yale environmental n e w s The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies winter 2008 · vol. 14, no. 1

Dr. Strachan Donnelley A Tribute page 2 A TRIBUTE TO Dr. Strachan Donnelley

Strachan Donnelley was bigger than life— literally and fi gu- ratively. When he entered a room, his presence was projected by his rambling, hand- some, towering stature, and by his broad smile and gregarious personality. He was a self-professed philosopher—a student of life—of human nature and how we humans relate to the natural world. He melded these aspects of living into a lifelong quest to join nature in wondrous splen- dor. Strachan loved Yale, and as I listened to his friends and colleagues recall- ing their friend during his memorial service held in New York City on September 5, 2008, I realized that he was a friend to all the people and places that brought him joy—in the various learning institutions and environmental agencies and boards that he belonged to, and supported not only fi nancially, but by giving of himself, his time and his wisdom. His constant quest was to live in harmony with nature. We shall miss his presence as a member of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies External Advisory Board, as a benefactor of the Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Environmental Fellows program, the Environmental Studies Program, of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and the Peabody Museum of Natural History. After the spring meeting of the YIBS External Advisory Board, I penned the following thoughts that I share as a tribute to Strachan:

2 yale environmental NEWS yale environmental NEWS 3 May 2, 2008 The meaning of life

It doesn’t matter what has gone one vacant chair. The man whom philosophy enough to think that I before us, or what will come ahead. I’ve admired over the years–a philos- could somehow make a difference in What really matters–what’s most opher by nature, an environmentalist the world–probably a very small dif- important–is for us to savor what by choice, and who always provoked ference, but at least a difference. we have at this very moment and us all to think deeply about our con- I perhaps will never have the appreciate the people who we have nectedness to each other and with honor to sit next to him again and relationships with and who we can Nature–Dr. Strachan Donnelley–was enjoy quiet conversation. I don’t commiserate with, spend time with, not here. I always sat next to him at think I savored our time enough–we and love and laugh and explore with. these meetings and enjoyed the pri- were always in hurry–he to his next Today I spent 6 hours in a room vate dialogue we had, and even con- meeting, me to making sure of the fi lled with YIBS External Advisory templated moving to New York City details of our meeting so it would run Board members and various faculty to work at his Center for Humans smoothly. and friends of YIBS, and there was and Nature because I embraced his These are the things in life that

4 yale environmental NEWS make me pause and think of what is shall miss him, not because he was We as an Institute are planning really important. a member of the board, or as a Yale a tribute to Strachan–to support a By the standards that have been Alum, or for any of the outward position either in the form of a visit- set by society, our two days of meet- characteristics that he manifested ing scholar or postdoctoral fellowship ings and events went extremely well when he participated in his life’s in his memory that will bring to Yale –the conversations were lively, Jeffrey work. I’ll miss him because he was a a person dedicated to his philosophy– Park as the new YIBS Director did genuine, caring soulful human being the philosophical connection between a spectacular job. Attendance was who cared for everyone he interacted humans and nature. up from previous meetings, and the with–and it showed, and he made an By Rose Rita Riccitelli, Assistant Director, Yale two guests who attended are inter- impact on me and the way I choose Institute for Biospheric Studies ested in joining our board. But the to live my life. vacant chair of Strachan Donnelley Photos courtesy of Ansell Bray will never be fi lled in my mind. I

yale environmental NEWS 5 CONFERENCES, SEMINARS, SYMPOSIA

Studies, Hermaphrodites in Your Backyard: The Landscape Ecology of Amphibian Intersex Q Jon Moore, Associate Professor of Biology, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Biology and Conservation of the Threatened Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) in Florida Q Matthew Brandley, Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Environmental Fellow in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, A Farewell to Arms (and Legs): Rates and Patterns of Body-form Evolution in Squamate Reptiles Q Katy Prudic, Gaylord Donnelley Environmental Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, What Gets You Noticed? The Ecology and Evolution of Conspicuous Signals in Insects Q John Haffner, Senior Advisor, Strategic Planning, Ontario Power Generation and member of the Yale World Fellows yibs/esc friday noon seminars Jeffrey Park, Director, Yale Institute for Program, Nuclear Energy Prospect Q Joseph The Yale Institute for Biopsheric Studies’ (YIBS) Biospheric Studies; Professor in the Pignatello, Professor of Chemical Engineering continues its sponsorship of the weekly YIBS/ Department of Geology & Geophysics, Water at Yale, Black Carbon–Its Complex Role as ESC Friday Luncheon Seminars. The seminars of Love, Deep in the Ground: Hunting for the an Adsorbent in the Availability of Organic are held in the Class of 1954 Environmental Mantle Hydrologic Cycle using Earthquake Chemicals in the Environment Q Marcello Science Center (ESC) during the fall and spring Waves Q Zhengrong Wang, Assistant Canuto, Assistant Professor in the Department semesters, and have continued to be a popular Professor in the Department of Geology of Anthropology, The Impact of Drought on offering for students and faculty. The Fall 2008 & Geophysics, Mg Isotope Distribution in Classic Maya Civilization: New Evidence from seminars featured the following list of speakers Terrestrial Materials Q David Skelly, Professor Biomarker Climate Proxies Q Gaboury Benoit, and topics: at the School of Forestry & Environmental Professor of Environmental Chemistry, School

yibs center for the study of global change–topics in global change seminars

The YIBS Center for the Study of Global Change Region Based on Multiple Speleothem Proxies Q Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, From presented their weekly seminar series, Topics Zhengrong Wang, Yale University, Magnesium Crystals to Climate Q Rosemary Came, University in Global Change, during the fall 2008 semes- Isotopes as Paleothermometers in Calcareous of Texas, Application of Carbonate ‘Clumped ter. Center Director Karl K. Turekian, Sterling Organisms Q Sujoy Mukhopodhyay, Harvard Isotope’ Thermometry to Marine Brachipods Professor in the Department of Geology & University, Tracking Mineral Dust Emission from Icehouse and Greenhouse Periods in the Geophysics, organized the seminars with an from the Sahara-Sahel Region Using Corals as Paleozoic Era Q Justin B. Ries, University of emphasis on climate proxies over time. Dust Archives Q Andrew Scott, Royal Holloway North Carolina, Secular Variation in Seawater Speakers and topics for the Fall 2008 University of London, Global Wildfi res at the Mg/Ca: Impacts on Biotic and Abiotic Carbonates seminars were: David Battisti, University of K-P (K-T) Boundary–Fact or Fiction? Q Ellen Q Timothy Herbert, Brown University, Insights Washington, who gave three Flint lectures, Thomas, Yale University, Evolution from into Plio-Pleistocene Climate Change from Long Climate and Landscapes, El Nino/Southern Benthos to Plankton: Rare, Common, or a Records of Tropical Sea Surface Temperature Oscillation: Past, Present and Future, and Reaction to Mass Extinction? Q J. R. (Robbie) Q David Beerling, University of Sheffi eld, A New Hypothesis for Dansgaard Oeschger Toggweiler, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Towards the Development of a New Paleo-CO2 Events Q Miryam Bar-Matthews, Geological Laboratory (GFDL), Princeton University, Proxy; and Gavin Foster, University of Bristol, Survey of Israel, The Paleoclimate of the Myth of the Lysocline and the 100,000-year Reconstructions of Past pCO2 and Ocean pH Eastern Mediterranean and North East Sahara Sawtooth in Atmospheric CO2 Q Ann Cohen, Using Boron Isotopes Measured by MC-ICPMS in Foramin 6 yale environmental NEWS FACULTY NEWS

of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Chemical Engineering; Associate Dean, School Kanani K. M. Lee Joins Faculty in of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Green Sprawl: Can Land Be Developed Sustainably? Geology & Geophysics Q Helen Mills Poulos, Doctoral Student in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Predicting Tree Wind Risk Along Connecticut Utility Rights-of-way Q Peter Perdue, Professor in the History Department, China’s Environmental Crisis in Historical Perspective Q Chad Vecitis, YIBS Environmental Postdoctoral Associate, Environmental Engineering, Kanani K. M. Lee joined the faculty in the Yale mantle comprises 85% of Earth’s volume, Sonochemical Destruction of Persistent Organic Department of Geology & Geophysics in July thereby its physical and chemical makeup Pollutants of 2008 as an assistant professor. She received are necessary to understand the observations her Ph.D. in Geophysics from the University that are made on Earth’s surface, includ- For the winter/spring 2009 schedule, please visit the of California, Berkeley, after which she was an ing earthquake waves, volcanoes, geodetic YIBS web site www.yale.edu/yibs/ESC_Seminar.html O.K. Earl Postdoctoral Fellow at the California measurements and so forth. Ironically, due Institute of Technology and then an Alexander to the nature of high-pressure experiments, von Humboldt Fellow at the Bayreuth in trying to understand the “big” picture of Geoinstitut in Germany. Before coming to Yale, Earth’s accretion and evolution, her samples she was an assistant professor in physics at are tiny: individual grains as small as 10 to 20 New Mexico State University. nanometers, with total sample dimensions of Professor Lee investigates the interior of 100 micrometers. Because of their small size, Earth as well as other planetary interiors using Professor Lee uses a number of techniques to a number of high-pressure techniques: laser- probe the samples both while at high pressure heated diamond-anvil cell, laser-driven shock and temperature (synchrotron-based X-ray dif- waves on precompressed samples and ab-ini- fraction) as well as on quenching from extreme tio quantum-mechanical computations. For her conditions (Scanning Electron Microscope, most recent research endeavor, she has inves- Electron-Probe MicroAnalysis and Focused Ion tigated the pressure and chemical dependence Beam). on the half-lives of electron-capture radioactive Professor Lee’s interests also extend isotopes, including 40K and 26Al, two isotopes beyond Earth’s rocky and metallic inte- that are important in understanding Earth’s rior to the outer reaches of the solar system heat budget. This effort brings together state- and beyond. Together with colleagues at of-the-art ab-initio computations of electron University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence density with that of high-pressure diamond- Livermore National Laboratory and France’s anvil cell experiments. Experiments and com- Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique, she found putations are combined jointly to investigate that water becomes metal-like under extremely how chemical composition and pressure affect high pressures and temperatures. Water, the electron-capture portion of their half-lives. although ubiquitous on Earth as a vapor, liquid Professor Lee also investigates the partitioning and solid, becomes refl ecting under extreme behavior of potassium within Earth’s mantle conditions. Water’s newly discovered refl ectiv- and between the mantle and core in hopes ity indicates that water becomes electronically of better understanding this important heat conducting and metal-like under the very high source. pressures and temperatures in the interior of a Professor Lee’s research interests include planet like Neptune or some of the extra-solar investigating the physical properties of natural planets that have been recently discovered, rock assemblages that are good estimates for hinting at the possibility that conducting water the composition of Earth’s mantle. Earth’s is the source of these planets’ magnetic fi eld.

yale environmental NEWS 7 FACULTY NEWS

allen brotherton harms inhorn Anthropology Welcomes Four New Faculty

The Department of Anthropology recently p. sean brotherton ism.” This research aims to further examine welcomed four new faculty—Doctors Jafari the state’s recent mobilization of biomedicine P. Sean Brotherton (McGill 2004), Assistant Sinclaire Allen, P. Sean Brotherton, Erik L. as a technology of politics and the effective Professor of Anthropology, has research and Harms and Marcia C. Inhorn. The research integration of medical expertise into its strate- teaching interests that include the critical study interests of doctors Brotherton, Inhorn and gies of corporate governance under the banner of health, medicine, the state, subjectivity, and Harms particularly intersect with the mission of the “struggle for socialism.” The second the body. His theoretical references draw on of the Yale Institute of Biospheric Studies as project, based in Jamaica, examines how contemporary social theory and postcolonial they represent research and education that popular conceptions of the “infected body,” studies. His ethnographic research is carried address fundamental issues of relevance to the produced through intersecting discourses out in the Caribbean, particularly Cuba and biosphere. of colonization, biomedicine, and traditional Jamaica. Brotherton is currently completing medicine, anchor notions of psychological, a book-length manuscript, tentatively titled national, and racial health. Taking both an jafari sinclaire allen Machinations of the State: Macroeconomic historical and contemporary approach, this Change, Emergent Capital, and the Biopolitics Dr. Allen, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, project examines how various forms of power of Health in Post-Soviet Cuba. The book is an received his Ph.D. at Columbia University in have “managed” epidemics using preventive, ethnographic examination of how Cuba’s shift- 2003. He has a joint appointment with the therapeutic, and diagnostic practices to dif- ing state policies and external global factors Department of African American Studies and ferentiate and regulate subjects’ bodies within have interacted to change the course of health works at the intersections of sexuality, gender the larger social order. The objective of this and medicine in the socialist island nation. and blackness—in Cuba, the United States, research is to challenge the perceived division Using individual practices relating to the body and transnationally. A recipient of fellowships between colonial and post-colonial medical and health as an ethnographic starting point, from the National Science Foundation, Social discourses, as well as to question the episte- the book examines multiple pathways through Science Research Council Sexuality Research mological foundations of biomedicine as an which political subjectivities are created and Program, and Rockefeller Foundation outcome of modernity. transformed in contemporary Cuba. (Diasporic Racisms Project), he teaches cours- Prior to joining the faculty at Yale, Brotherton is also working on new two es on the cultural politics of race, sexuality Brotherton held an appointment at Michigan projects. The fi rst is an ethnographic account and gender in Black diasporas; Black feminist State University (2006–2008) and was a of Cuba’s recent export of medical doctors and queer theory; critical cultural studies; eth- SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow (2004–2006) in throughout the world for hard currency. This nographic methodology and writing; subjectiv- the Anthropology of Medicine Program at the research focuses on several case studies, ity, consciousness and resistance; Cuba and Universitat Rovira I Virgili in Spain. He teach- including the Barrio Adentro (Inside the Barrio) the Caribbean. es courses on medical anthropology, anthro- program, where over 20,000 Cuban physi- pology of the body, subjectivity and the state, cians are working in Venezuelan communities and contemporary social theory. Brotherton’s providing medical care in exchange for hard recent articles appear in currency and subsidized petroleum, popularly American Ethnologist and the . known as “the oil-for-aid deal.” This research Journal of Latin American Anthropology He is also the co-editor of a special issue of will explore how the moral legitimacy of the focusing on issues of state is both challenged and maintained by the Anthropologie et Sociétés, socialism/post-socialism. Cuban government’s foreign aid policies, com- monly referred to as “international proletarian- 8 yale environmental NEWS erik l. harms marcia c. inhorn the Globe: New Thinking on Childlessness, Erik L. Harms has been appointed Assistant Marcia C. Inhorn (Ph.D., University of Gender, and Reproductive Technologies Professor of Anthropology. Dr. Harms received California, Berkeley, 1991; M.P.H, University (University of California Press, 2002). his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 2006, of California, Berkeley, 1988) is the William As a Middle Eastern scholar, Inhorn has and is a social-cultural anthropologist spe- K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Anthropology been a visiting professor at the American cializing in Southeast Asia and Vietnam. His and International Affairs and Chair of the University of Beirut, Lebanon, and the ethnographic research in Vietnam has focused Council on Middle East Studies (CMES) in the American University of Sharjah, United on the social and cultural effects of rapid MacMillan Center for International and Area Arab Emirates. With research support from urbanization on the fringes of Saigon–Ho Chi Studies. As past president of the Society for Fulbright-Hays and the National Science Minh City. This research appears in his book, Medical Anthropology (SMA) of the American Foundation, she has been at work on two Saigon’s Edge: Space, Time, and Power on Ho Anthropological Association, Inhorn is the related research projects, “Middle Eastern Chi Minh City’s Rural Urban Margin (University Program Chair of the SMA conference on Masculinities in the Age of New Reproductive of Minnesota Press, Fall 2008), which explores “Medical Anthropology at the Intersections: Technologies” and “Globalization and how the production of symbolic and material Celebrating 50 Years of Interdisciplinarity,” Reproductive Tourism in the Arab World.” space intersects with Vietnamese concepts which will be held at Yale from September Currently, she is writing a book entitled of social space, rural-urban relations, and 17–20, 2009. Reconceiving Middle Eastern Manhood: Islam, notions of “inside” and “outside.” Inhorn’s research interests revolve around Assisted Reproduction, and Modern Masculinities, More recently, his work has focused on science and technology studies, gender and which serves as an ethnographic challenge to the uses and abuses of “culture” and “urban feminist theory (including masculinity stud- received wisdoms and neo-orientalist stereo- civility” in urban Vietnam, and how this civi- ies), religion and bioethics, globalization types in a post-9/11 world. lizing discourse entwines with spatial action and global health, cultures of biomedicine Inhorn is the founding editor of JMEWS in ways that legitimize broad-scale privatiza- and ethnomedicine, stigma and human suf- (Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies), the tion. This new research explores how the fering. Over the past 20 years, Inhorn has professional journal of the Association of study of social space can reveal unspoken conducted multi-sited research on the social Middle East Women’s Studies (Middle East relationships of power and ideology in post impact of infertility and assisted reproductive Studies Association); associate editor of Global reform-era Vietnamese cities. While grounded technologies in Egypt, Lebanon, the United Public Health; and co-editor for the Berghahn ethnographically in Vietnam, his research Arab Emirates, and Arab America. She is the book series on “Fertility, Sexuality, and and teaching seeks at all turns to connect author of three books on the subject, Local Reproduction.” his work with larger world-historic processes, Babies, Global Science: Gender, Religion, and In Inhorn comes to Yale from the University unraveling the interaction between culture and Vitro Fertilization in Egypt (Routledge, 2003), of Michigan (2001–2008). She has also taught politics, and the ways in which everyday acts Infertility and Patriarchy: The Cultural Politics at Emory University (1994–2000) and the are informed by larger political agendas. In his of Gender and Family Life in Egypt (University University of Arizona (1991–1994). teaching, he will offer a rotating mix of courses of Pennsylvania Press, 1996) and Quest for on Southeast Asian area studies, postwar Conception: Gender, Infertility, and Egyptian Vietnam, urban anthropology, as well as theo- Medical Traditions (University of Pennsylvania ries of space, time, and social action. Press, 1994), which have won the American He is currently in the early project-design Anthropological Association’s Eileen Basker phase of an anticipated long-term collabora- Prize and Diana Forsythe Prize for outstanding tive ethnographic project designed to develop feminist anthropological research in the areas a comprehensive ethnographic map of the of gender, health, science, technology, and Saigon–Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan biomedicine. Region. This project, tentatively entitled Spatial Inhorn is also the primary editor or co-edi- Divisions of Labor in Ho Chi Minh City, seeks tor of six volumes, including Anthropology and to develop a set of interlinked ethnographies Public Health: Bridging Differences in Culture and urban studies that will highlight the way and Society (Oxford University Press, 2009), that unique urban spatial forms articulate with Reconceiving the Second Sex: Men, Masculinity, different modes of production and concomi- and Reproduction (Berghahn Books, 2009), tant modes of social organization and cultural Reproductive Disruptions: Gender, Technology, practice. and Biopolitics in the New Millennium (Berghahn Books, 2007), and Infertility around

yale environmental NEWS 9 FACULTY NEWS

A TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM BURCH “The best class I ever took was his six- credit monster on managing protected areas,” A Career Devoted to Finding Environmental says Marc Stern ’92 (Ph.D. ’06), whose advi- sor was Burch. “I was hesitant to take it, Solutions in Ordinary People’s Lives because I just wanted to be away from people in a forest studying the ecosystem. But he convinced me that local studies in New Haven By Alan Bisbort were just as fascinating as forests in Nepal, that it didn’t matter where you are, New This spring, William Burch, Frederick C. Hixon should be studied from ecological and spatial Haven or Nepal; the same theories and reali- Professor of Natural Resource Management, perspectives.” ties applied. His message has always been told a gathering of School of Forestry & In other words, you can’t take the human that unless you can reach to that village level, Environmental Studies (F&ES) alumni that he out of the environment. “Environmental solu- it won’t work. We can think up brilliant ideas had, during his career, tried to “carry out the tions can’t be outside the scale of daily human and theories and plans, but it makes no differ- words, if not the music, to the song ‘I did it life,” he says. “The Cedar Hill neighborhood ence if they don’t reach ordinary people.” my way!’” group in New Haven honored the work of our Graeme Berlyn, E. H. Harriman Professor Burch, who is retiring this year from Yale students from the Urban Resources Initiative of Forest Management and Physiology of after 40 years on the faculty, was on hand to and the ecosystem management class by Trees, is the longest-serving member of the receive a distinguished service award, along planting a birch tree near the basketball court, F&ES faculty, in his 48th year. “Even though with former Dean John Gordon and Robert making a connection between playing bas- he used to jokingly say his expertise was ‘the Pyle (Ph.D. ’76). When it was time for him ketball and the natural world. This group, like sociology of leisure,’ Bill got so many things to give the keynote address to the alumni, many others in the city, has demonstrated that done. He deepened and broadened the school, Burch—never one to fl inch from sharing his local people can take charge of their own envi- but his biggest gift to his students may be his passion—offered remarks that have become ronment. They just need modest resources, broadening of their imaginations. I’m terribly his trademark: part instructional, part inspi- technical backup and some optimism that our sad to see him go.” rational, all from the heart. He, in short, did students bring to such challenges.” For Stern and his wife, Kim Thurlow (’02), it his way by presenting the talk “Back to In addition to the classes he has taught Burch wasn’t just a teacher; he took a paternal the Future: Lessons From Pulaskis, Peaveys, at F&ES in forest management and urban interest in their lives. Burch fl ew to speak at Porcupine Sex and Maine Lupines.” ecology, Burch has also held social science their wedding despite being weak from a bout In it, he called himself “a preindustrial research and management appointments with of dysentery. exchange scholar, whose rant is that society the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service Equally memorable was the conference on is nature and nature is social” and “a profes- and Connecticut Department of Environmental rainforest protection that Stern organized at sor at a fancy school who thinks that the most Protection. His work on wildland recreation the school and at which Burch was the keynote effective learning for natural resource profes- behavior was among the earliest, and expand- speaker. sionals can only come through getting your ed to include parks, biosphere reserves and “People had been pontifi cating all day hands dirty by being involved in activities use- ecotourist regions in Asia, South America and about various forest issues,” recalls Stern. ful to others.” He offered his audience advice Europe. “Bill got up in his torn jeans, tweed coat and such as: “always question authority—especially He was the fi rst director of Yale’s Tropical cowboy belt buckle and slammed his fi st on if you have now become one” and “meaning Resources Institute and the Urban Resources the podium. He was angry, telling the crowd, well or even being right seldom excuses a large Initiative. He has been a grantee on numer- ‘You are arguing over tiny things. What you’re failure done in public and with all the bright ous projects—sponsored by USAID, the Ford forgetting about … is love.’ Then he cited a stage lights on.” Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and Puccini opera to make a point that ‘every time Burch has had few “large failures” in his the World Wildlife Fund—in Asia and Latin we lose a species we cry together.’ By the time career, though he has felt the bright lights on America. He was awarded the John Eadie he was through, there were people weeping in such stages as Nepal, Bhutan, China, Costa Fellowship by the Scottish Forestry Trust to the audience behind me.” Rica, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, India, advise British Forestry on community-based When asked later about the talk, Burch Bangladesh, the Philippines and Peru, as well forestry research and training needs. And since laughs and says, “It was the usual stuff, as the inner cities of the United States. At 2001, he has been an adjunct professor in people talking in grandiose ways, not connect- each stop, he has hammered home the one the School of Economics and Management at ing to the assumed clients—the villagers in idea that has animated his research: “Urban Beijing Forestry University. Guatemala or whomever. Not asking, ‘What areas are ecological systems, and humans

10 yale environmental NEWS do they need? How do they perceive the prob- lem?’ I sensed an unwillingness to get down Generous to a fault and and fi nd out for themselves.” Like Stern, Gary Machlis (Ph.D. ’79) had accessible to an extreme, a close relationship with Burch. “After I had Burch is also given to done my master’s, I came across Bill’s fi rst book, Daydreams and Nightmares [originally solitary wanderings in published in 1971 by Harper & Row and repub- lished by Social Ecology Press in 1988], which the forest. was a revelation to me,” says Machlis, now a professor of conservation at the University of Idaho. “He found connections between the social and biological sciences that no one, to my knowledge, had found, and he stated them for the fi rst time. I thought, ‘I want to go study with him,’ contacted him at Yale and went there as a doctoral student. I had never been east of Bozeman before that.” Machlis recalls a conference at which Burch was speaker: “The hall was fi lled with peace and optimism, and to stir things up and connect the event to the subject of forests, Bill pulled out the largest chainsaw I’d ever seen and cranked it up. It spewed blue smoke and made a noise like an atomic explosion. You land and created the legal defi nition of wilder- peer-reviewed journal articles. “The great ben- see that as a graduate student and you think, ness: “an area where the Earth and its com- efi t at Yale is that I didn’t have to do esoteric, ‘Anything is possible.’” munity of life are untrammeled by man, where peer academic work,” he says. “I could do Generous to a fault and accessible to an man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” other work.” extreme, Burch is also given to solitary wander- Burch fondly recalls how he was, at that Among this “other work” was the reorgani- ings in the forest. Tireless in his dedication to time, part of a “coalition of nature lovers, paci- zation of the state’s environmental protection his job, he is equally devoted to his family, and fi sts and workers’ rights activists.” department. In addition to the state govern- his Branford home was open to F&ES students “We had diversity before anyone even knew ment work, Burch was retained by the National over the years. “Bill had students from all over what the term meant,” he says. “Even though Park Service as a researcher from 1984 to the world and treated them as an extended the unity fell apart in the late 1960s, I still think 1996. As such, he’s left his mark around the family,” notes Machlis. that three-legged paradigm of nature-peace- country and the world. His worldview was shaped during a boy- labor was a good one and will return to the Machlis took such teachings to heart. hood in eastern Oregon, when his father, fore.” “Bill emboldened me in my research by then employed by the Depression-era Works After his time with the Forest Service, instilling in me that you don’t have to go Progress Administration, took the family on Burch taught at Victoria University of toward conventional acclaim. It has been extended camping trips. “It was a good child- Wellington in New Zealand and Syracuse 30 years and even though I am now his col- hood,” he says. “My brother and I grew up University, before hearing about what he called league [Burch and Machlis are collaborating out of a tent.” While attending college at the “interesting developments” at Yale. on a book to be published in 2009 by Yale University of Oregon, Burch could not resist “The Yale Forestry School was looking for University Press], I am still his student. I getting involved in the trade union move- noneconomist social scientists,” he recalls. bought a place on Vieques, Puerto Rico, near ment and found himself at the center of a “That’s when Francois Mergen was dean. He his place just to keep learning from him. In my campus workers’ strike. Later, working for the knew that changes had to be made to broaden 35 years in academia, he is the one intellectual U.S. Forest Service, Burch struggled with like- the forestry school, so he brought Herb who is most capable of continued learning. Bill minded scientists to save the virgin forests Bormann, Rick Miller and me in.” is the exemplar of lifelong learning.” from timbering and dam building before the Burch went on to author, co-author or edit Wilderness Act was passed in September 1964. 14 books on community development, natural The act protected 9 million acres of federal resources and the environment, as well as 100

yale environmental NEWS 11 RESEARCH AND PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FACULTY NEWS

Testing the Limits of Tiny By Melinda Tuhus

Most people buy clothing to fi t their bodies, Academy in Byfi eld, Mass., whether she could but not too many build houses to fi t their build her house on-site, and they readily bodies—literally. agreed. “It’s been a very public design and Elizabeth Turnbull (’10) is building her building process, and the house is much more dream house—all 132 square feet of it. And interesting, much better designed and much the frame of the sleeping loft measures six feet more creative than it would have been if I’d one inch from the fl oor, giving her, at almost been building in a vacuum,” she says. “There’s David A. Vasseur six feet tall, a tiny bit of head room as she been great volunteer support, donations, curi- walks to her study space below it. osity, interest and ideas.” Joins Department Along with her laptop, Turnbull brought The house was hauled by a trailer to Yale her tiny house with her when she matriculated in October. It uses passive solar heating, so of Ecology & at the School of Forestry & Environmental Turnbull says she can position the high wall to Studies. A 2004 graduate of Colby College, the south in the winter for maximum solar heat Evolutionary Biology she packed a lifetime of experiences into the and then rotate it 180 degrees in the summer, turning the high wall to the north to keep her David Vasseur has been appointed Assistant years before starting graduate school: leading home cooler. Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, cross-country bike trips; toiling on the 2004 Her desks fold down Murphy-style, arriving at Yale in July 2008. Dr. Vasseur Kerry presidential campaign in West Virginia, enabling a maximum workspace of 18 square received his B.S. in Biological Science from where she grew up; backpacking and doing feet, which is massive for the size of the inte- the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) farm work in New Zealand; working for a natu- rior space. And she’s euphoric about her com- in 1999 and his M.S. from the same uni- ral resources consulting company, a high-end bination stove and oven, which is smaller than versity in 2002. He received his Ph.D. from travel company and a building design fi rm in a two-foot cube. “It’s just a tiny little thing; it’s McGill University (Quebec, Canada) in 2006 Boston. so cute!” She also has a lot of shelf space and in Theoretical Ecology, and was awarded the When she conceived the idea to actually a 3-foot by 7-foot storage loft above the door, Dean’s Honour List Distinction. From 2006 build her own house, she took a two-week as well as the bathroom and a closet wardrobe to 2008, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the home design class offered by yestermorrow. that she built. “So I had to be thoughtful about University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada). org, which was founded by a group of archi- what I brought, and it turns out that there’s Dr. Vasseur seeks to understand how fl uc- tects “exploring the very fertile junction of enough room.” She uses a marine cooler now tuations in environmental conditions (e.g., design/build/sustainability,” Turnbull says. The but hopes to get a solar-powered refrigerator temperature) infl uence quantitative charac- hands-on project that she and her classmates down the road. teristics of populations, communities and undertook was a 10-foot by 14-foot chicken The bathroom is the tiniest room in the ecosystems. Within this conceptual theme, coop, coincidentally almost the same size as tiny house. It measures 3-feet by 3-feet, but will his research falls into three overlapping areas: her house. “It was a little chicken palace,” she eventually host a yacht-style wetbath. 1) understanding how the indirect effects of says, laughing heartily—something she does The house is located near F&ES, and she’ll environmental fl uctuations propagate through often. have close access to a bathroom in a host food webs; 2) the causes and consequences Turnbull is studying for a master’s degree house. She has water for cooking and drink- of spatial population synchrony; and 3) the in environmental management, focusing par- ing but not for washing. The siting would infl uence of spatial and temporal scale on the ticularly on the intersection between business determine whether she would be able to put expression of environmental fl uctuations in and the environment at F&ES, with the goal of in a composting toilet and a sustainable gray population dynamics. To address questions in learning more about greening the built envi- water management system. “Waiting for a rul- these areas he links ecological theory to empir- ronment. “It’s the best school for what I want ing from zoning boards and [fi guring out] legal ical work by using a combination of math- to do,” she says. “The [environment] school issues, like how to insure it, was a big part of ematical modeling, data analysis, and labo- has a great connection to the business school, the learning process for me.” ratory microcosm experiments. Dr. Vasseur and it’s forward-thinking and solutions-orient- Not only does the house use minimal believes that improving our understanding of ed.” construction materials, but Turnbull says she these three core areas will enable us to antici- She readily acknowledges that building paid a lot of attention to the kind of materials pate how changes in local and global climate the tiny house was based more on excitement she used. Most of the wood is FSC (Forest will alter Earth’s natural biota. than expertise. She asked administrators at her high school alma mater, Governor’s Stewardship Council) certifi ed, which added 12 yale environmental NEWS about $250 to the cost of the wood she pur- on summer weekends, and spurred by the fi rst chased. “To know that it came from a forest in a series of articles in a local Massachusetts that was well-managed and supported regen- newspaper, the majority of people who eration,” she says, “I felt great about it.” The showed up at the fi rst one were strangers. exterior paint was low on volatile organic com- She gives special credit to a young man, Andy pounds (VOC), and the interior paint didn’t Vecchione, who came to check out the project have any VOCs. “I used only four gallons of and returned almost every day to help convert paint on the outside,” she says, “so I could Turnbull’s dream into reality. She says he had afford to go with one of the more expensive a lot more building and design experience paints.” than she did, adding, “There were four hands The insulation was donated by a company working on the house most of the time, and that uses post-industrial waste soy oil in place the other two belonged to someone who’s way of 30% of the petroleum in standard insula- more capable and has a signifi cantly better tion, creating a foam that’s highly energy three-dimensional brain than I do. I joke with effi cient. Andy that without him the house would be Turnbull says she held fi ve building parties basically ashes and tears.”

yale environmental NEWS 13 Americans Willing to Pay More for Eco-friendly Products Half Willing to Pay 15% More for Cars; Most Want More Eco-labeling

Many Americans, including those who are or for an automobile (50%). Forty percent ronmental impacts of products to appear on enduring fi nancial hardship, are willing to pay said they would spend 15% more on “green” labels. Solid majorities say that it is either more for environmentally friendly products, computer printer paper and 39% would do the “important” or “essential” to have eco-labels according to a survey conducted in July by same for green wood furniture. that describe the environmental impacts GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media and the Yale Americans who said their current fi nancial caused by product manufacture (73%), use School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. situation is “fair” or “poor” were just as will- (73%) and disposal (79%). “Many American consumers, even in the ing to spend 15% more on environmentally When asked to rate the trustworthiness face of economic uncertainty, express a willing- friendly detergent or wood furniture as those of various eco-label sponsors, 75% of respon- ness to pay more for environmentally friendly Americans more confi dent of their current dents said environmental groups are “very” products,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director fi nancial situation. or “somewhat” trustworthy, while 55% said of Yale Project on Climate Change. “Toyota Moreover, a majority of Americans said it government agencies and 51% said industry can’t make the Prius fast enough to meet con- is important to them that a number of prod- groups are trustworthy. sumer demand, to cite just one example, and ucts they purchase be environmentally friendly “These results suggest that manufactur- many see ‘green’ products as the wave of the —automobiles (66% say it is “important” or ers who offer high-quality and credibly labeled future.” “essential”), clothes detergent (62%) and com- eco-friendly products will have opportunities to Half of the respondents to the survey said puter printer paper (51%). gain a competitive edge,” said Graeme Auld, they would “defi nitely” or “probably” pay 15% The survey also reveals that Americans an F&ES doctoral candidate. more for eco-friendly clothes detergent (51%) want additional information about the envi-

Yale Prize to Support Eco-ventures

An annual $25,000 Sabin Environmental Forestry & Environmental Studies Dean the most appropriate institution to fi eld such Venture Prize at Yale has been established to Gus Speth said the Sabin Prize will provide a an undertaking. “Yale is widely recognized as stimulate entrepreneurial environmental ven- new intellectual challenge for the Yale com- one of the leading institutions in the world on tures by Yale faculty and students. munity to elevate environmental innovation environmental and sustainability issues, and I The Sabin Prize will support the creation of in society. “This prize will jump-start new am confi dent that the ideas arising from this new nonprofi t and commercial organizations, ideas, practices and products toward a better competition will spur many exciting new ven- business models or other innovations that environment and a more sustainable future,” tures,” he said. address pressing environmental challenges. he said. “I am grateful for the support of the The Center for Business and the Examples of proposed ventures could include Andrew Sabin Family Foundation in sponsor- Environment at Yale will also host the Sabin a new technology for desalination, a startup ing this new prize at Yale.” Prize Speakers Series, a public lecture series created to distribute existing technologies The Sabin Prize was made possible on environmental entrepreneurism that will such as solar-powered lanterns to rural vil- through a generous gift from the family foun- feature several highly successful entrepreneurs. lages lacking electricity or a venture arising out dation of Andrew Sabin, who said he decided Each speaker in the series will be recorded, of an existing Yale center or program. to sponsor the prize because of his concerns and their remarks will be made available on The fi rst Sabin Prize will be awarded about today’s environmental threats to the YouTube through a link from the Center’s web in April by the Center for Business and the planet and its consequences for future gen- site at www.yale.edu/cbey. Environment at Yale. Yale faculty and students erations. “Everyone has a moral obligation to interested in competing for the Sabin Prize protect our natural world for our children and submited a letter of intent by January and those who follow,” he said. must attend a training session on starting new Sabin noted that he chose Yale as the host ventures in February. of his sponsored prize because he felt it was

14 yale environmental NEWS a Extinction May Not Be Forever

The rediscovery of an extinct species is a rare tists, has painted a new picture of the origins and inspiring event, especially when it involves and future of some of Darwin’s tortoises. They b a large terrestrial vertebrate. Yet, advances in report that genetic traces of extinct species of genetic technology combined with long-term Galápagos tortoises exist in descendants now study of a system can create new opportunities living in the wild, a fi nding that could spur to identify the living remnants of extinct taxa breeding programs to restore the species. in the wild. This is certainly true for the giant Hybrids of the extinct Floreana tortoise tortoises that once inhabited the island of line theoretically now could be bred, the Floreana in the Galápagos archipelago. researchers say, and over a long span, revive Charles Darwin himself provides us with this species. With this in mind, an expedition a fi rsthand account of the intense exploitation on Volcano Wolf planned for December 2008 of these animals by local settlers, and this will look for tortoises bearing the Floreana species (Geochelone elephantopus) is thought lineage. to have been wiped out within 15 years of his historic visit to the Galápagos. An interview with Caccone and Powell is available Museum specimens and current molecu- on iTunesU and online at Yale at http://streaming. yale.edu/opa/podcasts/audio/schools/science/ lar technology, coupled with 15 years of fi eld caccone_091508.mp3 c work studying the tortoise population present a. now on the Galápagos archipelago by Gisella A giant Galápgos tortoise in the highlands of Volcano Wolf on Isabela. Caccone, Director of the YIBS Molecular b. Systematics and Conservation Genetics labora- Nikos Poulakakis examining a museum sample from the extinct Floreana species of giant Galápagos tortoises. tory and a group of Yale and non-Yale scien- c. Yale undergraduates Jeery Guo (left, in white shirt) and Chaz Hyseni (in blue shirt) and Yale graduate student Scott Glaberman (center, green T-shirt), together with a Galápagos National Park ranger and Cruz Marquez (left, in blue hat), a scientist from the Charles Darwin Research Station, taking a blood sample from a giant Galápagos tortoise in 2006.

yale environmental NEWS 15 Fund to Address Downside of China’s Boom

By Jon Luoma In the weeks leading up to the pageantry and athletic triumph of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, one troubling image predominated: air so polluted it looked like cumulonimbus had descended on the city. Thanks to a temporary government shutdown of some regional industries, along with severe restrictions on driving, air pollution decreased and cleaner skies arrived in time for the Games in August. But the pre-Olympic images remain as reminders of what James Fallows, writing in The Atlantic Monthly, has called “the environmental damage that is the most shocking side effect of China’s economic miracle.”

To help address the troubling environmen- With support from the fund, Lee’s research company’s fertilizer. Or waste heat from a tal downside of China’s economic boom, team will expand studies aimed at fi nding the power plant might provide space heating for an anonymous donor has awarded Yale a best ways to minimize climate change while a nearby factory. Ideally, an entire network of $2 million dollar gift to help create an Asia sustaining food production. They will com- industries can be linked for optimal benefi ts. Environment Fund at the Yale School of pare, for example, greenhouse gas emissions The idea could be compared with the symbio- Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). The from traditional farming practices and those sis and other mutual benefi ts that organisms fund will support research, policy, exchange from industrialized approaches. enjoy in natural ecosystems, notes Chertow. and outreach efforts aimed at some of China’s According to Lee, traditional ecological Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale most pressing environmental problems. At fi eld studies—sampling soils and vegetation— Project on Climate Change, points out that the urgent center of that focus will be the cri- will provide some answers. But although not only is booming China now the leader in sis that is not only China’s, or Asia’s, but the these methods can detect changes over lon- carbon dioxide emissions, booming Asian entire world’s—global warming. ger periods of time—months or years—they neighbor India is fourth. Combined, he says, “The enormous expansion of the human cannot measure responses over shorter time the two nations now generate one-quarter of enterprise in Asia has brought us to the frames, such as weeks or days or an event all the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, “a threshold of a new era in which environmental as brief as a rain shower. So Lee and his col- proportion,” he says, “that is only projected management must quickly emerge as a top pri- leagues are deploying arrays of state-of-the-art to rise.” (Second place United States, with a ority of governments and citizens everywhere,” instruments, including tunable diode laser smaller population, still holds the dubious title said F&ES Dean Gus Speth. “The importance analyzers. These devices can measure short- of leader in per capita emissions.) of focusing extensively on environmental term changes not only in carbon dioxide, but And yet, he notes, little is known about issues as they relate to China cannot be over- also in methane and nitrous oxide, which are public perceptions about global warming stated, both for the health of the Chinese also greenhouse gases. The researchers have among the 2.5 billion people in the two coun- people and the health of the planet.” already deployed their analyzer arrays in fi elds tries, including the degree to which the public In 2008, China moved past the United of wheat, maize, cotton and soybeans on the understands the great risks—ranging from States as the single largest carbon dioxide plains of northern China, and they plan to add fl ooding from rising seas to agricultural dam- emitter in the world, with coal consumption at least one additional array on a rice paddy, age from drought—that this global problem there soaring at a rate of 20% per year and an agricultural landscape vital to Asian agri- poses to their own nations. Nor is much reports of new coal-fi red power plants going culture. known about the degree to which people in the up at a rate of one every week or two. But Marian Chertow (Ph.D. ’00), Associate two nations would favor government policies power plant emissions are only a piece of a Professor of Industrial Environmental to address the global problem or be willing to larger and still incompletely understood puzzle Management, is researching energy and make sacrifi ces themselves. To fi nd answers, about the best way to address China’s contri- resource use and exchange among companies the Project on Climate Change plans to col- bution to global warming. located in large Chinese industrial parks. This laborate with local pollsters to conduct “large, “Farming is the single most important land work focuses on how diverse industries can nationally representative surveys” about global use type in China, and it plays a huge role in better use and exchange energy, raw materi- warming in both nations, the fi rst of their kind, the future trajectory of the Chinese greenhouse als and water and process wastes in ways says Leiserowitz. gas portfolio,” says Xuhui Lee, Professor of that provide both fi nancial and environmental The Yale Center for Environmental Law Meteorology at F&ES. benefi ts. For instance, a refi nery’s sulfur waste & Policy will be compiling a subnational might become raw material for an agricultural “Environmental Performance Index” (EPI) spe-

16 yale environmental NEWS cifi cally tailored for China. Collaborating with Sustainable Development Leadership Program ing highlights the urgency of just the sort of Columbia University, the Center in 2008 issued (ESDLP), a joint venture of F&ES and China’s collaboration the new Asia Environment Fund the latest international EPI, which ranked the Tsinghua University. is spurring. Of the United States and China, he nations of the world based on how they scored In terms of public outreach, the new maga- writes: “The consequences of rapidly escalating on a wide range of environmental protection zine Yale Environment 360, published online emissions from both nations are now begin- issues, from the provision of sanitary water to and aimed at an international audience, has ning to be increasingly evident in such phenom- protection of agricultural land and biodiversity. been able to expand its coverage of China and ena as melting glaciers, changing weather pat- Climate change-related issues constituted 25% Asia as a whole. The web magazine, which terns and the loss of Arctic sea ice. Whatever of the total score. (Of 149 nations ranked, covers the gamut of environmental issues, got else may divide us, and there is much, we will wealthy Switzerland, Norway and Sweden were off to a rousing start with nearly 1.5 million be unable to escape the consequences of each on top; the African nations of Sierra Leone, “hits” in the fi rst 11 weeks after its July 2008 other’s actions on climate change.” Angola and Niger came out at the bottom. The launch. United States was 39th and China was 105th.) By early September, the magazine had According to Christine Kim, project manag- already published several articles focused er for the EPI, the analysis now under way for on China. Correspondent Christina Larson, China will break down environmental perfor- who is based part of the year in Beijing, had mance province by province. One major thrust fi led two of four reports focusing on Chinese is to provide provincial and federal govern- environmentalists. Orville Schell, director of ments with information that can help them tai- the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia lor environmental policies to fi t specifi c needs. Society, had authored a detailed opinion piece, “Different areas have somewhat different “The U.S. and China: Common Ground on problems and can’t employ the same solu- Climate,” on why the United States and China tions,” says Kim. For example, she says that must become partners on global warming. air pollution sources can differ widely from “Several of our articles have already region to region. A performance index could been linked to or cited by Chinese web sites guide strategies for allocating resources or for and publications,” says editor Roger Cohn. setting suitable air quality policies or emission And he notes that Yale Environment 360 has regulations. established an ongoing relationship with the The donors who provided the gift at the Chinese web publication China Dialogue, which core of the Asia Environment Fund said they has republished several Yale Environment 360 were motivated in part by Yale’s history of pieces in both English and Mandarin. international exchange, education and “cataly- “We’re commissioning articles written by sis and infl uence.” They cited the “opportuni- Chinese journalists as well,” says Cohn. “China ties for scholarship, learning and debate” in Dialogue will be acting as the intermediary, Yale’s World Fellows Program, which brings translating the articles into English and han- young leaders from around the globe to the dling the journalists’ interactions with editors University. In that spirit, Xuhui Lee has devel- here at Yale.” oped a lecture series for the current academic This sort of cooperation with Chinese and year at Yale featuring Chinese environmental other Asian entities permeates the entire array experts, who will explore environmental rami- of programs that will benefi t from the fund. fi cations of their nation’s economic boom, Chertow’s industrial-symbiosis project, for with a focus on carbon emissions, as well as instance, is being conducting in collaboration on the protection of biodiversity and natural with China’s Tsinghua University, National resources. Center for Innovation Research on Circular The fund has also provided three years of Economy at Nankai University, as well as the support for an environmental leadership edu- National University of Singapore. The Chinese cation program that will bring political leaders Academy of Environmental Planning is a key and local offi cials to Yale for intensive study of collaborator on the EPI project. urban planning and development. This proj- China expert Orville Schell’s Yale ect is administered by the Environment and Environment 360 commentary on global warm-

yale environmental NEWS 17 YALE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

events

13th annual celebration of martin luther king, jr. day January 18 & 19, 2009 The Yale Peabody Museum’s renowned two-day festival in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his efforts to ensure environmental and social justice among all people.

fiesta latina March 14, 2009 Our annual celebration of Latin American cultures! This day-long festival features perfor- mances of traditional and contemporary Latin Peabody Senior Conservator Receives American music and dances, along with story- telling, face painting and mask making. Archaeological Institute of America Award

sustainable choices Catherine Sease, Senior Conservator at fi rst chair of the Conservation and Heritage On view March 28 through August 23, 2009 the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural Management Committee of the AIA. She This interactive exhibition encourages visitors History, has received the Archaeological has also been a consultant for the U.S. State to rethink the effect of their daily activities on Institute of America’s Conservation and Department, and was one of four specialists Earth and its resources. Heritage Management Award for 2008. The sent to Baghdad in October 2003 to assess the Archaeological Institute of America is North condition of Iraq’s National Museum following darwin: 150 years of America’s oldest and largest organization the looting crisis there. evolutionary thinking devoted to archaeology. The award was pre- The Conservation Laboratory (www. On view April 25 through August 23, 2009 sented at a ceremony at the 109th AIA Annual peabody.yale.edu/databases/cons/) at the Yale Meeting in Chicago last January. Peabody Museum actively supports and pro- The Peabody commemorates the occasion of The Conservation and Heritage motes the Museum’s mission to preserve the bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth and Management Award is made to an individual and protect the collections entrusted to its the 150th anniversary of The Origin of Species or institution that has shown exceptional care. Sease became the Peabody’s Senior with a new original exhibition that places achievement in archaeological conservation. Conservator in 2000. Building on an earlier Darwin in the context of his times—including Catherine Sease is one of the world’s leaders conservation plan, she has undertaken detailed the infl uence of his contemporaries at Yale, in the fi eld of archaeological conservation and condition surveys of the Museum’s collec- James Dwight Dana and Othniel Charles has worked on archaeological sites through- tions, laying the groundwork for a new long- Marsh—and explores how Darwin’s ideas, and out the Mediterranean and Middle East. She range conservation plan. Current conservation the concept of natural selection in particular, is the author of A Conservation Manual for the projects include conserving and rehousing continue to support critical discoveries by sci- Field Archaeologist, the most infl uential guide microscope slides in the Peabody’s vertebrate entists today. of its kind. and invertebrate zoology collections, supported Sease received a Bachelor of Arts degree by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Information and updates at (203) 432-5050 from Bryn Mawr College and a Bachelor of Library Services, and the conservation of the and www.peabody.yale.edu Science degree in conservation from the Division of Paleobotany’s fi ve Zittel wall charts Institute of Archaeology, University College, depicting paleobotanical landscapes in differ- London, where she also taught in the ent geological periods, supported by a grant Conservation Department. She later held posi- from the Peck Stacpoole Foundation. Sease tions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in is also involved in the move of some of the The Age of Reptiles, a mural by Rudolph F. Zallinger. ©1990, 2001, New York and at the Field Museum of Natural Peabody’s collections to facilities at Yale’s West Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut USA. All rights reserved. History in Chicago. In 1995 she served as the Campus.

18 yale environmental NEWS Students Explore the Geosciences with GEODES By Jane Pickering, Assistant Director for Public Programs and Deputy Director Jamie Alonzo (4)

b

a

On June 17, 2008 the special exhibition of Geology & Geophysics, aimed to interest GeoWhiz: An Exploration of the Geosciences students in the geosciences. The GEODES opened at the Yale Peabody Museum. program, funded by a grant from the National Curated, designed and fabricated by the New Science Foundation, was a collaboration Haven high school students in the Peabody’s between EVOLUTIONS and four Yale faculty: EVOLUTIONS after school program, the exhibi- Associate Professor Ruth Blake, Professor Leo c tion is an introduction to topics in the earth Hickey and Associate Professor Mark Pagani in sciences. GeoWhiz explains the subfi elds of the Yale Department of Geology & Geophysics, geology, including vulcanology, planetary and Associate Professor of Ecosystem Ecology geology, paleontology and glaciology, using a Peter Raymond in the Yale School of Forestry & mixture of illustrated panels, objects and speci- Environmental Studies. mens, hands-on activities and (occasionally) Some of the students had the opportunity some interesting lighting effects! Designed to to intern with these scientists in their Yale labo- evoke a cave-like atmosphere, the exhibition ratories. Department of Geology & Geophysics is very popular with Museum visitors. A spe- graduate student Tom Hegna coordinated cial part of each section includes an interview laboratory tours and conducted hands-on with a Yale faculty member on how he or she classroom demonstrations for the students on d became a geologist. geologic dating, paleoecology and something a. The fi nished GeoWhiz exhibit is on display at the Yale The exhibition was the major end-of-year called “ammonite bowling.” Peabody Museum through early 2009. project for GEODES—Gearing Educational GeoWhiz: An Exploration of the Geosciences b. The display on glaciology explains what it takes to be a gla- Opportunities toward Diversity in the will be on view at the Peabody through early ciologist. Earth Sciences—a program run during the 2009. c. The oceanography display showcases specimens from the 2007–2008 academic year that, under the Peabody collections. direction of principal investigator Derek d. EVO students gather in front of the GeoWhiz exhibition at the Briggs, Frederick William Beinecke Professor offi cial opening. More than 100 guests were there!

yale environmental NEWS 19 Peabody Anthropology Division Receives Grant for Restoration of Samurai Collection By Roger Colten, Senior Collections Manager, Division of Anthropology, and Robert G. Wheeler, Harold Hodgkinson Professor Emeritus Engineering and Applied Physics, Yale Department of Applied Physics

The Yale Peabody Museum’s Division of The samurai made up a hereditary ancient Most of the samurai materials in the Anthropology was recently awarded a $40,000 warrior class comprising about 6% of the male Division’s collection, especially the swords and grant from the Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter population. This group had evolved during the lacquer-coated armor, are in desperate need Foundation to support the restoration of the millennium of civil strife and civil war that pre- of conservation and restoration. For proper Museum’s signifi cant collection of Japanese ceded Japan becoming a nation state around treatment these objects will be sent to Japan, samurai armor and weapons. The E. Rhodes 1600, when the Tokugawa shogunate prevailed where specialized conservation is available. and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation is a private and brought peace to the islands for the next To assist in assessing the collections, the foundation whose grant-making guidelines 250 years. After Commodore Perry’s opening Peabody brought in Morihiro Ogawa, Special include support for Asian art. of Japan to the West in 1854, vast changes Consultant for Japanese Arms and Armor at The Japanese Collection in the Division occurred in the Japanese economy and society. the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. of Anthropology is a large and varied collec- New leadership after the political upheaval of The restoration will take about one year. The tion of 2,500 objects that have rarely been on 1868 adopted policies intending to western- Peabody will also purchase archival storage display. Ranging from ancient archaeological ize the country. The samurai were stripped of cabinets to properly house the objects. materials to 20th century lacquerware food their status and hereditary stipend, and were This funding will not only preserve these serving sets, the holdings in the collections no longer allowed to carry their twin swords. rare and historically signifi cant artistic objects were donated to the Yale Peabody Museum In the years that followed, American collec- for generations to come, but will provide mostly in the 19th century. The collection tors sought items from “old Japan,” made expanded opportunities for scholars to study includes about 20 swords that range in quality before 1868, and from “new Japan.” This was the Peabody’s Japanese Collection. In time from rare 15th-century blades made by known a period of economic turmoil for the artisans the Peabody hopes to produce an exhibition artisans to 19th-century specimens produced who had serviced the samurai. Swords and that will bring to public attention this little for the tourist trade. Seven of the swords are sword accoutrements were no longer made known portion of the Museum’s anthropology of outstanding quality and importance. Also in and personal containers lost their utility in the treasures. the collection are fi ve different sets of armor adoption of western style dress. In response, and many other objects associated with the they designed new wares of interest, as well as Japanese warrior class. converting older items in imaginative ways, to appeal to Western visitors. Robert G. Wheeler (7)

This one-handed, 29-inch sword (YPM 55519) from the This 22-inch samurai sword has a sheath of lacquered This fi ne 16th-century sword is signed by Bishu Osafume collection has a shark skin handle and a wooden scabbard wood. Dated 1861, it was made by Oshuju Nagamichi, Nori Mitsuj from the Ostfume school. Its edge is very carved with black and white mosaic. It is signed Hoshu ju who lived in Oshu (now Fukushima Prefecture). sharp and hard, and the thicker part of the blade is very Fujiwara Masayuka and dates to the late 17th or early 18th tough, so as not to break in use. The metallurgy of the steel century. is different in these two regions of the blade.

20 yale environmental NEWS Designed for a horse rider and used by the Sakai family, this mid-18th- century samurai armor (YPM 13329) is distinguished by the attributes of its helmet. Its leather visor with stenciled cherry blossoms pierced with toge (spikes) and the applied sea urchin decoration make it prob- ably unique among all Edo-period helmets. The stirrups are signed Kashu J Kunitsugu Saku. Othniel C. Marsh, nephew of George Peabody, acquired this armor in 1889 from one S. Morikami & Company, Denver, Colorado, for 32 dollars. Photo: Harold Shapiro YALE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Natural History…Natural Future: Biodiversity and Sustainability at the Yale Peabody Museum Susan Butts, Collections Manager, Division of Invertebrate Paleontology Italianestro/Dreamstime.

The 12 million specimens in the Yale Peabody oped for middle and high school students, when designing and building exhibits, and are Museum’s collections paint a picture of discusses local biodiversity and the effects gradually replacing incandescent bulbs with the diversity of life and changes in the envi- of changes in the environment in the context alternative, low-energy lighting options. ronment over nearly two billion years of of the recent lobster die-off in Long Island In April 2008 the Peabody participated in Earth’s history—our oldest specimens are Sound. The Yale Peabody Museum Education the Yale’s Sustainability Summit with an event Precambrian algal structures in the Division Department also offers curricula, workshops at the Museum. Several staff members gave of Paleobotany’s holdings. Our collections are and seminars for educators on population presentations to inform and fi re-up their col- used by scientists to track the emergence and ecology, ecosystems and energy conservation. leagues about the concept of sustainability and evolution of the millions of species that have The Museum’s annual events include cel- the resources available to achieve sustainability inhabited our planet. Unfortunately, museums ebrations of Earth Day and the Dr. Martin Luther within the workplace and at home. Building are sometimes a record of the extinction of King, Jr.’s Legacy of Environmental and Social operations, strategies for reducing our carbon species, but even this is an opportunity to Justice two-day festival. In the process of get- footprint, recycling, use of the Yale Shuttle determine the factors that led to extinction and ting people excited about natural and cultural and University carpooling incentives, using learn from the past. history, we hope to convince them of the impor- the University’s purchasing web site to search Part of the Peabody’s mission is to teach tance of protecting our precious, limited natural for high recycled content paper and products, about the incredible cultural and biological his- resources—clean water, clean air and clean soil and local New Haven resources were among tory of life on Earth. The Museum is well-posi- —for all life. With programs such as these we the topics covered. The presentations were fol- tioned to educate the public on the importance hope to encourage the citizens of Connecticut, lowed by a group discussion about sustainabil- of biodiversity, environmental change and and visitors from beyond, to appreciate the ity at the Peabody, Yale, and in the world. sustainable practices that promote a healthy natural world and consider the effect their daily To promote sustainability to a broader future for people and the planet. “Lobster activities have on the environment. audience, the Yale Peabody Museum will host Die-off!,” a curriculum by the Peabody Fellows So in keeping with our role as stewards Sustainable Choices from March 28 to August Biodiversity and Global Change Program devel- and promoters of natural history, we at the 23, 2009. This interactive exhibition encour- Peabody have analyzed the effi ciency of our ages visitors to rethink how they go about their own operations. The Peabody Museum build- daily activities and to realize their effect on ing, opened in 1926, recently received a facelift Earth and its resources. It will also highlight to improve energy conservation. The original Yale’s many initiatives in this area.

Jeff Ingraham windows were replaced with double-glazed Every 17 years, in late May or June, windows with thermal breaks, and all window Magicicada septendecim, the periodical cicada, air conditioners were removed. The building is emerges from the ground for a frenzy of now cooled by fan coils that use Yale’s centrally reproductive activity. The larvae eventually produced chilled water system. Other improve- make their way into the soil for another 17 ments, such as motion-activated lighting and years of quiet. The Peabody’s entomology new roof insulation, help to reduce our energy collections document the 17-year cycle of the use. The Peabody is also working with the Yale emergence of these broods starting in 1843. Offi ce of Sustainability to participate in Yale’s This precise locality data reveals an unfortu- new shared-use bicycle program, which will nate pattern: the loss over time of local cicada provide a bicycle for use by staff for local work- sites to urban development. related errands; this effort will cut down on fuel use, not to mention provide a refreshing break The periodical cicada Magicicada septendecim. from New Haven’s traffi c congestion. The Peabody Graphics Lab and Construction Shop strive to use renewable and recyclable products

22 yale environmental NEWS Keeping up with trends in the museum lection, along with Trewin’s frank perspective Historical Scientifi c world, the Division of Historical Scientifi c on issues in the history of science and on deal- Instruments at the Yale Peabody Museum now ing with the very different challenges posed by Instrument Blog has a blog! Begun by Collections Manager managing a collection of scientifi c instruments. Ranks in Top 20 Shae Trewin in September 2007 and titled For the past six months, however, most “Beyond the Basement” (http://blogs.yale. of the blog’s posts have been about the edu/roller/page/HSI), the blog is an experi- Division’s move out to its new space at Yale’s ment aimed at giving the collection a virtual West Campus and how simple procedural presence and making it accessible in a format tasks, like learning how to format a barcode, familiar to contemporary student culture. The can spiral into week-long technological sagas Bill McDonald blog is also designed not only to explain the or humorous events. Taking advantage of the resources of an instrument collection, but popularity of books such as Overheard at the provide a unique insight into the activities and Museum by Judith Henry (St. Martin’s Press, challenges of collection management. 2000), the blog also posts (nameless) quotes Despite its small audience, “Beyond as overheard in the collections. These quotes the Basement” was ranked number fi ve in give a glimpse of the working environment at MuseumPods.com’s Top 20 Best Museum the Yale Peabody Museum and sometimes pro- and Educational Blogs of 2008 (http:// vide needed humor, especially when moving museumpods.blogspot.com/). Coming in fi fth collections. The blog also includes a regular

Blogger Shae Trewin among the boxed scientifi c instruments behind the Victoria and Albert Museum blog “Instrument of the Week” feature, usually a his- being moved to Yale’s West Campus. and just ahead of the blog by Powerhouse toriographic or philosophical discussion of a Museum in Sydney is a surprising achievement particularly unusual object in the collection. considering both these museums have well- Visit www.peabody.yale.edu/collections/ established reputations and extremely large hsi/ to learn about some of the approximately visitor numbers. The blog’s popularity may be 2,000 items in the Yale Peabody Museum’s attributable to the novelty of an instrument col- Division of Historical Scientifi c Instruments.

Winner of “Best in Show” Peabody Guide to The Age of Reptiles Publications Competition Receives NEMA Awards 2008

The Yale Peabody Museum’s guide to Rudolph and communications. This year there were 180 Zallinger’s The Age of Reptiles mural received publications from 66 museums in 20 different awards for “Best in Show” and First Place categories. in its category in the New England Museum The guide was designed by Maura Association’s 2008 Publication Competition. Gianakos, Graphic Designer at Yale Printing The full-color illustrated guide, The Age & Publishing Services, and Sally H. Pallatto, of Reptiles: The Art and Science of Rudolph Graphic Designer at the Yale Peabody Museum, Zallinger’s Great Dinosaur Mural at Yale, with the assistance of Yale’s Publishing describes the making of the mural and the Services Center. The guide’s editor and proj- animals and plants depicted in the 110-foot ect director was Peabody Publications Editor painting. The wire-bound book also includes a Rosemary Volpe. fold-out 63-inch full-color poster of The Age of The Age of Reptiles: The Art and Science of Reptiles. Rudolph Zallinger’s Great Dinosaur Mural at Yale The New England Museum Association’s is available from The Museum Store at the Yale annual Publication Awards Program recognizes Peabody Museum by calling (203) 432-3740, excellence in design, production and effec- or online at www.peabodystore.com. To listen to tive communication in all aspects of museum podcasts about The Age of Reptiles mural visit publishing. Entries are judged by a panel www.peabody.yale.edu/explore/. experienced in publication, design, marketing

yale environmental NEWS 23 YALE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

yale environmental NEWS abcd e Scientifi c Art Display Aims to Educate and Inspire

a A traveling exhibition of works illustrating The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators . Cabbage White (Pieris rapae). © Lanis Monfried. Watercolor. Originally an African and Eurasian species introduced into the symbiotic relationship of members of the (www.gnsi.org) is a professional nonprofi t orga- Quebec Province in 1860, the Cabbage White is found in every Class Insecta with the plants vital to their nization founded in 1969 at the Smithsonian part of North America. The larvae feed principally on members of the Brassicaceae family, which makes them unpalatable to birds, survival recently alighted at Yale’s Class of Institution. Its mission is to encourage and a reason that these butterfl ies are so prolifi c. This makes them 1954 Environmental Science Center. On view maintain high standards of competence and unpopular with farmers, since many brassicas are food plants. The adults illustrated here are nectaring on blazing star (Liatris from June through October, the exhibition— professional ethics through education and to spicata). The larvae and a pupa are shown as observed on Tuscan Butterfl ies, Moths & Pollinating Insects of the East further the profession by assisting others inter- kale (Brassica oleracea). Coast—contains 42 giclée prints of paintings by ested in entering the fi eld. Using tools ranging b. Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) © Kathie Miranda. 36 artists of the Greater New York Chapter of from pen and ink to digital drawing tablets, Watercolor. The adult Cecropia, a member of the Giant Silkworm family, does not have functioning mouthparts and does not feed. the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. Each scientifi c illustrators deal with subjects ranging The caterpillar eats the foliage of many trees and shrubs, using painting depicts all or part of the life cycle of from anthropology to space exploration. Today nearby foliage to spin its complex “cocoon within a cocoon” double structure. This specimen was hand-reared on black cherry a butterfl y, moth or insect found on the East the GNSI has grown to include illustrators (Prunus serotina). It can vary its silk color to match the surround- Coast—from egg to larva, to pupa or chrysalis, and those interested in the fi eld of natural sci- ing dried foliage or branches. to adult —along with the host plant associated ence illustration in the United States, Canada, c. Red Spotted Admiral (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) © Jan with each species and life stage. Every work is Europe and around the world. The work of Prentice. Egg tempera. The Red Spotted Admiral is one of two subspecies of Limenitis arthemis. The other is commonly called accompanied by an explanation of its subject Guild members can be seen at www.science-art. the White Admiral. These two butterfl ies are dissimilar and were written by the artist. . once thought to be separate species, but they freely hybridize to com produce fertile off spring. Shown here on a wild cherry (Prunus Many of the participating artists, including The ESC is an ideal location to showcase serotina), it also uses as host plants birches, willows or poplars. the show’s curator, Mindy Lighthipe, have had works of natural history art and scientifi c The caterpillar resembles a bird dropping, which makes it an unappetizing meal for a predator. The adult, while beautiful, mim- their work featured in solo and group exhibi- illustration in the natural sciences. Future ics the Pipevine Swallowtail, which is distasteful and emetic to tions in museums and galleries throughout the art shows are planned and the Yale Peabody birds. It can be seen nectaring at fl owers, but its preferred food source is aphid honeydew, carrion or dung. United States and abroad. These giclée prints, Museum invites applications from artists will- d created with archival inks and printed on fi ne ing to exhibit their work for up to six months. . Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) © Mindy Lighthipe. Watercolor. The Pipevine Swallowtail begins its life cycle as small art paper, were produced from high resolution batches of orange eggs on the underside of the leaves of the digital scans of the original watercolor, col- For information and submission guidelines visit native Dutchman’s Pipevine (Aristolochia macrophylla). The cat- www.peabody.yale.edu/collections/esc/esc_art.html. erpillars feed in small groups when young, but are solitary when ored pencil, egg tempera, gouache and mixed older. Both caterpillars and butterfl ies are unpalatable to preda- media paintings. A slideshow of the exhibition tors and many other species mimic their appearance. To safely overwinter, the caterpillar wraps a silk thread (depicted here and further information on the artists can be 22x actual size) around a twig for stability. Common in gardens, viewed online at adults nectar on Honeysuckle (shown) as well as phlox, teasel, http://web.mac.com/ azaleas, lantana, petunias, verbenas, lupines and butterfl y bush. mlighthipe/GNSI-GreaterNY/Exhibit.html. e. Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) © Beverly Simone. Watercolor. Female Question Mark butterfl ies lay eggs singly or stacked, not necessarily on the host plants, which include elms (Ulmus spp.), pictured, nettles and hackberries. Wing color dif- fers between summer and winter forms, but both have a minute metallic question mark on the underside of the hind wing. Adults will nectar on milkweed (Asclepias), pictured, asters and clover left Ilia Underwing Moth (Catocala ilia) © Lauretta Jones. if their preferred foods—dung, carrion, mud and rotting fruit— Watercolor. One of the most abundant of over 75 Catocala spe- are unavailable. Males will perch during the afternoon, awaiting cies in eastern North America, when disturbed, the moth fl ies females, and will chase away other insects and even birds! off with a brilliant fl ash of its boldly patterned orange and black hindwings. The highly variable, cryptic coloration of its forewings disguises it against the trunk of its host plant, the oak (Quercus spp.). The fi nal larval instar similarly has a camoufl age pattern. This caterpillar also has a behavioral surprise: whipping violently from side to side, the larva may wriggle itself deep into leaf litter.

yale environmental NEWS 25 YALE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Peabody Partners with Patrick Sweeney Zoo for Latest BioBlitz By Patrick Sweeney, Collections Manager, Division of Botany, and Gregory Watkins-Colwell, Museum Assistant, Division of Vertebrate Zoology

A BioBlitz is a rapid, one-day biological inventory and outreach event that brings together scientists and the public. a a. Iris versicolor growing in a Stratford cranberry bog.

b. Students from Central High School in Bridgeport on a NOAA trawler surveyed for organisms liv- ing in Long Island Sound. From left to right: Christian Rivera, Tony Milites and Travis Johnson. b Erem Kazancioglu Rosemary Volpe (5) Rosemary Volpe

abcd e

Imagine a scene in which passers-by are peer- Unlike last year’s event, which was con- a. Visitors to the zoo get an explanation of the teams’ fi nds from volunteer Walt Rode. ing into microscopes to see rare invertebrates, ducted in cold, driving rain, the 2008 Stratford are assisting scientists identifying biologi- BioBlitz was held under mostly sunny skies, b. Entomology group members Gen Tauxe (left) and Anna Johnson (right) examine samples of aquatic insects. cal specimens from nearby habitats, or are and the level of participation and number of absorbed in educational biodiversity exhibits species found refl ected this. More than 50 sci- c. Botany Collections Manager Patrick Sweeney presses fresh plant material for later processing at the Peabody. featuring live animals. All this happened dur- entists from 14 institutions and dozens of stu- ing the second annual Stratford BioBlitz, held dents recorded 914 species, substantially more d. Terry Stoleson of the Connecticut Valley Mycological Society creates labels for materials already identifi ed. on May 30 and 31, 2008, organized by the than the 637 recorded in 2007. Notable fi nds Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and this year include: a rare water scorpion; an e. Peabody entomologist Larry Gall identifi es specimens brought in from the fi eld. Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo. isopod that has not been reported in over 50 A BioBlitz is a rapid, one-day biologi- years; a federally listed bird, the piping plover; cal inventory and outreach event that brings and two state listed species, the eastern box together scientists and the public. These turtle and the eastern prickly pear cactus. events have the dual goals of fi nding out what In addition to survey activities, a variety species occupy an area and educating people of educational and outreach activities were about conservation and ecological issues. The organized for the public. Visitors learned about fi rst Bioblitz was held in Washington, D.C., in invertebrate collecting at Short Beach, and 1996. Now scores of BioBlitz events are held at Roosevelt Forest there was a bird banding each year in the United States and abroad. demonstration and a bug walk. Connecticut’s During a BioBlitz researchers survey an Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport hosted various area over a 24-hour period and attempt to tally demonstrations, educational displays and chil- all the species that are present in the habitats dren’s activities. As the BioBitz “base camp,” of that area. BioBlitz programs vary widely in the zoo also provided visitors the opportunity their geographic focus and scope, as well in to talk with scientists and to observe them sort their degree of public outreach. Some may tar- and identify the species being brought in by get a single 20-acre park, while others focus on the BioBlitz teams. all the habitats within a several-mile radius of a Mark your calendars for next year’s specifi c point, or even an entire town. Stratford BioBlitz, to be held this time in the The 2008 Yale Peabody Museum– summer. While most BioBlitz programs occur Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo BioBlitz focused in only a single season, or survey a different on a broad set of organisms and diverse place during the same month every year, the habitats throughout the town of Stratford, Yale Peabody Museum and Connecticut’s Connecticut. A team of scientists and high Beardsley Zoo plan to survey the same area school students trawled for fi sh, algae and in all four seasons. This will enable us to gain invertebrates in Long Island Sound, another a more complete picture of the biodiversity group of scientists surveyed a forest for bats, of the Stratford site and a more complete and more high school students searched their understanding of how its biodiversity changes school grounds for plants. Other groups sur- through the seasons. veyed beaches, a salt marsh, a cranberry bog, rivers, streams, ponds and a mixed hardwood For more information and to see photographs of forest for animals, plants and fungi. past Stratford BioBlitz activities, visit www.peabody. yale.edu/explore/bioblitz/.

yale environmental NEWS 27 YALE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Peabody Undergraduate Sea Turtle Conservation and the Life History of Barnacle Settlers Summer Internships: By Amanda Feuerstein (Yale ’09)

Student Reports a. Amanda with an average- sized female Olive Ridley sea turtle just after nesting. Each summer the Yale Peabody b. Alejandro Peña Epibionts, organisms that Museum funds undergraduate live on a host animal, are vis- ible on the shell of this nest- students in semi-independent (3) Amanda Feuerstein ing Olive Ridley sea turtle. b research projects in the Peabody’s c. View of the Careyes shore diverse collections. Working with a from the fi eld station. d. Measuring the shell width mentor, interns participate in the of a nesting Olive Ridley sea rich variety of research taking place turtle. in the Yale Science Hill commu- nity and are required to submit an c essay on their research experience. Interns may work with a host scien- tist as part of an ongoing research program, or may choose to design a project that investigates a topic of interest. a d In 2008, Collections Manager My research this summer focused on the life In Mexico, I also worked with the Walter Joyce in the Peabody’s history of the barnacle species, Stomatolepas highly successful private group Sea Turtle Division of Vertebrate Paleontology praegustator, which settles primarily on the Olive Conservation Project. Over the 25 years of the hosted Ariel Revan (Yale ’11). Ridley sea turtle, Lepidochelys olivacea. This proj- project, the beach in this area has seen a rapid Amanda Feuerstein (Yale ’09) ect involved the collection and morphological increase in sea turtle nesting population, from analysis of S. praegustator specimens from the 11 turtles in 1983 to over 800 turtles in 2008. worked in the Division of shells of nesting L. olivacea. The fi rst four weeks This species is less endangered than it was Invertebrate Zoology with Senior of my project were devoted to the in-depth study 25 years ago, thanks in large part to conserva- Collections Manager Eric Lazo- of barnacle morphology under the supervision tion projects like this along the Pacifi c coast of Wasem. Robert Tunney (Yale ’11) of Senior Collections Manager Eric Lazo-Wasem Mexico. On the beach volunteers dig up turtle in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the nests and rescue and replant the eggs so that worked in the lab of Assistant Yale Peabody Museum. they are not found and destroyed by predators Curator of Entomology and My project then brought me to the Jalisco and human poachers. After 45 days, the eggs Assistant Professor Antónia coast of Mexico, which borders the Pacifi c hatch and the turtle hatchlings can safely make Monteiro of Yale’s Department of Ocean. Each night I searched the beach for their way to the sea. nesting turtles, collecting the barnacles and My next step will be to use my training in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. other epibionts from their shells and skin. I S. praegustator morphology to further investi- Jordan Garner (Yale ’09) interned observed that the attachment of S. praegustator gate settlement patterns. By mapping the loca- with Assistant Professor Thomas is looser than the scientifi c literature or other tions of barnacle settlement and turtle plate J. Near, Department of Ecology & collectors suggest. This may imply that the bar- shell morphology I will be able to understand nacles found on the Jalisco coast are actually the differences between these barnacles and Evolutionary Biology, and Assistant a different species than the barnacles seen in those collected in other Pacifi c Ocean loca- Curator in the Peabody’s Division Japan or Hawaii. I will be morphologically and tions. In Mexico, I assisted Eric Lazo-Wasem of Vertebrate Zoology. genetically analyzing specimens from all loca- and Dr. Theodora Pinou, Assistant Professor tions to determine whether they are a different of Biological and Environmental Sciences at species or have morphologically diverged. Western Connecticut State University and a

28 yale environmental NEWS curatorial affi liate in vertebrate zoology at the a North American darter species endemic to without the knowledge of molecular differ- Peabody, on a project to attach satellite tags the river system of the Caney Fork River, a trib- ences revealed by phylogenetic analysis. In to the shells of fi ve different turtles. These utary of the Cumberland River in Tennessee. 2003, a study of Barcheek darters was done tags will transmit the location of the turtles Previously thought to be a single species that included a morphological analysis of E. for fi ve months. This information is of interest with minimal intraspecifi c variation, Dr. Near basilare (L. M. Page, M. Hardman and T. J. because S. praegustator’s migratory pattern and Phillip Hollingsworth of the University of Near, “Phylogenetic relationships of barcheek is unique; most barnacles simply settle on Tennessee have recently discovered through darters (Percidae: Etheostoma, Subgenus rocks or boats with erratic behavioral tenden- molecular phylogenetic analysis that E. basilare Catonotus) with descriptions of two new spe- cies. Understanding this species as a migra- comprises fi ve strongly supported clades that cies,” Copeia 2003(3):512-530). These authors tory population could possibly explain some have very ancient divergence times. They also found some marginal morphological variation of the morphological plasticity witnessed in found that each of these clades is restricted within the species, but without the phylogeny populations in Mexico, Japan and Hawaii. to one of fi ve tributaries of the Caney Fork available from the Hollingsworth and Near Perhaps the exposure to varied environments River. Because the Caney Fork River is a very study analysis they were unable to detect has enhanced this species’ tendency to evolve, small river system of approximately 800 morphological disparity between each of the which would explain any differences I may fi nd square miles (about 2,000 square kilometers), fi ve tributary-endemic lineages. The case of in my research. Hollingsworth and Near’s study shows that E. basilare shows that molecular phylogenies allopatric speciation in North American fresh- provide an indispensable tool for the discovery water fi shes can occur at a much fi ner scale of phenotypic diversity and for the continued Molecular Phylogeny Uncovers than formerly realized (such microendemic description of Earth’s biodiversity. Morphological Diversity in patterns were thought to be more characteris- Etheostoma basilare tic of the tropics). Using these phylogenetic fi ndings as a By Jordan Garner (Yale ’09) guide, I looked for previously undiscovered morphological variation in E. basilare, spe- cifi cally investigating whether morphological variation existed between the fi ve Caney Fork tributary-endemic clades. After examining over Thomas J. Near (2) 100 specimens from the ichthyology collec- tions of the Peabody’s Division of Vertebrate Zoology, I discovered substantial differences between the clades in characters traditionally used to describe and diagnose fi sh species, such as fi n ray and scale counts. I still have a a few specimens to examine, but on the basis of my fi ndings thus far and the phylogenetic analysis done by Hollingsworth and Near, Dr. Near and I are planning to describe four new species from the species complex. The two most interesting implications of b my research are, fi rst, that microendemism a. Jordan Garner collecting data from darter specimens in Dr. at extremely small spatial scales is diagnos- Near’s lab. able not only at the molecular level, but can b. A male Etheostoma basilare (YPM 16751) in nuptial coloration. be recognized at a phenotypic level as well. The standard length of the specimen, from Scott Creek in Warren County, Tennessee, is less than two inches (48 mm). Second, morphological disparity is still the common standard for distinguishing spe- For the past two summers, the Yale Peabody cies from one another and is still widely held Museum’s undergraduate internship program to be necessary for species description. It is has provided me with the opportunity to very uncommon for species to be described conduct research in Dr. Thomas Near’s evolu- solely on the basis of molecular differences. tionary ichthyology laboratory. This summer, I My research shows, however, that morphologi- investigated morphological diversity within the cal differences can be impossible to discover cryptic species complex of Etheostoma basilare,

yale environmental NEWS 29 YALE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

From the Lab to the Field By Ariel Revan (Yale ’11)

a. Taking a break at a site visited near the end of the trip.

b. The weathered remains of a large dinosaur, including several vertebrae, protrude from the bottom of a butte. Aleck Zhou c. Looking for traces of bone on the side of a butte while pros-

Alison Logan (2) pecting a large section of land in Montana.

d. Storm clouds approaching the prospecting site bring distant b c thunder and rain.

e. Digging a near-complete fossil turtle out of the “Turtle Quarry,” a fossiliferous butte that yielded several specimens, with Alison

Ariel Revan Logan. Walter Joyce Walter

a d e

This summer I had the opportunity to work every other established species in the same gist. I got to experience the thrill and awe that as an intern in the Division of Vertebrate genus and time period. To achieve this, I had comes from prying a piece of bone out of the Paleontology at the Yale Peabody Museum, to compile data and photographs of the type side of a butte and knowing that it belonged where I had a job as student collections specimens for these other species. to an animal that ran around over 65 million assistant during my freshman year. I worked The part of my internship that taught me years ago. I hiked more than I ever have in my on an ongoing organizational project under the most about myself and about my fi eld of life, learned what an angry rattlesnake sounds Collections Manager Dr. Walter Joyce during interest was the four-week expedition to the like, and came into contact with breathtaking the school year and applied for a Peabody badlands of North Dakota and Montana. I landscapes and people that were as alien to Undergraduate Summer Internship with Dr. have wanted to be a paleontologist since I was me as I was to them. I grew up in Brooklyn, Joyce as my advisor. I proposed a research a child, and I have visited some sites where New York, where people never have to stop project involving the description of an uniden- fossils can be easily collected, but I never had their cars to allow cattle to cross the road, and tifi ed fossil turtle, which might represent a a true fi eld experience until this trip. We drove where the closest you come to seeing stars is new species, as well as a month of fi eldwork out to North Dakota from New Haven, and the light of the Brooklyn Bridge at night. Life in in North Dakota and Montana. During my after three days on the road arrived at the four- the fi eld was not easy for me to adjust to, but I internship, which lasted from late May and to room house in the town of Marmarth, North think that the diffi culties and differences made mid-August, I worked for about seven weeks Dakota, which would serve as home base for it the most important part of my internship. on my descriptive paper of the new species of the next month. The town is near the Montana The experience helped me grow not only as a trionychid (soft-shelled) turtle and spent about border of North Dakota and has a steady paleontologist, but also as a person. four weeks in the fi eld collecting fossils. This population of about 100 residents. In the sum- multifaceted experience exposed me to many mer the population rises to accommodate fos- aspects of a career in paleontology and gave sil hunters such as ourselves, who often make me a solid foundation of research skills and yearly pilgrimages to the same fossiliferous basic fi eld experience. areas of the country. The premise of my project was to compose There were eight members on the fi eld a scientifi c description of the fossil trionychid team, all from different backgrounds and specimen number YPM-PU 16795, which had with different areas of expertise. I got to know not been assigned to the proper genus and a lot about the other members of the team species. Because of novel features of the shell, throughout the trip, and they graciously shared this specimen could be an entirely new species everything from funny anecdotes of their previ- of Paleocene turtle. My job was to conduct a ous fi eld expeditions to helpful advice for get- detailed study of the features of the specimen ting into graduate school. Meeting a group of itself, including photographs, illustrations, people who were so diverse and dedicated to measurements and a descriptive paper. It was their jobs and research affi rmed my desire to also necessary to compare my specimen with follow my passion and become a paleontolo-

30 yale environmental NEWS The Developmental Evolution of Eyespots in Nymphalid Butterfl ies By Robert Tunney (Yale ’11)

a. An assay for the distal-less gene, using anti-distal-less anti- bodies and red fl uorescent secondary antibodies. Distal-less is clearly expressed in the margin of the developing wing and the chevrons (triangular regions) on the margin of the wing. Robert Tunney Nymphalid specimens in the Peabody entomology collection b. Vanessa atalanta (YPM 408456) b c. V. cardui (YPM 412955) Yale Peabody Museum (3) Yale d. V. virginiensis (YPM 409027).

c

a d

This summer, as an intern at the Yale Peabody species. This information was compiled by Finally, I began a survey of some of Museum, I conducted my fi rst scientifi c my supervisor Dr. Larry Gall, Entomology the nymphalid species in the Yale Peabody research project as a Yale undergraduate. A Informatics Manager, and we discovered that Museum’s collections and photographed rep- sophomore majoring in the Department of the Peabody had over 1,100 different spe- resentatives of the range of eyespot expression Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, cies of Macrolepidoptera. This information within each species. I took dorsal and ventral I was able to work in the lab of Assistant was used to support a grant proposal for the digital photographs of both sexes, which were Professor Antónia Monteiro. The Monteiro lab Monteiro lab for a project to create high quality then uploaded into the Museum’s electronic studies the evolution and development of wing digital photographs of representatives of each catalog and associated with the entries for patterns in butterfl ies, specifi cally in pierid Lepidoptera species in the Peabody’s collec- each specimen. These photographs will help butterfl ies, African satyrs in the genus Bicyclus, tions. the Monteiro lab and other researchers inves- and saturniid moths. I intermittently pursued a research project tigate the changes in wing pattern morphology I had unknowingly been a part of the of my own, examining the expression of four in related species and to map these changes lab’s research program for quite a while. In candidate genes thought to be involved in the onto established phylogenetic trees. the fall semester of last year, I worked for the genesis of nymphalid eyespots. I raised 30 lar- I would like to thank the Yale Peabody Peabody’s Division of Entomology helping to vae of Vanessa cardui (common name: Painted Museum, Dr. Monteiro, Dr. Larry Gall, organize the nymphalid collection and enter Lady) to the fi fth instar, the stage just before Peabody Director of Informatics Bill Piel, and data into the Museum’s electronic catalog. pupation. At this point I dissected the develop- all the members of the Monteiro lab, par- This work, funded by Dr. Monteiro’s lab, sup- ing wing disks from the larvae and used a stan- ticularly Katy Prudic, Jeff Oliver and Andrew ported the lab’s overall research program. The dard protocol to perform antibody stainings Stoehr, for helping me along in my research family Nymphalidae displays an extraordinary for the candidates Notch, Distal-less, Engrailed experience. This summer was invaluable in diversity in wing patterns, particularly for eye- and Spalt. Using fl uorescent secondary anti- directing my scientifi c ambitions. spots, which are the concentric circles of color bodies, I was able to see the spatial expression along the margin of a butterfl y wing. Much of of these candidates in the fi fth instar larval the lab’s work involves exploration of the gen- wings with a fl uorescent microscope. I exam- esis of this diversity in a developmental and ined the presence and absence of these candi- evolutionary context. dates in the larval wing cells, comparing them My fi rst task was to generate a list of all the to adult phenotypes, and contributed the data species of Macrolepidoptera, or large butter- I produced to the lab’s collection of similar fl ies and moths, in the Museum’s entomology stainings. collection. For three weeks I sorted through the collection and listed each represented

yale environmental NEWS 31 BASS SCHOLARS

Peabody Biologist professor michael benton named bass distinguished visiting scholar Rediscovers Rare Yale Institute for the diversifi cation of life through time, major Biospheric Studies extinction events, and the best ways to date the Fairy Shrimp (YIBS) Director Jeffrey tree of life. Park is pleased to Professor Benton’s interests include the Fairy shrimp are small, graceful, pastel-colored announce the appoint- diversifi cation of life through time, quality of crustaceans found in temporary freshwater ment of Professor the fossil record, shapes of phylogenies, age- ponds. Up to a half-inch (1.25 cm) long or lon- Michael J. Benton as clade congruence, mass extinctions, Triassic ger, their distinctive forked tail can be seen by an Edward P. Bass ecosystem evolution, basal diapsid phylogeny, the naked eye. But one species, Eubranchipus Distinguished Visiting basal archosaurs and the origin of the dino- holmani, had not been seen in Connecticut Environmental Scholar saurs. His current research projects focus on for fi ve decades, until rediscovered this past during March, April and May of 2009. Professor the end-Permian mass extinction, the greatest spring by the Yale Peabody Museum’s Eric A. Benton, who will reside in the Department of mass extinction of all time, and especially its Lazo-Wasem, Senior Collections Manager in Geology & Geophysics, is a professor of verte- effects on terrestrial organisms. This involves the Division of Invertebrate Zoology. brate palaeontology in the Department of Earth fi eldwork in Russia. He is also working on Lazo-Wasem and Museum Assistant Daniel Sciences at the University of Bristol. He also is large-scale aspects of dating the tree of life, Drew found the rare invertebrate among a head of the joint School of Geology and Biology, and the use of phylogenetic means to assess sample of the more common Eubranchipus ver- Head of the MSc in Palaeobiology, Outreach the quality of the rock and fossil records. His nalis collected from a vernal pool in an undis- co-ordinator, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society third current project is to use novel numerical turbed area alongside a road in Groton, and of Edinburgh. His published work, some 200 approaches to explore the origin and radiation will be reporting their discovery in the Bulletin papers in refereed journals, covers a broad of major clades, offering possible insights into of the Peabody Museum of Natural History this range of paleobiological themes, from detailed the origins of biodiversity and the role of novel- spring. Vernal pools are temporary shallow descriptions of Triassic reptiles to overviews of ties in driving diversifi cation. ponds that form in spring. Unique habitats for a set of species adapted to breed in these seasonal environments, such as invertebrates and amphibians, vernal pools are vital to the success of such species and often provide professor david beerling serving as the edward p. bass distinguished clues to the health of local wetland ecosys- environmental scholar tems. Discoveries like this one provide oppor- tunities for further research and highlight the Jeffrey Park, Director of the Yale Institute (past 540 Myr). This group’s goal is always to importance of local regulations enacted for the for Biospheric Studies (YIBS) is pleased to elucidate process-based understanding of the protection of wetlands. announce the appointment of Professor David evolution of plants and their feedbacks on cli- Now that Eubranchipus holmani is part of Beerling of Sheffi eld University as an Edward mate, global biogeochemical cycles and atmo- the Peabody’s invertebrate zoology collections, P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Environmental spheric chemistry. They utilize an integrated a criterion lacking before its rediscovery, the Scholar during the Fall of 2008 and Winter/ research framework that includes experimental species can qualify for special state protection. Spring of 2009. Professor Beerling is residing studies with extant plants, geochemical and Lazo-Wasem, a member of the Connecticut’s in the Department of Geology & Geophysics, morphological analyses of fossil materials, and Endangered Species Review Committee, hopes and is at Yale in October, November and theoretical modeling of biological and physi- to have this rare fairy shrimp listed as an December of 2008 and January, February and cal systems. Experimental investigations allow endangered species. March in 2009. separation of correlation from coincidence Following a Royal Society University and identifi cation of mechanistic function that Fellowship in Sheffi eld (1994–2002), Professor deepen the interpretation of the fossil record. Beerling was appointed to a personal chair in Theoretical models are recognized as critical

Eric Lazo-Wasem 2002 and leads a major innovative interdisci- scientifi c tools for scaling up observations, in plinary research group with a prominent inter- space and time, to investigate their broader national reputation for addressing fundamental implications for the Earth system. The group questions concerning the co-evolution of plants has a particular emphasis on the nature of and the Earth system over the Phanerozoic biotic feedbacks on biogeochemical cycling of

Eubranchipus holmani (YPM 43015).

32 yale environmental NEWS Professor Benton also leads the Thecodontosaurus, the oldest plant-eating dino- narrated by Kenneth Branagh, that fi rst aired Palaeobiology and Biodiversity Research saur. The work is yielding new information on in the United Kingdom in 1999. The series was Group (PBRG) at Bristol, which uses the fos- the early evolution of dinosaurs, and it is the subsequently aired in North America on the sil record to study the history of life and how subject of a major open-access educational Discovery Channel, narrated by Avery Brooks. ancient organisms lived. The Bristol group initiative. The series used computer-generated imagery consists of eight faculty members, fi ve post- A further key focus is on the origin of and animatronics to recreate the life of the docs and fellows, twenty doctoral students, major animal groups in the Precambrian and Mesozoic, showing dinosaurs in a way that and twenty masters students. A key focus is Cambrian—to determine the interaction of previously had only been seen in feature fi lms. on the tree of life, establishing its shape and palaeontological with molecular and develop- The series used paleontologists such as Peter calibration against geological time scales. They mental data. Several students and staff work Dodson, Peter Larson and James Farlow as also work on mass extinctions, diversifi cations, on trace fossils, ancient tracks and burrows, as advisors; their infl uence in the fi lming process and the links between taxic and morphological evidence of ancient behavior. Others work on can be seen in the documentary Walking with change through time in a range of organisms, the history of biodiversity, the tree of life, mass Dinosaurs—The Making Of (http://uk.youtube. from foraminifera to fi shes, pteridosperms extinctions, and the relationship between evo- com/watch?v=X5yN8f2gpcY). At the time, many to pterosaurs. Establishing links between the lution and animal development. paleontologists complained about inaccuracies, shape of the history of life and climatic and Michael Benton is the author of sev- but Benton and others have argued this was a environmental change is another key fi eld. eral palaeontology textbooks (Vertebrate well-researched series that helped bring ancient The group has pioneered many research Palaeontology) and children’s books, and has life to the widest possible audience. and educational initiatives. The Bristol also advised on many media productions, Dinosaur Project focuses research on including Walking with Dinosaurs, a six-part the Late Triassic prosauropod dinosaur television series produced by the BBC, and

carbon and the chemistry of the atmosphere, Tokyo, Southampton University, School of and their portfolio of research activities has Geosciences University of Newcastle and received funding to date in excess of £3.5 mil- University of Edinburgh, University of Oxford lion from the Natural Environment Research and University of Cambridge. Council, with additional support from the He is regularly invited to present public European Union, the Leverhulme Trust, the science lectures, including the Hay Literary Gatsby Foundation and other charitable orga- Festival (2007, 2008), Edinburgh International nizations. Science Festival, and the Cosmo-Caxia lecture Professor Beerling has published over 160 at the Natural History Museum, Barcelona. scientifi c journal publications, two books, and He has written extensively about his research serves on several international advisory com- on the co-evolution of plants and climate for mittees and editorial boards of leading interna- non-specialist audiences, notably in his popu- tional journals, including Geobiology (subject lar science book, The Emerald Planet (Oxford editor), PLoS ONE and New Phytologist. Recent University Press) and occasionally for the keynote lectures at international meetings and Times Higher Education Supplement. universities in the United Kingdom include: Gordon Research Conferences (keynotes in 2004 [USA], 2006 [Italy]), Eight Annual Venn Lecture, Hull University, Tskuba University,

yale environmental NEWS 33 POSTDOCTORAL APPOINTMENTS

brandleydodd gilbert lin vecitis

gaylord donnelley and yibs postdoctoral environmental fellowships

Jeffrey Park, Director of the Yale Institute for of marine DOM (Dissolved Organic Matter) PNAS). When he employed this novel method Biospheric Studies (YIBS) is pleased announce processing by reactive halogen species (RHS) for coding characters, his morphological phy- the appointment of fi ve environmental post- generated during penetration of solar radiation logenetic analysis produced a tree that was doctoral associates: into the ocean surface. Several major objec- congruent with the molecular phylogenetic tives of this work are to identify and character- Dr. Matthew Brandley is serving as a Gaylord tree. This demonstrated that properly scru- ize mechanisms of RHS generation following Donnelley Environmental Postdoctoral tinized morphological data can be reliable photo-excitation of marine organic matter, to Associate in the Department of Ecology & in phylogenetic analyses, which is a critical investigate kinetics and mechanisms of conse- Evolutionary. Dr. Brandley received his Ph.D. conclusion for studies of fossil taxa. In his quent photo-bleaching and possible halogen from the University of California, Berkeley, research at Yale, Chris will work on paleoen- incorporation by organic matter, as well as in integrative biology and is working with vironments and the biodiversity, biogeogra- to assess the effects of DOM reactions with Professor Thomas Near in the Department phy, and phylogenetic history of the African RHS on the bioavailability of organic carbon. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB). His cercopithecoid monkeys, including the newly Ultimately, it is anticipated that this work may work has been directed towards understanding discovered and highly endangered “Kipunji” provide a number of important insights into the interaction of divergent datasets in phylo- monkey from Tanzania. the role of photochemically generated RHS in genetic analyses (data partitioning), resolving Dr. Alexander Jih-Pai Lin is serving as a YIBS global oceanic carbon cycling. species relationships for specifi c clades of Environmental Postdoctoral Associate in the lizards and snakes, and investigating patterns Dr. Christopher Gilbert is serving as Department of Geology & Geophysics. Dr. Lin of limb loss and reduction in lizards. This work a Gaylord Donnelley Environmental received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University has resulted in “high impact” publications Postdoctoral Associate in the Department in Geology and will be working with Professor and his work on phylogenetic data partitioning of Anthropology. Dr. Gilbert received his Derek E.G. Briggs in the Department of strategies has generated attention from the Ph.D. from Stony Brook University in Geology & Geophysics. Dr. Lin is a paleobi- scientifi c media. As a Donnelley Postdoctoral Anthropological Sciences and will be working ologist interested in the Cambrian explosion, Associate in EEB, Matthew will investigate jointly with professors Andrew Hill and Eric particularly the remarkably preserved Middle the evolutionary diversity of limb reduction Sargis in the Department of Anthropology. Cambrian biotas of southern China and their and loss in lizards by bringing together broad Dr. Gilbert’s dissertation was on the system- relationship to Burgess Shale type (BST) and fi ne-scale phylogenetic patterns with atics and biogeography of African papionin faunas from elsewhere. While at Yale, Dr. Lin developmental genetics and an attempt to fur- primates (baboons and mangabeys), a group is investigating the spatial and temporal dis- ther investigate the ecological context of this that includes monkeys of markedly different tribution of BST deposits in South China to repeated phenomena. body size. Prior to his study, results from determine how BST fossils from various locali- morphological phylogenetic analyses were Dr. Michael Dodd is serving as a Gaylord ties are preserved, and to interpret the ecology not congruent with those from molecular Donnelley Environmental Postdoctoral of these faunas and their importance to our studies. To assess the phylogenetic rela- Associate in the Department of Chemical understanding of early Paleozoic marine life. tionships of these taxa, Chris compiled the Engineering. Dr. Dodd received his Ph.D. His focus on the Cambrian and on exceptional largest morphological data set (more than in Environmental Chemistry from the Swiss preservation will complement activities in the 150 craniodental characters) known for this Federal Institute of Technology-Zurich and will Invertebrate Paleontology Division of the Yale group. He also developed a new methodology be working with Professor William Mitch. His Peabody Museum of Natural History, as well for coding characters infl uenced by body size, research will address the global signifi cance as those of graduate students and other post- a narrow allometric approach (published in docs in the lab of Professor Briggs.

34 yale environmental NEWS STUDENT NEWS

Yale Undergraduates Conduct Summer Environmental Projects on Five Continents Jonathan Russell (2)

By Debbie Broadwater, Program Manager a for the Environmental Studies Program

Engineering, Environmental Studies, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology, and Physics. The EVST faculty committee that admin- istered the fellowship program was chaired by Mary Helen Goldsmith, Professor Emerita in the Department of Molecular, Cellular & Chad Vecitis was awarded a YIBS Developmental Biology and at the School of Environmental Postdoctoral Fellowship and Forestry & Environmental Studies, and includ- will work in the Department of Environmental ed professors John Wargo, Jeffrey Park, David Engineering with Professor Menachem Post, and Harvey Weiss. The Environmental Elimelech when he receives his Ph.D. from the Fellowship Program receives generous sup- California Institute of Technology (Caltech) port from EVST through endowments from in December 2008. In his dissertation, Chad the William Bingham Foundation and the deals with several aspects of environmental Montgomery Family Fund, as well as from the chemistry, including heterogeneous marine Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. aerosol chemistry, photo-driven electrochemi- These are this year’s participants and their cal water splitting for hydrogen production, projects. and remediation of aqueous fl uorochemicals. His work has resulted in several important north america journal publications. While at Yale, Vecitis will work on the anti-microbial activity of single- b Berkley Adrio (’09) spent eight weeks interning with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) walled carbon nanotubes, specifi cally investi- During the summer of 2008, the “Seeds of Success” (SOS) program at their gating cell membrane-stress mediated toxicity. Environmental Studies Program (EVST) sup- national offi ce in Washington, D.C. The SOS ported 25 Yale College students investigating program strives to increase the number of environmental questions at Yale, in the United native plants available to buyers, particularly States and abroad through its Environmental for use in restoration of BLM lands in the west- Fellowship Program. Student projects included ern United States, and this summer Berkley training and real-world experience in indepen- worked with Peggy Olwell, Plant Conservation dent research and study that was supervised Program Lead, to evaluate SOS, research other by an adviser, worked with environmental programs with similar goals, and fi nally, to nongovernmental organizations, and worked consolidate, organize, and analyze annual seed with governmental agencies. We also assisted buy data. This summer’s work at the BLM pro- several students in establishing working rela- vides the basis for her senior essay. tions with mentors on site where they were interning. This year’s recipients included six- Katherine Boronow (’09) conducted research teen juniors, six sophomores, and three fresh- to determine whether native species evolved to men, and represented majors in Anthropology, have an increased tolerance following exposure Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Ecology to toxins by invasive species by investigating & Evolutionary Biology, Environmental the invasive fi re ants and native fence lizards system. Red imported fi re ants, Solenopsis a. An avocado-like seed produced by the Calade tree. We grew invicta, were introduced to North America in these in nurseries and then transplanted them to neighboring the early 1930s through Port Mobile, Alabama, farms. and are an economic, ecological, and public b. A pod growing on the trunk of the tree. When ripe the pods health concern. Fire ant venom acts on the can be as large as a football.

yale environmental NEWS 35 STUDENT NEWS profi profi le le

a b

Katherine Boronow a. A male fence lizard Kevin Currey b. a male fence lizard basking on a Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. tree in Andalusia, Alabama.

c. Measuring the bite force of a male fence lizard.

c

neuromuscular system and is used in mound oil companies, conservation organizations Sarai Itagaki (’11) gained an understanding defense and prey capture. One vertebrate that and native corporations, in order to achieve of research in a laboratory through working co-occurs with the fi re ant across its invasive his goal of determining whether the NPR-A is with Dr. Toby Sommer at the Center for Green range is the eastern fence lizard, Sceloporus being managed in the common interest. Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale, studying the aqueous Mitsunobu Reaction this undulatus. Fire ants and fence lizards share Bente Grinde (’09) enrolled in the Sea summer. The Mitsunobu Reaction is a useful similar habitats and often encounter each Education Association’s (SEA) summer oxidation-reduction condensation reaction that other during foraging. Katherine conducted semester, which incorporates a four-week links together a nucleophile and an electrophile fi eld research in Marianna, Arkansas (not yet shore training and orientation component with the loss of a water molecule. It is most invaded), and Andalusia, Alabama (invaded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, with a four- commonly used to react an alcohol and a car- 70 years ago), and analyzed her data at week research cruise from Hawaii and San boxylic acid to form an ester with stereochemi- Pennsylvania State University. She examined Francisco. During the research cruise, Bente cal inversion of the alcohol. The Mitsunobu whether fence lizards are evolving physiologi- worked with the SEA science coordinators to is widely used by the pharmaceutical industry cal mechanisms of tolerance by characterizing study the role of plastic waste in the North in organic syntheses despite the fact that it is the whole-body and cellular consequences of Pacifi c Ocean as a basis for her senior essay. fi re ant venom in two populations of lizards decidedly not environmentally friendly for a with different invasion histories. Kevin Hickenbottom (’09) interned with the number of reasons: the use of harmful organic North Cascades National Park Service in cen- solvents (either halogenated or aromatic); Kevin Currey (’09) chose to investigate the tral Washington to help gauge the amount of the need for stoichiometric (versus catalytic) social process surrounding the dispute over day use in the park and to assess the amount quantities of the reagents; the associated dan- the 4.6 million acre northeast section of the of damage being caused by hikers to the gers of said reagents (an azo and a phosphine National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska’s (NPR-A) ecosystem. He helped design and conduct a compound); and the need for multiple purifi ca- management, and the decision process used survey of the backcountry permit system in the tion steps to separate the product from the by the federal government to allow NPR-A North Cascades National Park by interviewing side products. The project mainly addressed oil and gas development. Kevin interviewed rangers and trip leaders hiking through the the fi rst two of these concerns by carrying out over 40 people involved with the NPR-A policy park. This survey helped the rangers to under- the Mitsunobu in aqueous solution while using dispute, which included government offi cials stand the amount of permit compliance within hydrogen peroxide in place of the azo com- from several agencies, representatives from the park, and the reasons for noncompliance. pound as a greener oxidizing agent.

36 yale environmental NEWS profi profi le le

a b

a

c d

Tse Yang Lim b a. The makeshift laboratory setup used to carry out stickleback crosses (artifi cial fertiliza- tions).

Kevin Hickenbottom b. Stickleback collected from Garden Bay Lake. a. Kevin Hickenbottom backpacking in the North Cascades. c. Garden Bay Lake in the Sechelt Peninsula, British Columbia, source of one of Tse Yang b. Twisp Pass Trail in the North Cascades National Park. Lim’s experimental stickleback populations.

d. Field site in the Sechelt Peninsula, British Columbia.

Kathleen Knighton (’09) traveled along the and indirect (parental care) benefi ts that a the majority of the people interested in har- Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and male will provide as a potential mate and par- vesting their grassland for bioenergy were the Virginia to conduct research for her senior ent. This question is highly relevant to the people who had wildlife intent with their CRP essay, a historical analysis of the impact that study of sexual selection. The key to this experi- land. The CRP landowners who mostly valued aesthetic judgments have had on the appear- ment is controlling the condition of males wildlife for hunting or aesthetic purposes also ance of the landscape along the parkway. through diet manipulation, and observing the tended to have larger tracks of grassland, less Through a combination of interviews, site effects of condition on both signaling and concern for economics, were more educated, visits, and trips to the parkway’s archives, parental care to determine whether any cor- and had a greater knowledge for future bioen- Kathleen obtained rich information about the relation exists. In order to carry out this experi- ergy initiatives. The people less interested in historical roots and current implementation ment, an entire generation of fi sh has to be harvesting grasslands for bioenergy were usu- of scenic management of the landscape along raised in the laboratory under controlled condi- ally enrolled in CRP for economic reasons and the parkway. A comparison between this data tions, from eggs to sexual maturity. The main tended to be the average farmer in the area. and the archival material she found from the part of the summer’s work was spent collecting Liz Mandeville (’09) hypothesized that mor- original design of the parkway will hopefully fi sh from a fi eld site in the Sechelt Peninsula, phological variation in different populations allow Kathleen to draw conclusions about the British Columbia, and artifi cially crossing them of landlocked alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus, progression of aesthetic taste and concepts of to produce eggs, which were then raised in the fi sh) corresponds to ecological variation in appropriate management techniques towards laboratory. He also attempted to take prelimi- lakes, and that there will also be considerable the ever changing landscape along the Blue nary behavioral observations in the fi eld. variation in the strength of the link between Ridge Parkway. Davis Lindsey (’09) worked with The Nature ecology and evolution of these fi sh. There is Tse Yang Lim (’11) spent several weeks starting Conservancy in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to ample evidence that alewives operate as a a six-month long experiment under the super- see whether there was a correlation of grass- keystone species in lakes, radically restructur- vision of Professor Suzanne Alonzo in the Yale land landowner’s interests in the Conservation ing the zooplankton prey community upon Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Reserve Program (CRP) to their willingness introduction (seasonal or permanent) into a to investigate whether male signaling in the to participate in bioenergy projects. Davis system. The alewives’ disproportionate eco- three-spine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, interviewed 50 CRP landowners throughout logical impact as keystone predators changes is a reliable indicator of the direct (genetic) southeastern Minnesota and recognized that their surroundings and resource availability to

yale environmental NEWS 37 STUDENT NEWS profi profi le le

ab

Liz Mandeville

a. Liz taking a water sample with the DIWS (depth-integrated water sampler) for her mesocosm experiments.

Davis Lindsey b. Adding nutrients to a mesocosm experiment. Grasslands in southeastern Minnesota.

the point where the alewives’ own ecological diversity, the sustainable use of its compo- that historically had been wetland (which is effect infl uences subsequent alewife evolution. nents and the fair and equitable sharing of crucial nursery habitat for suckers), but was Different zooplankton communities introduce the benefi ts arising out of the utilization of drained and dyked for farming in the 1940s. In differing selection pressures on alewives in genetic resources.” In order to achieve these October 2007, habitat restoration began with different populations. These altered selection objectives, countries must be able to access levee breaches to reinundate part of the delta. pressures in turn affect alewife evolution, and transfer environmentally friendly technolo- Ariel’s work this summer was to help moni- creating an eco-evolutionary feedback. Since gies that can help protect and conserve bio- tor the larval fi sh using this new habitat. She morphological traits related to feeding are diversity. During her internship, Julia worked sampled fi sh four days a week to help answer both easily measurable and likely to be sensi- on two main projects: 1) adding specifi c, whether endangered suckers are successfully tive to changes in the size of zooplankton adoptable technologies that protect and con- rearing in the restored delta, and what types of prey available to the alewives, comparison of serve biodiversity to the CBD’s database; 2) habitat within the delta they prefer. these traits form the backbone of this study. compiling possible portfolios of activities that Irene Scher (’09) continued to research To investigate alewife-zooplankton interac- would show the varying scopes of a potential “despite international and domestic pres- tions within a coevolutionary framework, Liz Biotechnology Transfer Initiative that could sure on Canadian policymakers and fi rms to continued her senior thesis research by gather- be established among countries to more eas- increase resource extraction from the Canadian ing data in three major categories: 1) alewife ily share and adopt the types of technologies Boreal Forest; why has the number of strictly feeding morphology; 2) zooplankton composi- included in the CBD database. protected and certifi ed areas in the Boreal tion; and 3) alewife diets. This summer she Ariel Patashnik (’09) interned with The Nature increased dramatically over the last decade?” completed the alewife morphology work on all Conservancy in Klamath Falls, Oregon, to work She spent her summer working in the lakes and the zooplankton work on fi ve lakes. on a sampling project aimed at measuring International Boreal Conservation Campaign’s Julia Meisel (’10) participated in the Yale the habitat use of two species of endangered Seattle offi ce and traveled to Ontario and International Bulldogs Program as a technol- fi sh, the Lost River sucker and the shortnose Vancouver in order to meet with leaders in ogy transfer intern with the Secretariat U.N. sucker. The Nature Conservancy has worked the ENGO (Environmental Non-Government Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) with state and federal agencies as well as Organizations) community, consultants to in Montreal, Canada. The objectives of the private companies to purchase and restore the ENGO community, government offi cials Convention are “the conservation of biological the Williamson River Delta Preserve, an area in Canada, and an industry offi cial, to try to

38 yale environmental NEWS profi profi le le

a b

a

Brandon Berger a. The skull and jaw of a juvenile Andean bear c d found in the Intag Vally, Ecuador.

b. A mountaintop view into the Alto Chocó Ariel Patashnik Reserve, Intag Valley, Ecuador. a. Mt. McLoughlin, seen from The Nature Conservancy’s Williamson River Delta Preserve in Oregon.

b–d. Ariel Patashnik sampling for endangered suckers in The Nature Conservancy’s Williamson River Delta Preserve. b

obtain a wide and balanced range of data with Isabel Chen (’10) took a tropical biology tions and their interaction with the community. which to analyze her central question through fi eld course in Costa Rica offered by Duke Over the course of the next fi ve months, she these extended personal interviews. University’s Organization for Tropical Studies. designed and carried out an experiment to This course allowed Isabel to study biodiver- provide further insight into the relationship central and south america sity and conservation biology at four separate between the commonly used pesticide and the Brandon Berger (’10) spent the summer in biological stations that introduced students target triatomine population. to a wide variety of plant, animal, and insect the Intag Valley, in the northwest of Ecuador, Jonathan Russell (’11) volunteered on a con- taxa in different ecosystems. The program also working with Fundación Zoobreviven, a small servation project in the coastal Esmeraldas explored themes in conservation biology and nonprofi t that manages several private nature province of Ecuador sponsored by Ecociencia. their effects on diversity in Central America. reserves throughout the country. While in Jonathan lived and worked in the Monte Saino South America, Brandon designed a project Elyse LeeVan (’09) engaged in a Chagas dis- Reserve, a small section of remaining coastal that presents a theory on the effect that land ease related research project in Buenos Aires, rainforest on the Pacifi c coast of Ecuador. The use and vegetational succession are having on Argentina. Chagas disease, a tropical parasitic people involved in the Monte Saino project are the habitat use of Andean bears in the area. disease commonly transmitted to humans trying to regenerate forest cover by reintroduc- He proposes that development and disruption and other mammals by an insect vector of the ing native fruit species to partially or heavily on the lower slopes of mountains (where it subfamily Triatominae, affects more than 40% intervened areas and introduce new methods is easiest and most common) is leading to a of the rural population in the Chaco province of cultivation to the local community that are nearly monocultural successionary generation in the northeastern region of the country. A both environmentally sustainable and econom- of native bamboo in those areas, which has laboratory team from the eco-epidemiology ically profi table. been shown to be a major source of the bears’ lab at the University of Buenos Aires had Matthew Smith (’10) volunteered with the diet in the local area. Additionally, clearing the been monitoring re-infestation activities of condor liberation efforts of a local Argentine forests may in this way be drawing the bears triatomine vectors following an application of organization, Fundación Bioandina Argentina towards human inhabited areas by changing deltamethrine, a common pesticide, and Elyse (FBA), to reintroduce the Andean condor the composition of the forest in these areas to accompanied this research team to perform (Vultur gryphus) to the Patagonian coast dur- provide very easy food for them. surveillance activities and gather information ing the fi rst half of the summer. With FBA, from the local inhabitants about insect popula-

yale environmental NEWS 39 STUDENT NEWS profi profi le le

a

b

Jacob Berv c Karongwe Game Reserve, South Africa. Jonathan Russell a. A pole saw is used to harvest cacao pods from trees. This harvesting process is the fi rst step towards the production of chocolate.

b. Cacao pods of the Forastero variety. The pods are split open and the beans dried, fermented, and roasted to begin making chocolate.

c. Tia’s farm on a hill. One of the local farms near the Monte Saino Reserve. The farmer had cleared 4 hectares for active farming and still had 200 more that consisted of untouched coastal rainforest.

Matthew gained a truly local perspective on MECO used carbon and oxygen isotopes to interviews with French students, university the conservation effort, and much of this characterize the hyperthermal event. Her proj- professors, other adults, researchers from involved interacting with the neighboring ect looked to generate a low latitude sea sur- INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la estancias. Then Matthew worked with Global face temperature record using the Tetraether recherché médicale) (French National Institute Vision International, helping local scientists Index of 86 Carbon Atoms (TEX86) proxy and of Health and Medical Research), and program collect data to help Argentine condor expert a terrestrial temperature record using the managers from the EPODE obesity prevention Sergio Lambertucci anticipate the plight of the Methylation Index of Branched Tetraethers program (Ensemble prévenons l’obésité des main South American condor population. (MBT) proxy. For this purpose, she targeted enfants) (Preventing Child Obesity Together). two sites in Italy to collect samples for this europe work: the Contessa Highway section, an out- africa Katherine French (’09) is interested in being crop along a highway in the Umbria region of Jacob Berv (’10) volunteered as a research able to predict future climate responses to central Italy, and the Alano section, an outcrop assistant for Global Vision International’s the current carbon dioxide input by studying in a riverbed in the Venetian Alps in north- Wildlife Research and Conservation Project in ancient hyperthermal events. These events eastern Italy; both were easily accessible and South Africa on the Karongwe Game Reserve. are characterized by a rapid carbon dioxide remarkably had a complete geologic record of Jacob was able to participate on several ongo- spike that induces a period of global warming. the MECO. ing projects aimed at investigating the behav- During the summer, Katherine began develop- Laura Zatz (’09) spent the summer in Paris, ioral ecology and impact of large predators ing a paleotemperature record for her senior France, gathering data for her senior essay within a small, multi-predator system. These research project on a specifi c poorly resolved project to examine the regulation of food projects include careful monitoring of the hyperthermal event called the Middle Eocene marketing in France and to compare it to predator and prey populations with specifi c Climatic Optimum (MECO, about 41-42 Ma). regulations in the United States. Laura wanted regard to lion, cheetah, hyaena, leopard and The MECO has been observed at high lati- to determine the factors that facilitated the their territorial interactions with prey spe- tude sites in the southern hemisphere, and enactment of stricter regulations in France cies. The long-term goal of this research is Katherine wanted to be able to demonstrate and compare these factors to the barriers the establishment of sustainable and effective the global nature of this hyperthermal event which exist in the United States, especially as management policies for the future conserva- by using two low latitude sites in the northern it relates to obesity. During her research, Laura tion of game reserves in Africa. hemisphere. Previous work conducted on the collected qualitative data, primarily through 40 yale environmental NEWS profi le

a

b Christine Ellman a. Christine in front of Humayan’s tomb in New Delhi, India.

b. Christine in Jaipur, India.

Todd Anderson (’09), Alison Hoyt (’09), and mate change on water bodies in South Asia; 4) Elizabeth Marshman (’10) submitted proposals climatic and non-climatic parameters that lead for the Yale Chapter of the Engineers Without to gaps in water supply and water demand; Borders Phase II of a water distribution project 5) the social and economic effects on vulner- to make clean water available to the village of able sectors and communities; 6) the linkages Kikoo, Cameroon. The students were originally between water and development; 7) how this planning to travel to Africa in August 2008 but all affects the Millennium Development Goals; have postponed their trip until January 2009. and 8) how the politics of climate change needs to change. asia

Christine Ellman (’09) interned with The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) in New Delhi, India, working on several projects related to climate change and water resources in South Asia. Christine helped write a back- ground paper for a TERI-Stimson Center con- ference entitled “Climate Change and Water: Examining the Interlinkages.” For this, she completed a comprehensive literature review of recent international and relevant national water reports and conducted several open interviews with key stakeholders. Christine focused on the following areas: 1) the current state of water in India and South Asia; 2) how water and climate change are transnational phenomena; 3) the nature and scope of cli-

yale environmental NEWS 41 PUBLICATIONS

Yale Report Cites Emerging Carbon Finance Market

the Center for Business and the Environment plexities and opportunities facing the forest at Yale, and published by the Yale School of products business. Forestry & Environmental Studies, the report “This publication is a timely resource, is a compilation of lectures on, among other especially as the northeastern United States themes, the problem-solving role of fi nance embarks on a major carbon market pro- in confronting climate change; the need for gram through the Regional Greenhouse Gas investors to factor climate change into their Initiative,” said Gus Speth, dean of the envi- investment strategies; the value of carbon and ronment school. “Since carbon now has a renewable energy; the role of regulation in a price, RGGI can be effective in reducing green- functioning environmental market; climate house gas emissions.” change funding and investment by founda- tions; hedge funds and climate change; ven- To download the report for free or purchase your own copy, visit www.yale.edu/cbey/ ture capital and the challenge of funding new carbonfi nance2008, where downloadable netcasts technologies; the link between the insurance and presentations of the speakers’ remarks are also industry and climate change; and the com- available. Climate change is an unprecedented global problem and an emerging carbon fi nance market will play a critical role in addressing it, asserts a newly published Yale report. “This publication represents a major advance in our understanding of the inter- bulletin of the peabody museum relationships of government policy, private of natural history markets and technology in the climate arena,” says Brad Gentry, director of the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale, in the The Yale Peabody Museum Publications Offi ce report’s foreword. is pleased to announce the publication of the According to a 2007 United Nations Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural report, 85% of the multibillion dollar invest- History, Volume 49, Issue 2, 31 October 2008. ment to address climate change now comes Abstracts and full text of papers pub- from the private sector, not government. The lished in the Yale Peabody Museum’s Bulletin global carbon market logged $64 billion in (Volume 47 and later) are available online trades in 2007 and is on track to top $100 bil- to institutional subscribers of BioOne (www. lion this year. One recent forecast predicted bioone.org/), an electronic database of high- that the trade would reach $1 trillion annually impact bioscience research journals. La Quina Lithic Collections Assembled by the by 2020, assuming that the United States joins Included in this issue are: American School of Prehistoric Research at the the market with the passage of a cap-and-trade Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History by The Fossil Flora of the Winthrop Formation system now being discussed in Congress. Douglas P. Park The report Carbon Finance: Environmental (Albian-Early Cretaceous) of Washington State, by An Instance of Tick Feeding to Repletion Inside a Market Solutions to Climate Change grew out USA. Part I: Bryophyta and Pteridophytina Human Nostril by Gary P. Aronsen and Richard of a carbon fi nance speaker series sponsored Ian M. Miller and Leo J. Hickey G. Robbins by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation and A Morphotype Catalogue, Floristic Analysis and organized by the Center for Business and Stratigraphic Description of the Aspen Shale The Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of the Environment at Yale, in which corporate Flora (Cretaceous-Albian) of Southwestern Natural History is published twice a year, in leaders and investors from around the world Wyoming by Daniel J. Peppe, Leo J. Hickey, Ian April and October. Information on subscrip- discussed how fi nancial markets are playing a M. Miller and Walton A. Green tions, standing orders, library exchanges, and major, positive role in providing solutions to back issues of both Postilla and Bulletin, are Review of Some Terebelliform Polychaetes environmental problems. available at www.peabody.yale.edu/scipubs/, or (Polychaeta: Terebelliformia) at the Yale Peabody Co-edited by program director Bryan contact the Publications Offi ce at (203) 432-3786 Museum by João Miguel de Matos Nogueira Garcia and researcher Eric Roberts, both with or [email protected].

42 yale environmental NEWS Yale Journal Finds Nanomaterials May Have Large Environmental Footprint

Environmental gains derived from the use of Other topics explored in the special issue To obtain a PDF of the issue, contact journalnews@ nanomaterials may be offset in part by the include: bos.blackwellpublishing.net. The articles in this issue process used to manufacture them, according • Approaches for identifying and reducing the are also available online at www.interscience.wiley. to research published in a special issue of the life cycle hazards of nanomaterials com/journal/jie-nano. To request a print copy of the Journal of Industrial Ecology. • Quantifi ed life cycle energy requirements special issue, contact [email protected]. The Journal Hatice Sengül and colleagues at the and environmental impacts from nanoma- of Industrial Ecology is the offi cial journal of the International Society for Industrial Ecology. It is pub- University of Illinois at Chicago assert that terials lished for Yale University on behalf of the Yale School strict material purity requirements, lower • Tradeoffs between nanomanufacturing costs of Forestry & Environmental Studies. For more infor- tolerances for defects and lower yields of and occupational exposure to nanoparticles mation, visit www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/jie. manufacturing processes may lead to greater • Effi ciency of techniques for nanomaterials environmental burdens than those associ- synthesis ated with conventional manufacturing. In a • Improvement of the sustainability of bio- separate study of carbon nanofi ber production, based products through nanotechnology Vikas Khanna and colleagues at Ohio State • Industrial frameworks for responsible nano- University found, for example, that the life- technology cycle environmental impacts may be as much • Industrial and public perception about the as 100 times greater per unit of weight than risks and benefi ts of nanomaterials those of traditional materials, potentially offset- • Governance and regulation of nanotechnology ting some of the environmental benefi ts of the small size of nanomaterials. Industrial ecology is a fi eld that examines Materials engineered at dimensions of 1 the opportunities for sustainable production to 100 nanometers (1 to 100 billionths of a and consumption, emphasizing the impor- meter) exhibit novel physical, chemical and tance of a systems view of environmental biological characteristics, opening possibilities threats and remedies. “Through the use of for stunning innovations in medicine, manu- tools such as life cycle assessment, green facturing and a host of other sectors of the chemistry and pollution prevention, industrial economy. Because small quantities of nanoma- ecology takes a broad and deliberate view terials can accomplish the tasks of much larger of environmental challenges,” states Reid amounts of conventional materials, the expec- Lifset, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Industrial tation has been that nanomaterials will lower Ecology. “This special issue shows the power energy and resource use and the pollution that of this approach.” accompanies them. The possibility of con- Roland Clift, Professor of Environmental structing miniature devices atom-by-atom has Technology in the Centre for Environmental also given rise to expectations that precision in Strategy at the University of Surrey, and nanomanufacturing will lead to less waste and Shannon Lloyd, principal research engineer cleaner processes. in the Sustainability & Process Engineering “Research in this issue reveals the potential Directorate at Concurrent Technologies of environmental impacts from nanomanu- Corporation, served as guest editors. Support facturing to offset the benefi ts of using lighter for this special issue was provided by the nanomaterials,” says Gus Speth, dean of Educational Foundation of America in the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Westport, Connecticut, and the Project on Studies. “To date, most attention has focused Emerging Nanotechnologies of the Woodrow on the possible toxic effects of exposure to Wilson International Center for Scholars in nanoparticles and appropriately so. But con- Washington, D.C. siderations of pollution and energy use aris- ing from the production technologies used to make nanomaterials need attention as well.”

yale environmental NEWS 43 PUBLICATIONS

publication series Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies www.yale.edu/environment/publications

· Explore more than 50 titles · Download free pdfs · Order print-on-demand copies

Jane Coppock, Editor · [email protected]

©2009 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 Peabody Museum of Natural History (YPM) and the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES).

Directors of the Environmental Partnership Jeffrey Park Yale Environmental News Non Profi t Org. Director, Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, Yale University U.S. Postage Professor of Geology & Geophysics, Co-chair P.O. Box 208105 PAID Environmental Studies Program www.yale.edu/yibs New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8105 New Haven, CT www.geology.yale.edu Permit No. 526 www.yale.edu/evst Address Service Requested Derek E.G. Briggs Director, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and Frederick William Beinecke Professor of Geology & Geophysics www.peabody.yale.edu James Gustave Speth Dean, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor of Environmental Policy www.yale.edu/environment We welcome submissions from faculty, staff and students. To submit an item, please contact: Rose Rita Riccitelli, Editor Tel: 203.432.9856 Fax: 203.432.9927 E-mail: [email protected] Design: Yale Printing & Publishing Services Maura Gianakos Assistant Editor Rosemary Volpe Submission Deadline for Next Issue Spring 2009: March 31, 2009

#SGS-COC-004570

printed on 100% PCW recycled paper