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Simberloff Amongst Most Cited

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Professor Daniel Simberloff is one of two UT faculty members who have earned the distinction of being among the most cited researchers in the world, according to Clarivate Analytics, formerly Thompson Reuters.

It’s the second such recognition in a row for Simberloff.

Those measurements came in relation to specific findings and papers rather than a cross-examination of all work tied to a researcher, placing Simberloff in the top 1 percent of all research scientists across the world.

The full UT News story can be viewed here.

Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity

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UT is home to a new Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity (DySoC), led by  Director Sergey Gavrilets.  Other EEB faculty involved in the center include Nina Fefferman and Lou Gross.

“The goal of the Center is to promote connections and collaborations between different researchers focusing on various aspects and levels of human social behavior. We use theoretical and empirical methods and work at the interface of mathematical, biological, social, and computational sciences. Our topics of interest include cooperation, conflict, cultural evolution and dynamics, mass behavior and psychology, human origins, emergence and evolution of human societies, social norms, and societal resilience and (in) stability to various shocks. We are interested in combining system thinking, modeling tools, and big data to develop testable predictions and practical agendas.”

No Fortuitous Short-Cuts When Deciding Conservation Priorities

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The Armsworth Lab has a new open-access publication out in Nature Communications: “Factoring economic costs into conservation planning may not improve agreement over priorities for protection.”  It is a collaboration between an interdisciplinary team of UT researchers with scientists at The Nature Conservancy and focuses on how best to identify candidate areas for establishing nature reserves.

Co-authors include Research Assistant Professor Heather Jackson, former graduate students Gwen Iacona (PhD 2014, now a postdoc at the University of Queensland) and Nate Sutton (MS 2014, now a data scientist for MedAmerica), and former postdoc Eric Larson (now faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

The abstract is pasted below.

Conservation organizations must redouble efforts to protect habitat given continuing biodiversity declines. Prioritization of future areas for protection is hampered by disagreements over what the ecological targets of conservation should be. Here we test the claim that such disagreements will become less important as conservation moves away from prioritizing areas for protection based only on ecological considerations and accounts for varying costs of protection using return-on-investment (ROI) methods. We combine a simulation approach with a case study of forests in the eastern United States, paying particular attention to how covariation between ecological benefits and economic costs influences agreement levels. For many conservation goals, agreement over spatial priorities improves with ROI methods. However, we also show that a reliance on ROI-based prioritization can sometimes exacerbate disagreements over priorities. As such, accounting for costs in conservation planning does not enable society to sidestep careful consideration of the ecological goals of conservation.

Energy and Environment Forums, Spring 2018

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The list of seminar speakers for the Spring 2018 Baker Center Energy and Environment Forums has been released!  Download the pdf here.

  • Thursday, February 1—Laura Ogden, Energy and Environment Forum, 1–2:30 p.m., Toyota Auditorium. Ogden will present “Trace Impressions of Being: Loss, Change, and Wonder in the Fuegian Archipelago ” Dr. Ogden is an associate professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth College.
  • Thursday, February 15—Desiree Tullos, Energy and Environment Forum, 1–2:30 p.m., Toyota Auditorium. Tullos is a professor of Biological and Ecological Engineering at Oregon State University whose work and passion is in the sustainable management of rivers. Presentation title will be announced at a later time.
  • Thursday, March 1—Robin Craig, Energy and Environment Forum, 1–2:30 p.m., Toyota Auditorium. Craig, is the James I. Farr Professor of Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she is also currently serving as the Acting Director of the Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources, and the Environment, is on the Executive Board of the University of Utah’s new Water Center, and is affiliated faculty with the Global Changes and Sustainability Center. She will present “Narrating the Anthropocene, or, Learning to Live with the Trickster.”
  • Thursday, April 5—Andrew Plantinga, Energy and Environment Forum, 1-2:30 p.m., Toyota Auditorium. He is a professor in the Bren School of Enironmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research focuses on the economics of land use, climate change, and forests, with emphasis on empirical modeling of land markets and the analysis of environmental policies that affect private land-use decisions. Plantinga will present “Missing the People for the Trees: Elucidating the Role of Human Behavior in the Ecology of Lyme Disease.”
  • Thursday, April 26—Sadie Ryan, Energy and Environment Forum, 1–2:30 p.m., Toyota Auditorium. Ryan is an associate professor of Medical Geography at the University of Florida. Her focus areas GeoSpatial Analysis & Techniques and Medical Geography in Global Health (MGGH). Presentation title will be announced at a later time.

Stachowiak Fellowship Finalist

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Graduate Student Chad Stachowiak (Armsworth Lab), is a finalist for a 2018 Presidential Management Fellowship.

“The PMF Program is a flagship leadership development program at the entry level for advanced degree candidates. It was created more than three decades ago by Executive Order and has gone through many changes over the years. The Program attracts and selects the best candidates possible, but is really designed with a more narrow focus – developing a cadre of potential government leaders. It provides some sustenance during the first years of employment and encourages development of leadership capabilities. The PMF Program inculcates a lasting bond as well as a spirit of public service, ultimately encouraging and leading to a career in the government.”

Approximately 6,040 applications were received and 425 applicants were selected as Finalists. The 2018 Finalists’ pool represents approximately 69 different disciplines, 161 academic institutions, and 15% are veterans.

Etnier Ichthyology Endowment Established to Support Research, Improve Aquatic Biodiversity in Tennessee

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TVA representatives join Etnier, Kalisz, and Ichthyology staff for photo before the reception.

TVA representatives join Etnier, Kalisz, and Ichthyology staff for photo before the reception.

Representatives from the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency announced the establishment of the Etnier Ichthyology Endowment at a reception on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, campus Thursday, December 14.

“TVA is proud to be partners with the University of Tennessee, and David Etnier has been a big part of that partnership for more than 50 years,” says Evan Crews, senior manager for Natural Resource Management at the Tennessee Valley Authority. “We are thankful for the opportunity to support the UT Etnier Ichthyology Collection. This facility is a vital resource for all of us who work to improve aquatic biodiversity and protect the aquatic life that thrives in the Tennessee River and its tributaries.”

TWRA representatives join Etnier, Kalisz, and Ichthyology staff for photo before the reception.

TWRA representatives join Etnier, Kalisz, and Ichthyology staff for photo before the reception.

The endowment will provide support to continue the research conducted at the UT Etnier Ichthyology Collection, a facility used for undergraduate, graduate, and professional teaching and research. It also serves as a significant public resource.

“What started out to be a simple opportunity to celebrate the Tennessee Valley Authority’s generous donation to the Etnier Endowment quickly evolved into celebrating Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s generosity and that of so many others,” says Susan Kalisz, professor and head, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. “Today we celebrate the incredible dedication of David Etnier to persevere through many trials and tribulations and to create an impressive group of advocates and partners over the past five decades while creating a world class Ichthyology Collection and program.”

The Etnier Ichthyology Collection has more than 500,000 fish specimens from all over the world and serves as a significant resource for the research community. Several specimens in the collection were significant for discovering new species. Other specimens help scientists study the impact of global warming and water quality on aquatic communities. For nearly 40 years, the collection has served as a repository and reference for private and governmental agencies working on the fishes of the Southeastern United States.

“As an agency, we are dedicated to protect, manage, conserve, and restore the natural resources in the state,” says Dave McKinney, chief, Environmental Services for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. “None of this would get done, however, without the collaboration between our agency, TVA, and Professor Etnier’s work at UT. We are truly lucky to have a great resource such as the Ichthyology Collection available to help us fulfill our mission.”

David Etnier began collecting fish for teaching and research on the fauna of Tennessee and surrounding states in the 1960s. Fifty years later, the UT Etnier Ichthyology Collection is the largest fish collection in the state of Tennessee and the third largest overall in the Southeastern United States.

“We have more than 320 fish species in East Tennessee alone,” says Etnier, professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. “When I arrived on campus, 25 of those were undescribed. We had names and localities for the fish, but that’s about it, so I decided to write a book.”

His book, The Fishes of Tennessee, first published in 1993, is considered an authoritative source on the diversity of freshwater fauna in Tennessee. Throughout his career, Etnier taught graduate students how to identify, collect, and preserve hundreds of fish species.

One of the first projects involved studying river systems with unknown fish faunas. Etnier, graduate students, and TVA fisheries biologists travelled to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, which at that time was the primary repository for fishes from the entire Tennessee River system. Several of the Tennessee specimens, collected by TVA field crews from 1937 to 1943, were catalogued and available for examination. Many others, however, remained in their original collection jars, unsorted, and unidentified. Etnier and his team spent two weeks completing the identification of the specimens, which launched the close cooperation with fish specialists at TVA and UT that continues to this day.

More than 40 guests attended the Etnier Ichthyology Endowment reception.

More than 40 guests attended the Etnier Ichthyology Endowment reception.

As the event ended, Chris Cox, director of development in the College of Arts and Sciences, announced the Etnier Endowment Challenge.

“Professor Etnier’s vision is to grow the endowment to $100,000,” Cox says. “Today, that vision comes one step closer to becoming a reality with a matching challenge from David and his wife Liz. We ask you to be an advocate for the Etnier Ichthyology Collection and help us achieve the Etnier’s vision and be part of the legacy here in Tennessee.”

For more information about the collection, visit the Etnier Ichthyology Collection website.

Course Offerings Spring 2018 (updated 1/9/18)

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In addition to the regular course offerings this spring, the following new courses may be of interest!

 

Course Number Credits Schedule Course Title Instructor(s) Poster
FWF 590, s.1; CRN 29418  3 11:10am-12:25pm
Tu Th		 Rare Species Biology, Conservation and Management Charles Kwit poster
EEB 461, CRN:31987 9:40-10:55am
Tu Th		 Behavioral Ecology poster
EEB 461, CRN:31595 3 8:00-11:00am
M		 Mixed Severity Wildfires Karen Hughes poster
EEB 461, CRN:26971
EEB 504, CRN:26273		 3 12:40-1:55pm
Tu Th		 Invasion Biology Dan Simberloff
Christy Leppanen		 poster 1
poster 2
EEB 461
EEB 602		 3 Landscape Ecology, an online course poster
EEB 475, Conversational Biomathematical Modeling Kellen Myers poster
EEB 493, CRN:32085 2:10-3:25pm
Tu		 Professional Development Seminar Jen Schweitzer poster

50th Anniversary of Island Biogeography Studies

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In honor of the 50th anniversary of the seminal Simberloff and Wilson island biogeography studies, the Bulletin for the Ecological Society of America published a special extended edition of their “Paper Trail” series in October. In this series, young researchers tell stories of how a particular paper influenced them, and the original authors of the papers in turn describe their experiences with the paper.

For this special edition, a collection of researchers, ranging from graduate students to full professors, describe how the Simberloff and Wilson 1969 papers influenced their careers. From our department, Jeremiah Henning, Jordan Bush (graduate students), Christy Leppanen (lecturer and post doc), and Kimberly Sheldon (assistant professor) all contributed to this section. Dan Simberloff and Edward O. Wilson then wrote a reflection on the original paper, complete with photographs and stories from the mangrove experiments. 

A Pioneering Adventure Becomes an Ecological Classic: Editor’s Note
(overview, by Young, Stephen L.)

A Pioneering Adventure Becomes an Ecological Classic: The Arising and Established Researchers
(Authors: Henning, Jeremiah A.; Leppanen, Christy; Bush, Jordan; Sheldon, Kimberly S; Gotelli, Nick; Gravel, Dominique; Strauss, Sharon)

A Pioneering Adventure Becomes an Ecological Classic: The Pioneers
(Authors: Simberloff, Daniel; Wilson, Edward)