yale environmental n e w s The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies winter 2008 · vol. 14, no. 1 Dr. Strachan Donnelley A Tribute page 2 A TRIBUTE TO Dr. Strachan Donnelley Strachan Donnelley was bigger than life— literally and fi gu- ratively. When he entered a room, his presence was projected by his rambling, hand- some, towering stature, and by his broad smile and gregarious personality. He was a self-professed philosopher—a student of life—of human nature and how we humans relate to the natural world. He melded these aspects of living into a lifelong quest to join nature in wondrous splen- dor. Strachan loved Yale, and as I listened to his friends and colleagues recall- ing their friend during his memorial service held in New York City on September 5, 2008, I realized that he was a friend to all the people and places that brought him joy—in the various learning institutions and environmental agencies and boards that he belonged to, and supported not only fi nancially, but by giving of himself, his time and his wisdom. His constant quest was to live in harmony with nature. We shall miss his presence as a member of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies External Advisory Board, as a benefactor of the Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Environmental Fellows program, the Environmental Studies Program, of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and the Peabody Museum of Natural History. After the spring meeting of the YIBS External Advisory Board, I penned the following thoughts that I share as a tribute to Strachan: 2 yale environmental NEWS yale environmental NEWS 3 May 2, 2008 The meaning of life It doesn’t matter what has gone one vacant chair. The man whom philosophy enough to think that I before us, or what will come ahead. I’ve admired over the years–a philos- could somehow make a difference in What really matters–what’s most opher by nature, an environmentalist the world–probably a very small dif- important–is for us to savor what by choice, and who always provoked ference, but at least a difference. we have at this very moment and us all to think deeply about our con- I perhaps will never have the appreciate the people who we have nectedness to each other and with honor to sit next to him again and relationships with and who we can Nature–Dr. Strachan Donnelley–was enjoy quiet conversation. I don’t commiserate with, spend time with, not here. I always sat next to him at think I savored our time enough–we and love and laugh and explore with. these meetings and enjoyed the pri- were always in hurry–he to his next Today I spent 6 hours in a room vate dialogue we had, and even con- meeting, me to making sure of the fi lled with YIBS External Advisory templated moving to New York City details of our meeting so it would run Board members and various faculty to work at his Center for Humans smoothly. and friends of YIBS, and there was and Nature because I embraced his These are the things in life that 4 yale environmental NEWS make me pause and think of what is shall miss him, not because he was We as an Institute are planning really important. a member of the board, or as a Yale a tribute to Strachan–to support a By the standards that have been Alum, or for any of the outward position either in the form of a visit- set by society, our two days of meet- characteristics that he manifested ing scholar or postdoctoral fellowship ings and events went extremely well when he participated in his life’s in his memory that will bring to Yale –the conversations were lively, Jeffrey work. I’ll miss him because he was a a person dedicated to his philosophy– Park as the new YIBS Director did genuine, caring soulful human being the philosophical connection between a spectacular job. Attendance was who cared for everyone he interacted humans and nature. up from previous meetings, and the with–and it showed, and he made an By Rose Rita Riccitelli, Assistant Director, Yale two guests who attended are inter- impact on me and the way I choose Institute for Biospheric Studies ested in joining our board. But the to live my life. vacant chair of Strachan Donnelley Photos courtesy of Ansell Bray will never be fi lled in my mind. I yale environmental NEWS 5 CONFERENCES, SEMINARS, SYMPOSIA Studies, Hermaphrodites in Your Backyard: The Landscape Ecology of Amphibian Intersex Q Jon Moore, Associate Professor of Biology, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Biology and Conservation of the Threatened Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) in Florida Q Matthew Brandley, Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Environmental Fellow in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, A Farewell to Arms (and Legs): Rates and Patterns of Body-form Evolution in Squamate Reptiles Q Katy Prudic, Gaylord Donnelley Environmental Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, What Gets You Noticed? The Ecology and Evolution of Conspicuous Signals in Insects Q John Haffner, Senior Advisor, Strategic Planning, Ontario Power Generation and member of the Yale World Fellows yibs/esc friday noon seminars Jeffrey Park, Director, Yale Institute for Program, Nuclear Energy Prospect Q Joseph The Yale Institute for Biopsheric Studies’ (YIBS) Biospheric Studies; Professor in the Pignatello, Professor of Chemical Engineering continues its sponsorship of the weekly YIBS/ Department of Geology & Geophysics, Water at Yale, Black Carbon–Its Complex Role as ESC Friday Luncheon Seminars. The seminars of Love, Deep in the Ground: Hunting for the an Adsorbent in the Availability of Organic are held in the Class of 1954 Environmental Mantle Hydrologic Cycle using Earthquake Chemicals in the Environment Q Marcello Science Center (ESC) during the fall and spring Waves Q Zhengrong Wang, Assistant Canuto, Assistant Professor in the Department semesters, and have continued to be a popular Professor in the Department of Geology of Anthropology, The Impact of Drought on offering for students and faculty. The Fall 2008 & Geophysics, Mg Isotope Distribution in Classic Maya Civilization: New Evidence from seminars featured the following list of speakers Terrestrial Materials Q David Skelly, Professor Biomarker Climate Proxies Q Gaboury Benoit, and topics: at the School of Forestry & Environmental Professor of Environmental Chemistry, School yibs center for the study of global change–topics in global change seminars The YIBS Center for the Study of Global Change Region Based on Multiple Speleothem Proxies Q Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, From presented their weekly seminar series, Topics Zhengrong Wang, Yale University, Magnesium Crystals to Climate Q Rosemary Came, University in Global Change, during the fall 2008 semes- Isotopes as Paleothermometers in Calcareous of Texas, Application of Carbonate ‘Clumped ter. Center Director Karl K. Turekian, Sterling Organisms Q Sujoy Mukhopodhyay, Harvard Isotope’ Thermometry to Marine Brachipods Professor in the Department of Geology & University, Tracking Mineral Dust Emission from Icehouse and Greenhouse Periods in the Geophysics, organized the seminars with an from the Sahara-Sahel Region Using Corals as Paleozoic Era Q Justin B. Ries, University of emphasis on climate proxies over time. Dust Archives Q Andrew Scott, Royal Holloway North Carolina, Secular Variation in Seawater Speakers and topics for the Fall 2008 University of London, Global Wildfi res at the Mg/Ca: Impacts on Biotic and Abiotic Carbonates seminars were: David Battisti, University of K-P (K-T) Boundary–Fact or Fiction? Q Ellen Q Timothy Herbert, Brown University, Insights Washington, who gave three Flint lectures, Thomas, Yale University, Evolution from into Plio-Pleistocene Climate Change from Long Climate and Landscapes, El Nino/Southern Benthos to Plankton: Rare, Common, or a Records of Tropical Sea Surface Temperature Oscillation: Past, Present and Future, and Reaction to Mass Extinction? Q J. R. (Robbie) Q David Beerling, University of Sheffi eld, A New Hypothesis for Dansgaard Oeschger Toggweiler, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Towards the Development of a New Paleo-CO2 Events Q Miryam Bar-Matthews, Geological Laboratory (GFDL), Princeton University, Proxy; and Gavin Foster, University of Bristol, Survey of Israel, The Paleoclimate of the Myth of the Lysocline and the 100,000-year Reconstructions of Past pCO2 and Ocean pH Eastern Mediterranean and North East Sahara Sawtooth in Atmospheric CO2 Q Ann Cohen, Using Boron Isotopes Measured by MC-ICPMS in Foramin 6 yale environmental NEWS FACULTY NEWS of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Chemical Engineering; Associate Dean, School Kanani K. M. Lee Joins Faculty in of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Green Sprawl: Can Land Be Developed Sustainably? Geology & Geophysics Q Helen Mills Poulos, Doctoral Student in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Predicting Tree Wind Risk Along Connecticut Utility Rights-of-way Q Peter Perdue, Professor in the History Department, China’s Environmental Crisis in Historical Perspective Q Chad Vecitis, YIBS Environmental Postdoctoral Associate, Environmental Engineering, Kanani K. M. Lee joined the faculty in the Yale mantle comprises 85% of Earth’s volume, Sonochemical Destruction of Persistent Organic Department of Geology & Geophysics in July thereby its physical and chemical makeup Pollutants of 2008 as an assistant professor. She received are necessary to understand the observations her Ph.D. in Geophysics from the University that are made on Earth’s surface, includ- For the winter/spring 2009 schedule, please visit the of California, Berkeley, after which she was an ing earthquake waves, volcanoes, geodetic YIBS web site www.yale.edu/yibs/ESC_Seminar.html O.K. Earl Postdoctoral Fellow at the California measurements and so forth. Ironically, due Institute of Technology and then an Alexander to the nature of high-pressure experiments, von Humboldt Fellow at the Bayreuth in trying to understand the “big” picture of Geoinstitut in Germany.