Dear All, Following Feedback from Members I Have Decided to Try a New System for the TEG E-Mail Notices. Unless There Is an Urge
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Dear all, Following feedback from members I have decided to try a new system for the TEG e-mail notices. Unless there is an urgent call for help or need for promotion of an event I propose to send out one e-mail a month (or when I have gathered a substantial amount of information) covering the latest news and journal articles etc. Summary: 1) BES FUNING FOR SPECIALIST COURSES – new courses funded! 2) 2 nd EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER MEETING - prizes for the best papers! 3) HIGHLIGHTS FROM: BES JOURNALS AND TEG MEMBERS 4) TROPICAL PhD ADVERTS – 2 new opportunities! If there is anything that I have missed let me know and I will be happy to include it in next months e-mailing! Please let me know what you think of this new format. Will TROPICAL ECOLOGY GROUP 1 st FEBRUARY 2008 1) BES FUNDING FOR SPECIALIST COURSES The BES has agreed to fund limited number of places the “Tropical Plant Identification Course” to be run at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (this year 28 April to 9 May 2008, closing date for applications 1 March 2008). Course details: see pdf attached Funding details: http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/articles/grants/attendmeetings/#specialist _course 2) 2 nd EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER MEETING Deadline for abstracts has now passed and I am pleased to report that we will have many papers and posters to consider over the two days… We are currently in negotiations for EXCITING PRIZES for best student talks and posters – more soon! 3) HIGHLIGHTS FROM: BES JOURNALS AND TEG MEMBERS Journal of Applied Ecology. OnlineEarly The untamed shrew: on the termination of an eradication programme for an introduced species Andrew Solow et al. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2664.2007.01446.x Journal of Ecology 96, 192–203 Interspecific demographic trade-offs and soil-related habitat associations of tree species along resource gradients Sabrina E. Russo et al doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2007.01330.x Journal of Animal Ecology 77 (2), 236–246. Dive and beak movement patterns in leatherback turtles Dermochelys coriacea during internesting intervals in French Guiana Sabrina Fossette, et al. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2007.01344.x 4) TROPICAL PhD ADVERTS Synergistic effects of climate change and habitat fragmentation on invertebrate biodiversity Robert M. Ewers Imperial College London, Email [email protected] Climatic fluctuations throughout earth’s history have been accompanied by movements in the geographic range of species that track the changing environment. In this regard, current climate change is not an unsurmountable problem for the survival of many species. However, species in today’s world face a new problem that acts in synergy with changing climates: natural habitats have been destroyed and fragmented, hindering the natural dispersal processes that allow species ranges to move. This project will investigate the dual impacts of climate change and habitat fragmentation on invertebrate biodiversity. You will work in the fragmented forests along the mountains of the Southern Alps in New Zealand, where you will use the well-known altitudinal gradient in temperature as a surrogate for different climate change scenarios. You will select a range of forest fragments that vary in size, geographic isolation and, importantly, altitude. Within each fragment, you will sample a target group of invertebrates along gradients of distance from the forest edge that will be replicated at 100 m altitudinal intervals. This sampling design will allow you to test how standard fragmentation effects (e.g. species-area relationship, edge and isolation effects) might vary as climatic conditions change through time. When combined with vegetation models for New Zealand, the data can be used to predict changes in the spatial patterns of biodiversity under standard climate change scenarios. This project will provide insight into the biodiversity impacts of climate change and habitat fragmentation. By simultaneously investigating two of the world’s most pressing issues conservation isuues and the synergies between them, the results from this project will have global relevance that will promote the vision of the Grantham Insitute (http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/climatechange). Variability and beta diversity in tropical forest fragments Robert M. Ewers Imperial College London, Email [email protected] Forest fragmentation has many and diverse impacts on tropical communities, but estimates of these impacts are confounded by variability both among and within studies. This project will explicitly examine that variability. The applicant will sample invertebrate communities in experimental forest fragments and nearby continuous rainforest in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. By comparing species diversity and community composition among sampling sites, this project seeks to investigate patterns of alpha and beta diversity, as well as variation in the abundance of individual species, among fragments of differing area and along gradients from the forest edge to interior. Furthermore, the project will investigate how the patterns detected might be altered in different seasons. The on-the-ground sampling will be accompanied by GIS analyses investigating spatial and temporal patterns of variability in the structure of the forest vegetation using satellite images. For this project, the applicant must be eligible for NERC funding (http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/available/postgrad/eligibility.asp) -------------------- William D. Gosling RCUK Academic Fellow Earth & Environmental Sciences CEPSAR The Open University Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA UNITED KINGDOM Tel. +44 (0)1908 655147 Fax. +44 (0)1908 655151 PALAEOECOLOGY AT THE OU http://www.open.ac.uk/science/earthsciences/palaeo/ BES TROPICAL ECOLOGY GROUP http://www.besteg.org TROPICAL ECOLOGY GROUP 5TH FEBRUARY 2008 OK – so it’s not 1 month, or even one week, since my last e-mail BUT I have had a rush of useful information particularly surrounding BES funded conferences. Summary: 1) BES funded conferences 2008 – limited funding available 2) HIGHLIGHTS FROM: BES JOURNALS AND TEG MEMBERS 3) TROPICAL PhD ADVERTS – position available University of Oxford 4) BES ANNUAL MEETING – TEG events reminder… 1) BES FUNDED CONFERENCES 2008 The below conferences have been approved by the BES for limited funding of student places and travel to assist with attending. a) German Society for Tropical Ecology meeting 2008 Consequences of Climate Change on Tropical Ecosystems, International Conference of the Society for Tropical Ecology, 18-22 February 2008. ( https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/botanik/gtoe2008/ ) b) The TEG 2nd Early Career Researcher Meeting, University of Oxford, March 18-19thMarch 2008. c) Student Conference on Conservation Science, University of Cambridge, 25-27th March 2008 ( http://www.sccs-cam.org/ ) d) Association for Tropical Biology &Conservation, Asia Pacific chapter, Holiday Inn Hotel, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia from 23rd-26th April 2008. (Note: Vice-President of the BES (Sue Hartley) is giving a key-note address!) ( http://www.atbio.org/asia_chap.html ) e) Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Paramaribo, Surinam, 9-14 June, 2008 (http://www.atbc2008.org/ ). f) 93rd Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, 3rd-8th August 2008, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (http://www.esa.org/milwaukee/) 2) HIGHLIGHTS FROM: BES JOURNALS AND TEG MEMBERS Journal of Ecology Volume 96, Issue 2, March 2008 Growth and wood density predict tree mortality in Amazon forests Kuo-Jung Chao, Oliver L. Phillips, Emanuel Gloor, Abel Monteagudo, Armando Torres-Lezama and Rodolfo Vásquez Martínez pages 281–292 Differences in the degree of environmental control on large and small tropical plants: just a sampling effect? Mirkka M. Jones, Hanna Tuomisto and Paulo C. Olivas pages 367–377 Journal of Animal Ecology Volume 77, Issue 2, March 2008 Dive and beak movement patterns in leatherback turtles Dermochelys coriacea during internesting intervals in French Guiana Sabrina Fossette, Philippe Gaspar, Yves Handrich, Yvon Le Maho and Jean- Yves Georges pages 236–246 Constitutive immune defences correlate with life-history variables in tropical birds K. A. Lee, M. Wikelski, W. D. Robinson, T. R. Robinson and K. C. Klasing pages 356–363 Functional Ecology. OnlineEarly Ontogenetic variation in light requirements of juvenile rainforest evergreens C. H. Lusk, D. S. Falster, C. K. Jara-Vergara, M. Jimenez-Castillo, A. Saldaña- Mendoza Journal of Animal Ecology. OnlineEarly Effects of predatory ants on lower trophic levels across a gradient of coffee management complexity S. M. Philpott, I. Perfecto and J. Vandermeer 3) TROPICAL PhD ADVERTS PhD on "The potential impact of climate change on food web structure and ecosystem function" full advert attached. For further details contact: Dr Rebecca J Morris Department of Zoology, University of Oxford South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS tel: +44 (0)1865 271256; fax: +44 (0)1865 310447 email: [email protected] http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/staff/academics/morris_rj.htm 4) BES ANNUAL MEETING Imperial College London, 3-5 September 2008 Tropical Special Session: “Integrating genetic and biogeographic research: the key to understanding diversity in the tropics?!” TEG social event: “Tour of tropical houses and collections Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.” If I have missed anything let me know… -------------------- William D. Gosling RCUK Academic Fellow Earth & Environmental Sciences CEPSAR The Open University Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA UNITED KINGDOM Tel. +44 (0)1908 655147 Fax. +44 (0)1908 655151 PALAEOECOLOGY AT THE OU http://www.open.ac.uk/science/earthsciences/palaeo/ BES TROPICAL ECOLOGY GROUP http://www.besteg.org TROPICAL ECOLOGY GROUP MARCH 2008 SUMMARY - Program for early career researcher meeting in Oxford, inc. salsa! - Journal highlights - Job opportunities, Leeds and Oxford 1) 2 ND EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER MEETING OXFORD, 18-19 TH MARCH! Keynote talks – William Laurance “ Emerging threats and research challenges in the tropics ” – Callum Roberts “ The unnatural history of the sea ” 20 research talks, 29 poster presentations 1st and 2 nd prizes for best presentation and best poster. Prize for best contribution from outside the UK.