Seminar
Series provides training and experiences for the growing number of professionals
who are working beyond the traditional limits of landscaping, reforestation,
reclamation, land management and the corollary pure sciences. The Seminar Series
is, of necessity, interdisciplinary in nature. It merges concepts and techniques
from a number of disciplines in order to develop optimal approaches for the
restoration of lands and waters to more natural ecological conditions. The seminars
are taught by experienced instructors who are professionally involved in planning
and carrying out restoration projects and thus provide knowledge of up-to-date
methods, thought processes, and ways of restoring lost ecological processes
and cover to land- and waterscapes. Given that the discipline of ecological
restoration is in rapid transition, participants are expected to put serious
and creative efforts into each seminar.
Seminars are held at different locations across
the United States and Canada and at other locations upon request of a sponsoring
organization. Seminars may be taken individually or as a series in order to
earn a Certificate in Restoration Ecology.
The Institute is interested in hearing from field stations that might be interested
in hosting and co-sponsoring one or more of these seminars, especially in the
eastern half of the US and Canada.
Seminar topics
• Applied Ecological Restoration: Introduction and Overview
• Applied Habitat Restoration in Flood-Adapted Ecosystems
• Bioengineering with Natural and Native Fiber-based Materials
• Forest Restoration
• Freshwater Wetland and Upland Restoration in the Southeastern Coastal
Plain
• Introduction to Bioengineering
• Restoration of Gravel Mines and Erosional Surfaces in the Sub-arctic
• Restoration of Parklands
• Restoration of Phragmites Degraded Salt Marshes: The Science and Techniques
• Riparian Restoration, Planning, and Design
• Salvage of Plant Communities
• Techniques for Reviewing Restoration Plans
Seminar locations
• Bartow, Florida, USA - Florida Institute of Phosphate Research
• Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - Churchill Northern Studies Center
• Concord, New Hampshire, USA - Society for the Protection of New Hampshire
Forests
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA - Riveredge Nature Center (Newburg, WI)
• New London, Connecticut, USA - Connecticut College Center for Conservation,
Biology and Environmental Studies
• Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada - Niagara College (St. Catharines, Ontario)
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA - Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust
(Huntingdon, PA)
• Steuben, Maine, USA - Humboldt Field Research Institute
• Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA - Glen Helen Ecology Institute
Joerg-Henner Lotze, Director
Humboldt Field Research Institute
Northeastern Naturalist
PO Box 9, Dyer Bay Road
Steuben, ME 04680
Phone: 207-546-2821, FAX: 207-546-3042
humboldt@nemaine.com
http://maine.maine.edu/~eaglhill
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY
The Mount Desert Island Biological Lab's Marine
DNA Sequencing Center opened for business the beginning of July, 1999, and to
date has sequenced over 1.3 million base pairs of DNA from a wide variety of
marine species. Nearly 700 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) have been run from
Dr. John Forrest’s dogfish shark rectal gland cDNA library. He has given
these ESTs to MDIBL and their sequence will soon be put in the public domain
for scientists world-wide to use. Investigators have also submitted samples
to be sequenced from such organisms as green crab, skate and zebrafish, to augment
extensive physiological studies with the benefits of the latest in genetic technology.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact the facility's supervisor
at cmsmith@mdibl.org, or look at our web site, www.mdibl.org, which includes
instructions and preparation tips for submitting marine DNA samples.
Chris Smith, Supervisor
Marine DNA Sequencing Facility
P.O. Box 35, Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Salisbury Cove, ME 04672
phone: 207-288-9880
fax: 207-288-2130 www.mdibl.org
LOUIS CALDER CENTER - BIOLOGICAL STATION
Graduate Teaching and Research Fellowships
- Ecology and Evolution. The Department of Biology, Fordham University has research
and teaching fellowships available for Ph.D. students interested in field biology
in many areas of Ecology and Evolution: (www.fordham.edu/calder_center/calder-center/ecolgradprog.html).
Areas of emphasis for graduate research include ecosystem impacts of urbanization,
paleoenvironmental studies and causes of extinction, nutrient cycling in soils,
forest tree physiological ecology, insect-plant interactions, aquatic microbial
ecology, physiological ecology of small mammals, impacts of exotic plant and
animals species, ecology of Lyme disease, and ecology of algae in streams and
rivers.
• Students will have available the facilities of the Louis Calder Center
- Biological Station for their studies (www.fordham.edu/calder_center).
• Opportunities are also available for research projects in collaboration
with scientists at the Wildlife Conservation Society (www.wcs.org).
• Stipends range from $15,000 to $17,000 per year, plus full tuition remission.
• Applications for the Fall 2000 semester may be requested from: www.fordham.edu/gsas/index.html
Or contact us by writing:
Graduate Admission, Louis Calder Center - Biological Station, Fordham University, PO Box K, Armonk, NY 10504.