yale environmental NEWS

Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies spring 2012 · vol. 17, no. 2

Entomology Lunch Group Brown Bags It to French Guiana page 10 FROM THE CONFERENCES, DIRECTOR SEMINARS, SYMPOSIA

Changing Times: Changing Approaches

It is that time of year again, to produce the second issue of the Yale Environmental News (YEN). For the last 17 years, YEN has provided reliable, in-depth insight about all activities related to the environment at Yale, and our readership has come to anticipate receiving this magazine in the mail semi-annually. Yet, the production of the magazine demands paper, and paper production has a considerable environmental footprint due to yibs/esc and ycei Glacial/Interglacial CO2 Cycles  Scott Wing, natural resource extraction, energy demand friday noon seminars Research Scientist and Curator, Department and pollution. In keeping with Yale University’s of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution The Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies efforts to become more environmentally and Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting continues its tradition of presenting conscious and sustainable, we have decided to Environmental Scholar, Yale Department of environmental interdisciplinary seminars migrate YEN to on-line web-based production. Geology & Geophysics: Global Warming 56 during the fall and spring semesters. Speakers Apart from reducing the environmental Million Years Ago—Is Earth History Important and their topics during the spring 2012 footprint, a web-based format allows us to the Human Future?  Michael Donoghue, semester were: to provide a more dynamic way to present G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Ecology information, including more frequent and Walter Jetz, Professor, Yale Department of & Evolutionary Biology, Yale Department of hence timely presentation of breaking findings, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology: Inferring Species Ecology & Evolutionary Biology: Special YIBS the ability to link stories to other background Extinction Risk from Spatial, Environmental and Director’s Vision Seminar on How to Advance contextual information at Yale and elsewhere, Phylogenetic Information  Dame Alison Richard, the Field of Science: Nothing in Evolution Makes and offer live discussions and interviews Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Sense Except in Light of Biology  Nicholas through video. It will also foster the use of new Franklin Muzzy Crosby Professor of the Human Longrich, YIBS Postdoctoral Associate, Yale social media as part of the outreach, including Environment, Yale Department of Anthropology, Department of Geology & Geophysics: Beyond the opportunity for the readership to participate former Provost of Yale University and former the Extinction of the Dinosaurs: Evidence For Mass in an on-line discussions and commentary Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge: Extinction Among Birds and Lizards 65 Million about Yale’s environmental activities. Science in the Service of Conservation: A Case Years Ago  Dan Rosauer, Gaylord Donnelley We are excited about the host of new Study from Southwest Madagascar  Arne Environmental Postdoctoral Associate, Yale creative opportunities that this shift in Mooers, Professor of Biodiversity, Simon Fraser Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology: publication medium will present. Even though University and Edward P. Bass Distinguished The Global Mammal Radiation—Phylogeny, it is a change, I want to assure the readership Visiting Environmental Scholar in the Yale Endemism and Conservation. that they can still count on the YEN to maintain Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology: its tradition of producing high quality, visually (How) Might Phylogenetics Inform Conservation For a list of seminars and speakers for fall 2012, compelling stories and information about Biology?  Maria McNamara, Postdoctoral please visit www.yale.edu/yibs/events_yibsesc.html the environment. We will send a postcard to Fellow, Yale Department of Geology & inform you that the fall 2012 issue is online. If Geophysics: Ancient Insects in Technicolor: The you wish to receive this information for future Preservation and Evolution of Insect Structural yibs program for the study of issues, please send your email address to  Colors David Skelly, Professor, Yale School of global change spring seminars [email protected] and we will add you Forestry & Environmental Studies: Special YIBS 2012 to an ongoing email distribution list. Director’s Vision Seminar: How to Advance the The Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies Field of Science—Experimental Macroecology Program on the Study of Global Change pre-  Michael Bender, Professor of Geosciences, sented its Global Change Seminar Series dur- Princeton University, and Yale Department ing the spring 2012 semester. The focus of the of Geology & Geophysics Flint Lecturer: The spring talks was Climate and Precipitation: Influence of Light on Phytoplankton Productivity Past, Present and Future Perspectives, and the in the Southern Ocean, with Comments about speakers and their topics were:

2 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 DONNELLEY AND YIBS POSTDOCTORAL NEWS

Stephen J. Burns, Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Department of Geosciences: Speleothem Records of the South American Summer Monsoon over the Past Two Glacial Cycles—Tropical and Extratropical Connections Peter deMenocal, Professor, Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Department of Earth and messinger middleton nugent ogburn Environmental Sciences: Green Sahara: Holocene Climate and Life in North Africa Four Gaylord Donnelley Environmental  David Noone, Professor, University of Colorado and the Cooperative Institute for Postdoctoral Associates Appointed Research in Environmental Sciences: Using Isotope Geochemistry to Track the Water Cycles YIBS Director Oswald Schmitz is pleased Postdoctoral Associate under the mentorship of the Past, Present and Future  William to announce the appointment of four new of Assistant Professor Suzanne Alonzo. Dr. Boos, Assistant Professor, Yale Department of Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Associates Nugent’s previous work on the biological basis Geology & Geophysics: Are Most Predictions of who will serve for two years beginning in the of sex differences in the brain uncovered the Twenty first Century Monsoon Rainfall Wrong? summer/fall of 2012. importance of epigenetic processes in the  Ron Smith, Professor, Yale Department of Dr. Susanna Messinger, who received establishment and maintenance of masculin- Geology & Geophysics: Orographic precipita- her PhD from the Department of Ecology ized and feminized neural phenotypes. Her tion and Stable Isotope Gradients Across the & Evolutionary Biology at the University of work with Dr. Alonzo will focus on understand- Sierra Nevada and Other Mountain Ranges  Michigan, will join the Yale Department of ing phenotypic variation in a wild population Michael Bender, Professor of Geosciences, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology on July 1, of teleost fish, the ocellated wrasse. Male ocel- Princeton University and Yale Department of 2012 as a Gaylord Donnelley Environmental lated wrasses display marked differences in Geology & Geophysics Flint Lecturer presented Postdoctoral Associate. Her dissertation topic physical phenotype and reproductive strategy, Flint Lectures: Pleistocene Climate Events was “Space: The Final Frontier of Predator and may alter their phenotype based on social Recorded in Ice Cores; Chemical Fluxes Associated Evolution?” While at Yale, Dr. Messinger will or environmental cues. By investigating the with Sea Floor Hydrothermal Processes and work with Assistant Professor David Vasseur on hormonal, genetic, and epigenetic differences their Relevance to Calcite/Aragonite Seas, research to understand the evolutionary influ- in the brains of these animals, Dr. Nugent and The Influence of Light on Phytoplankton ence of spatial structure on predator-prey popu- aims to understand the proximate mecha- Productivity in the Southern Ocean, with lation dynamics and ultimately on the structure nisms that give rise to variation within a wild Comments about Glacial/ Interglacial CO2 and stability of complex communities. population and thereby provide a substrate Cycles  Jessica Tierney, Postdoctoral Research Arthur Middleton, who will earn his PhD for selection and diversification. In addition, Fellow, Columbia University Lamont-Doherty from the Program in Ecology at the University uncovering the origins of biodiversity in this Earth Observatory: Indo-Pacific Paleoclimate: of Wyoming this summer, will join the Yale species will broaden our collective understand- Lessons from East Africa  Peter Raymond, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies ing of phenotypic variation and the use of Professor of Ecosystem Ecology, Yale School (F&ES) on September 1, 2012 as a Gaylord alternative reproductive tactics in other organ- of Forestry & Environmental Studies: Climate Donnelley Environmental Postdoctoral isms through comparative studies. Versus Land-use Controls on Inorganic Carbon Associate. Mr. Middleton, who will work with Matthew Ogburn, who will be earning his Export from the Mississippi  Gabriel Bowen, Professor David Skelly, is conducting research PhD from Brown University in ecology & evo- Associate Professor at Purdue University on the responses of large herbivores to the risk lutionary biology this summer, will join the Yale College of Science: Water Redistribution in a of predation. While at F&ES, he will continue Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Warming World: Insight from Isoscapes in the his research on wolves and elk in the Greater on September 1, 2012 as a Gaylord Donnelley Early Paleogene and Late 20th Century  Paul Yellowstone Ecosystem and initiate new work Environmental Postdoctoral Associate. His dis- O’Gorman, Victor P. Starr Assistant Professor on puma-camelid-condor interactions in north- sertation topic is “Drivers and Consequences of Atmospheric Science, Massachusetts western Argentina, and mule deer responses to of the Evolution of Succulence in the Plant Institute of Technology: Response of Mean and energy development in Wyoming. Clade Portulacineae.” While at Yale, Mr. Extreme Precipitation to Climate Change: Theory, Dr. Bridget Nugent received her PhD in Ogburn will work with Sterling Professor Simulations, and Observation. neuroscience from the University of Maryland Michael Donoghue on research on community School of Medicine and will join the Yale assembly, niche evolution and the future of Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology alpine plant communities. on August 1, 2012 as a Gaylord Donnelley

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 3 FACULTY NEWS

“We need to make sure that we recruit the best students, give them a really good experience while they’re here that gives them the skills they need, and then we need to make sure that we send them on their way with the best possible chance of securing a leadership position that will enable them to maximize their influence.”

In Conversation: Sir Peter Crane By Eric Gershon, Sr., Communications Office, Yale Office of Public Affairs and Communications

Evolutionary biologist Sir Peter Crane has been dean of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) since 2009. A former director of Chicago’s Field Museum and chief executive of England’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, he recently spoke with Yale News about F&ES’s internationalism, the role of business in environmental management, and what it was like to be knighted at Buckingham Palace, among other topics. The following is an edited version of that conversation.

What do you most like telling people world. They bring a lot to the table. What I tell I’m an internationalist myself. I’m from the about F&ES? students is that they’re going to have a fantas- United Kingdom. I’ve worked in the States, and The thing that really sparkles about this school tic experience here. They’re going to learn a lot I’ve been fortunate to travel all over the world. is the student body. I’m reviewing applications from the faculty, but they’re also going to learn So I understand the importance of an interna- for our incoming class right now. When you a lot from each other. tional perspective. There are two major impedi- look at those applications, you realize these ments that often get in the way of dealing The environment has no boundaries. How effectively with environmental issues. One is are incredibly talented people. They’ve often does F&ES reflect that? been out in the world doing something directly an inability to project into the future, to think related to the environment. Some have been in My predecessor [former dean J. Gustave Speth] beyond an election term and imagine about the Peace Corps, some have been in the State really consolidated the view that forestry and what the world is going to be like in 10 years’ Department, some on Wall Street, some work- environmental studies at Yale has to be an time or 50 years, or 100 years. The other is a ing with the Nature Conservancy in this coun- international school, and that is also consis- lack of breadth, an inability to see the whole try or with the World Wildlife Fund around the tent with Yale’s strong international emphasis. picture. Having an international perspective

4 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 helps provide that breadth. About a quarter to do: One is what I call secure the base - we’ve the siting of energy facilities. Where do you a third of our students in any given year are got a long history in ecology and forestry. I decide to put a wind turbine? A liquid natural international, and they come from everywhere, don’t think that our commitment to these gas facility? A new nuclear plant? These kinds though I’d like to see more students from areas will ever waver. Our focus will always of questions relate not just to the ideal of plan- Africa and from other parts of the world that stay on terrestrial systems. We want to make ning solutions, but to sociology and how peo- so far are underrepresented. sure we stay strong in this area and that we ple interact with these facilities in and around stay true to our 100-year history. At the same the places where they live. And these kinds of What are some of the changes you’ve been time, we need to look at a couple of other social issues come to the fore prominently in making at F&ES? areas that will round out the current portfolio urban systems, which are an especially impor- We’ve made many changes, but in particular of expertise within the school. tant for us in the future. we have taken a good look at the curriculum. For one—particularly with Dean Ted We’ve tried to make it more efficient and more Snyder’s arrival at the Yale School of Are there aspects of the environment that you flexible. Our students have the privilege of Management—and given the fact that we have believe are understudied, and if so, what might enormous freedom, and with that privilege a 30-year history of a joint degree with SOM— be done about it? comes the responsibility of figuring out how we need to do more on the business and There are several challenges, and they’re they might navigate through the 130-odd environment front. Obviously there are many interrelated, of course. A big struggle for our courses that we offer in any given year. We’ve actors in the environmental arena, but a key discipline is how you train our students to also begun to establish more interdisciplinary group of actors is business. And businesses think in an interdisciplinary way. And this is courses. We’re very interested in reaching the look at the environment in many ways beyond particularly an issue in a university, which typi- broader Yale community. There’s also huge the natural resources they consume. They have cally values depth over breadth. A second key interest in environmental issues among the to deal with it in terms of their license to oper- area, as I mentioned before, is the need to undergraduate student body, and we need to ate, and they also see business opportunities think long-term. Short term always trumps the respond to that. For the general undergradu- in responding to environmental concerns. So long term. And we’ve just seen this recently, ate population, it would be great if they all business and the environment is an important for example—“We must get rid of the EPA took even just one really good environmental area for us in the future. because they’re job killers.” So I think that’s course. Then, when they go on to be President, And then, with respect to stewardship a very important area. Another area is global they’ll at least have that in their background. of the land, there has been much recent talk governance and how we will deal in a sensible, about the urbanizing global population, a collective way with fragmented and weak sys- Where would you say F&ES is heading? population that’s moving from rural areas into tems of international governance. I don’t think there’s any doubt that we are one the cities. We can’t hope to establish from the of the preeminent, if not the preeminent, envi- ground up a massive new cities program, but Are there some interdisciplinary collaborations ronment schools in the country. There are four we do need to make sure that we have more that F&ES is part of that you consider espe- things we need to focus on, and they’re pretty expertise in that area, and related areas like cially promising? simple. We need to make sure that we recruit industrial sustainability, than we currently do. We play a pretty active role in the Yale Climate the best students, give them a really good Energy is another huge issue of great impor- & Energy Institute. And I think one of the experience while they’re here that gives them tance. We want to be sure that we’re providing things that’s been really effective about YCEI the skills they need, and then we need to make our students with the kind of background and has been the way it has brought together fac- sure that we send them on their way with the training in energy and the environment that ulty not just from F&ES, but also from chem- best possible chance of securing a leadership they will need in their future careers. istry, from geology and geophysics, from law, position that will enable them to maximize and so on. Making those connections across their influence. In order to accomplish these What are some of the interesting institutional boundaries within Yale is really, things and to maintain our reputation, the interdisciplinary questions people are asking really important. As another example, we fourth priority is to be sure the research done at F&ES these days? have a promising new initiative focused on in this school is of the very highest quality, I think that just about every environmental the Himalayas, addressing the interconnec- because from that research, I think, comes issue has a strong interdisciplinary component tions among environment, livelihoods and our reputation. And from that reputation will and all our faculty grapple with the interdis- cultures. At its core this has a strong collabora- come the resources to support the growth of ciplinary implications of their work at some tion between F&ES and anthropology, but also the school. level. That usually means looking beyond the includes folks in several other departments, numbers and dealing with the way people for example religious studies, who have active Could you elaborate further? think and feel about complicated issues. For interests in the Himalayas for one reason or From the standpoint of our research reputa- example, we had a seminar recently from a another. tion there are really three things we need to researcher looking at the complexities around

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 5 FACULTY NEWS

Let’s turn to your work for a moment. You’re an expert on plant life. Tell us more about your Professor Ronald Smith Wins Teaching Prize research. Ronald B. Smith, the Damon Wells Professor of Geology & Geophysics and One of the things about my career has been professor of mechanical engineering was recently awarded The Harwood F. that I’ve worked on a range of different plant Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize. This award was celebrated at a groups and been interested in lots of dif- reception hosted by Yale College Dean Mary E. Miller and was designated by ferent plants. I’m finishing a little book on the Yale College Committee on Teaching, Learning and Advising, chaired by Ginkgo, a plant we all know that’s becoming Karen Wynn, professor of psychology, based on student nominations. an increasingly common sight in urban land- In an interview conducted by Susan Gonzalez, associate editor of Yale scapes. It’s among the most common street Daily Bulletin, Susan reported that Professor Smith teaches his students that trees in Manhattan, for example. But it is also Nature is more than just beauty. He has learned firsthand that events such a plant which almost went extinct, not because as hurricanes and thunderstorms are more than just mysterious occurrences. of human causes, but because of environmen- Smith has flown in an airplane through all kinds and speeds of wind, study- tal changes at the end of the last glaciation. In ing the details of such atmospheric conditions. He tells his students that as mysterious as nature can be, a sense the Ginkgo is an antidote to the more it is within their power to understand it scientifically, and to do so is an exciting adventure. common extinction narrative—it is a tree that The following is an edited version of the conversation Professor Smith had with Susan about his has been rescued by people. So I treat its story teaching at Yale. as a biography that ends on a hopeful note.

In 2004 you were knighted for your services to What do you most enjoy about teaching at Yale? book that can do that. You have to teach and horticulture and conservation. What was that I enjoy teaching at Yale primarily because of get feedback from students. like? the type of students we get here. Yale students are very ambitious. They do their work; they are Do you have a teacher who particularly Recognition at that level is obviously a huge interested; they respond to the ideas that you inspired you? honor and a wonderful experience. The put before them. That’s the thing that perhaps I’ve had good teachers over the years. I think, day itself involves a formal ceremony at has allowed me to change as a teacher: getting though, that [my own interest in science] goes Buckingham Palace, which is shared with many all that feedback from the students. back to high school. I had a teacher whose wonderful people who have contributed to If they weren’t doing the work or they name I’ve forgotten, but I’ll never forget him society in many different ways, from working weren’t interested or they weren’t ambitious, because he was a good physics teacher. One as a midwife in deprived areas of London to then teaching would be kind of a one-way day he asked me if I would help set up some in- serving the British government overseas to enterprise, where I’d be talking to them and class demonstrations, getting things cooking on playing soccer, or whatever. Everyone who gets that would be the end of the story. But Yale the tabletop, some physics experiments, and I one of the awards—whether it is a knighthood students talk back, and so over the years I’ve was totally into that. At the end of that semester or some other honor—attends the ceremony learned a bit from them about what makes I was in love with physics simply because he and has a few private moments with either the sense, what they’re interested in, and what’s gave me that chance to show what I could do. queen or, in my case, Prince Charles. In the important. Their feedback has been essential But more than that, he set up things that case of knighthood they still do the kneeling for that and it all comes from their attitude of everybody could identify with. So today, I try and the sword—which, with everyone looking wanting to learn. to do that in my teaching. I like nothing better on, and a slight touch of nerves, is a lot more than to set up some crazy desktop experiment. complicated than it looks. What have your students taught you? In my introductory course I set up a cloud in a I think my students have taught me how to chamber. I love that, and students love that. form a logical argument. I’ve also learned that When I first came to Yale in this depart- students learn in different ways. Some stu- ment, Brian Skinner was teaching his introduc- dents have one channel where they learn, but tory course and doing that in a very successful other students have a different channel. Over way. So I didn’t take courses from him but I the years I’ve learned how to put things in a used to peek in on his lectures and see what way that different students can understand. he did, and that was an inspiration, too. So a So this goes beyond just teaching: It’s how lot of people have contributed to my teaching. people understand new material or new things. Students, in the way they learn or fail to learn, If there is one thing you want your students to have taught me how to present ideas in a way learn, what would it be? that is understandable to people. That’s some- I want my students to have the feeling that thing you just learn from teaching; there’s no understanding nature is within their grasp. I 6 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 think for many people, nature is out there and fraction of the sky is covered by clouds? Try to dent in my class that year and had no sight. they enjoy it and value it, but they don’t think make it a bit of a quantified experience. And so that taught me something. There are they could ever understand it. I want my stu- And the third one is to try to ask “why.” many ways we learn, and the way you and I dents to know that they can understand nature. Why does that phenomena happen? Why is learn may not be the way someone else learns. I tell my students that there are three ways that cloud there? Why is the wind today blow- I still remember being sort of shocked they can learn to understand nature. When ing from the west, but yesterday it was blow- at that and made the mistake perhaps of they are out of doors—instead of just putting ing from the south? So if they could learn to wondering whether the student could do that in their iPod when they are walking down the observe, to quantify and to ask why, then I’d be work, but of course she had been through street—look around. Look at the clouds, the successful as a teacher. this before. She knew she could do the work, atmosphere. See which way the wind is blow- and after a few weeks I knew she could do the ing; see what the water is doing if you are by Do you have a memorable classroom moment work, too. But it took me a little time to realize the shore. Develop that habit of observation. you’d like to share? someone could learn in a different way. Years and years ago I had an experience that When you are flying, get a window seat. Look I had students work on weather maps, and out the window. So observe, observe, observe. sticks with me. It has to do, again, with the different way students learn. I had a student she did that with Braille. In class, she had no The second thing is to quantify. Don’t just trouble whatsoever. I could show a movie, and take what you observe as some beautiful phe- attend my class who had no sight, and like most of us, I imagined that visual learning is she would understand what was going on bet- nomena but try to imagine: Is it important? Is ter than other kids! it less important? How much water is evapo- the main way we learn things. But this young rating? How strong is the wind blowing? What woman ended up being the number-one stu-

effects of tropospheric ozone, establishing Yale Professor Receives Monaco Award a clear link between ozone and premature By David DeFusco, Director of Media Relations and Outreach; Editor, Environment:Yale mortality in 95 large U.S. communities cover- ing about 40% of the U.S. population over a Michelle Bell at dedicated to the prevention and treatment of 14-year period. The study was published in the the Yale School disease, established the award to honor sci- Journal of the American Medical Association. of Forestry & entists for their study of how environmental In one of the earliest and largest studies on Environmental conditions affect public health. climate change and air pollution, she estimated Studies “We are very delighted by this recogni- changes in ozone levels and the subsequent (F&ES) and tion of Michelle and her research, which health response under climate change for 50 Department of reflects well on the strength and diversity of U.S. cities by linking air quality, meteorological Chemical and work at F&ES,” said Dean Peter Crane. “It and climate change models. Environmental also extremely gratifying that the Monaco Dr. Bell has published 70 peer-reviewed Engineering, Award recognizes not only the excellence of publications and has received other prestigious and an expert Michelle’s research, but its great practical awards, including the National Institutes of on the envi- importance for public health and environmen- Health’s Outstanding New Environmental ronment and tal policy.” Scientist Award in 2006 and the Health Effects human health, Dr. Bell joined Yale in 2004 and became a Institute’s Rosenblith Award in 2004. has received the professor in 2011. Her research investigates The US Environmental Protection Agency, inaugural Prince Albert II de Monaco/Institut how air pollution and extreme weather con- the World Health Organization and regional Pasteur Award for outstanding contributions to tribute to mortality and affect health outcomes environmental agencies have used her results her field. such as pregnancy, and how climate change in establishing health-based policies for air pol- Dr. Bell, professor of environmental health could affect human health. Her work inte- lution, including particulate matter, ozone and at F&ES, was honored by the Institut Pasteur grates epidemiology, atmospheric sciences, carbon monoxide. and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation environmental engineering and biostatistics, “I strive for research that is relevant to the at a scientific symposium on environmental and is global, with studies in the United medical community and policymakers, and that changes and their impact on human health on States, Europe, Asia and South America. helps address real-world environmental prob- March 23, 2012 in Monaco. Dr. Bell has conducted several landmark lems,” she said. Prince Albert II of Monaco and the Institut studies of environmental health. In 2004 Pasteur, a nonprofit research center in Paris she led the largest study to date of the health

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 7 YALE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

events

This exhibition is presented by the Yale fiesta latina! Peabody Museum in collaboration with October 13, 2012 CARE (Community Alliance for Research and Join us for our annual celebration of Latin Engagement) and the Rudd Center for Food American cultures! Enjoy performances of Policy and Obesity. The presenting spon- traditional and contemporary Latin American sor is Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield music and dance, along with games, crafts and Foundation. storytelling for the whole family. peabody summer youth pro- paleo-knowledge bowl grams November 11, 2012 July and August 2012 In this annual competition, teams of students Summer youth camps can provide count- in grades 4, 5 and 6 from around Connecticut big food: health, culture less enriching and memorable experiences and beyond answer some very difficult ques- and the evolution of eating for children. Week-long camps at the Yale tions about paleontology, especially dinosaurs. Each year this unique contest receives rave On view through December 2, 2012 Peabody Museum and at Yale’s West Campus for students entering 1st to 9th grade provide reviews from teachers, parents and students. This wide-ranging exhibition on the food chal- fun and learning about natural history and This is a n excellent opportunity for students lenges of the 21st century also looks at our cultural history—topics such as biodiversity, with an interest in science to team up with changing eating habits and alarming levels of astronomy, natural science drawing, ancient their schoolmates and be rewarded for what obesity. Using an engaging multimedia and survival skills, ancient cultures and archaeol- they know! Visit our website for details. family-friendly approach, visitors will explore ogy—in a relaxed setting, through engaging topics as diverse as the neuroscience of appe- hands-on experiences and YPM’s world-class tite, human origins as hunter-gatherers, media collections and exhibits. Information and updates at (203) 432-5050 influences on food preferences, and the serious and http://peabody.yale.edu health consequences associated with obesity.

Relics: Travels in Nature’s Time Machine

September 20–21, 2012 Ostrom Program Series. The second talk, on What would you rather save from extinction: September 21, is a YIBS/ESC Friday Noon three different species of parrots, or a hum- Seminar, sponsored by the Yale Institute for Piotr Naskrecki (2) mingbird, an owl, and a parrot? With increas- Biospheric Studies. The presentations, based ing frequency, such heartbreaking choices are on Dr. Naskrecki’s latest book Relics: Travels in becoming the reality in nature conservation. Nature’s Time Machine (University of Chicago Given limited resources, conservation biolo- Press, 2011), will discuss some of the old- gists face the need to select the targets of their est surviving groups of animals and plants, conservation campaigns very carefully. Rather examining ancient organisms as they carry Conservation Photographers. He received his than trying to protect every single species on through and continue to exist in ecosystems of PhD in entomology from the University of Earth, they now try to save representatives of the globe today. Dr. Naskrecki argues for their Connecticut, and his publications, both techni- as many distinct and diverse evolutionary lines increased conservation, while taking readers cal and popular, strive to promote appreciation as possible, and the easiest way to find such on a journey around the world to places that and conservation of invertebrate animals. Dr. diversity is to look at the survivors of the oldest are windows to our old, beautiful planet’s past. Piotr’s field research, which deals mostly with lineages of life. Author and photographer Piotr Naskrecki the behavior and biology of singing insects, This theme will be explored in two talks is a research associate with the Museum of has taken him to six continents and often to at Yale by entomologist and conservation Comparative Zoology at Harvard University areas rarely, if ever, visited by other biologists. biologist Dr. Piotr Naskrecki. On September and an entomologist and conservation biolo- 20, 2012, the Yale Peabody Museum of gist. He served as past Director of Invertebrate For times, locations and updated information on Natural History will host an evening presenta- Diversity Initiative with Conservation these talks, please visit http://peabody.yale.edu/ events/ and www.yale.edu/yibs/events_yibsesc.html tion by Dr. Naskrecki as part of its John H. International and is one of the founding members of the International League of closer to the event date. 8 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 A B Ammonites, Indian Wars and the Exploration of the American West By Neil H. Landman (PhD Yale ’82), Curator, Division of Paleontology (Invertebrates), American Museum of Natural History, and Copeland MacClintock, Division of Invertebrate Paleontology, Peabody Museum of Natural History

Contained within the collections of the Yale for himself & make his own selections from tons battlefield. In the meantime, Custer, believing Peabody Museum of Natural History (YPM) is upon tons of such thing[s] which are found here. that the Cheyenne and Sioux had discovered a fossil invertebrate that, although scientifically J.G. his presence, launched his ill-fated surprise unimpressive, owes its uniqueness to its con- Camp Mouth of Big Horn attack shortly after noon on June 25. When nection to one of the most historically charged July 16th 1876 Gibbon arrived at the bloody scene on June 27, episodes in American history, the Battle of the (From Yale Library Manuscripts & Archives) Custer’s soldiers were already decimated, but Little Bighorn, commonly known as “Custer’s Gibbon helped save the lives of many of Major Last Stand.” What is the story behind this ammonite? In the Reno’s troops. Gibbon and his men buried the The fossil is an ammonite, a kind of mol- countless tellings and retellings of the Battle of dead and carried the wounded down to the Far lusc that flourished in the Cretaceous seas the Little Bighorn, no one has ever mentioned West, which had made its way up the Bighorn that once covered parts of South Dakota and an ammonite. How does it fit into the events River to the mouth of the Little Bighorn. They Montana. The specimen, 12 inches (30 centi- leading up to the historic battle? Where and then retraced their route back to the awaiting meters) in diameter and weighing more than 13 when did Gibbon acquire it? supply train located at what Gibbon would pounds (nearly 6 kilograms), is partly broken. In 1876, John Gibbon was in charge of later call “Camp Mouth of Big Horn” in his July When complete, it would have been twice as the US Infantry at Fort Shaw in the Montana 16 letter to Marsh. large. Its intricate patterns, known as sutures, Territory near present-day Great Falls. He In the context of this chronology, where represent the marginal plications of the septal commanded the Montana Column, consist- and when did Gibbon acquire the ammonite? partitions that subdivide the ammonite shell ing of about 450 men, one of the two com- Figuring out the “where” necessitates some into chambers. The specimen belongs to the mands involved in the Battle of the Little paleontological sleuthing using the geological species Placenticeras meeki, named in honor of Bighorn. According to the battle plan drawn map of Montana. A rock formation known as the American paleontologist Fielding B. Meek. up on June 21, 1876, General George Custer, the Bearpaw Shale is exposed on both sides of According to the YPM accession record (no. in charge of General Alfred Terry’s command, the Yellowstone River at four different places 881) and the original specimen label, the fossil and Major Marcus Reno would approach the within 100 miles (about 160 kilometers) of was “collected and donated by General John Little Bighorn from the south. General Gibbon, the Bighorn River along Gibbon’s march Gibbon” (a similar specimen is shown here for accompanied by General Terry himself, would route. This formation consists of marine comparison). approach from the north, with all groups strata that were deposited in a shallow seaway General John Gibbon was one of the princi- that covered Montana and other parts of the converging on June 26 or 27 (Adventures pals of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. A letter northern Great Plains about 70 million years on the Western Frontier, Major General John to Professor O.C. Marsh at Yale College accom- Gibbon, Alan Gaff and Maureen Gaff, eds. ago. Paleontological investigations by many panies the fossil: Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1994). A fossil from the Yellowstone River with the com- On the eve of June 24, Gibbon was sick aboard pliments of Genl. Gibbon for Prof. Marsh. It may the steamer Far West anchored near the mouth not be much of a curiosity, but Genl. Gibbon of the Bighorn River. His men were camped A Weathered specimen of Placenticeras meeki (YPM IP037069), wishes Prof. M. was here to decide that question nearby on Tullock Creek near the present-day collected and donated by General John Gibbon. A. Detail of town of Bighorn, three days’ march from the suture. B. Detail of nacre. Photo: Steve Thurston

B Another specimen of Placenticeras meeki (YPM IP032456), The Age of Reptiles, a mural by Rudolph F. Zallinger. Copyright 1966, 1975, 1985, 1989 Peabody Museum for comparison. This one is from the Pierre Shale at Sage Creek, of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA; peabody.yale.edu. All rights reserved. South Dakota. Photo: Jessica Utrup

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 9 geologists, including our own research, show Entomology Lunch that this formation contains an abundance of By Victor O. DeMasi, Curatorial Affiliate, fossils, the most conspicuous of which are Division of Entomology, Peabody Museum ammonites like Placenticeras meeki. Thus, of Natural History in a general sense, the most likely source of Gibbon’s ammonite is the Bearpaw Shale. But is it possible to be any more specific than that? Without the guidance of any original jour- nals by Gibbon, which are not known to exist, C it is difficult to answer this question. However, the next best source is the journal of Edward My dear Professor: McClernand, Gibbon’s engineer officer, whose Last summer whilst on the Yellowstone I shipped journal was compiled from his notes and pub- you two small boxes of fossils, sending them down lished posthumously in 1969 (With the Indian the river with directions to forward them from and the Buffalo in Montana, 1870–1878, with Bismarck. Never having heard of them since I “Journal of Marches under Colonel John Gibbon, fear they may have miscarried and should like April 1 to September 29, 1876,” E.J. McClernand, to know whether or not they even reached you. The Arthur H. Clark Co., Glendale, CA.). He That region is a prolific one for your explorations, made the following entry for May 12, 1876, and now that we have just established there & while on the march down the Yellowstone: the Indian War appears to be about over you no Starting at 7:20 a.m., a few minuted march doubt will feel tempted to extend your important brings us to “Froze-to-Death Creek,”…. There is investigations to that comparatively unknown but little water in it, and that is poor; it has a nar- region. row bottom, in which there is some timber. On Yours very truly, each side are “bad lands,” containing many fos- John Gibbon sils, mostly mussels. (From Yale Library Manuscripts & Archives) (Adventures on the Western Frontier, pp. 136–137.) It is remarkable, given what Gibbon went through, that he still remembered the fossil This entry suggests that Gibbon collected the one year later. And although Marsh himself did ammonite on the north side of the Yellowstone not personally follow up on Gibbon’s advice, A River near the mouth of Froze-to-Death Creek the closing years of the 19th century witnessed on May 11 or 12 near the present-day town of a procession of western expeditions sponsored Hysham. Not knowing where his command by academic and research institutions such would be taking him in the future, Gibbon as Yale University, the American Museum of would not have missed the opportunity to col- Natural History and the Philadelphia Academy lect this specimen from among the “tons upon of Sciences, as well as by the U.S. government. tons of such things” that he saw there. Thus, These expeditions expanded and refined the the specimen would have been acquired more knowledge of the geology and paleontology than a month before the Battle of the Little of the American West and built on earlier dis- Bighorn but only shipped home several weeks patches from fur traders, explorers and military afterward. On the morning of July 16, Gibbon men such as John Gibbon. put the ammonite, packed with the accompany- Thanks to Jessica Utrup YPM for help with histor- ing letter, onboard the steamer Josephine, which was anchored at “Camp Mouth of Big Horn,” ical research and preparation of figures, and Steve and sent it downriver bound for New Haven. Thurston (American Museum of Natural History) Gibbon wrote a follow-up letter to Marsh for helping prepare photographs. one year later inquiring about the disposition of the ammonite: C Geologic map of part of south-central Montana showing the Ft. Shaw, M.T. Bearpaw Shale, General Gibbon’s routes, and the fossil locality. May 3? 1877 Photo: Jessica Utrup/Cope MacClintock B 10 yale environmental NEWS / 17:117:2 Group Brown Bags It to French Guiana

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France’s space program and remains mostly wilderness with a largely inaccessible interior. The area has been spared recent extensive Amazonian deforestation and still supports much of its original flora and fauna. The reserve, near the coast, sits astride a narrow ridge. It is traversed by an excellent all-weather road. Many trails radiate at right angles to the road and fall off precipitously in short walks from it. The ridge’s forest is second Every Thursday at noon members of the Yale included medical entomologist Dr. Leonard growth with a dense impenetrable understory. Peabody Museum of Natural History (YPM) Munstermann, Division of Entomology Curator The vegetation of the steep side slopes is more Division of Entomology, its visitors, and and Senior Research Scientist in Epidemiology mature, with larger trees, which are not more the arthropod-inclined from nearby institu- at the Yale School of Public Health, curato- than 120 feet tall. Unlike the ridgetop tangle, tions gather for a brown bag lunch and to rial affiliates Dr. Bill Krinsky (Diptera and these older stands of forest allow easy walking share news and specimens of in terest. The Coleoptera) and Victor DeMasi (Lepidoptera), underneath the canopy. A busy nearby lumber weekly luncheon was the brainchild of the late and insect enthusiast Maishe Dickman. Also Curator of Entomology Charles Remington, participating were Mike Thomas, a biologist for more than four decades a professor at at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Yale. Enthusiasm for insects continues at this Station, photographer Roanna Metowski, A Incredible katydid wasp mimic Aganacus pseudosphex. Photo: Michael Thomas weekly gathering to this day in testament to Suzanne Krinsky (whose interest is in Sphinx the influence of this dedicated entomologist on moths), honor roll high school student Maya B The tiger moth Gorgonidia buckleyi whitfordi. Photo: Michael his associates. Jayne Munstermann, nature author Giff Beaton, Thomas Two years ago YPM Museum Technician and Orianna DeMasi, Computer Systems C Close-up of the head of a sphinx moth caterpillar. Photo: Maishe Dickman, a frequent lunch par- Engineer, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Michael Thomas ticipant, suggested and then organized an French Guiana, or “Guyane” as the French outing for the group to Kaw-Roura Nature call it, on the northeast coast of South America, Cover Photo: The Orb Weaver Spider (Family Araneidae). Reserve in French Guiana. A week-long trip in is most remembered for its notorious penal Photo: Michael Thomas October 2010 and another in September 2011 colony, Devil’s Island. These days it is home to

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 11 YALE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

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mill harvests the timber, but the area is still a cies are plentiful, but are poorly known and though they are trespassers. Contemporary very diverse habitat. Bedrock is easily exposed often seen only when they descend briefly into entomological work in tropical forests focus- anywhere one scrapes a few leaves aside, mak- light gaps on the forest floor created by tree falls ing largely on canopy fauna is describing many ing it doubtful that this ridge ever supported and trails. Baited traps hoisted upward toward new insect species, including riodinids. really big trees like those that shade the deep the forest canopy and secured at different levels Dawn-to-dusk outings secured approxi- forest of the Ecuadorian Amazon or East yield a more diverse sample both of butterflies mately 20 species of riodinids, most as only Africa’s Kakamega Forest. from the higher forest strata and their congeners single individuals and some still undetermined During the hot dry season at the Kaw too fast to net. In some respects, the high can- to species. These efforts were associated with Reserve, midday to late afternoon is best opy is analogous to the deep ocean—seemingly punishing attacks by horseflies with centime- passed in the shade. Our two dry season out- near, but yet still guarding inaccessible secrets. ter-long proboscises. Both butterfly and horse- ings (16 days total) were interrupted by only In addition to Lepidoptera species, other fly specimens are now in the YPM entomology one afternoon of heavy downpour, a welcomed groups of insects, such as flies and beetles, collections. relief from the heat. A good equatorial soaking were sampled with traps baited with concoc- Danger lurked close by. Orianna DeMasi is a singular moment to witness. This place is tions of fermenting fruit, fish and meat. Dr. happened unexpectedly on a fer-de-lance pit drenched in the rainy season—11 inches fell Munsterman trapped biting flies, which can be viper while working the trap lines. Pit vipers of in 24 hours in January 2012, during a week of vectors of disease, and found significant differ- the genus Bothrops are the most poisonous of continuous showers that offered only six hours ences in the fauna separated only by dozens of snakes in the Neotropics. The reptile is aggres- of sun. That is 25% of Connecticut’s annual vertical feet. sive and well camouflaged, striking without rainfall. The rain is good for insect diversity, One group of tropical butterflies that is par- warning, and attacks typically result in death or but inhibits entomologists. ticularly poorly studied is the family Riodinidae. amputation unless the antidote is given imme- Many tropical butterflies can only be record- Unlike most butterfly species whose caterpillars diately—not likely, when a walk from the deep ed by attracting them with baiting techniques or feed on plants, the known riodinids have a dif- forest and a one-hour car ride are necessary capturing them in baited traps. Tropical zones ferent larval feeding strategy that includes an to reach help. Local agricultural workers will have entire guilds of species that never nectar association with ants, where the riodinid larvae often machete off a bitten digit to avoid almost at flowers, but are instead attracted to the abun- confuse the ants with chemical signals that certain spread of the toxin. Shaken up by the dant fruits and other fermenting substances allow them to live unmolested within the ant encounter, and with the situation “unfanged,” absent in temperate zones. The casual observer colonies. They receive food and protection even Orianna returned safely to California with 10 seldom sees these species. Forest canopy spe- fingers and 10 toes.

12 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 GHIJ

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D Agrias narcissus turned up once in bait traps on each trip. Months of searching for this rare, incredibly beautiful aurelian in other neotropical stations has never rewarded any of these field investigators. Photo: Roanna Metowski

E A typical forest regime. Photo: Roanna Metowski

F The colorful Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock (Rupicola rupicola) nests in the Kaw-Roura reserve. Photo: Roanna Metowski

G Victor DeMasi spends a blistering afternoon on non-entomo- logical activities. Photo: Roanna Metowski

H Maishe Dickman at the Peabody with a sampling of French Guiana specimens. Our first trip delivered an abundance of P Morpho species seldom seen in one season—seven in all. Photo: Victor DeMasi

Our evening gatherings included show- I Maishe Dickman with a specimen of the extremely rare Morpho eugenia, which flies only in the earliest light of dawn. and-tell with informed identifications and life This one was dragged down in a forest clearing after several histories across the entomological spectrum. days’ sleepy efforts and many wild swings with a net on an extension pole. Photo: Victor DeMasi It was just another Thursday lunch among pas- sionate science enthusiasts. J Victor DeMasi examines the insect diversity at a light trap. Photo: Roanna Metowski For a look at what museum entomolo- gists brought back from Guyane, see locality K Orianna DeMasi baits one of the author’s traps before hoist- ing it into the forest canopy. Photo: Victor DeMasi and other label data from the YPM butterfly L Roanna Metowski shoots Mike Thomas shooting Bill Krinsky. collection—processed by YPM Division of Photo: Roanna Metowski Entomology Informatics Manager Larry Gall M Bill Krinsky prepares his specimens at a great jungle lab. and his cadre of student helpers—by logging Photo: Victor DeMasi on to http://peabody.yale.edu/collections/search- N Orianna DeMasi displays a monster Owl Butterfly (Caligo collections?ent and entering pertinent informa- eurilochus) taken in a bait trap. Photo: Victor DeMasi tion (in some cases digital photographs of the O Roanna Metowski entertains two large beetles (Megasoma specimens are available). To learn more about acteon) at the light trap. Photo: Victor DeMasi the YPM Division of Entomology, visit http:// P One of the impressive blacklighting nights. Photo: Roanna peabody.yale.edu/collections/entomology. Metowski

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 13 holes in it. This one he named the “bull liz- ard”—Torosaurus. A statue of Torosaurus now stands outside the YPM. Paleontologists have argued for years about how many species of dinosaur there really are, but no one had seriously questioned the separation of Torosaurus from Triceratops. Then in 2010, paleontologists John Scannella and Jack Horner proposed that perhaps Marsh and everyone else had gotten it wrong for the last century. Triceratops and Torosaurus were really the same species, they argued, with Torosaurus simply the mature form of Triceratops. This sort of error is more com- mon than one might expect. The tyrannosaur “Nanotyrannus” had previously been shown to represent a juvenile of Tyrannosaurus rex. However, paleontologists were skeptical. Given Yale’s historical connection to the naming of Torosaurus and Triceratops—and that the YPM has some of the best skulls in the world sitting on display and in its base- ments—we decided to try to resolve the issue. The key was to see whether there were any juvenile Torosaurus among them. If there were specimens of immature animals, then it fol- lows that Torosaurus cannot really be the adult of Triceratops. With the assistance of gradu- ate student Daniel Field, I tried to solve the problem. One of the unusual features of horned dinosaurs is that their skulls suture tightly A together as they mature. In a young animal, all the bones are separate, but in older ani- Study Confirms Horned Dinosaurs mals the bones are tightly fused together by bone. Critically, we were able to show that this Are Separate Species happens in a distinct sequence in Triceratops: By Nicholas R. Longrich, Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale Department of Geology & Geophysics first the skull roof fuses, then the hornlets on the frill and cheek fuse on, and last of all the In the late 1800s, Othniel Charles Marsh, thing like them before. They were giant plant- snout fuses up. Along the way, the texture on the first head of Yale’s Peabody Museum of eating reptiles as big as elephants and their the outside of the bone changes from porous Natural History (YPM), sent his men out west enormous skulls had huge beaks and jagged (a result of many tiny blood vessels passing to look for old bones and found them in the rows of teeth to slice through tough plants. through and nourishing the growing bone) to arid grassy hills of eastern Wyoming, bones One bore a horn on its nose and two more a highly rugose, gnarled texture that is typical of animals that had lived and died 65 million over the eyes. A thick, solid shield of bone, of old adults. Using this sequence made it years ago, on the edge of an ancient and now- bearing hornlets along the edges, stuck out possible to figure out whether horned dino- vanished sea. Marsh found an amazing variety from the back of the skull. This one Marsh saur skulls were fully mature or not. of creatures—mammals, fish, birds, lizards, named “three horned face”—Triceratops. Not Armed with this information, we then snakes—but the most fantastic of all were the long after, he discovered a second kind of skull took a new look at one of the YPM’s dinosaurs, and the strangest of these were the that had a shorter nose horn and a frill that old Torosaurus skulls. It was a large animal, horned dinosaurs. No one had ever seen any- was larger and thinner, with a huge pair of yet several of the sutures were clearly open.

14 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 Unfortunately this skull had been prettified by the addition of paint and plaster years ago, which meant that it was now impos- sible to tell what was bone and what was reconstruction. However, YPM Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Jacques Gauthier, Yale Department of Geology & Geophysics, gave us the go ahead and YPM Preparator Marilyn Fox carefully cleaned off the plaster and paint, and underneath was the skull of an immature animal. The hornlet on the cheek was free from the skull, the hornlets on the back of the skull had fallen off, and the bone that supported the beak was separate from the snout. In addi- tion, the frill had the porous texture of young, fast-growing bone. This Torosaurus skull was B immature, which meant that Torosaurus could not be the adult form of Triceratops. Marsh got it right back in 1892—Torosaurus really was something different! These kinds of debates go on all the time Looking for exceptionally preserved because it is not always easy to tell species invertebrate fossils in the lower apart. Adults of different species can look simi- Fezouata Formation, near Zagora, Morocco. Photo: Rachel A. Racicot lar when all you have to go on is the skeleton, and adults and juveniles of a single species can look different from each other. Animals in a single population can vary greatly to the point that they might even seem like separate species. The approach we used can help us understand variation in horned dinosaurs, but there is no getting around the fact that tax- onomy is a messy business, an art as much as a science. Populations vary, and accumulated variation over time turns them into species. That means it is not always possible to divide sir james lougheed award of distinction awarded animals neatly into separate species. But ultimately these debates do matter, Daniel J. Field (Yale PhD ’15), a doctoral can- with a deep interest in many aspects of verte- because we cannot really say anything about didate in the Yale Department of Geology brate macroevolution and diversity. The award, the diversity of life over time, rates of evolu- & Geophysics, has received the Sir James which comes with a prize of Can$20,000, tion, or rates of extinction, until we have first Lougheed Award of Distinction, PhD Level, supports Field’s research, funding fieldwork, tried to count and name the species. So pale- from the Government of Alberta, Canada. museum collections visits and molecular ontologists will keep digging up new fossils Field, who received a bachelor of science analyses. Field was also the recipient of the and keep arguing about their names. undergraduate degree from the University Sir James Lougheed Award of Distinction, Support for the 2011–2012 research in of British Columbia, Vancouver, is studying Master’s Level, in 2011, which provided a prize this study came from the Yale Institute for vertebrate paleontology and evolution under of Can$15,000 for research support. Biospheric Studies. the guidance of Professor of Geology & Geophysics Jacques Gauthier. His research interests are in the evolution of modern A Top, the skull of Torosaurus latus (YPM VP.001831) and, birds using fossil and molecular data, along below, the skull of Triceratops prorsus (YPM VP.001822) in the Yale Peabody Museum vertebrate paleontology collections. Photo: N Longrich.

B Triceratops (left) and Torosaurus (right). Drawing: N Longrich. yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 15 YALE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

The Family Life of Fossils: Fossil Elephant Trackways in the Desert of Abu Dhabi By Andrew Hill, Clayton Stephenson Professor of Anthropology, and Curator and Head, Division of Anthropology, Peabody Museum of Natural History

B How do you find out about the family life of extinct mammals? How many animals are there in a group? How do you know how many are males, females, adults, young ones? Mostly you do not, because such information is very difficult to get. But it would be useful to know, for all kinds of reasons.

16 yale environmental NEWS / 17:1 Faysal Bibi (G&G PhD ’09), currently at the Stride length is a very good indicator of Museum for Naturkunde, Berlin, and I direct a body weight in elephants, and Faysal and our joint Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History colleague Brian Kraatz of Western University (YPM)–Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture of Health Sciences worked this out very accu- Authority (ADTCA) expedition in the United rately using the GigaPan photomosaic (see the Arab Emirates that investigates late Miocene GigaPan orthophotomosaic at http://gigapan. fossils and paleoenvironments (see “A Return org/gigapans/78542). From this we were able to the Desert” in Yale Environmental News to determine the probable sex of the individu- 12(2):12–13). When we renewed our work there als. The solitary track was the largest, almost in 2006, Mark Beech of the ADTCA, our resi- certainly made by a mature male. The smaller dent UAE colleague and collaborator, showed herd prints were consistent with a group of us a huge area of fossilized elephant footprints females and generations of offspring. This in the Abu Dhabi desert. These tracks had arrangement matches the distinctive sexually been known for some time among the bedou segregated social structure of both African who live there and were thought of as dinosaur (Loxodonta) and Asian (Elephas) modern footprints, until a local Emirati, Mubarak Al elephants, which form stable social units led Mansouri, showed them to Mark. In fact, the by matriarchs, consisting of related females tracks were most probably made by the extinct and their offspring. Male elephants are raised four-tusked elephant Stegotetrabelodon syrticus, in the family unit until adolescence, after which one of the earliest true elephants, known also they disperse to lead primarily solitary lives, from skeletal fossils in the region. Preparator re-uniting with female-led groups only intermit- Marilyn Fox in the YPM Division of Vertebrate tently, such as for reproduction. These aston- Paleontology prepared replicas of individual ishing trackways give us rare information about prints from these trackways, now housed in group size, and suggest that the modern kind YPM, but the whole site is so large it was dif- of social structure and behavior was present

ficult to know what to make of it all. right at the origin of the family Elephantidae, C Then Faysal was invited to a conference some seven million years ago. about GigaPan, an imaging technique that Read more about these trackways in the stitches together hundreds of individual over- 2012 article “Early evidence for complex social lapping photographs to produce one very high structure in Proboscidea from a late Miocene resolution gigapixel panoramic image. There trackway site in the United Arab Emirates,” he met Nathan Craig of Pennsylvania State by Faysal Bibi, Brian Kraatz, Nathan Craig, University, an archaeologist who photographs Mark Beech, Mathieu Schuster and Andrew archaeological sites in the Andes using cam- Hill, published in Biology Letters (doi: 10.1098/ eras suspended beneath kites. Clearly, we had rsbl.2011.1185), and at the Mleisa1 Tracksite to get Nathan out to Abu Dhabi. Press Page “In the footsteps of prehistoric We all met there in January 2011 and elephants” (http://mleisa1.wordpress.com/). dragged Nathan and his kites and cameras D into the desert. As soon as he produced A Close up of a single isolated track of footprints. Photo: © Faysal Bibi his first preliminary stitched images, it was B A reconstruction of the Stegotetrabelodon syrticus herd instantly obvious what was going on. We could as they leave their footprints behind on a muddy Abu Dhabi easily see that there were two separate sets of plain seven million years ago. Painting by paleontological artist trackways. One, 260 meters long (about 853 Mauricio Antón. Photo: © Mauricio Antón. feet), were the footprints of a single elephant. C The orthophotomosaic of the elephant trackways (left), with the interpretation of individual tracks (right). The mosaic was This trackway intersected diagonally with a set produced by Nathan Craig, using a Canon S90 camera suspend- of parallel prints made by at least 13 individu- ed beneath a Rokkaku kite. Photo: © Nathan Craig als. Using microstratigraphical and sedimen- D An oblique view of Nathan Craig’s photographic mosaic, tological techniques, Mathieu Schuster of the populated by computer-rendered reconstructions of the ele- phants. Photo: Renderings © Mauricio Antón. Université de Strasbourg helped work out that the parallel set of tracks had all been produced at the same time and represented a herd.

< A yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 17 YALE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

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A Gallery of Nature’s Remedieses

Works of art depicting organisms as diverse on March 30, 2012.12. as horseshow crabs and leeches to red Accompanyingng tthehe exexhibitionhibition is a ddisplayisplay onions and passion flowers were featured in in the ESC rotunda,da, Nature’s RemeRemedies:dies: HerHerbalbal Nature’s Remedies: Plants and Animals, the Remedies and thee Development ooff Botany and spring semester exhibition of natural history Medicine, that presentsesents a brief overview of the themed art hosted at Yale’s Class of 1954 history of the usee of plants in the treatment Environmental Science Center (ESC). On view of illnesses, bothh historical and modern. This from January 6 to June 20, 2012, this exhibition display is on vieww throuthroughgh the summer ooff 20120122 of 38 works by members of the Guild of Natural and features materialterial ffromrom the Yale Herbarium Science Illustrators Greater New York Chapter at the Peabody MMuseumuseum ooff Natural HistoHistory’sry’s (www.gnsi.org/groups/gny) examines a range of Division of Botanyny (hhttp://peabody.yale.edu/ttp://peabody.yale.eddu/u species with connections to therapeutic treat- collections/botanyy). ments derived from the natural world. Side-by-side with these works are expla- nations researched by the artists about the associated remedies from both folklore and the latest naturopathic products. The pieces are executed in a wide variety of techniques and media, including watercolor on vellum, graph- ite, gouache, silverpoint, colored pencil, acrylic on mylar, and even hand-colored aquatint etch- ings. The artists’ reception was held at the ESC

18 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 A Chinese Rhubarb Rheum rhabarbarum Watercolor, 12 x 16 inches, by Stella Grove Chinese Rhubarb Rhubarb (rheum rhabarbarum) is named Tim White Named Eastern Fellow for its leaves,,p, which resemble the human palm, and is gener- allallyy ppropagatedropagated fromfrom cuttingscuttings and growngrown as an ornamental.orname Tim White, Director of Collections and and preservation needs of U.S. collections; IItt is among the manmanyy plants listed in the ShennongShennong pepenn Ts’ao cchinghing ((GreatGreat HerHerbal)bal), a survesurveyy ooff medicinal plantsplant Operations, Peabody Museum of Natural the advisory board for collections stewardship said to have first appeared in China about 2,000 yearsyears ago. History (YPM), has been named a 2012 at London’s Natural History Museum; and The brbrightight yellowyellow powder derived fromfrom the roots becamebecam an iimportantmportant part of European medicine. In the mid-18th century, Eastern Fellow by Eastern Connecticut State the Paleontology Portal Steering Committee. RR.rhabarbaru.rhabarbarum was beingbeing cultivatedcultivated as an edibleedible gardengarde rhu- University (ECSU). The ECSU Fellows program In 2008, White gave the keynote address on bbarbarb and the rhizomesrhizomes werewere usedused in folk medicinemedicine as a mild llaxative.axative. ©Ste©Stellalla GroveGrove recognizes alumni who have distinguished sustainability and museums at the 100th themselves in their careers and Fellows are Anniversary of the National Taiwan Museum B Frontispiece depicting Woodland Pinkroot SSpigeliapigelia mari- lanlandicadica L. and the title papagege of the second volume of ttheh Fenn invited to return to campus to meet in the in Taipei. Collection in the Yale UniversUniversityity Herbarium, fourfour volumesvolum classroom and informally with students, faculty Also recognized by ECSU in 2008 as an with almost 700 herbarium specimens collected in 1818222 by Horatio Fenn as part ooff his studies at the Medical InstitutionInst and administrators and share their special- Eastern Fellow was Senior Collections Manager of Yale CollCollege.ege. The Fenn Collection is the earliest knownknow ized academic and work experience. The ECSU Eric Lazo-Wasem of the YPM Division of hherbariumerbarium materiamateriall collectedcollected in Connecticut anandd is amamong the oldest collected in New England. EarlEarlyy herbaria were ofteno in Class of 2012 Alumni Fellows were introduced Invertebrate Zoology. book formform and belongedbelonged to individuals. Modern herbariaherbar are at a campus ceremony on March 14, 2012. kept as separate sheets and usuallusuallyy belong to institutions.institutio PhoPhoto:to: YaYalele HerbariumHerbarium “Today’s Fellows are role models, the kind of graduates we want our students to be,” said C HoHorseshoerseshoe CrabCrab L. ppolyphemusolyphemus WWatercoloratercolor and gouache, 22 x 24 inches, bbyy Dorie PetronchkoPetro ECSU President Elsa Núñez during the induc- TThehe HorsesHorseshoehoe CrabCrab LimuluLimuluss polyphemuspolyphemuss hashas remainedremaine tion luncheon. “For them to come back to unchanged for more than 250 million years.years. The blue bloodb of L. polyphemuss is harvested from about 250,000 horhorseshoe our campus to speak with our students about crabs eaceachh yearyear for a highlyhighly ssought-afterought-after anti-toxinanti-toxin (Limulus(Lim their career success is a wonderful gift to the AAmebocytemebocyte Lysate, or LAL) used in the study ooff diseasedisease and to eensurensure that intravenous drudrugs,gs, vaccines and medical devicesd university.” are ffreeree ooff bacterial contamination. The chitin in the crab’scr White began his career at Yale as the eexoskeletonxoskeleton is antimicrobial and is used for suturessutures,, dress-dr ingingss fforor burns and sursurfaceface wounds, contact lenses, powderedpow first collections manager of YPM’s Division mmake-upake-up aandnd cleanicleaningng up toxic comcompoundspounds like PCBPCBs.s. L. of Invertebrate Paleontology, one of the top polyphemuss compound eyes allow scientists to study hhuman diseases like retinitis pigmentosa.pigmentosa. These uses byby the medicalm three collections of invertebrate fossils in the iindustryndustry and by eel and conch fifishermansherman who use femalefem world. In his current position, he oversees crabs for bait are raisinraisingg concerns about excessive harvestingharv ooff the species, because many mmigratingigrating shorebirds dependdep YPM’s Archives and 12 curatorial divisions, on the cracrabsbs as a food source. Alternatives to LAL and to combined collections of more than 13 million Shown with ECSU President Elsa Núñez (second from right) are the ffemaleemale pheromone that attracts eel and conch are being specimens and objects. As project manager for 2012 Eastern Fellows (left to right) YPM Director of Collections researched. ©Dorie©Dorie PetronchkoPetronchko and Operations Tim White, forensic psychologist Carla Goodwin the Environmental Science Center Collections from Massachusetts, and Wendy Daly, owner of a leading pediat- Project, he was closely involved in the planning ric clinic in Louisville, KY. Photo: Courtesy of ECSU of the Class of 1954 Environmental Science Center (ESC), and continues to have an active role in ESC programs and operations, includ- ing establishing the popular ESC natural his- tory art exhibitions. He is a member of the Yale Digital Commons Advisory Group and the Yale Arts Area Advisory Committee. White is a former president of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections and has served on councils for the Natural Science Collections Alliance and the Paleontological Society, as well as on several professional panels and boards, including the Smithsonian Advisory Committee on Collections Stewardship; the Heritage Health Index Natural History Advisory Group, the first comprehensive survey to assess the condition

C

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 19 B

A Peabody Division of Botany Acquires Important Regional Collection By Patrick Sweeney, Collections Manager, Division of Botany, Peabody Museum of Natural History

The Division of Botany at the Yale Peabody mineralogy at Yale), Amos Eaton (co-founder Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology Museum of Natural History (YPM) is pleased of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), and Frank and curator of the CAES Herbarium, for initiat- to announce that it has acquired a major W. Hall. ing and facilitating the transfer. We would also part of the herbarium of the Connecticut The acquisition of the CAES herbarium like to thank YPM Project Registrar Annette Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), which strengthens the status of the Yale Herbarium, Van Aken and YPM museum assistants Lynn has been donated to Yale University. This housed in the YPM Division of Botany, as one Jones and Nathan Utrup for their help in plan- important regional collection, the third larg- of the most important repositories of New ning and carrying out the move. est herbarium collection in Connecticut, has England herbarium material in the world. The been housed at the CAES in New Haven since Yale Herbarium was the herbarium of record the late 1800s. Yale will acquire approximately for the flora of southern New England from 15,000 specimens of vascular plants, mosses, 1864 until the mid-20th century and has the

algae and lichens. Fungal specimens will most extensive holdings of Connecticut vascu- A YPM Division of Botany Collections Manager Patrick remain at CAES. lar plants collected in the 19th and early 20th Sweeney with CAES herbarium specimens at their former location in the attic of the Jenkins Laboratory building at the Material in the CAES herbarium dates back centuries. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven. to the late 19th century. Although collected pri- The CAES collection was donated in Photo: Lynn Jones marily in New England, it contains a substan- advance of a major renovation project on the tial number of specimens collected elsewhere CAES’s Jenkins Laboratory, where it was for- B The YPM truck in front of the Jenkins Laboratory. The rect- angular white structure on top of the building is the attic where in North America and in Europe. The collec- merly located, and was physically moved to the CAES herbarium was housed. Photo: Lynn Jones tion includes material collected by notable the YPM in March 2012. It will be incorporated botanists and Yale faculty and alumni, such as into the general Yale Herbarium collection dur- Oscar D. Allen (professor of chemistry at Yale), ing the remainder of the year. John A. Allen (Yale 1884), George P. Clinton The Division of Botany is indebted (CAES botanist and Yale research associate), to the CAES for its donation and thanks James Dwight Dana (professor of geology and Sandra Anagnostakis, a scientist in the CAES

20 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 RESEARCH AND PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Mapping Human Risk for Lyme Disease: An Environmental Approach by Maria Diuk-Wasser, Assistant Professor, Yale School of Epidemiology & Public Health

A new map delineates well-defined areas of large parts of the Northeast, from Maine as far the eastern United States where humans have south as Maryland and Virginia coastal areas. the highest risk of contracting Lyme disease, The researchers also identified a separate and a rapidly emerging tick-borne ailment with distinct Lyme disease risk region in the upper symptoms that range from a rash, headaches Midwest, encompassing most of Wisconsin, and fever to arthritis and Bell’s palsy. As part a large area in northern Minnesota, and a of the most extensive Lyme-related field study sliver of northern Illinois. Most established ever undertaken, researchers found high infec- populations of I. scapularis were found to be tion risk confined mainly to the Northeast, infected with B. burgdorferi, except four popu- Mid-Atlantic and Upper Midwest and low risk lations along expansion fronts, implying that in the South. The results were published in the pathogen spreads with, or quickly follows, the February issue of the American Journal of expansion of the tick. Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Given frequent The goal of the fieldwork was to provide over- and under-diagnosis of Lyme disease, doctors and public health officials with a bet- the new map could arm the public and health ter sense of where people are at risk of Lyme officials with critical information on the spatial disease by using the presence of known Lyme- distribution of human risk. carrying ticks as the main indicator of risk. The geographic pattern of human risk Accurate and timely diagnosis of Lyme disease for infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, the tick- is critical because delay may lead to severe borne pathogen that causes Lyme disease, disease requiring more aggressive treatment. was mapped for the eastern United States by On the other hand, overuse of antibiotics some- researchers at the Yale School of Public Health times results in serious negative outcomes. in collaboration with Michigan State University, Current geographical assessments of Lyme dis- the University of Illinois and the University of ease risk are heavily reliant on reports of human California, Irvine, through a cooperative agree- infections, which can be a poor predictor of ment with the Centers for Disease Control. risk due to frequent misdiagnosis. In addition, Using a standardized methodology, roughly 100 infected I. scapularis ticks may colonize a region field collectors sampled ticks in 304 individual long before they actually infect a human with sites from 2004 to 2007 from Maine to Florida Lyme disease, which means risk can be signifi- and across the Midwest by dragging a one- cant even without a confirmed case. meter by one-meter square of corduroy cloth. Although this map represents a key step in Nymphs of the black-legged tick Ixodes scapu- our understanding of geographic risk for Lyme laris were tested for infection with B. burgdorferi disease, it’s essential to continue monitoring to estimate the density of infected I. scapularis the distribution of ticks and pathogen, because nymphs, a measure of human infection risk. By there is strong evidence that they are both modeling the relationship between density of expanding, mostly along the edges of their infected ticks and ground-based and remotely current distribution. This map provides an sensed climate and landscape predictors, a essential baseline for tracking the spread of the predictive surface of human risk was generated. infection from areas endemic in 2004–2007. Current areas of high and low risk for Lyme dis- ease were delineated and areas of future expan- sion were predicted. The maps that emerged from the tick survey show a clear risk of Lyme disease in

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 21 F&ES NEWS

B

A Road Runoff Spurring Spotted Salamander Evolution

Spotted salamanders exposed to contami- L-shaped spines and other disfigurements. In “This adaptation is certainly encouraging nated roadside ponds are adapting to their roadside ponds, only 56% of salamander eggs for conservation,” said Brady. “But our modern toxic environments, according to a Yale paper survive the first 10 weeks of development, footprint is fundamentally changing species in Scientific Reports. This study provides the whereas 87% survive in the woodland ponds. in ways we don’t understand and, critically, we first documented evidence that a vertebrate As roadside ponds become more toxic, the don’t know if these adaptive responses will has adapted to the negative effects of roads, surviving salamanders may develop a genetic keep pace with environmental change.” apparently by evolving rapidly. advantage over their counterparts living in Brady observed the development of the Salamanders breeding in roadside ponds woodland ponds. salamanders in 10 ponds—five roadside and are exposed to a host of contaminants from The salamanders that survive year after five woodland—at Yale Myers Forest and in road runoff. Chief among these is sodium year in the roadside ponds seem to have the town of Willington, both in northeastern chloride from road salt, which reaches average adapted to the harsh conditions. “The animals Connecticut. The paper “Road to Evolution? concentrations 70 times higher in roadside that come from roadside ponds actually do Local Adaptation to Road Adjacency in an ponds compared to woodland ponds located better—substantially better—than the ones Amphibian (Ambystoma maculatum)” is avail- several hundred feet from the road. that originate from woodland ponds when able at www.nature.com/srep/2012/120126/ “While the evolutionary consequences of they’re raised together,” Brady said. srep00235/full/srep00235.html roads are largely unknown, we know they are It is not altogether new that animals adapt strong agents of natural selection and set the to human activities. For example, fish have Additional graphics of this research stage for fast evolution,” said Steven Brady, begun to mature at smaller sizes in response are available at https://picasaweb. google.com/114974158024600954678/ the study’s author and a doctoral student at to commercial fishing. But whereas humans SpottedLocalAdapt?noredirect=1. the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental directly consume fish, salamanders are just Studies. “These animals are growing up in bystanders to human activities. This suggests A A female spotted salamander gravid with eggs in route to harsh environments where they face a cocktail that the most species, which are not specifical- her breeding pool. There she will lay a cluster of approximately of contaminants, and it appears that they are ly targeted for human use, may be experiencing 100 eggs. Eight to ten weeks later, those eggs will hatch as larvae. In late summer, if the pool has not already dried, larvae evolving to cope with them.” profound evolutionary consequences. And it will metamorphose into juveniles that migrate to the adjacent Brady found that salamanders in road- seems that even species not being driven to upland habitat. Photo: Steven Brady

side ponds have higher mortality, grow at a extinction—and seldom thought about—are B Steven Brady inspects a salamander egg mass in a woodland slower rate and are more than likely to develop changing. pool. Photo: Mianus River Gorge Preserve

22 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 The tropical cyclone model is used in conjunction with climate models to predict how the frequency, intensity and location of tropical cyclones change in the seven ocean basins of the world. The paths of 17,000 synthetic storms are followed until they strike land. The authors used historical data to estimate the damages caused by the intensity of each cyclone and what was in harm’s way. Their revealed that minimum barometric pressure predicts damages more accurately than maxi- mum wind speed.

Tropical Cyclones to Cause Greater Damage

Tropical cyclones will cause $109 billion in Davis Professor of Forest Policy at the Yale The Caribbean-Central America region will have damage by 2100, according to researchers School of Forestry & Environmental Studies; the most damage per unit of GWP—37%. at Yale and the Massachusetts Institute for Professor of Economics; and a professor in the “When you calculate damages as a fraction Technology (MIT) in a paper published in Yale School of Management. “With the pres- of GWP, island nations are hit disproportion- Nature Climate Change. ent climate, almost 93% of tropical cyclone ately hard,” he said. That figure represents an increased vulnera- damage is caused by only 10% of the storms. The paper, “The Impact of Climate Change bility from population and especially economic Warming will increase the frequency of these on Global Tropical Cyclone Damage” (avail- growth, as well as the effects of climate change. high-intensity storms at least in the North able at www.nature.com) used a tropical Greater vulnerability to cyclones is expected to Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean basins, caus- cyclone integrated assessment model that was increase global tropical damage to $56 billion ing most of the increase in damage.” developed with Kerry Emanuel, a professor of by 2100 from $26 billion per year, double the The authors based their estimates on a atmospheric science at MIT. “The paper dem- current losses from $26 billion per year if the future global population of 9 billion and an onstrates how to integrate the atmospheric present climate remains stable. annual increase of approximately 3% in gross science of tropical cyclones and economics,” However, climate change is predicted to world product until 2100. “More people mak- said Emanuel. add another $53 billion of damages. The dam- ing a lot more income will put more capital in Storm tracks and minimum pressure for a age caused by climate change is equal to 0.01 harm’s way,” he said. sample of synthetic storms. The tracks show percent of gross world product (GWP) in 2100. Tropical cyclones today cause $26 billion that storms are more frequent in the western The United States and China will be hard- in global damages, which is 4 percent of gross Pacific. The minimum pressure (hpa) or storm est hit, incurring $25 billion and $15 billion of world product. North America and East Asia intensity is measured by their color. Storm the additional damages from climate change, account for 88 percent of these damages, intensity is higher over the warm waters near respectively, amounting to 75% of the global because these regions have powerful storms the Equator and lower over the cooler waters damages caused by climate change. Small and well-developed coastlines. towards the poles. islands, especially in the Caribbean, will also be The future economic damage from tropi- hit hard, suffering the highest losses per unit cal cyclones will be less than $1 billion a year Source: Mendelsohn, R., K. Emanuel, S. of GWP. in Europe and South America because there Chonabayashi, and L. Bakkensen. 2012. “The Impact of Climate Change on Global Tropical The research reveals that more intense are few storms there, and the damage in Africa Cyclone Damage” Nature Climate Change storms will become more frequent with climate will be low because, Mendelsohn said, there doi:10.1038/nclimate1357 change. “The biggest storms cause most of is “relatively little in harm’s way.” Damages in the damage,” said lead economist on the proj- Asia and Central America are expected to grow ect, Robert Mendelsohn, Edwin Weyerhaeuser rapidly in concert with high economic growth.

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 23 F&ES NEWS

“These findings imply that the deposition Glacial Carbon May Hold of this ancient fossil-fuel organic carbon is ubiquitous, with important implications to Record of Environmental Change the functioning of different ecosystems,” said By David DeFusco, Director of Media Relations and Outreach; Peter Raymond, a co-author of the study and Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies professor of ecosystem ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. New clues as to how Earth’s remote ecosys- Glaciers provide a great deal of carbon Glaciers and ice sheets together represent tems have been influenced by the Industrial to downstream ecosystems, and many scien- the second-largest reservoir of water on Earth, Revolution are frozen in glaciers, accord- tists believe the source of this carbon is from with glacier ecosystems covering 10%, yet the ing to a paper in the March issue of Nature ancient forests and peatlands that were over- carbon dynamics underpinning those ecosys- Geoscience. run by glaciers. However, the carbon comes tems remain poorly understood. “Remote regions are often perceived as mainly from contemporary biomass and the “Increased understanding of glacier bio- being pristine and devoid of human influence,” burning of fossil fuels that gets deposited on geochemistry is a priority, as glacier environ- said Aron Stubbins, the study’s lead author the surface of glaciers. Once it’s deposited by ments are among the most sensitive to climate and an assistant professor at the Skidaway snow and rain, carbon-containing dissolved warming and the effects of industrial pollu- Institute of Oceanography. “Glaciers show us organic matter (DOM) in the glacial ice moves tion,” Raymond said. that burning fuels has an impact upon the with the glacier and is eventually delivered Glacier ice loss is accelerating globally, natural functioning of ecosystems far removed downstream, where it provides food for micro- driven in part by the deposition of carbon in from industrial activity.” organisms at the base of the marine food web. the form of soot or “black carbon,” which dark-

“The EPI and Trend EPI demonstrate that Switzerland Ranked at the Top of 2012 EPI, policy choices matter when it comes to envi- ronmental progress,” said Angel Hsu, the 2012 Latvia First in New Pilot Trend Rankings EPI project director and doctoral student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Switzerland leads the world in managing pol- issue from 2000 to 2010. The United States’s Studies. “Latvia has launched major energy lution and natural resources, according to the ranking suggests that little progress has been and environmental initiatives in recent years by 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI). made on environmental challenges over the eliminating coal from its power generation and Switzerland ranked highest in ecosystem vital- past 10 years. by reforesting. Other countries at the top of ity and environmental health, and was particu- Of the emerging economies, China and the lists have similar strengths.” larly strong in biodiversity and habitat protec- India rank 116th and 125th in the EPI, respec- While many countries had positive envi- tion and air pollution control. tively, reflecting the strain that rapid economic ronmental performance trends, some deterio- The EPI, produced by researchers at Yale growth imposes on the environment. Brazil rated from 2000 to 2010. Estonia, Bosnia and and Columbia University in collaboration with ranks 30th, suggesting that a concerted focus Herzegovina, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Russia the World Economic Forum, ranks 132 coun- on sustainability as a policy priority will pay dropped in the rankings on pollution control tries based on the basis of 22 indicators in 10 dividends and that the level and pace of devel- and natural resource management. Russia, at major policy categories, including air and water opment is just one of many factors affecting the very bottom of the Trend EPI ranking, suf- pollution, climate change, biodiversity and for- environmental performance. fers from poor environmental public health, est management. Latvia, Norway, Luxembourg and Costa overfishing and forest loss. The United States placed 49th in the 2012 Rica are in the top five of the EPI, whereas For countries near the top of the EPI rank- EPI, performing strong on water and air pol- South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, ings, the Trend EPI results will not be particu- lution management, but weak on controlling Turkmenistan and Iraq—all grappling with larly meaningful because the long time leaders greenhouse gas emissions and promoting deteriorating environmental circumstances as have limited room for improvement. Iceland, renewable electricity generation. The US ranks a result of economic development pressures for example, ranks 13th in the EPI but 64th in behind other industrialized nations, includ- and other challenges—placed at the bottom of the Trend EPI, reflecting its high ranking in the ing France (6th), the United Kingdom (9th), the rankings. EPI over the past decade. However, some top- Germany (11th) and Japan (23rd). The Pilot Trend EPI, introduced this year by tier performers on this year’s EPI have strong In addition, the United States is 77th in the Yale-Columbia research team, shows Latvia the new Pilot Trend EPI, which ranks coun- at the top, followed by Azerbaijan, Romania, tries by how much they improved issue-by- Albania and Egypt.

24 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 ens glacier surfaces and increases the absorp- webs today, we may be seeing a picture that is tion of light and heat. The burning of biomass significantly different from what existed before and fossil fuels by people around the globe are the late 18th century,” he said. “It is unknown the major sources of black carbon. how this manmade carbon has influenced the Stubbins and his fellow scientists have coastal food webs of Alaska and the fisheries conducted much of their research at the they support.” Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, Alaska. The researchers’ findings also reveal how the ocean The paper can be viewed online at www.nature. may have changed over past centuries. The com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/ngeo1403. pdf. For more details, visit www.skio.usg.edu/people/ microbes that form the very bottom of the food stubbins/. This work is supported by the National webs are particularly sensitive to changes in Science Foundation: www-beta.nsf.gov/awardsearch/ the quantity and quality of the carbon entering showAward.do?AwardNumber=1146161. the marine system. Since the study found that the organic matter in glacier outflows stems largely from human activities, it means that the supply of glacier carbon to the coastal waters of the Gulf of Alaska is a modern, post-industrial phe- nomenon. “When we look at the marine food

Trend EPI rankings, indicating improved per- ern sanitation, in particular, translate quickly “Our findings are only as solid as the formance over the past 10 years. The United into improved environmental health results. underlying data, and we have a long way to go Kingdom, for example, ranks 20th on the Trend At every level of development, however, some in some areas,” said John Emerson, associ- EPI, demonstrating significant progress on sev- countries achieve results that exceed other ate professor of statistics at Yale and principal eral environmental issues. countries with similar economic circumstanc- investigator of the 2012 EPI. “Particularly “As leaders gather for Rio+20 in June, they es, demonstrating that good governance and distressing is the lack of accurate global and need to know who is leading and who is lag- careful policy choices also affect performance. comparative data on waste management, toxic ging on energy and environmental challenges,” “It is wonderful to see the impact that exposures, agricultural sustainability and water said Daniel Esty, director of the Yale Center for the EPI has begun to have across the policy resources.” Environmental Law and Policy and Hillhouse world,” said Kim Samuel-Johnson, chair of the Marc Levy, deputy director of Columbia’s Professor at Yale. Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy Center for International Earth Science Esty, who is on leave from Yale, is com- board of directors and co-creator of the proj- Information Network and one of the EPI proj- missioner of the Connecticut Department of ect. “Many countries are realizing the value of ect leaders, added: “Although there was an Energy and Environmental Protection. “Like so using these indicators to benchmark perfor- effort at the 1992 Earth Summit to launch the many other areas of decision-making, environ- mance over time.” world on a path toward environmental sustain- mental policy has become more data-driven The EPI and Trend EPI build on the best ability, we have witnessed the opposite—stag- and experience-based,” he said. “The EPI pro- available global datasets from international nation on many critical issues. The meager vides a proven tool for assessing performance organizations, such as the World Bank and data we have available clearly demonstrates on an absolute basis. The new Trend EPI offers the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, this fact. It makes no sense to enter a period of a way to track progress over time and is a as well as research institutions such as the heightened pressure on the environment with mechanism for gauging the efficacy of govern- Battelle Memorial Institute, University of such inadequate monitoring of those pres- ment programs and indentifying best policy Maryland, University of Frankfurt and the “Sea sures.” practices.” Around Us” Project at the University of British Analysis of the policy drivers underlying the Columbia. Serious data gaps limit the ability to The Environmental Performance Index was made 2012 rankings makes it clear that income is a measure results, particularly changes in perfor- possible through financial support from FedEx and the Samuel Family Foundation. To view both rank- major determinant of environmental success. mance, on some important issues. ings, visit http://epi.yale.edu. Investments in safe drinking water and mod-

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 25 F&ES NEWS

lee wargo Yale Corporation Appoints Two Faculty to Named Professorships in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies By David DeFusco, Director of Media Relations and Outreach; Editor, Environment:Yale

Xuhui Lee and John Wargo, members of several faculty searches and served on a range protect children from environmental hazards, the faculty at the Yale School of Forestry & of internal committees. In addition to teaching and has served on a variety of advisory boards Environmental Studies (F&ES), have been specialized courses in his research area, he has for the US Environmental Protection Agency, appointed to named professorships by the Yale taught climate change science and policy. U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the World Corporation for their outstanding contributions “Xuhui has an outstanding record of Health Organization and the UN Food and to scholarship. “Xuhui and John have contrib- research and is a committed and excellent Agriculture Organization. uted immensely to the advancement of envi- teacher, as well as a good university citizen,” He also has made substantial contribu- ronmental scholarship, as well as to the life of said Dean Crane. tions to the teaching of environmental stud- the school,” said Dean Peter Crane. “They are John Wargo has been named the Tweedy/ ies to doctoral, master’s and undergraduate richly deserving of this honor.” Ordway Professor of Environmental Health students at Yale, with a particular focus on Xuhui Lee has been named the Sara and Politics. John Wargo holds a BA in English environmental policy, politics, law and threats Shallenberger Brown Professor of Meteorology. from the University of Pennsylvania, master’s to human health. Lee obtained training in meteorology at the in landscape architecture from the University As chair of the Environmental Studies Nanjing Institute of Meteorology before receiv- of Massachusetts, and PhD from Yale in 1984. Program in Yale College, he has played a key ing his PhD in soil science at the University of He is an expert on the threats to human health leadership role over the past decade in the British Columbia in 1992. He was appointed posed by environmental hazards. design and rapid growth of the major. He has assistant professor at F&ES in 1994 and His book, Our Children’s Toxic Legacy, won built many partnerships between faculty in became professor in 2002. the American Publishers Association Prize F&ES and those in other Yale departments An internationally renowned expert in the for the best book in political science in 1998. and professional schools, encouraging others biophysics and biometeorology of natural and His most recent book, Green Intelligence (Yale to teach and mentor environmental stud- human-dominated ecosystems, including agri- University Press. 2009), examines the history ies majors. The size of the major has nearly cultural systems, Lee works on how radiation, of science and law regulating pesticides, radio- tripled within the past five years. His own water, heat and trace gasses are exchanged nuclides, diesel emissions, mercury in the food undergraduate course in “Environmental between the vegetation and the atmosphere, as chain and plastics. It received several awards, Politics and Law” is one of the most sub- well as how these interactions influence large- including the Independent Publisher Book scribed classes in Yale College and is featured scale biogeochemical processes such as the Award Gold Medal (2010) in the Environment, as a Yale online course, with 24 filmed lec- carbon cycle. Ecology, and Nature category. His current tures freely available on the web and tran- Lee has almost 90 peer-reviewed work includes an exploration of the growing scripts translated into 50 languages. publications and has had continuous grant tension between tighter, more energy-efficient “John is a superb teacher, renowned schol- support from national and international buildings and the increased diversity and con- ar and a deeply committed university citizen,” sources since 1996. He currently serves as the centration of chemicals in indoor areas. He said Dean Crane. “We would not have such a editor-in-chief of the journal Agricultural and is also co-author of Ecosystems: Science and successful environmental studies major with- Forest Meteorology. Management (Springer Verlag, 1998). out his hard work and leadership. He lavishes From 2004 to 2007 he was director of doc- Wargo has testified before the US House a huge amount of time on the program to the toral studies at F&ES, and he also has chaired and Senate, recommending legal strategies to great benefit of our students.”

26 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 New Methodology Assesses Journal Features Risk of Scarce Metals Tropical Research by

Yale researchers have developed a methodol- Regulations and social attitudes can either F&ES Students ogy for governments and corporations to impede or expedite the development of min- determine the availability of critical metals, eral resources. For example, communities Eight School of Forestry & Environmental according to a paper in Environmental Science are aware of the potential for environmental Studies (F&ES) master’s students engaged & Technology. damage from tailings ponds and may resist the in research on the conservation and manage- In “Methodology of Metal Criticality development of a new mine. ment of tropical resources have published their Determination,” the researchers evaluate the Governmental policies, actions and stabil- results in Tropical Resources, the annual journal importance of scarce metals using a method- ity can significantly affect the ability to obtain of the Tropical Resources Institute at Yale (TRI). ology that determines their supply risk, envi- mineral resources. Graedel said that, in gen- “The research topics are tributes to the ronmental implications, and vulnerability to eral, the more concentrated the mineral depos- open minds and creativity of F&ES students,” supply restriction. its are in one area, the higher the risk of supply said Michael Dove, Margaret K. Musser “In the past few years, a number of restriction. Professor of Social Ecology. “These studies organizations have attempted to evaluate “This work was stimulated by China’s reaffirm that when it comes to conservation metal criticality, but the methods used have attempt to horde rare earth metals, which are and development projects, local wisdom and varied widely and so have the results,” said being almost entirely mined and processed initiatives are often most successful.” Thomas Graedel, Clifton R. Musser Professor in China,” said Graedel. “We asked ourselves: The research in Tropical Resources is divid- of Industrial Ecology at the Yale School of How do you know what’s scarce? If you know ed into three main themes: institution-building, Forestry & Environmental Studies. “This is the a metal is scarce, how do you know if you human health and adaptation to climate first time that this topic has been addressed in should worry about it? We think this method- change. The students, whose research was the peer-reviewed literature.” ology has substantial legitimacy.” funded by TRI, are Geofrey Mwanjela, Adenike The criticality methodology, based on a Adeyeye, Juan Pablo Vallejo, Eliza Little, Ran US National Research Council template, is The paper can be viewed at Song, Ana Karla Perea Blázquez, Stephen Wood designed to help corporations and national http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es203534z and Gil Depaula. governments evaluate the risk of not having “Some of the best work carried out over access to critical metals and to inform strate- the past year by F&ES students on tropical gic decision-making around resource use. societies and environments is published in “If you’re a corporation, you don’t want the journal,” said Lisa Bassani, TRI’s program to design and manufacture something only to manager. find out that you don’t have important materi- Mwanjela’s article concerns the Mnazi Bay als,” he said. Marine Park, established in 2000 on the south- The criticality methodology evaluates sup- eastern coast of Tanzania. Like many protected ply risk for entities that use metals on the areas created over the past couple of decades, basis of three components: geological, tech- this project sought to marry environmental nological and economic; social and regulatory; conservation and local socioeconomic develop- and geological. The first of these components ment. The park was developed around existing measures the potential availability of a metal’s communities of ethnic Makonde and Makua, supplies, and the latter two address the degree who had traditionally depended primarily on to which the availability of the supply might be fishing for their livelihoods. To better conserve constrained. the marine environment, the park management According to the paper, the most obvious sought to redirect the local communities’ liveli- questions related to a metal’s availability in the hood focus away from fishing. A decade later, ground are how much there is, whether it is the results of this initiative are mixed. technologically feasible to obtain, and whether Adeyeye’s research focuses on community- it is economically practical to do so. based sanitation initiatives to address health hazards in the Ekiti State of southwest Nigeria. The initiatives here consisted of establishing

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 27 F&ES NEWS

water and sanitation committees to promote precipitation—increases, so does crop diversi- the digging of boreholes (for hand-washing) ty, and as the latter variable increases, so does Wyss Scholars and construction of latrines. The participation household income. of women was deemed essential to the pro- DePaula’s study concerns the conse- to Promote Land gram, but equal representation did not ensure quences of increasing global temperatures Conservation equal participation. on residential energy use in less-developed Vallejo’s research focuses on the water- countries. Brazil’s economy is booming and Out West resource systems of the Caribbean region of its middle class is growing and so is con- Colombia. Flooding and droughts have taken sumption of electricity. He investigated how By David DeFusco, Director of Media Relations a toll on the region over the past two decades, projected increases in temperature will affect and Outreach; Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and climate change and the loss of 95% of this growth in consumption and concluded that region’s native forests are causing economic, future increases in energy consumption in On a cross-country bicycle tour for Habitat for social and ecological vulnerability. Brazil will vary according to income levels and Humanity several summers ago, Chris Colvin Little’s research deals with urbanization local climatic conditions. Overall, though, the peddled hard toward the 9,600-foot summit of and the spread of dengue fever in the munici- growth in Brazil’s middle class will substan- Togwotee Pass from Riverton, Wyoming, eye- pality of Patillas in southeastern Puerto Rico. tially increase the climate change effects on its ing the open grassy meadows and Whitebark She examines the distributions and habitats of energy sector. pines to distract from the burn in his legs. two dengue vectors in Patillas: the mosquito As he crested, the snow-capped spires of the Aedes aegypti, and Aedes mediovittatus, a Grand Teton Mountains burst forth from the native, tree-dwelling mosquito that is seen as For more information on the Tropical Resources asphalt horizon, their mighty peaks piercing a potential vector. Her analysis will enable den- Institute or its fellows, visit environment.yale.edu/tri the opalescent blue as if laying claim to the gue interventions to be focused on the highest- or contact [email protected]. heavens. Colvin’s breath caught. It was at that risk urban environments. moment, he said, that he fell in love with the Song and his collaborators’ work in a Rocky Mountains. Hawaiian tea plantation examined how shade Now a master’s student at the Yale School levels and age affect the concentrations of of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES), chemicals, such as caffeine in tea plants. It is Colvin will continue his studies this summer an analysis of the correlation between health- as a Wyss Scholar, consulting for the National benefiting chemicals in tea and two much- Park Service’s Denver Service Center on discussed variables of the tea plant: the age of the development of management plans for the leaf and whether or not the plant is shade- national parks. grown. Mikailah “Mik” McKee and Jonathan Blázquez examines existing mechanisms Loevner are the other 2012–2013 Wyss for adapting to climatic perturbation, espe- Scholars, bringing the total of F&ES recipients cially drought, among peasant households in to 15 since the program began in 2006. Mexico. She frames her study as an effort to The Wyss Scholars Program aims to create inform planning for climate-change conse- a generation of leaders in western land conser- quences and responses. She notes, however, vation. It covers up to half of the tuition and that the effects of globalization on Mexico’s expenses of getting a master’s degree and for agrarian economy make it difficult to ascertain postgraduate work. Scholars are also awarded whether these mechanisms represent adapta- a stipend to cover summer research or an tions to climatic, rather than economic, stress internship in conservation. or more likely a combination of the two. In addition, the Wyss Foundation is expand- Wood did a comparative study of climatic ing its program over the next three years to variation on agro-biodiversity and peasant attract three students from the Yale’s Divinity household economies, again framed as a way School, School of Management, Law School or to assess the future effects of climate change. Graduate School of Arts & Sciences who are It is based on a study of the Fouta Djallon planning to apply their skills in conservation. region of northern Guinea and southern “The Wyss Foundation is pleased to sup- Senegal. He found that as temperature—if not port a seventh class of Wyss Scholars at Yale as part of our commitment to building leaders in western land conservation,” said 28 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 Matt Hollamby, program officer at the Wyss The Wyss Scholarship will help him pur- jobs were plentiful, but what he really wanted to Foundation. “Today, someone working in con- sue his dream of improving public land gov- do was work for the US Forest Service. He final- servation has to understand everything from ernance out west for the Forest Service or a ly got a chance, landing a job on a fuels crew science and policy to real estate transactions land management agency. “Getting the Wyss where he was usually at the vanguard of wildfire and social media. F&ES is preparing its stu- Scholarship is an honor,” he said. suppression efforts. When he left Bozeman, he dents for these new careers on campus and by Loevner said the greatest challenge in a lot became a member of the Chena Interagency connecting students to conservation projects of places in the West is not necessarily manag- Hotshot Crew, an elite wildfire crew in Alaska that are happening now.” ing natural resources, but dealing with political that prided itself on physical stamina and its The Wyss Scholarship will enable Colvin challenges—getting people to agree on what ability to undertake dangerous assignments. to pursue his interest in public lands and their needs to be done. “It should be an important Not surprisingly, McKee will use the Wyss relationship to rapidly growing urban centers part of educating a land management profes- Scholarship to pursue his interest in fire man- for two years of work in the West after he sional, and I’m definitely getting it here at agement and in promoting conservation on graduates next year. He would one day like to F&ES,” he said. working lands, like ranches and farms. “To get work for the US Forest Service, National Park Mik McKee’s parents were dairy farmers the Wyss Scholarship is extremely exciting,” Service or Bureau of Land Management. in Chelsea, Vermont, where 1,250 people live he said. “It’ll push my academic boundaries “I think it’s important for the future of envi- within 40 square miles. McKee spent a great further.” ronmental stewardship to make sure that peo- deal of his childhood outdoors where, he said, He said that growing up in a farming com- ple who live in cities feel connected to natural he developed an appreciation for the “intrinsic munity gives him an appreciation for the chal- areas and their public lands,” he said. and cultural values” of a rural environment. lenges that small towns face in retaining young Colvin grew up in San Francisco. He vaca- After graduating from Hobart and William people, supporting good schools and keeping tioned at Mount Rainier National Park and Smith Colleges in Finger Lakes, New York, he businesses. “Farming is an intensive use of stayed in the Paradise Inn, which his great- set out to find himself in the wide open spaces the land, but it isn’t at odds with the idea of great-grandfather—the architect Frederick of Big Sky Country—Bozeman, Montana. The preserving land,” he said. “The two can coex- Heath—designed and his grandfather man- construction industry was booming and the ist and that’s the direction that conservation aged. After graduating from University of needs to head.” California Berkeley in 2005, he was a back country ranger in Yellowstone National Park, worked for the US Forest Service and it was at Stanford University where he heard about Yale from alumni. “The strength of Yale is that you don’t just learn how to do things or how to perform tasks. You learn how to think creatively and how to approach problems with a clear, open mind and strong analytical tools,” he said. Jonathan Loevner was exposed to the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains as a child vacationing with his family in Wyoming, and at Carleton College in Minnesota where he studied history and environmental science. At Carleton he developed an interest in land man- agement while working two summers for the Left to right: Wyss Scholars Christopher Colvin, Mikailah “Mik” McKee and Jonathan US Forest Service in Idaho. Loevner. Loevner said he wants to lead projects that improve forest health and create jobs in rural communities. “I became interested in the con- nection between communities in the Rocky Mountains and landscapes because almost everyone is making a living off the land in some way, whether it’s by farming, timber or recreation.”

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 29 STUDENT NEWS

Woosok Moon YIBS Student Awards Announced Advisor: Professor John Wettlaufer in the Department of Geology & Geophysics Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS) Research topic: “Wild Energy: Renewable Research topic: “Arctic Sea Ice: Trends, Stability Director Os Schmitz is pleased to announce Energy Generation in Wilderness Lands” and Variability” the recipients of the YIBS Small Pilot Grant Awards, the MS Grant Awards, the Dissertation ms grant awards for 2012 Kristina Guild Advisor: Professor Roderick McIntosh in the Enhancement Grant Awards, and the Members of the MS Grant Awards committee, Department of Anthropology Dissertation Improvement Awards for 2012. David Post, professor in the Yale Department Research topic: “Colonization, Interaction and of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Peter the Evolution of Landscape: The Arrival of yibs small pilot grant awards for Raymond, professor in the Yale School of Human Communities on the Southwest Coast 2012 Forestry & Environmental Studies, chose the of Madagascar” David Post, the director of the YIBS Small Pilot following students to receive awards: Grant Awards Program and professor in the Cara Mae Cirignano dissertation improvement awards Yale Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies for 2012: Biology chose the following students to receive Award: $1,750 awards: Akram Agha Ali Research topic: “The Monetary Value of Air Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Meredith Atwood Pollution Impacts from American Beef Cattle” Award: $4,000 Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Geoffrey Giller Research Topic: “Water Use in Pakistan’s Award: $3,000 Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Agriculture: “Efficient Water Allocation in Research topic: “Food Webs in Temporary Award: $2,500 Pakastani Agricultural Production” Ponds” Research topic: “Estrogenic Contamination of Luisa Cortesi Karin Burghardt Ground and Pond Waters” Department of Anthropology Yale Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Award: $5,000 Max Lambert Biology Research Topic: “Living in Floods: Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Award: $3,000 Knowledge(s) and Technologies of Disastrous Studies Research topic: “Impact of Plasticity in Water in North Bihar, India” Award: $2,500 Plant Herbivore Interactions on Ecosystems Research topic: “Endocrine Disruption between Andrew Jones Processes” Amphibian Species and Among Land Uses” Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Jessamy Doman Award: $5,000 Yale Department of Anthropology dissertation enhancement awards Research Topic: “Adaptation in alewife (Alosa Award: $3,000 for 2012 pseudoharengus) via RAD sequencing” Research topic: “Paleoecology at the Origin of Richard Bribiescas, Chair of the Dissertation Kimberly LaPierre Hominins: The Faunal Evidence, 5.7-7 Ma” Enhancement Awards committee and pro- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Anobha Gurung fessor and chair of the Yale Department of Award: $5,000 Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Anthropology, and his committee members Research topic: “Drivers of Grassland Award: $1,750 James Saiers, Professor in the School of Invertebrate Community Structure: Effects Research topic: “Understanding Exposure to Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES), and of Soil Nutrient Availability and Vertebrate Traffic-related Air Pollution in Kathmandu, Andrew Hill and Eric Sargis in the Department Herbivores on Invertebrate Resource Limitation” Nepal” of Anthropology, chose the following doctoral Mary Rogalski students to receive awards of $10,000 each: Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Kathryn Hacker Award: $5,000 Yale School of Public Health Rachel Racicot Research Topic: “Ecological and Evolutionary Award: $3,000 Advisor: Professor Jacques Gauthier in the Responses to Historic Lake Pollution” Research topic: “Eco-epidemiology of Department of Geology & Geophysics Leptospirosis in the Urban Slum Communities” Research topic: “Phylogenetics of Dolphins Zaarur Shikma and their Relatives (Cetacea: Delphinoidea): Department of Geology & Geophysics Nikki Springer Evolution and Diversification of Extant and Award: $2,700 Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Fossil Delphinoids as Depicted by Inner Ear” Research Topic: “U- and Th-bearing phases in Award: $2500 aquifer host rock-source for high radium activity in the Nubian Sandstone aquifer” 30 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY & EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY NEWS

YIBS Donnelley Fellow Receives Jasper J. Loftus-Hills Young Investigators Award

Matthew Walsh, Postdoctoral Fellow in the of diversification in a fish predator in lakes, and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary and has shown that diversification in the alewife, former Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies an important fish in coastal ecosystems along (YIBS) Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral the Atlantic coast of North America, has driven Environmental Fellow, has been chosen to evolutionary divergence in the life history and receive a 2012 Jasper J. Loftus-Hills Young investment in sex in Daphnia (water fleas), the Investigators Award. This award recognizes dominant grazer in most lakes. He has also outstanding and promising work by investiga- shown that evolution in Daphnia significantly tors who received their doctorates in the three altered both consumer-resource interactions years preceding the application deadline, or with algae and overall ecosystem function. His who are in their final year of graduate school work at Yale demonstrates that evolution in and have recently received their doctorate. one organism can propagate through ecologi- Walsh studies questions at the interface of cal interactions to cause a cascade of evolution community ecology and evolutionary biology that drives evolution in other organisms, which and has studied fisheries-induced adaptive in turn have additional ecological effects. change in Atlantic silversides and the evolu- Walsh will receive the award from the tionary consequences of indirect effects in the American Society of Naturalists on 9 July 2012 killifish. At Yale, Walsh has studied the cascad- at the first Joint Congress on Evolutionary ing ecological and evolutionary consequences Biology in Ottawa, Canada.

Fungal Biology at Yale: Shedding Light on Development, Evolution and Metabolism By Nina Lehr, PhD

In May 2010, I joined Professor Jeffrey the sexual development is of great importance. Townsend’s lab in the Yale Department of N. crassa can undergo either an asexual or Ecology & Evolutionary Biology as a Gaylord sexual life cycle. The sexual life cycle requires Donnelley Postdoctoral Environmental Fellow, strains of two mating types, mat A and mat a. where I have been working on the evolution While some genes involved in sexual develop- of gene expression underlying sexual develop- ment have been identified by mutagenesis ment in fungi. screens and characterized, a unified model The life cycles of some filamentous fungi, for the genetic control of this developmental including the model ascomycetous fungus process has yet to emerge. I am interested in Neurospora crassa, have been studied inten- understanding the mode of the sexual develop- sively. However, unlike the well-studied devel- ment: how these complex, three-dimensional opment of complex, three-dimensional struc- fruiting bodies develop and evolve. This project tures in plant and animal development, little is will yield results that are critical to studies of known about the genetic basis of the develop- the ecology and epidemiology of fungal dis- ment of the complex, three-dimensional fruit- ease, and moreover, fungi offer a straightfor- A A Carotenoid and melanin production in Neurospora spp. in ing bodies called perithecia. Generally speak- ward model for studying the evolution of gene N. crassa and N. discrete both mating types, mat a and mat A, ing, ascomyceteous fungi are the predominant expression underlying morphogenesis. Fungi produce a large amount of cartenoids which accumulate in the mycelium (A, B, D, E). In N. tetrasperma mat A synthesizes disease-causing fungi for plants and animals represent ideal organisms for investigations, larger amounts of cartenoids than mat a (C, F). After 144 hours and therefore understanding the mechanism of because they are easily and rapidly grown and the perithecia are fully developed in all three species. The black color is due to the presence of melanin (G–I). yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 31 B

genetically manipulated, feature many available the formation of perithecia. Our data indicate endophytes and their natural products. Since and complete genome sequences, and under- that the regulation of expression of genes 2007, plant material has been collected in rain go a sexual cycle terminated with the formation involved in the carotenoid biosynthetis path- forest expeditions from which endophytes have of fruiting bodies with a few well-characterized way are not only important for asexual, but been isolated, and I am particularly interested in tissues types. also for sexual reproduction. volatile organic compounds that have been high- To analyze fungal fruiting body develop- Neurospora sp. produces fruiting bodies lighted for their potential as fuel alternatives. ment on a comprehensive scale, I have per- similar to those of the closely related plant formed Illumina next generation sequencing of pathogenic species Fusarium graminaerum and gene expression in three Neurospora species, F. verticilloides. I have compared our transcrip- N. crassa, N. tetrasperma and N. discrete, over tomic sequencing data of the three Neurospora the time course of sexual development. This species with transcriptomic sequencing data sequencing was followed by a comparative of Fusarium sp. acquired by our collaboration gene expression analysis of selected known partner Professor Frances Trail, University developmental genes, genes differentially of Michigan, and used the iPlant Discovery expressed between species, as well as genes in Environment to estimate the ancestral evolu- key biochemical pathways such as the melanin tionary transitions that resulted in the shifts in and carotenoid biosynthesis. Melanin pro- morphology in these two genera. We are cur- vides protective functions from environmental rently screening candidate genes by perform- stresses, and the high diversity within the ing crosses using available knockout mutants. fungal kingdom, as well as the ability to exploit We aim to reveal evolved differences in the extreme environments, is thought to be due regulatory circuits that control development, to its beneficial features. Carotenoid pigments identifying genes with novel function that protect fungi from reactive oxygen species aris- could provide new targets for fungicides and ing from environmental factors such as carbon other antifungals. Our present data provide and nitrogen starvation or light. In Neurospora insight into how fungal pathogens may adapt crassa, the synthesis of carotenoids is induced to their hosts based on shifts in gene expres- by the blue light-responsive genes al-1, al-2, sion, together with divergent and convergent and al-3. Characterizing genes responsible for evolution of gene function leading to fungal fungal response to light provides a window sexual development. into how fungi perceive the environment, and In May 2012, I joined Professor Scott into the role of light in influencing cellular Strobel’s lab in the Department of Molecular C development and metabolism. The carotenoid Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale, whose B Phylogenetic tree of the closely related Neurospora and biosynthesis pathway in Neurospora crassa has research focus is on RNA structure and func- Fusarium species. Maximum likelihood tree from a branch and bound search using ITS1+5.8S+ITS2 rDNA data. been studied intensively, for the asexual devel- tion. Like Professor Townsend, Professor opment, but so far there is no information on Strobel is interested in the metabolic underpin- C Fully developed perithecium 144 hours after crossing. Top: Scanning electron microscopy of fruiting body. Bar = 99  the linkage between the sexual life cycle and nings of fungal biology and his lab works with Bottom: Light micrograph of a squash of a mature perithecium. Asci (a) containing ascospores (as) are shown.

32 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 BASS DISTINGUISHED VISITING SCHOLARS

jaramillo bloch possingham

YIBS to Host Three Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Environmental Scholars During 2012–13

Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS) deep-time history of tropical forests are literally & Evolutionary Biology and with staff at the Director Os Schmitz is pleased to announce pouring out of his lab. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. the appointments of three Edward P. Bass Dr. Jarmillo is a welcome addition to F&ES, Hugh Possingham, professor of ecology Distinguished Visiting Environmental Scholars and will also interact closely with the ecology and conservation science at the University during the 2012–13 academic year. and evolutionary biology environment, the geol- of Queensland, Australia, and a fellow of the Carlos Jaramillo, a paleobotanist at the ogy community, and with paleontology and Australian Academy of Sciences, will serve as Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in paleoclimate research groups while at Yale. a Bass Distinguished Visiting Environmental Panama, will serve as a Bass Distinguished Jonathan Bloch, Associate Professor Scholar in the Yale School of Forestry & Visiting Environmental Scholar in the Yale of Geological Sciences, Anthropology, and Environmental Studies for one month during School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Zoology, and Associate Curator of Vertebrate March/April 2013. For more than 20 years, (F&ES) during the fall 2012 and spring 2013 Paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural Professor Possingham has been a leading inno- semesters. Colombian by birth, Dr. Jaramillo is History, will serve as a Bass Distinguished vator in the development of theory and quan- quickly emerging as the undisputed leader in Visiting Environmental Scholar in the Yale titative tools in support of conservation goals. understanding the origin of neotropical forests. Department of Anthropology during the spring His earlier work focused on the development His research investigates the causes, patterns 2013 semester—from mid January to mid of population viability analysis and the design and processes of tropical biodiversity at diverse April. Dr. Bloch’s research on primate evolu- of conservation reserves. More recently, he has scales of time and space, and addresses tion is of interest to many faculty in biological been a leader in the integration of scientific questions from a paleontological perspective anthropology and geology and geophysics. He insight with conservation decision making, and (mainly using fossil pollen, spores, plant has recently been studying turtles, snakes and has been extremely successful as a scientist, megafossils and dinoflagellates), a point of view crocodylimorphs in addition to mammals, and with his work being cited more than 1,400 that is largely needed to understand and predict can also address mammalian phylogenetics in times last year alone (h-index= 47). the behavior of biota in tropical ecosystems. the Systematics Discussion Group. Alongside his scholarship, Professor He is also interested in Cretaceous-Cenozoic Dr. Bloch has been collaborating with Possingham has developed two highly success- biostratigraphy of low latitudes, developing Professor Eric Sargis, Yale Department of ful software packages. ALEX was one of the methods for high-resolution biostratigraphy and Anthropology, on a Mammal Tree of Life proj- first comprehensive population viability pack- the paleobiogeography of Tethys. ect funded by National Science Foundation. ages. Unlike some of its commercially available Dr. Jaramillo combines an extremely lively While in residence at Yale, he will interact with competitors, ALEX is free and it encourages— intellect with a real passion for fieldwork and faculty and students from the departments of in fact requires—users to think carefully about as a result, new data and new ideas about the Anthropology, Geology & Geophysics, Ecology

yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 33 PUBLICATIONS

whether they have enough data. More recently, Forests are critical to mitigating the effects of Professor Possingham was a leader in the Book Examines global climate change because they are large development of MARXAN, a hugely successful storehouses of carbon, but there are signifi- software package designed to support conser- Science and Policy cant uncertainties about the actual behavior of vation planning. of Forest Carbon many of their sinks and sources, according to He has been quite active in translating a recently published textbook, Managing Forest his research findings into real change. In Carbon in a Changing Climate (Springer 2012). 2004, Australia was abuzz with the news that The book, written by researchers at the Queensland, a state previously known to be a Yale School of Forestry & Environmental laggard in the protection of native habitats, had Studies (F&ES), is a comprehensive review of banned all future land clearance on state-owned the science of carbon sequestration in forests, property (a huge fraction of the available land). management of forests for carbon mitigation The effort for the prohibition had been led by and poverty alleviation, and the socioeconomic Professor Possingham, who is often called in and policy implications of managing forests by the federal government to advise on matters for carbon. of conservation policy. Currently, the Australian The book is organized in four parts: the government is using MARXAN for planning science of carbon sequestration in forests; sci- decisions about federal lands. encea of measuring carbon in forests; manage- We anticipate that Professor Possingham’s ment of forests and forest products for carbon stay at Yale will prompt interactions with inter- storage; and socioeconomic, business and ested faculty and students in F&ES, as well policy aspects of managing forests for carbon. as from the departments of Anthropology, Today emissions from land use, land-use Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and change and forestry are estimated at 17% Economics. of annual, global carbon dioxide emissions, which exceeds the amount of emissions from transportation. “All the regional nuances, variations and impacts related to land use in many biomes are largely unknown,” said Mark Ashton, a co-author of the book and the Morris K. Jesup Professor of Silviculture and Forest Ecology at F&ES. Mary Tyrrell, executive director of the Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry at F&ES, co-author, said that the few studies on carbon in deep soils are restricted to the developed world. “Deforestation in tropical areas, where the soils are more fragile, may release a lot of carbon.” The goal of the book, the authors say, is to provide recommendations for graduate students, land managers and policymakers on vital areas that need research and guidelines for forest carbon management and policy. “By creating a publication that outlines the research that has been done on forest carbon—pointing out what we know and don’t know and the implications for policy deci- sions—the hope is that land managers and policymakers will have a stronger foundation for making choices,” said Brad Gentry, co-

34 yale environmental NEWS / 17:2 author and senior lecturer, research scholar, and co-director of the Center for Business and Yale Journal Advances Understanding the Environment at F&ES, and senior lecturer at the Yale School of Management. of Industrial Symbiosis Managing Forest Carbon in a Changing KKKKKK

KKKKKK Vo 16 • No 1 Making one company’s waste another com- Climate grew out of a series of seminars that KKKKKK FEBRUARY 2012 were organized by faulty, students and alumni KKKKKK pany’s raw material has long been one of the KKKKKKJOURNAL OF at F&ES, and is available to read online. KKKKKK most intriguing notions in industrial ecology. KKKKKKINDUSTRIAL This strategy, known as industrial symbio- KKKKKK KKKKKKECOLOGY sis—by analogy to the manner in which some KKKKKK species in nature cooperate to mutual advan- KKKKKKSpecial Issue on KKKKKKIndustrial Symbiosis tage—came to public attention in the early KKKKKK KKKKKKDebating Theories and Definitions of IS 1990s, when an industrial district in Denmark Emerging Tools KKKKKK with a dense web of resource sharing and by- KKKKKKIS Habitat Suitability Index KKKKKK LCA and Systems Analysis for IS product exchanges was discovered. Efforts to KKKKKKOrganizational Factors KKKKKK “Short mental distance” in IS replicate the Danish example led to a search KKKKKK KKKKKK Institutional Capacity's Impact for other examples and strategies to create KKKKKKEvolutionary Trajectories of IS KKKKKKRegulatory Bottlenecks to IS such industrial networks. Twenty years later, KKKKKKAnalyzing Factors in the Success of numerous examples have been documented KKKKKK Brazil’s Green City Project KKKKKKJapan’s Eco-towns and countries from China and Korea to the KKKKKKIS Prospects for United Kingdom have embarked on programs KKKKKKBiodiesel Production KKKKKK Minerals Sector to establish or facilitate industrial by-product KKKKKKCoal-Chemical Industry KKKKKK exchange. A special issue of Yale’s Journal PUBLISHED ON BEHALF OF THE KKKKK SCHOOL OF FORESTRY & ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES KKKKKK YALE UNIVERSITY of Industrial Ecology (http://jie.yale.edu/ KKKKK Vol16Symbiosis) highlights research that moves beyond case studies to couple empirical research with theory-building. To complement the special issue, a selec- tion of previously published articles on indus- trial symbiosis has been compiled at http://jie. yale.edu/symbiosis. The Journal of Industrial Ecology (www. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jie) is a peer- reviewed, international bimonthly journal that examines the relationship between industry and the environment from the perspective of the growing field of industrial ecology. Owned by Yale, it is headquartered at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and pub- lished by Wiley-Blackwell.

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©2012 Yale University. All rights reserved. The Yale Environmental News offers information on environmental research, teaching and outreach at Yale University. It is published by the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS), with the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (YPM) and the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES).

Directors of the Environmental Partnership Oswald Schmitz Director, Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, and Oastler Professor of Population & Community Ecology, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies environment.yale.edu/profile/schmitz/ environment.yale.edu/ Derek E.G. Briggs Director, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, and G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Geology & Geophysics www.peabody.yale.edu Peter Crane Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Professor, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Departments of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Geology & Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Geophysics, and Curator, Yale Peabody Mseum publication series of Natural History www.yale.edu/environment

We welcome submissions from faculty, staff and students. To submit an item, please contact: www.yale.edu/environment/publications Rose Rita Riccitelli, Editor Tel: 203.432.9856 Fax: 203.432.9927 E-mail: [email protected] · Explore more than 50 titles Design: Maura Gianakos · Download free pdfs Yale Printing & Publishing Services Assistant Editor · Order print-on-demand copies Rosemary Volpe Cover Image: Michael Thomas Submission Deadline for Next Issue Fall 2012: October 15, 2012

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