Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources

and

Ecology and Evolution Graduate Program Newsletter

 

February

2007

 

Previous newsletters may be found at:

http://www-rci.rutgers.edu/~deenr/news.html

 

 

 

Presentations:

Joan Ehrenfeld gave the following talk, with Rebecca Jordan as co-author (and Ed McGowan, Ed Goodell also co-authors) at the Weed Science Society of America, NRI PD Meeting titled “Using Citizen Volunteers to Sample Exotic Species Occurrence in Deciduous Forests:  Issues and Preliminary Results.” In San Antonio, TX February 6th. 

 

Alex Felson, a Ph.D. student in the Steward T.A. Pickett lab, will be giving a lecture called Experimental Urban Ecology at the Center for Architecture in New York City presented by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) NY Committee on the Environment. For more information see:

http://aiany.org/calendar/event.php?id=1003890

 

Jason Grabosky has given several presentations this month:

·        Two presentations on February 7th at the Region IV New York State Nursery and Landscape Association 2007 Trade Show and Education Day. The talks were titled:

1.      “The right plant for the right site.”

2.      “The impact of site on plant health care.” 

·        February 8th  in the Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education’s  Growing Ornamental Plants Short Course titled “Special planting situations: Compacted sites.” 

  • February  23rd   in the  NJ Nursery and Landscape Growers South Jersey Grower's Conference Roundtable. The presentation was “Shade tree requirements for the future.”

 

Steven Handel conducted a training course for EPA remediation officials at their annual meeting on "Beyond hydroseeding: restoring the American landscape."  The meeting was in Miami Beach in February (during the ice storm in New Jersey).

 

Steven Handel spoke recently on the nationally broadcast news program “All things Considered” on National Public Radio about urban restoration, and lectured to the Columbia University School of Architecture in February on restoration approaches. 

 

Matt Kimball, a Ph.D. candidate in Ken Able’s lab gave the following presentation:

Kimball ME, Able KW. "Evaluation of restoration success for former salt hay farms in Delaware Bay: response of intertidal nekton."  American Fisheries Society joint Mid-Atlantic and Tidewater Chapter meeting, Lewes, Delaware, 2/2007

 

Joe Paulin, a Ph.D. candidate in David Ehrenfeld’s lab, was invited to give a presentation on reducing wildlife damage in vineyards at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Vegetable Growers’ Association of New Jersey at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino and Resort in Atlantic City.

Joe Paulin was also invited to give a lecture on techniques to reduce unwanted human-wildlife interactions around the home and garden for the Cape May County Master Gardeners Program.

Publications:

P. J. Morin. 2007. Experimental studies of food webs: causes and consequences of trophic interactions. Pages 87-100, in Neil Rooney, Kevin S. McCann, David L. G. Noakes, (eds.), From Energetics to Ecosystems: The Dynamics and Structure of Ecological Systems. Springer-Verlag.

 

     Faculty Achievements and Activities:

Joan Ehrenfeld attended the meeting of the Committee on Independent Scientific Review of the Everglades Restoration Program, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Feb. 11-13.   

 

Student Awards, Achievements, and Activities:

Alex Felson, a Ph.D. student in the Steward T.A. Pickett lab and Director of Ecological Design at EDAW, the landscape architecture firm., reports that he is leading the design for the development of a master plan for the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries on the Hudson River.

Kirsten Schwarz, a Ph.D. candidate in Steward T.A.Pickett’s lab, attended a workshop in Tempe, AZ at the Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University February 13-16, 2007.  The workshop entitled “Ecology and Environmental Justice Research across the LTER Network: long term and multi-scale understandings of past, present, and future” was funded by the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network.

 

 

Jackie Taylor, a Master’s student in David Bushek’s lab, received a Graduate Student grant-in-aid from New Jersey Water Resource Research Institute (NJWRRI) for her project titled "Restored oyster reef habitat use by the American eel (Anguilla rostrata) in the lower Delaware Bay"

 

Qualifiers:

Congratulations to Ben Baiser on the successful completion of his Qualifying Exam on February 16th.

 

Welcome :

Alex Felson, his wife Janine, and their daughter Madeleine welcomed newborn son and brother Lev Felson to the family.