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. 13, no. 1

Leafcutter Ants Do Line Dance at Peabody

Dozens of new residents are giving the poison dart frogs, snakes, and lizards some stiff competition in the Peabody’s Discovery Room. A colony of leafcutter ants has set up a farming operation where it grows its own food in underground gardens. see page 10 Yale Must Take Lead in Promoting a ‘Green’ Future, Says Levin By Susan Gonzalez, Associate Editor, Yale Bulletin & Calendar Reprinted from the Yale Bulletin & Calendar, October 26, 2007

By modeling responsible environmental practice on its own campus, Yale can demonstrate to other universities, the nation’s political leaders and even the rest of the world that efforts to stop global warming are both “feasible and affordable,” President Richard C. Levin said at the Oct. 18 conference on The Greening of Yale and Beyond.

Levin was one of five speakers at the event Given the lack of comprehensive action design and construction standards for Yale who discussed current and developing initia- on the part of the United States and rapidly projects; the purchase of hybrid vehicles; and tives to protect the global environment. The developing China and India, institutions like the placement of thin film photovoltaic cells four-and-a-half hour conference, which drew a Yale must take the lead in demonstrating that on certain buildings to convert light to energy. large crowd to Battell Chapel, was presented a major reduction of GHG is possible and that In addition, by next summer a windmill proj- by the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies it is relatively inexpensive to do so, Levin told ect in a windy corridor of Science Hill will be (YIBS) and sponsored by the Edward P. Bass his audience. launched, according to Levin. Distinguished Lecture Series. Levin noted that in 2005 the University The University will also upgrade or make Levin focused his presentation, titled announced its goal of reducing GHG emis- renovations to buildings and systems that Creating Sustainable Campuses, on the threat sions by 2020 to 10% below its 1990 level, a are part of its newly acquired West Campus, of global warming and the University’s initia- 43% decrease. The University, the president the former Bayer pharmaceutical complex in tives to reduce its carbon emissions (believed said, has already achieved a 17% reduction West Haven and Orange, Levin said during his to be the primary cause of global warming). from the 2005 level, and projects that are cur- presentation. A key goal, he pointed out, is to He began by noting that global warming is no rently planned will create an additional 17% minimize “the carbon footprint of transporta- longer a matter of debate, saying that scien- reduction. Yale has made progress by install- tion” between the two campuses, mentioning tific evidence of the rise in the Earth’s average ing more efficient heating, ventilation and air bicycle paths as one alternative. temperature is now considered conclusive and conditioning systems (HVAC) in 90 buildings; In addition to reducing Yale’s ecological that this increase is caused by greenhouse gas replacing windows throughout the campus footprint, most of the University’s initiatives (GHG) emissions from human activity. with thermally efficient ones; introducing new have “positive economic returns,” said Levin. While the United States is the world’s larg- and modified energy-saving equipment in its While he acknowledged that green building est source of GHG emissions, Levin said, it is power plants; using renewable fuel in buses construction and increased use of renewable unlikely that the nation will enact legislation and turbines; ensuring that all new buildings fuels are expensive, he told his audience that that is “sufficiently ambitious” to change that and major renovations on campus can receive the estimated cost to meet Yale’s GHG emis- status. Yet, he warned, global warming cannot a LEED rating of “Silver” or better (LEED is sions goal is about 1% of the University’s oper- be stopped unless the United States—along a nationally accepted benchmark for “green” ating budget—and by some estimates only with China and India, also top producers of building design and construction); using half of that amount. GHG emissions—reduce their amounts. Levin ground water for cooling; and achieving a 10% “Would you pay one-half of 1% of your cited one report, the 2006 Stern Review, which yearly reduction in electricity use in the resi- income to halt global warming?” Levin asked concluded that in order to prevent global dential colleges. Yale students and others on his audience. “I think so.” warming in excess of two degrees Celsius—a campus have also been engaged in boosting Beyond these measures, Yale also plays a level, scientists believe, that would have dra- the campus waste that is recycled, Levin noted. role in creating a more environmentally friend- matic environmental and ecological repercus- In addition, other initiatives are in progress ly Earth by educating its students—the next sions—carbon emissions worldwide must be at the University, including the installation of a generation of leaders—about sustainability reduced by 45% to 55%. 14 megawatt cogeneration plant at the medical issues across a wide variety of fields; advanc- center; the adoption of sustainable building ing scientific and policy research, across disci-

 yale environmental news plines, that will have an impact on the future Geology) at the University of Bristol, serving of the environment; and by influencing other New Directors Named as chair from 1997 to 2001. From 1977 to 1985, universities in the United States and across the he was at Goldsmiths’ College, University globe to pursue similar efforts to reduce their of London, in the Department of Geology. carbon footprints. He earned his BA at Trinity College, Dublin, Since the University created its Office of and his MA and PhD from the University of Sustainability in 2005, Yale has been engaged RoseRita Riccitelli Cambridge, where he was a Research Fellow in conversations with other Ivy League schools from 1974 to 1977. and with universities abroad to share sustain- ability practices and work toward a common GHG emissions reduction goal, Levin said, jeffrey park named director noting that these alliances help to create a of the yale institute for global network of universities focused on think- derek briggs jeffrey park biospheric studies ing about and working toward sustainability. President Richard C. Levin has announced In the future, if the University reaches its derek briggs named director the appointment of Jeffrey Park, Professor of GHG emissions goal, its next step would be to of the yale peabody museum Geology & Geophysics, as the director of the 1 “raise the bar,” said Levin. of natural history Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies. His 3 /2 “We are going to make our own contribu- President Richard C. Levin has announced the year term began on January 1, 2008. tion,” Levin said of Yale’s efforts, which he appointment of Derek E.G. Briggs, Frederick Park is a distinguished geophysicist whose hopes will also encourage “meaningful U.S. William Beinecke Professor of Geology & research interests include earthquakes, plate and global policy solutions” to the problem of Geophysics, as the director of the Yale Peabody tectonics, and time-series of data pertaining global warming. The ultimate goal, he said, is Museum of Natural History. His five-year term to Earth’s past climate variations. Park joined to forestall the dangerous two-degree rise in will begin on July 1, 2008. Yale in 1986 and is currently the co-chair of global temperature. Briggs, a distinguished paleontologist the Environmental Studies Program, an under- Other speakers at the symposium included whose primary research interest is the preser- graduate major within Yale College. He has Professor Derek Briggs of the Yale Institute vation and evolutionary significance of excep- authored or co-authored numerous articles for Biospheric Studies, an organizer of the tionally preserved fossil biotas, joined Yale in in scientific journals, ranging from Earth’s event, who emphasized the critical nature 2003 and is currently the Curator-in-Charge seismic oscillations following the great 2004 of the conference topics in his opening and of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Museum. Sumatra-Andaman earthquake to detect- closing remarks; Paul Anastas, director of the He has written extensively, especially on life in ing correlations between clouds and sulfate Yale Center for Green Chemistry and Green the Paleozoic Era, and has served as the direc- aerosols in Earth’s atmosphere. In 2002 Park Engineering, who discussed how efforts by tor of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies co-authored the fifth edition of Dynamic Earth, scientists at Yale and elsewhere to design since January 2004. a textbook in physical geology. His research chemical products and processes that are Since 2006, he has been president of the currently focuses on the relationship between not harmful to humans or the environment Paleontological Society, and previously served tectonic plate collision and mountain-building impact nearly every aspect of life, including as president of the Paleontological Association in Italy. our food supply; Yale alumnus Howard Berke, from 2002 to 2004. Since 2004, Park has chaired the Standing chief executive officer of Konarka Technologies, Briggs has been honored with numerous Committee for the Global Seismographic Inc. and an executive at Good Energies, who distinctions, including being elected in 1999 as Network of the IRIS Consortium, and previ- spoke about current and emerging solar energy a Fellow of the Royal Society, the independent ously served as president of the Seismology technologies; Professor James Axley of the scientific academy of the United Kingdom, Section of the American Geophysical Union Yale School of Architecture, who examined the and becoming a member of the Royal Irish (AGU). Park has been honored by election issue of green building design; and Professor Academy in 2003. In addition, in 2000 he was in 2006 as a Fellow of the AGU, as well as Marian Chertow of the Yale School of Forestry awarded both the Italian prize for paleontol- appointment to the Governing Board of & Environmental Studies, who explored the ogy (Premio Capo d’Orlando) and the Lyell the American Institute of Physics (2002- ways in which corporations are successfully Medal of the Geological Society of London. 2004). Park served as the chairman of (and profitably) adopting sustainability as a He received the Boyle Medal from the Royal the Incorporated Research Institutions for part of their overall business strategy. Dublin Society/Irish Times in 2001. Seismology (The IRIS Consortium) from The full program can be viewed online at Briggs served a one-year term from 2001 to 1992 to 1994. Park earned his AB degree at www.yale.edu/yibs. 2002 as a visiting professor at the University Princeton University, and his PhD from the of Chicago. From 1985 to 2002 he was in Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the the Department of Earth Sciences (formerly University of California, San Diego.

yale environmental news  conferences, seminars, symposia

est port, Singapore n Paul Anastas, Professor, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies; Sr. Research Scientist, Chemical Engineering; Lecturer, Chemistry, Green chemistry, blue planet, black bottom line n Susan Butts, Collections Manager, Division of Invertebrate Paleontology, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Altered states: how fossilization affects our interpretation of biodiversity through time n Hagit Affek, Assistant Professor of Geology & Geophysics, Plants and air pollution: Emission of isoprene from vegetation n Robert Bailis, Assistant Professor, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Energy, development, yibs/esc friday noon seminars and environmental change; the social ecol- The Yale Institute for Biopsheric Studies’ (YIBS) continues its sponsorship of the weekly YIBS/ ogy of energy provision in sub–Saharan Africa ESC Friday Luncheon Seminars. The seminars are held in the Class of 1954 Environmental n Shivi-Kalyanakrishnan-Sivaramakrishnan, Science Center (ESC) during the fall and spring semesters. The Fall 2007 featured the following Professor, Anthropology and School of list of speakers and topics: Forestry & Environmental Studies, Civil society, higher courts, and environmental governance

n Oswald Schmitz, Oastler Professor of n Margaret Evans, Gaylord Donnelley in India Dror Hawlena, Gaylord Donnelley Population and Community Ecology and Environmental Postdoctoral Associate, Environmental Postdoctoral Associate, The risk Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Yale Developing hierarchical Bayesian models of factor–ecological and evolutionary consequences School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, demography: population viability of the rare of predation on prey populations n Jeffrey From individuals to ecosystem: predator identity plant Dicerandra frutescens (Lamiaceae) n Townsend, Assistant Professor, Ecology & determines ecosystem function n Andrew Hill, Chou Loke Ming, Professor, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Rethinking local and global Clayton Stephenson Class of 1954 Professor Biological Sciences, National University of microbial diversity. of Anthropology, Astronomically forced plio- Singapore, Challenges of marine biodiversity For an updated schedule, please visit the YIBS web cene climate change in the Kenya Rift Valley research and management in the world’s busi- site www.yale.edu/yibs/ESC_Seminar.html

Science of Sustainability Focus of Hawaii Gathering

Marian Chertow (center), associate professor of the game so that they can go out and play of industrial environmental management at hard,” said Chertow. “If we have green rules, the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental then they can go play the green game hard.” Studies, discussed her research in industrial While researching the Campbell Industrial ecology at a gathering of Hawaiian business Park near Honolulu, Chertow’s team found leaders and 40 Yale alumni at the Pacific that eight companies were trading seven dif- Club in Honolulu. The October event was ferent kinds of materials among themselves. sponsored by Connie Lau (right), president Yet companies remained oblivious to the big and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Industries and picture: they weren’t aware of what their neigh- American Savings Bank and a Yale College bors were doing or how they might benefit graduate, and Matt Hamabata (left), executive corporate greening: map the symbioses—the even more from sharing resources. She has director of the Kohala Center, a nonprofit aca- waste, water and power exchanges and other found similar exchanges taking place in a very demic research institute. beneficial relationships—that exist among different context, a large industrial complex in Chertow studies how businesses cluster businesses. Show companies that they have China, and now leads Yale’s new Program on together in places as varied as Hawaii, Puerto already begun to build industrial ecosystems. Industrial Ecology in Developing Countries. Rico and mainland China. She has recently Then help them to do more of the same. proposed a new approach to encouraging “Business people just want to know the rules

 yale environmental news october 23rd seminar at f&es economic aspects of pest control, biological control, biotechnology, sustainable agriculture, Ethanol Fuel: land and water conservation, natural resource management, and environmental policy. He Energy, Food, and the Environment has published more than 600 scientific papers and 24 books, and most recently released the third edition of his book, Food, Energy, David Pimentel, Professor Emeritus at Fuel: Energy, Food, and the Environment, was and Society, an examination of the interde- Cornell University and renowned scholar of also co-sponsored by the Yale Institute for pendency of food, energy, water, land, and biofuels, spoke at the Yale School of Forestry Biospheric Studies (YIBS), the Yale Center biological resources. Pimentel has served on & Environmental Studies as part of the Yale for Environmental Law and Policy, and the many national and government committees, Sustainable Food Project’s Chewing the Fat Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. including the National Academy of Sciences, speaker and events series, sponsored by Pimentel is Professor Emeritus of Insect the President’s Science Advisory Council, the George and Shelly Lazarus Fund for Ecology and Agricultural Science at Cornell the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Sustainable Food and Agriculture at Yale. University, and his research spans the fields Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Professor Pimentel’s presentation, Ethanol of basic population ecology, ecological and Health, Education and Welfare, the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. State Department. Pimentel’s con- troversial opinions on the energy efficiency of

Sean Fraga biofuels was the subject of this lecture. The Yale Sustainable Food Project was founded in 2001 by Yale students, faculty, and staff, Yale University President Richard Levin and Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant. It was established with the understanding that many of the world’s most important questions regarding health, culture, the environment and the global economy are deeply connected to what we eat and how it is produced. The Sustainable Food Project seeks to foster a culture that draws meaning and pleasure from the connections among people, land and food.

For more information on the Project or on the Chewing the Fat speaker series, go to www.yale. edu/sustainablefood or contact Anastatia Curley at 203.432.2084 or [email protected].

yale environmental news  research and program highlights

More Poor Countries Gain Access to Scientific Research

Thirty-six countries have been added to a ros- it is not surprising that the scientific gap tries to access the critical information needed ter of developing nations that have access to between the developed and developing coun- for their research,” said Robert Mercer, Ex one of the world’s largest online collections of tries has assumed great importance in the Libris President of North America. environmental science research. international development community. Thanks OARE aims to contribute to the develop- In the past 12 months, more than 500 to advances in information and communica- ment of expert professional and academic public institutions and local nongovernmental tion technologies and the generosity of many communities and an informed public, encour- organizations have enrolled in a free pro- publishers, there is now an unprecedented age scientific creativity and productivity, and gram called Online Access to Research in the opportunity to provide less-developed coun- build the capacity of environmental profes- Environment (OARE). Institutions enrolling tries intellectual capital that we in the devel- sionals to manage fragile ecosystems, protect in the program receive international scientific oped world take for granted.” human health and manage natural renewable literature that has an annual retail subscription In addition to receiving a remarkable resources sustainably. Support for the coordi- value of over $1.5 million and that represents quantity of research from around the world, nation of the project is provided by the John 75% of the world’s most prestigious and highly enrolled institutions are also provided access D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and cited scientific research in the environmental to international scientific search engines (A&I the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. sciences. Databases), intellectual tools that leading sci- Enabled by technology and guided by When it began in October 2006, OARE entific and professional communities use to shared vision, the OARE consortium is increas- offered access to scientific literature to 70 identify research on specific topics within thou- ing the number and diversity of its participat- of the world’s poorest nations with a gross sands of scientific publications from around ing organizations and its richness of scientific national income per capita below $1,250. the world. holdings. The partners encourage organiza- With the launch of the second phase of the “Providing practitioners, researchers and tions in developing countries to explore the program, the following countries, areas and scientists with online access to scientific resources available in OARE, and encourage territories with gross national income per research on the environment has been a long- institutions interested in joining the consor- capita between $1,250 and $3,500 have been held dream and desire by institutions around tium to contact them to learn more about how added: Albania, Algeria, Belarus, Boznia- the world,” said Achim Steiner, executive direc- they might contribute to the OARE mission. Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Columbia, tor of UNEP. “OARE is contributing greatly to Institutions can enroll in OARE by completing Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El the reduction in the North-South scientific gap the online registration form available on the Salvador, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, and digital divide, and to the intellectual foun- website at www.oaresciences.org or writing to Guatemala, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, dation of environmental institutions in many [email protected]. Serbia and Montenegro, Maldives, Marshall developing nations.” Islands, Morocco, Namibia, Paraguay, Peru, After a free three-month trial, the institu- For more information, contact OARE coordina- Romania, Tunisia, Western Samoa, Republic tions in these countries are asked to pay an tors Paul Bendiks Walberg, 203-314-7576 or paul. [email protected]; Kimberly Parker, 203-432-0067 of Serbia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, annual enrollment fee of $1,000. Representing or [email protected]; and Constant Serge Suriname, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, less than one-tenth of one percent of the Bounda, (254-20) 762-3105 or serge.bounda@unep. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, annual retail subscription value of resources org. Tonga, Vanuatu, and West Bank and Gaza. in OARE, all fees will be reinvested to support Yale University, the United Nations training in enrolled institutions. Environment Programme (UNEP), the OARE is also launching a new technologi- International Association of Scientific Technical cal infrastructure designed with help from top and Medical Publishers and over 340 inter- programmers at Microsoft Corporation–its national publishers and prestigious scientific new technology partner–and introducing Ex societies and associations administer OARE, Libris SFX software to the program, a new tool whose goal is to reduce the great disparities that allows developing countries to open full- in scientific resources between developed and text articles directly from within international developing nations. research databases, dramatically reducing the Gus Speth, dean of the Yale School of time required to search for and access interna- Forestry & Environmental Studies, said, “In an tional research. age characterized by rapid globalization and “Ex Libris will provide its SFX linking solu- exponential expansion of scientific knowledge, tion to enable scientists in developing coun-

 yale environmental news Program to Encourage ‘Green’ Industry in Developing Countries

A Yale research team is introducing a program that will encourage the adoption of environ- mentally friendly industrial activity in develop- ing countries. The new program, Industrial Ecology in Developing Countries, will examine the flow of energy, materials and water through industry and the natural environment. The first studies are being conducted in China and India, whose rapidly industrializing economies are putting a strain on natural resources. The program’s ultimate goal is to encourage ecologically sus- Poll: Majority of Americans Want Local tainable industrial production that is fueled by firms that share resources and waste. Action on Global Warming “Industrial ecology is especially critical for developing countries, where large, poor Nearly three in four Americans would pay more existing homes, even if it would cost house- populations are urbanizing rapidly and deplet- to their own city or local government to reduce holds an extra $5 per month in property taxes. ing key resources,” said Marian Chertow, Yale the heat-trapping gases that cause global The survey also found that: PhD’00, director of the program at Yale’s warming, according to a telephone survey con- • 71% would pay $5 a month more in prop- Center for Industrial Ecology. “Resource pro- ducted in September. erty taxes to support a local subsidy to encour- ductivity and eco-efficient industry are urgently “City and local leaders are critical players age homeowners to replace old furnaces, needed to address these challenges to sustain- in the effort to reduce global warming, and water heaters, air conditioners, light bulbs and able development.” it’s clear that their constituents want action,” insulation. The Chinese government has already cre- said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale • 69% would pay $8.50 more a month for ated 16 eco-industrial park projects that are Project on Climate Change. “The public is on local regulations requiring electric utilities intended to serve as prototypes for ecologi- board and willing to help foot the bill. All that’s to produce at least 20% of their electricity cally sustainable production. China has been left to do now is act.” from wind, solar and other renewable energy seeking a new industrialization model that will The GfK Roper/Yale Survey on sources. reconcile rapid economic growth and envi- Environmental Issues is the first of its kind to • 68% would support changing their city ronmental degradation through the proposed measure public opinion of local government- or town’s zoning rules to decrease suburban Circular Economy Promotion Law, which would led green initiatives. The survey was conducted sprawl and concentrate new development near require an evaluation of the environmental by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media, a divi- the city or town center. friendliness of products before they enter the sion of GfK Custom Research North America, • 65% would support changing their city/ market. and Yale School of Forestry & Environmental town’s zoning rules to require neighborhoods In India, the Yale team will work with Studies (F&ES). The results are available at to have a mix of housing, offices, industry, regional planners and the nonprofit Resource http://environment.yale.edu/news/5323/. schools and stores close together. Optimization Initiative in Bangalore to identify According to the survey, 74% of Americans • 53% would back city or local fees added the flow of resources through local economies would support local regulations requiring all to electricity bills to encourage people to use and what is being used and wasted. newly constructed homes to be more energy less electricity. efficient, even if it would increase the initial Fifty-seven percent of Americans, however, cost of a new home by roughly $7,500. Saving oppose changing city zoning rules to promote energy and money on utility bills is also what construction of apartments rather than single- motivated 72% of Americans to say they sup- family homes, and 64% oppose a 10-cent port local subsidies to encourage homeowners city or local fee on each gallon of gas sold to to install electricity-generating solar panels on encourage people to use less fuel. yale environmental news  yale peabody museum of natural history

events fiesta latina! las artes de mexico March 8, 2007 On view March 22 through July 19, 2008 travels in the great tree of life Our annual celebration of Latin American The Museum’s latest traveling exhibition cel- Opening February 16, 2008 cultures! This daylong festival features perfor- ebrates the rich and diverse artistic traditions mances of traditional and contemporary Latin of Mexico, examining over 3,500 years of art This multimedia and family friendly American music and dances, along with story- and culture and of tradition and change across exhibition explores how we discov- telling, face painting and mask making. the broad spectrum of Mexican life. er the complex relationships that link all living organisms together. Information and updates at (203) 432-5050 and Supported by the National Science Foundation. www.peabody.yale.edu

Forum Examines Sustainability Issues

in New Haven David Heiser (3)

As part of Yale’s efforts to foster sustainability, were able to ask questions directly of each on October 4, 2007, the Yale Peabody Museum panelist. The groups generated excellent lists recently hosted a community forum to exam- of some of the challenges and solutions to ine the question, “Can New Haven Become creating a sustainable New Haven. Each group A Sustainable City?” The event drew over 130 also had a facilitator who helped guide the attendees. Concerned citizens were able to discussion toward constructive action. Many learn more about sustainability issues and to participants committed to meeting monthly engage with leaders from Yale and the local to continue the conversation. Havens for the community to help map out a future for a sus- Future (formerly Network for a Sustainable tainable New Haven. New Haven) will organize and support this Described as “a forum…with some exciting outcome. The first event to follow, answers,” the event covered a wide range of entitled “Building Our Future: Falling Apart or topics relevant to making New Haven more Rising Together in Greater New Haven,” took sustainable: economic development; the role of place at the Yale Divinity School on December culture and a sense of place in sustainability; 8, 2007. Starting in January 2008, regular con- smart growth and urban planning; the urban versations, each with a special area of focus ecosystem; and how large institutions, such as and a guest speaker, will lead to the next steps Yale, have the capacity to influence the creation for the community to realize sustainability. of sustainable communities. Sponsored by the Yale School of Forestry Panelists included Karyn Gilvarg, Director, & Environmental Studies, the Yale Peabody New Haven City Plan Department; Heidi Museum, the City of New Haven and Clean Green, President, 1000 Friends of Connecticut; Air-Cool Planet, and moderated by Peabody Bill Hosley, Executive Director, New Haven Museum Director Michael Donoghue, Museum and Historical Society; Colleen the October forum was one of 70 events Murphy-Dunning, Director, Urban Resources held nationwide, as part of the National Initiative at the Yale School of Forestry & Conversation on Climate Action (http://www. Environmental Studies; Julie Newman, climateconversation.org/). Director, Yale Office of Sustainability; and Jerome Ringo, President, The Apollo Alliance, For more information on these events, or to join and former chair of the board of the National the conversation on making New Haven a sustain- able city, visit www.sustainablenewhaven.org, or Director Michael Donoghue welcomed participants to the Wildlife Federation. top contact Nathan Bixby at (203) 887-2598 or nathan@ community forum on behalf of the Peabody. middle Jerome Following short presentations by the panel, sustianablenewhaven.org. Ringo captivates the audience—and the panel. bottom The panelists listen to the audience responses. participants joined breakout groups organized around the topic area of each panelist and

 yale environmental news Thomas Whiteley (2) Courtesy Courtesy of Nancy Herzig

left Archival photograph of geologists at Beecher’s Trilobite Bed (most likely taken in 1892), recently donated by Nancy A. Herzig, the great-granddaughter of Charles E. Beecher. A notation on the back of the photograph reads: “Property of Mrs. Charles E. Beecher. Seated left-right: Mr. Henry Downer (Grandma B.’s brother), Charles Emerson Beecher, Coleman Beecher. Collecting fossils at rear: ‘Doc’ Randalf.”

top Triarthrus eatoni, from the original Beecher’s Trilobite Bed, showing limbs and antennae preserved in pyrite.

bottom At the Beecher’s Trilobite Bed locality in the summer Revisiting Beecher’s Trilobite Bed of 2007. From left to right: Thomas Whiteley, Stanley and John By Una Farrell, Yale PhD ’09, Yale Department of Geology and Geophysics Koziarz (landowners), and Una Farrell.

Adapted for living in different parts of the that they may even have harbored symbiotic In 2005 we reopened the excavation at Paleozoic ocean, trilobites came in a variety of bacteria on their gills, enabling them to live in Beecher’s Trilobite Bed. I started by measur- shapes and sizes. However, although we can very inhospitable conditions. I am investigat- ing detailed sedimentological sections, which learn much about lifestyle and diversity from ing whether the environmental conditions in showed fine-grained deposition in quiet, deep their readily preserved calcitic exoskeleton, it this basin, and the morphology of Triarthrus in waters that had been frequently disturbed by is only by seeing the soft tissues that we can particular, would have been suitable for such influxes of rapidly deposited, slightly coarser understand in detail how these fossil arthro- a mode of life. I am also examining in more sediment. The geochemistry of the rocks pods functioned. detail the conditions necessary for the pyritiza- shows that conditions at the bottom of the Soft-tissue preservation is rare in the fossil tion of soft tissues. water column fluctuated, and oxygen levels record, requiring very particular circumstances Beecher’s Trilobite Bed has a long associa- in the basin had become very low at times. to prevent the loss of delicate structures tion with Yale. William S. Valiant discovered The paleontology is clear: the diversity and shortly after death. There are only a handful of the locality in 1892 and brought it to the atten- abundance of the organisms are low and many sites worldwide where trilobite soft tissues are tion of Yale professor O. C. Marsh, who gave lived in the water column (such as graptolites preserved. As part of my doctoral research in the project to his student, Charles Emerson and straight cephalopods), thus avoiding con- Yale’s Department of Geology and Geophysics, Beecher. Beecher undertook an extensive exca- ditions at the sea bed. This nasty environment I am examining the ecology and preservation vation and concentrated on describing the may have been suitable for chemosymbiosis, of one of the more spectacular of these sites, morphology of Triarthrus. For decades after- but adaptation to low oxygen may also have the Beecher’s Trilobite Bed locality and related wards the site was thought to be “mined out” sufficed to allow organisms to live there. sites in New York State. These localities are and the location was lost. It wasn’t until the The Beecher’s Bed trilobites are preserved Ordovician in age (about 450 million years old) 1980s that the site was rediscovered by avoca- whole in some of the rapidly deposited beds, and the trilobite fossils (mainly one species tional paleontologists Tom Whiteley and Dan and fieldwork has revealed at least four new of olenid trilobite, Triarthrus) are preserved by Cooper. Subsequently, there was a joint exca- horizons with exceptionally preserved speci- pyritization, in which even delicate structures vation by the American Museum of Natural mens. The geochemical signatures are similar such as gill filaments were replicated by pyrite, History and the Smithsonian Institution, also in each of these beds, but further analyses will giving the fossils the striking look of gold. involving Derek Briggs (before he joined Yale) help to test models for pyritization and explain The olenids were a large group of trilobites, and others. Most previous work, however, con- why such spectacular preservation occurs at found generally in deep-water, low-oxygen centrated on the one “Trilobite Bed” and many this famous locality. environments. Richard Fortey of the Natural of the collected samples lie unexamined in History Museum in London has proposed museum collections.

yale environmental news  The Age of Reptiles, a mural by Rudolph F. Zallinger. ©1990, 2001, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut USA. All rights reserved. Jim Sirch

yale peabody museum of natural history

Leafcutter Ants Harvest Fungus, Do Line Dance at Peabody by Melanie Brigockas, Public Relations and Marketing Manager

The Discovery Room at the Yale Peabody carry them in a long foraging line to their Museum of Natural History has always been a underground nests. Because the ants are often favorite destination for children. Now dozens hidden under their colorful loads, a parade of of new residents are giving the poison dart leafcutters at first glimpse might easily look like frogs, snakes, and lizards some stiff competi- an animation of marching leaves. tion. A colony of leafcutter ants has set up a As the leaves are deposited at the nests, farming operation where it grows its own food smaller worker ants chew them into a pulp, in underground gardens. which is deposited by the smallest ants among Practicing a very sophisticated form of agri- enzyme-rich ant fecal droppings and fungus culture, these ants create and cultivate gardens spores. The pulp decomposes and eventually of miniature mushrooms belonging to the produces strands of fungus that the ants use to fungus kingdom. Some of their most fascinat- feed their larvae. ing activities occur in plain view of Museum Leafcutter ants are native to the tropical visitors who can witness the creatures at work rainforests and semi-tropical forests of South, in their plexiglass terrarium. Central and North America. In nature, they live And what a sight it is! Using their sharp in huge underground colonies of up to many mandibles, worker leafcutter ants slice leaves millions of ants. The colony at the Peabody into sections about the length of their body, should grow to several thousand strong within then hoist the fragments onto their back to a few years.

10 yale environmental news Biodiversity and Entomologist E. O. Wilson equates the speed and activity of a worker ant to a person Global Change Program Expands running a four-minute mile for 30 straight miles while carrying 500 pounds on his shoul- The innovative Peabody Fellows Biodiversity ders. A leafcutter ant is actually capable of and Global Change Program, which uses carrying almost 10 times its own weight, the research on the 1999 lobster die-off in Long Laurie Sweeney equivalent of a 200-pound adult carrying a Island Sound to teach about science and glob- 2,000-pound car up in the air. al change, is now reaching hundreds of middle Leafcutter ants have been farming for at and high school students on New York’s Long least 50 million years; humans have been Island. doing so for only some 10,000. The leafcutters “It is logical that after piloting activities use a complex caste system in which everyone with many students here in Connecticut, we has a job, everyone gets along, and no one would go across the Sound to the north shore goes hungry. The queen is the reproductive of Long Island and work with teachers there,” female of the colony. She mates only once, says Project Director Jim Sirch. “The program after which she is kept busy laying eggs for the has established a very helpful partnership with Peabody Fellows teachers seining in the Nissequogue River at Sunken Meadow State Park, New York. rest of her long life. Rarely visible, she is about New York Sea Grant, which has helped recruit the size of a newborn mouse. teachers and disseminate resources,” Sirch disease. “Teaching students about real work Ants are very important members of our explains. issues and events really gets them excited to planet and even critical to man’s survival. Two of the program’s BioAction Lab kits learn about science,” observes Laurie Sweeney, Without ants, in E. O. Wilson’s words, “The to be housed at the New York Sea Grant office a 6th grade teacher from Smithtown. earth would rot.” Ants help create soil and in Stony Brook will be available for loan to The program content lends itself well to keep it fertile. Without them, most animal pop- teachers. Combined with an inquiry- and place- science training at the middle and high school ulations would become extinct for lack of food. based educational approach, these resources level and serves as a springboard for the devel- Leafcutter ants, in particular, also play a will form the basis for a curriculum guide to opment of basic science skills. The theme potentially invaluable role in our quest to stem be completed by Spring 2008. Accompanied encompasses the many scientific disciplines antibiotic resistance, in that they have acquired by a DVD of invasive plants and animals found taught: biology (species variation, relationships an antibiotic that harmful parasites cannot in and around Long Island Sound, the guide and extinction), geology (climate change), resist. Because this ant system seems to have will be widely disseminated. These materials mathematics (statistics), agriculture (crop unique ways of dealing with disease, we stand will enable teachers and students to delve into and resource issues) and chemistry (water to learn a lot from understanding it. such topics as land use patterns, sea level rise, and air issues). “Students who have a better The exhibit is the gift of Michael Maloney global warming, excess run-off and pollution, understanding of a complex scientific issue will and Macdara MacColl of Madison and their habitat loss, and invasive and endangered spe- hopefully become stewards of their local envi- children Tara, Sawyer and Craigin. To see the cies. It will also enable them to undertake inte- ronment, motivated and empowered to protect ants at work and learn more about their unique grated science activities that include science it,” explains Sirch. talents and capabilities, head to the Discovery process skills. Room at the Yale Peabody Museum. Scientists conducting current research spoke with teachers during two recent teacher training institutes held in Smithtown and top A young visitor to the Peabody’s Discovery Room enjoys a view of the leafcutter ants. Kings Park, New York. Carmela Cuomo, a marine benthic biogeochemical ecologist who heads up the marine biology program at the University of New Haven, discussed the many factors that contributed to the Long Island Sound lobster die-off. Kathy Castro and Barbara Somers, two researchers from the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island Sea Grant, showed how important inquiry- based science is to their work with lobster shell

Richard Seaman yale environmental news 11 yale peabody museum of natural history

Gordon also gave a presentation of his metal- 1735, and a plaster thermodynamic surface lurgical analysis of a 16th century astrolabe model for water made by physicist James Clerk made by Georg Hartman. Studies of the brass Maxwell and sent to Josiah Willard Gibbs in used by Hartman revealed that manufacturing 1896. Also on display was a sextant used by technologies in Germany at the time were dif- Elias Loomis, a wave apparatus designed by ferent than those used elsewhere in the world. Chester Smith Lyman and a multiple-choice More significantly, however, was Professor apparatus designed and made in 1913 by Yale Gordon’s conclusion that markings and tool primatologist Robert Yerkes. lines on the astrolabe indicate that Hartman’s Most of the instruments on display were workshop applied a unique division of labor collected by Derek de Solla Price in the 1960s, that pre-dates the Industrial Revolution. when he was appointed Yale’s first professor Afterwards, SIC members were treated to a in the history of science and established the rare opportunity to handle the astrolabe and Division of Historical Scientific Instruments at inspect the markings featured in Professor the Yale Peabody Museum. Price’s efforts to Gordon’s talk. collect and secure Yale’s instruments is indica- The Hartman astrolabe was donated in tive of the passion that many members of the 1972 along with a copy of Peter Apian’s 1540 SIC have for preserving the world’s scientific work Astronomicum Cæsareum, which was fea- heritage. tured in the exhibit Of Books and Things at the The Scientific Instrument Commission is Cushing/Whitney Medical Library. Curated by a constituent organization of the International SIC member and Yale graduate student Alistair Union of the History and Philosophy of Kwan, the exhibit explored the often incom- Science. It seeks to encourage scholarly Shae Trewin prehensible relationship between objects and research on the history of scientific instru- books housed in libraries. Though less well ments, and the preservation and documenta- Historical Scientific known than the instrument collection at the tion of collections of instruments, as well as Yale Peabody Museum, the Streeter Collection their use within the wider discipline of the Instruments Attract of Weights and Measures and a noteworthy history of science. The presence of the SIC at assortment of scientific and medical apparatus Yale has significantly enhanced both a local World Scholars at the Cushing/Whitney Library are some of the and global awareness of the Yale instruments By Shae Trewin, Collections Manager, Division of most significant such collections in the world. collections and will contribute to the growth of Historical Scientific Instruments Included in the exhibit were rare scientific research activity associated with them. works and previously unseen objects, such as a The opportunity for the Yale instrument Scientific instrument specialists from around 17th century marble sundial and early 18th cen- collections to be part of the SIC annual sym- the world gathered at the Yale Peabody tury American surveying compasses. posium could not have been possible without Museum in September to explore the instru- Also featured was one of the bound the cooperation of organizers Sara Schechner ment collections at Yale University. The books of herbarium specimens known as the of the Harvard Collection of Scientific visit was part of the Scientific Instrument Fenn Flora, on loan from the Yale Peabody Instruments and Debbie Douglas of the MIT Commission’s (SIC) annual symposium, Museum’s Division of Botany. These volumes Museum. This occasion was made possible by which, for only the second time in a decade, were compiled in 1822 by Horatio Nelson the local support of Peabody Deputy Director was held in the United States. Fenn, a Yale medical student who collected Jane Pickering, Leitner Family Observatory Approximately 80 SIC members traveled specimens from around New Haven. Displayed Director Michael Faison, Yale Geology and from hosting institutions Harvard University with packets of 19th century medical herbs col- Geophysics Professor Professor Robert and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology lected from abroad, the Fenn Flora is a perfect Gordon, Medical History Librarian Toby Appel to visit the Yale Leitner Family Observatory, the example of an overlap between object and and Alistair Kwan. Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical book. Library and the Yale Peabody Museum. The SIC visit concluded at the Yale Peabody Visit the Peabody’s Division of Historical Scientific At the Leitner Family Observatory, SIC Museum with a special exhibit on highlights Instruments at www.peabody.yale.edu/collections/ members viewed a permanent display of from the history of science at Yale. SIC mem- hsi/ and read our newly launched blog “Beyond the Basement” at http://blogs.yale.edu/roller/page/HSI. 19th century astronomical apparatus and a bers were treated to a display of Yale’s most fully operational 1882 Grubb refractor. Yale valued scientific objects, including the first Professor of Geology and Geophysics Robert microscope purchased by Yale College, in

12 yale environmental news Shae Trewin (3) Shae Trewin

Undergraduate Summer Fellowships at the Peabody: Student Reports

This summer the Yale Peabody Museum once again funded undergraduate students in semi-inde- pendent research projects using the Peabody’s diverse collections. The laboratory of Assistant Professor Thomas Near, Assistant Curator in the Peabody’s Division of Vertebrate Zoology, hosted Jordan Garner (Yale ’08), Evan McCartney-Melstad (Yale ’08) and Jillian Pennington (Yale ’08). Dr. Larry Gall, Entomology Informatics Manager and Head of the Peabody’s Computer Systems Office in the Peabody’s Division of Entomology, hosted undergraduate Derek Zhao (Yale ’10).

Speciation and Diversification that the E. basilare complex contains multiple of North American Endemic Darters cryptic species. In their phylogenetic analysis, By Jordan Garner, Yale ’08 Dr. Hollingsworth and Dr. Near used DNA My two projects as an intern in the laboratory sequences from two mitochondrial genes and a of Dr. Near involved research on a clade of single nuclear gene. To determine the relation- North American freshwater fishes known as ships within the complex and to further test the barcheek darters (Percidae: Etheostoma: the prediction that there are multiple cryptic Catonotus). For my first project, I used AFLP species within the complex, I began work on a markers (amplified fragment length poly- phylogenetic analysis based on DNA sequence morphisms) to determine whether hybridiza- data sampled from six nuclear genes. I was tion had historically occurred between two able to get a good start on sequencing the six very closely related barcheek darter species, genes for 120 individuals in the complex and Etheostoma derivativum and E. smithi. E. plan to finish in the upcoming academic year. derivativum and E. smithi are found in the The Timing of Divergence and Reproductive Cumberland River Drainage of Kentucky and Isolation in North American Endemic Sunfishes Tennessee. Specifically, I looked at whether and Black Basses introgression had occurred at the interfaces of By Evan McCartney-Melstad, Yale ’08 a particular interdigitated and allopatric distri- bution of the two species in Tennessee. My summer internship in Dr. Thomas Near’s If introgression had indeed occurred in the lab involved laboratory and field research past at the interfaces of the populations, then on the fish family Centrarchidae, the black the individuals inhabiting the areas at the inter- basses, and focused on a comparative study faces should have a genome that is a blend of of ontogenetic diversification. I asked whether alleles derived from both E. derivativum and developmental disparity was strongly correlated E. smithi. As such, grouping individuals from with position on a phylogenetic tree. A strong the distribution into clusters based on genetic correlation between ontogenetic differences data would predict that they would best fit into and phylogenetic position would suggest that three clusters (one cluster would be E. derivati- changes in the developmental processes could vum, another would be E. smithi, and the third be creating reproductive barriers and thus driv- the introgressed individuals). If introgression ing biodiversity. left A book from the Fenn Flora displayed with a set of 19th To address my research questions I needed century apothecary jars and packets of medicinal herbs collection had not occurred, then the individuals would from abroad as part of the exhibit Of Books and Things. best fit into just two genetic clusters E.( deriva- two main types of data. First was the ontoge- netic data. Luckily, this data had already been bottom Oxford University assistant keeper Stephen Johnston tivum and E. smithi). (right) and president of the SIC Paolo Brenni (left) inspect the My second project focused on the gathered by Paula Mabee in a 1993 paper, Hartman astrolabe. Etheostoma basilare species complex. Although which included a large matrix of scored devel- middle David P. Wheatland Curator Sara Schechner of the currently considered a single species, unpub- opmental characters that could be used in Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments looks statistical analyses. Mabee attempted a study over a display of Yale’s scientific instruments in the Yale Peabody lished research by Dr. Hollingsworth and Museum. Dr. Near indicates that E. basilare contains similar to ours, in which she applied the scored developmental characters to a phylogeny to top Professor Robert Gordon giving a talk on the Hartman astro- five diagnosible genetic clusters that cor- labe to members of the SIC in the Leitner Family Observatory, respond to five distinct geographic regions understand how development evolves and where various 19th century astronomical instruments from the what role it plays in speciation and biodiversity. Yale Peabody Museum are on permanent display. of the Caney Fork River Basin. This suggests

yale environmental news 13 yale peabody museum of natural history

However, Mabee’s study suffers from the inad- phylogenetic relationships of two families, I am attempting to sequence several other equacies of phylogenetic methods in the early the Channichthyidae, or icefishes, and the nuclear genes for some of the same individuals 1990s. For instance, many of the characters Bathydraconidae, or dragonfishes. The icefish- to determine whether this level of differentiation she was investigating were also used to create es are the only vertebrates that lack hemglobin between alleles is unique to the LDH intron. the phylogeny itself. and, as such, their blood is white. To explore I am also particularly interested to see My project used improved phylogenetic this bizarre adaptation, I began collecting DNA whether the sister species to P. charcoti, methods to test Mabee’s conclusions with a sequence data from sampled individuals of Parachaenichthys georgianus, shows a similar better tree. Over the summer I isolated DNA both icefish and dragonfish species. polymorphic pattern, and I have begun clon- from hundreds of centrarchids and sequenced I began by focusing on the nuclear gene ing P. georgianus individuals. Preliminary data several genes from each of them, creating a lactate-dehydrogenase, LDH. Unlike more indicates that one allele in this species is an new tree using Bayesian methods. We now cooperative mitochondrial genes, LDH proved intermediate between the two major alleles have a much more likely phylogeny for the problematic. Initially, I found that the primers recovered in P. charcoti. Further sampling and Centrarchidae. What remains to be done in I was using to amplify an LDH intron were cloning will help to determine whether any this project is the relatively simple process of binding nonspecifically, and amplifying many such intermediate allele might be lurking in character mapping. We will also be mapping regions of DNA. With some tweaking of the heterozygote P. charcoti individuals, but its ancestral characters to determine the prob- protocol, I was able to produce clean PCR presence in P. georgianus is certainly intriguing, abilities of the presence of certain characters in products, but sequencing of those products and may have unforeseen implications for our hypothetical ancestors. revealed that roughly three-quarters of the study of speciation in notothenioids. I will continue these studies for my senior individuals were heterozygous. To separate the research project and plan to address some two alleles, I began cloning individuals, but Digitization and Documentation questions posed during the collection and because of the large size of the sequence I was in the Entomology Collections By Derek Zhao, Yale ’10 analysis of sequence data during the summer, attempting to recover (about 1,500 base pairs), including investigating a strange relationship and the presence of other, smaller fragments This past summer I had the opportunity to between two species in which one animal in the genome to which the primers were work on several digitization projects in the Yale contains a mitochondrial haplotype of what we able to anneal, I was only able to recover two Peabody Museum’s Division of Entomology believe to be an extinct species. This summer distinct alleles from a single individual. Faced with Dr. Larry Gall, Entomology Informatics I joined Professor Near for a month of field with these poor results, I set about trying to Manager and Head of the Peabody’s Computer research in the southeastern United States, optimize the cloning protocol for LDH and Systems Office. In addition to its approximately where I collected many specimens from spe- found that changing the annealing temperature one million insect specimens, the Division cific areas where the fish could contain the and the timing of the initial, high-fidelity PCR also has a library and substantial associated interesting haplotype. produced much better results. I am currently documentation, such as letters and field notes, I also accompanied Professor Near to using this modified protocol to finish cloning assembled over 60 years by former cura- the American Society of Ichthyologists and about 100 icefish and dragonfish individuals. tor Charles Remington and his associates. Herpetologists conference in St. Louis, From the data already gathered, however, Converting this material to an electronic format Missouri, where I had the opportunity to give I have discovered a surprising polymorphism would make it much more accessible and man- a presentation on another project, a molecu- between the two main LDH alleles in a single ageable as a resource for research and collec- lar clock divergence time estimate of the two species of dragonfish, Parachaenichthys char- tions management. extant coelacanths. There I met with ichthyolo- coti, including a large 200 base pairs deletion. My first focus was on the Division’s loan gists from across the country and listened to Attempting to create haplotype networks from papers, which are an important historical record their presentations (including that of Paula the individuals sequenced thus far yields two of specimens that have traveled for research, Mabee). For me, this was the highlight of a unconnected webs—one for the larger allele, identification, exhibition and other purposes. great summer. and one for the smaller—which indicates a sig- The invoices for both incoming loans made to nificant level of genetic divergence between the the Division and outbound loans made to other The Phylogenetics of Antarctic two. Faced with this perplexing polymorphism, institutions describe what was loaned and for Notothenioid Fishes I considered the likelihood that there might how long. These date back to the 1940s, with By Jillian Pennington, Yale ’08 have been a gene duplication in the past, but some even earlier. Information is difficult to My research as a summer intern in Dr. Thomas the presence of homozygotes for both the large extract from paper records, and makes man- Near’s lab has focused on a group of Antarctic allele and the small allele refutes this possibility. aging the loans laborious and prone to error. fishes, the notothenioids, which represent the Likewise, the sequences include small sections Before creating electronic loan records for the vast majority of biomass and species richness of an LDH exon, all of which are identical in the invoices in the Peabody’s KE EMu® collections in the icy Southern Ocean. In particular, I have sampled individuals, which indicates that I am management database, I resolved as many doc- been studying the population dynamics and indeed amplifying the same region. Currently, umentation problems as possible by referring to

14 yale environmental news the Division’s correspondence archives of more than 15,000 letters, which had been recently reorganized by Dr. Gall, volunteer Barbara Beitch, and Katie Kazimer (Yale ’09). Each invoice usually had some related correspon- dence, but many required a hunt through the archives to piece together the complete story of green moore sperling a loaned specimen. The end result was a fully searchable database of the Division’s loan his- tory, complete with digital scans of each invoice. For another project, I helped organize the The 2007 Simpson Prize Awards Division’s collection of the silk moth family, Each year the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural of explosive speciation, adaptive radiation, the Saturniidae, which contains some of the History awards the George Gaylord Simpson species selection, key innovation, and mass largest and most colorful moth species, includ- Prize to a Yale University graduate student extinction are a few examples of biological ing Luna Moths, Cecropias, Hickory Horned or recent doctoral candidate for a paper con- phenomena involving differential rates of Devils, and their relatives. I was part of a cerning evolution and the fossil record. The diversification. Moore’s doctoral research has four-student team that sorted each species by prize is named for George Gaylord Simpson focused on developing and implementing phy- collector, locality and collection date to form (1902–1984; Yale Ph.D. ’26), the most influen- logenetic methods to explore these evolution- “specimen lots” that shared identical label tial paleontologist of the 20th century and a ary processes, and is applying these new meth- data and then catalogued each lot as a single major proponent of the modern evolutionary ods to explore a number of specific empirical entry in the EMu database. After finishing this synthesis. problems (including the geographic context phase of the project, however, the drawers and The co-recipients of the George Gaylord of lineage diversification and the role of bio- cabinets still needed new labels, and common Simpson Prize for 2007 are Walton Green (Yale geographic history on rates of cladogenesis). species required further drawer level sorting by Ph.D. ’07), Brian R. Moore (Yale Ph.D. ’07) and Moore completed his doctoral research under geographic region to make them more visually Erik A. Sperling. Michael Donoghue at Yale and is pursuing searchable. To achieve this, I developed tem- Walton Green is a Connecticut Yankee who postdoctoral research with John Huelsenbeck plates using Adobe Acrobat® that can be read- has assiduously avoided acquiring market- at the University of California at Berkeley. He is ily adapted for future labeling needs as digitiza- able skills in 12 years spent collecting degrees the co-author of the paper “Incorporating fos- tion proceeds through the Division’s holdings. from universities on two continents. His sil data in biogeographic inference: a likelihood This summer I also had the opportunity recently completed doctoral dissertation pre- approach” (Evolution, in press). to accompany Dr. Gall, Entomology Senior sented to the Yale Department of Geology and Erik Sperling’s research focuses on major Collections Manager Dr. Raymond Pupedis Geophysics of the Sheffield Scientific School events in the history of animal life, such as the and other Peabody staff on a field trip to Horse proposes a new palaeoecological method for Cambrian radiation and mass extinctions. His Island with middle school students who were analyzing forests based on architectural attri- master’s research involved a stratigraphic and participating in the Museum’s Biozone! youth butes of the leaves they produce. In addition to sediment geochemistry study of two potential camp. I had a fantastic time roaming the island plant palaeoecology, leaf architecture, and the Permian–Triassic boundary sections in the with the kids looking for insects and helping graphical display of quantitative information, western United States. A third year graduate them to make their own collections. his research deals with evolutionary theory, student, Sperling’s doctoral thesis will look at I am continuing to work in the Peabody’s Mesopotamian archaeobotany, and R. Don’t the various factors involved in the polyphyletic Division of Entomology as part of a six-student ask him what R is unless you have several radiation of biomineralizing organisms near team. We are now applying our newly acquired free hours. His avocational interests include the base of the Cambrian. Originally from skills to the butterfly family Nymphalidae, and amateur drama, squash racquets, tree-climb- Seattle, Sperling did his undergraduate and also providing digital photography of selected ing, sailing, old novels, and doggerel rhyming. master’s studies at Stanford University, and specimens. The digital images and specimen Green was co-author of the article “Leaf archi- worked at the South Australian Museum and data will also be used in a bioinformatics proj- tectural profiles of angiosperm floras across Dartmouth College before coming to Yale. He ect on the Nymphalidae being developed by the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary,” published is co-author of “A Permian–Triassic boundary Assistant Curator Antónia Monteiro, assistant in the American Journal of Science 305(10):983– section at Quinn River Crossing, northwest- professor in Yale’s Department of Ecology & 1013. ern Nevada, and implications for the cause Evolutionary Biology, in her study of the evolu- While conducting fieldwork as an under- of the Early Triassic chert gap on the western tion, development and phylogenetic origin of graduate in Costa Rica, Brian Moore became Pangean margin,” published in Geological eyespot patterns on butterfly wings. irrevocably fascinated by the patterns and Society of America Bulletin 118(5–6): 733–746. generative processes of biodiversity. Episodes yale environmental news 15 yale peabody museum of natural history

new publications from the unique source of Andean mythology. yale peabody museum Sabine Hyland is Associate Professor of Anthropology at St. Norbert College. She has The Quito Manuscript: done extensive fieldwork and archival experi- An Inca History Preserved by ence in Peru, Bolivia, Panama and Spain. Her Fernando de Montesinos research focuses on the intersections of histo- By Sabine Hyland ry, race and gender among indigenous peoples YUPA 88, September 2007 of the Andes. Softcover, $28.00 The Yale University Publications in 171 pp., 3 tbls., 3 figs,. appendix, index Anthropology series publishes research con- ISBN 978-0-913516-24-9 ducted or sponsored by the Yale Peabody The Quito Museum’s Division of Anthropology and Manuscript, the the Yale Department of Anthropology. newest title in the YUPA is supported by the Theodore and Yale University Ruth Wilmanns Lidz Endowment Fund for Publications in Excellence in Scholarly Publications, dedicated Anthropology series, to the dissemination of scholarly research and examines a 17th study of the world and its cultures. century Andean chronicle that pre- To order contact the Publications Office at (203) 432-3786 or [email protected], or visit serves a native his- http://www.peabody.yale.edu/scipubs/. tory that is unique among the legends recorded in early Peru. Spanish priest Fernando de Montesinos spent 15 years traveling in Peru and wrote the five-volume Memorias historia- les, one of the most remarkable collections of Peabody’s Bulletin Joins indigenous South American myths and history known to exist. BioOne Online Service This edition corrects the alterations and errors found in previous editions and includes As of January 2008, the latest issues of major search an accurate transcription of the original Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural engines, Spanish and Quechuan of Book II of this History will be available through BioOne including Google and Google Scholar, CSA work, based on a 1644 manuscript now in (http://www.bioone.org), a not-for-profit web- Illumina, Yahoo and MSN Academic Live. the Biblioteca de la Universidad de Sevilla in based collaboration of scientific societies, In addition, BioOne deposits all of its titles Spain. Included also are a biographical sketch libraries, academia, and the private sector that in PORTICO, a new service developed by of Montesinos that incorporates new archival provides online access to the full texts of more the scholarly archive service JSTOR and the information about the chronicler’s life, correct- than 120 high-impact bioscience journals. Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that migrates ing common misperceptions about him; an Established in 2001, BioOne is available by all electronic journal content as technology extended discussion of the stemma codicum; an institutional subscription through universities, evolves. analysis of the other books of the Memorias his- government agencies and corporate libraries The October 2007 issue of the Bulletin toriales and their relationship to Book II; com- worldwide. includes 12 peer-reviewed papers result- mentary on the structure of the Quito manu- Bulletin will join BioOne.2, a new collection ing from the 2nd International Metasequoia script, including a consideration of the ideas of of titles launched in 2007, beginning with the Symposium, “Metasequoia and Associated time in the narrative and the possible sources articles in Bulletin 47(1-2), the first issue pub- Plants: Evolution, Physiology, Horticulture, for the text; examination of the insistent theme lished in its new journal format. Participation and Conservation,” held at Yale and Bryant of sexual mythology; and the relevance of the in BioOne will provide the Bulletin with University in August 2006. Both an update and source to northern Andean ethnohistory, the increased visibility and access, online services a report of new progress, these papers cover a Spanish and Quechuan linguistic subtleties, such as citation linking through CrossRef, and wide range of topics related to both the fossil and the text’s statements about native writ- rights management of downloadable articles. and living representatives of Metasequoia and ing. This study and edition should facilitate All BioOne titles are fully indexed by the its associated plants. continuing scholarship on this evocative and 16 yale environmental news publications

Yale to Launch Online Environmental Magazine

Yale University and the School of Forestry & The site will provide an important connec- staff writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where Environmental Studies (F&ES) are launching tion between the academic community and he served as one of the nation’s first environ- an online magazine that aims to become one other communities working on environmen- mental reporters. of the world’s leading sites for authoritative, tal issues, but it will be written for a general Cohn, Yale College Class of 1973, has cutting-edge opinion, commentary and in- audience. Using F&ES as a springboard, Yale written widely for numerous publications, depth reporting on the major environmental Environment 360 Online will establish contacts including The New York Times Magazine, The issues of the day. with academics and environmental experts Washington Post Magazine and Outside maga- F&ES Dean Gus Speth noted that the mag- at universities and organizations around the zine. He has also been a visiting professor azine, which will begin publication this spring, world and will invite them to contribute to the at the Graduate School of Journalism at the is coming online at a moment of unprec- site. The magazine also will seek contributions University of California at Berkeley. edented concern about environmental issues, from leading thinkers in foreign affairs, inter- The web address to access Yale sparked in large measure by growing evidence national development, “green” business and Environment 360 Online is www.E360@yale. of the effects of global warming. That intensify- the environmental movement. edu. ing interest, coupled with the virtual nature Launching a global, online environmen- of Yale Environment 360 Online, has created tal magazine is in keeping with two major an opportunity to publish a journal that will goals of Yale and President Levin: making the appeal to an international audience of policy University an increasingly international institu- makers, scientists, journalists, environmental tion and intensifying its focus on environmen- activists and general readers. tal issues. Yale Environment 360 Online is being Speth said the online magazine will wel- funded in part by grants from the William and come op-ed-type articles from a wide variety of Flora Hewlett Foundation and from the John sources and will publish opinion and reported D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. pieces written by some of the world’s lead- “Yale is working on many fronts to be one ing scientists and researchers, environmental of the world’s leading green universities,” journalists and writers. Taking advantage of Levin said. “With Yale Environment 360 Online, the online format, the site will present mul- it will move to the forefront of reporting on timedia content, including video and audio and finding solutions to the most pressing that will feature reports from the field and environmental issues of our time.” interviews, as well as panel discussions, blogs Cohn comes to Yale Environment 360 by guest writers and interactive graphics. Yale Online from a distinguished career in maga- The web publication, Yale Environment Environment 360 Online also will highlight zine and newspaper journalism, much of it 360 Online will be edited by Roger noteworthy articles and documents from out- focused on the environment. During his tenure side sources and will provide comprehensive as editor-in-chief at Mother Jones, from 1999 to Cohn, the award-winning former background summaries of pressing environ- 2005, he revitalized the magazine, focusing on editor of Mother Jones and Audubon mental topics. in-depth investigative reporting and top-quality magazines. In announcing Cohn’s “We believe that there is a need for a writing. In 2001, Mother Jones won the presti- appointment, Yale President Richard dynamic Web publication, international in its gious National Magazine Award for General reach, that will provide authoritative journal- Excellence. Under his editorship, Mother Jones’ Levin said, “The time is right for a ism, sound science and informed opinion and circulation rose to an all-time high, and the global publication that will serve as analysis on the environment,” said Speth. “Yale magazine frequently broke stories that received a forum for provocative writing and Environment 360 Online will deliver first-rate national attention, including an award-winning thinking on ways to tackle urgent reporting and commentary and will help make series on the Bush administration’s environ- the science of environmental issues understand- mental record. environmental challenges.” able and accessible to a worldwide audience.” Prior to that, Cohn was executive editor of Audubon from 1991 to 1998, helping lead the magazine during a period when it became nationally known for its cutting-edge environ- mental reporting. He had previously been a

yale environmental news 17 faculty news

anthropogenic origin) and sunlight, to produc- tion of tropospheric ozone and therefore play a role in air pollution formation. Her past work showed that isoprene could protect plants from oxidative stress. It also showed, using carbon isotopic analyses, that, contrary to the common assumption, not all the isoprene is produced from fresh fixed carbon. Some is produced from stored carbon, allowing isoprene production under stress conditions when photosynthesis declines. She plans to dr. maria diuk-wasser pathogen genetic diversity. Her disease study expand her isotopic research of molecules of Appointed in Epidemiology & Public Health systems are West Nile virus, Lyme disease and this family. She also plans to study emission malaria. Other interests include landscape Maria Diuk-Wasser has been appointed assis- of alkyl halides from plants. These molecules ecology and genetics, animal behavior and tant Professor in the Division of Epidemiology are important natural sources of chlorine and conservation biology. of Microbial Diseases. Professor Diuk-Wasser bromine atoms to the stratosphere, where they received her PhD from the University of contribute to stratospheric ozone depletion. California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in 2003. She hagit affek Dr. Affek is also involved in developing was awarded the UCLA International Studies Appointed in Geology & Geophysics a new isotopic tracer, termed the “clumped and Overseas Programs Fellowship in 2000, Hagit Affek joined the Yale Geology & isotope” effect or mass 47 anomaly. Her work and the Brown-Coxe Fellowship, Yale School of Geophysics faculty as an assistant professor in in atmospheric CO2 showed that the mass 47 Medicine, 2004, July of 2007. Her research interests are within anomaly signature in some of the important Her current research projects include A the field of environmental geochemistry focus- CO2 fluxes does not reflect the expected equi- Spatial Risk Model for Ixodes scapularis-borne ing on biosphere-atmosphere interactions and librium values and therefore lead to seasonal Borrelia, which studies the effects of West global climate change. Her BA in chemistry variations in mass 47 anomaly in atmospheric Nile virus vectors host feeding behavior on was obtained from the Technion in Haifa, CO2, making it a potentially useful tracer in transmission patterns; integrating earth Israel. Her MSc and PhD degrees were both studying CO2 fluxes. She plans to extend this observation and field data into a Lyme disease obtained in the department on Environmental work by studying the mass 47 anomaly val- model to map and predict risks to biodiversity Sciences and Energy Research in the ues associated with the different CO2 fluxes. and human health; and birds as reservoirs of Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. “Clumped isotopes” are also used as tempera- human pathogens. Her MSc research (in the labs of Dan Yakir ture proxies for climate reconstruction studies, Professor Diuk-Wasser is interested in and Daniel Ronen) dealt with CO2 fluxes at using carbonate minerals. This tracer has a modeling the environmental and ecological the saturated–unsaturated interface of a phre- significant advantage over the more common drivers of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases atic aquifer. Her PhD research (in the lab of oxygen isotopes; that is, it provides a pure using intensive field and laboratory-derived Dan Yakir) dealt with isoprene emission from temperature signal, independent of the isoto- data. Under the conceptual framework of plants, its physiological role and its isotopic pic value of the water in which the carbonate landscape epidemiology and using the tools composition. Her post-doctoral work (in the was formed. Dr. Affek’s current work focuses of geographic information systems, remote lab of John Eiler), in the division of Geological on glacial-interglacial temperature variations sensing and spatial statistics, she predicts and Planetary Sciences at Caltech, dealt with recorded in speleothems. She plans to expand human disease foci by modeling the distribu- developing a new isotopic tracer, mass 47 of this work to using other carbonate sources and tion of pathogens, vectors and hosts. Within CO2, to be used both as a tracer for atmo- additional time periods. these areas of risk, she is currently focusing spheric CO2 fluxes and as a temperature proxy on environmental drivers of pathogen trans- in CO2 extracted from carbonate minerals. zhengrong wang mission dynamics, with the ultimate goal of Dr. Affek’s research interests progress in Appointed in Geology & Geophysics generating spatio-temporal predictions of risk. two parallel directions: In the first, she studies Zhengrong Wang recently joined the Yale Current areas of interest include generating a production and emission of volatile organic Geology & Geophysics faculty in July of 2007 spatial risk map of Lyme disease in the United molecules from plants and how plants affect as an Assistant Professor. His PhD is from the States and of West Nile virus in Connecticut air quality. This includes hydrocarbons of the California Institute of Technology and before and studying how climate, landscape and host isoprenoid family that are emitted in large coming to Yale he was a postdoctoral fellow at diversity affect vector host-feeding behavior, amounts from vegetation, and contribute, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in in turn affecting transmission dynamics and in the presence of NOx (which is mostly of Massachusetts. His principal research focus

18 yale environmental news is to understand the nature and evolution of Earth’s mantle, oceanic lithosphere, hydro- sphere and biosphere, and their interaction over geologic time. Dr. Wang’s basic approach is to use the principles of stable isotope fractionation, in conjunction with various analytical and experi- mental techniques. Traditional stable isotopes (e.g., C, H, O, S and N) and non-traditional stable isotopes (e.g., Li, Mg, Fe, B and Ca) are significantly fractionated at a low temperature environment (e.g., oceanic environment and biosphere), whereas they are much less frac- tionated at elevated temperature (e.g., igneous system and mantle environment). Traditional stable isotope systems (e.g., O and C) have proven to be powerful complements to radio- genic isotope and trace element geochemistry Dean Speth Appointed Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean in constraining the evolution of and interaction among Earth’s major geochemical reservoirs. Gus Speth, who has led F&ES for the past for enlightened stewardship of our natural Non-traditional stable isotopes (e.g., Mg, B eight years, has been appointed the inaugural resources been so urgent. At Yale, and in his and Li), while more novel tools, are rapidly Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean. efforts to save the land, Carl is providing out- gaining attention, partially driven by advances Carl Knobloch, Yale College Class of 1951, standing leadership.” in Multi-Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma said that his gift is a vote of confidence in the Knobloch added: “Gus is just as good as Mass Spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) instrumenta- school’s mission and a generous contribution you can get as the head of this great school.” tion. These “new” stable isotopes have a vari- to the $3 billion Yale Tomorrow capital cam- As a founder of both the Natural Resources ety of distinct geochemical properties that are paign. Defense Council and the World Resources advantageous over traditional isotope systems, “My wife, Emily, and I consider F&ES to Institute, Dean Speth has held a number of and therefore offer promising new avenues for be the number one school of its kind in the influential posts, including administrator of understanding mantle geochemistry, geochem- world,” said Knobloch, a Wyoming-based busi- the United Nations Development Programme ical and biological fluxes and cycles, paleo- nessman and philanthropist, who founded and and chair of President Carter’s Council on oceanography and paleoclimate changes. chairs the West Hill Foundation for Nature, a Environmental Quality. In addition to numer- Research projects that Dr. Wang is working nonprofit corporation that supports environ- ous articles, his latest book, Red Sky at on include: Mg and oxygen isotope composi- mental projects. Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global tion in various mantle reservoir in the earth, “The preservation of our natural ecosys- Environment, has been widely recognized. and constraints on mantle dynamics; Mg tems is critical to the continued economic Prior to endowing the new deanship, isotope fractionation during biomineralization strength of our country, as well as the health of Knobloch contributed funding to F&ES in of carbonate and dolomitization; Mg isotope all Americans,” he said. “There is an impend- 2005 to create the Carl and Emily Knobloch variation in hydrothermal systems; theoretical ing crisis in the degradation of the world’s Environment Center. The center will be the studies of isotope fractionation using quantum environment, which we must prevent for the premier gathering place for environmental mechanics; and trace element partitioning sake of our children and their children. F&ES activities at the University and will be located between melt/fluid and minerals. Progress in is the finest training ground for those who will in Kroon Hall, a new sustainable home for the these studies strongly relies on improved ana- forge the way.” school that is scheduled to open in late 2008. lytical facilities and advances in sampling and During his tenure, Dean Speth has played “The deanship will stand as a permanent analytical technology. In the next few years, a key role in increasing national and interna- tribute to Mr. Knobloch and his exceptional he will be building infrared laser fluorination tional awareness of the world’s most pressing commitment to F&ES and its mission of safe- equipment to study oxygen isotope composi- climate issues. He has been credited, as well, guarding the health, integrity and beauty of tion of silicates, and a non-traditional stable with shepherding F&ES in a process of major the natural world,” said Yale President Richard isotope analytical center equipped with a state- change and expansion. “I am deeply honored Levin. “We are also thrilled to be able to honor of-the-art clean lab, MC-ICP-MS and ICP-MS. to be the first to hold the Knobloch dean- Gus and his extraordinary vision, dedication ship,” said Dean Speth. “Never has the need and accomplishments in this way.”

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Directors of the Environmental Partnership Jeffrey Park Yale Environmental News Non Profit 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 Michael Donoghue Director, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology 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 RIS Maura Gianakos Assistant Editor Rosemary Volpe Submission Deadline for Next Issue Spring 2008: March 29, 2008

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