forest ecology bulletin - british ecological society€¦ · forest ecology bulletin introduction...

16
MAY 2013, NO 14 by MARKUS EICHHORN In idle moments I follow the eruption of Tolbachik volcano in Kamchatka, the lava from which threatens to engulf one of my forest dy- namics plots. Those who work in boreal forests must make their peace with large-scale distur- bances, though this one has upset me. In the UK spring comes tinged with alarm as we brace our- selves for ash dieback, and wait to discover how far oak processionary moth will spread. Distur- bance inevitably leads to regeneration though, and these events provide opportunities for long- term study. It’s time to get started again... In this issue: Forest of the Month Notices Upcoming Meetings Grants & Funding Employment Graduate Openings Field Stations Courses Articles Dates for the Diary The contents of this newsletter are determined by what you submit, so if there’s anything you think should be included then please pass suggestions on to either me ([email protected]) or Jake Snaddon ([email protected]) by 23 June for inclusion in the next issue, which should come out at the beginning of July. If you have received the Bulletin indirectly then you can sign up to receive more on our mailing list by going here and clicking ‘Subscribe’, or follow news between issues on Twitter @BESforests. Until then, may all your stems be cylindrical. British Ecological Society Forest Ecology Group Forest Ecology Group Website [email protected] Page 1

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Page 1: Forest Ecology Bulletin - British Ecological Society€¦ · Forest Ecology Bulletin Introduction by MARKUS EICHHORN In idle moments I follow the eruption of Tolbachik volcano in

MAY 2013, NO 14

Forest E ology Bulletin

Introdu tion

by MARKUS EICHHORN

In idle moments I follow the eruption ofTolbachik volcano in Kamchatka, the lava fromwhich threatens to engulf one of my forest dy-namics plots. Those who work in boreal forestsmust make their peace with large-scale distur-bances, though this one has upset me. In the UKspring comes tinged with alarm as we brace our-selves for ash dieback, and wait to discover howfar oak processionary moth will spread. Distur-bance inevitably leads to regeneration though,and these events provide opportunities for long-term study. It’s time to get started again...

Contents

In this issue:

• Forest of the Month

• Notices

• Upcoming Meetings

• Grants & Funding

• Employment

• Graduate Openings

• Field Stations

• Courses

• Articles

• Dates for the Diary

The contents of this newsletter are determined by what you submit, so if there’s anything you think shouldbe included then please pass suggestions on to either me ([email protected]) or Jake Snaddon([email protected]) by 23 June for inclusion in the next issue, which should come out at the beginning of July.If you have received the Bulletin indirectly then you can sign up to receive more on our mailing list by going hereand clicking ‘Subscribe’, or follow news between issues on Twitter @BESforests. Until then, may all your stems becylindrical.

British Ecological Society Forest Ecology Groupm Forest Ecology Group Website B [email protected] Page 1

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Forest of the Month

by JEFFREY S. PIPPEN [email protected]

Duke FACE Site Sample Materials Available for Study

Duke University’s Forest-Atmosphere Carbon Transfer andStorage (FACTS-1) facility is a loblolly pine stand located inthe Blackwood Division of Duke Forest, in Chapel Hill, NorthCarolina, USA. This facility hosted the Free Air Carbon Diox-ide Enrichment (FACE) experiment, a long term global changeecology project that provided 200 µmol mol−1 above ambientCO2 to research plots within the pine stand. FACE consisted of 4free-air CO2 enriched plots and 4 control or ambient plots. Eachof these 8 plots was bisected by an impermeable, undergroundbarrier, and randomly selected halves were fertilized with 11.2g N m−2 y−1 nitrogen from pellet ammonium nitrate. The FACEproject began in August 1996 and entered its final stage in Oc-tober 2010, when the CO2 enrichment was switched off andthe Final Harvest began. This Harvest involved the collectionof all biomass from half of each plot.

Generally, aboveground biomass includes both loblolly pine andvarious hardwood species. Pine samples include woody materialboth by branch height and whole tree, needles by cohort and flush,and cones. Cross sections of two pines, 1 dominant and 1 sup-pressed, were taken every 4 meters along the trunk. Taproots ofthese trees were also excavated. Hardwood samples include leavesand wood from all trees under 8 cm DBH and branches, leaves, andcross sections for trees over 8 cm DBH. A more detailed descriptionof the available material can be found athere.

This biomass is currently available for use upon request. Thefunding agency (DOE) requires that requests are submitted only bythe person in charge of a project (the Principal Investigator, or PI),and that post-docs and graduate students should be listed as co-investigators. Your request should include your contact information,

proposal title, funding agency or institution (if applicable), the type of study, and information regarding the proposal(question addressed, experimental protocol, and planned data use). Shipping expenses for requested samples are theresponsibility of the recipient.

All requests should be submitted to the Duke FACE Facility or e-mailed to Ram Oren ([email protected]).

Photos copyright Jeffrey S. Pippen (project website).

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Noti es

INTECOL networking opportu-nity for FEG students

by EMMA SAYER

Hob-nob with some of the big

names in forest ecology and the forest

microbiome.

Are you a PhD Student inter-ested in the forest microbiome? Areyou planning on attending INTECOL?Ever tried to talk to an invited/keynote speaker and been frustratedthat you can’t get near them? Now’syour chance!

We’re holding a dinner after ourINTECOL symposium ‘The Forest Mi-crobiome — how microbes shapethe structure and function of forestecosystems in a changing world’ andwe’re offering current PhD studentsworking on a relevant research topica chance to mingle with the speak-ers, pick their brains, and get a freedinner. All you need to do is sendan email to me with your name, the-sis subject, and a short paragraph(100 words maximum) about whyyou would like to attend the dinnerand whom you would most like tomeet.

Special offer on forest ecologybooks for Bulletin readers!

Routledge/Earthscan have of-fered readers of the FEG Bulletina discount on two new books. Thediscount code to include when order-ing is FEG20 and will be valid againstboth titles until the 15th June 2013.If you have any problems please con-tact Charlotte Nixon. You can browsefor other books of interest in theirEnvironment & Sustainability 2013Catalogue here.

MANAGING FORESTS AS COMPLEX

ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS

Christian Messier, Klaus J.Puettmann, K. David Coates (editors)

This book links the emerging con-cepts of complexity, complex adap-tive system (CAS) and resilience toforest ecology and management. Itexplores how these concepts can beapplied in various forest biomes ofthe world with their different eco-logical, economic and social settings,and history. Individual chapters stressdifferent elements of these conceptsbased on the specific setting and ex-pertise of the authors. Regions andauthors have been selected to covera diversity of viewpoints and em-phases, from silviculture and naturalforests to forest restoration, and fromboreal to tropical forests.

The chapters show that there is nosingle generally applicable approachto forest management that applies toall settings. The first set of chaptersprovides a global overview of howcomplexity, CAS and resilience the-ory can benefit researchers who studyforest ecosystems. A second set ofchapters provides guidance for man-agers in understanding how theseconcepts can help them to facilitateforest ecosystem change and renewal(adapt or self-organize) in the faceof global change while still deliver-ing the goods and services desired byhumans. The book takes a broad ap-proach by covering a variety of for-est biomes and the full range of man-agement goals from timber produc-

tion to forest restoration to promotethe maintenance of biodiversity, qual-ity of water, or carbon storage.

See book website for more details.

TREES, FORESTED LANDSCAPES

AND GRAZING ANIMALS

Ian D. Rotherham (editor)

In this comprehensive book, thecritical components of the Europeanlandscape — forest, parkland, andother grazed landscapes with treesare addressed. The book considersthe history of grazed treed land-scapes, of large grazing herbivores inEurope, and the implications of thepast in shaping our environment to-day and in the future. Debates on thetypes of anciently grazed landscapesin Europe, and what they tell usabout past and present ecology, havebeen especially topical and contro-versial recently. This treatment bringsthe current discussions and the latestresearch to a much wider audience.

The book breaks new groundin broadening the scope of wood-pasture and woodland research toaddress sites and ecologies thathave previously been overlooked butwhich hold potential keys to under-standing landscape dynamics. Emi-nent contributors, including OliverRackham and Frans Vera, present a

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text which addresses the importanceof history in understanding the pastlandscape, and the relevance of his-torical ecology and landscape studiesin providing a future vision.

See book website for more details.

Agroforestry in the EU

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT VOTES TO

INCLUDE AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS IN

EUROPE’S RURAL DEVELOPMENT —BUT NOT IN DIRECT PAYMENTS

The European Parliament yester-day voted on 13 March to includea definition of agroforestry in theSecond Pillar of the reformed Com-mon Agricultural Policy, which pro-vides support for Rural Developmentthrough the European AgriculturalFund. It also extended the range ofagroforestry systems eligible for suchsupport. To date, only extensive agro-forestry systems had been eligible.

But the Parliament failed to sup-port amendments that would haveencouraged farmers to adopt agro-forestry in the first pillar of the CAP,which governs direct payments, de-spite mounting evidence that agro-forestry is crucial to ensure the long-term maintenance of an efficient,productive and sustainable agricul-ture in Europe.

“The Parliament took a step to-wards the modernisation of Eu-ropean agriculture,” said ChristianDupraz, the President of the Euro-pean Agroforestry Federation (EU-RAF). “But it is a first step only. To en-sure Europe’s farms remain produc-tive over the long term, the principlesof agroecological intensification, in-cluding agroforestry, must be broughtinto the core of the Common Agricul-tural Policy, which is the direct pay-ment system.”

The Agriculture Council has anopportunity to further improve theproposed regulation. EURAF and itsthousands of member farmers callupon it to make clear that agro-forestry is eligible to direct payments.

Petition against SustainableForestry Initiative

by WHITNEY WYNN

I work with the forest conser-vation non-profit, ForestEthics. Weare filing a complaint with the Fed-eral Trade Commission (FTC) againstthe greenwash of the SustainableForestry Initiative (SFI). We are hop-ing you can help us to stop thegreenwashing of forest destruction.We have a petition with almost 8,000signatures already, and we are hop-ing you can help us reach our goalof 10,000 signatures! Please sign thepetition here. Feel free to forwardthe petition to any other servers,organizations, or social media. Anyhelp spreading the petition would begreatly appreciated!

Become an OPAL Tree Buddy

Trees are a vital and much-loved part of all our lives but,as we all know, they are increas-ingly under threat from pests anddiseases. That’s why OPAL haveteamed up with FERA and ForestResearch to develop our seventhnational survey on tree health. OpenAir Laboratories (OPAL) is a nation-wide partnership that inspires com-munities to discover, enjoy and pro-tect their local environment. We aimto create a new generation of nature-lovers through local and nationalprojects that are accessible, fun andrelevant to anyone who wants to takepart.

From May, communities aroundthe UK will be exploring their localarea to find and survey local trees. Aswell as benefitting them, their datacan help scientists to manage treehealth more effectively. And we needYOU to help us inspire, engage andsupport these budding tree scientistsby becoming an OPAL Tree Buddy.

Tree Buddies are people like youwith a professional interest in treesand forestry. Your expertise will helpmembers of the public and schoolscarry out the survey to improvetheir learning experience and providemore accurate and reliable results.

The survey takes about 30 minutes tocomplete and should be carried outbetween May and September eachyear. This could include:

• going out with friends and familyto carry out the OPAL Tree HealthSurvey

• holding OPAL Tree Health Surveyactivities for the public

• training or accompanying mem-bers of the public who wish to trythe survey

• hosting group consultation ses-sions

• setting up a tree recordingscheme in your local area

We can:

• provide you with free surveypacks

• help promote your organisationand events through our UK-widenetwork and on our website

• provide you with additional train-ing presentations, videos and re-sources

• hold survey training events

• offer advice on hosting public en-gagement events

• collect survey results on ourdatabase

To become a Tree Buddy, pleasego to our website. Please tell otherpeople in your organisation about theOPAL Tree Health Survey and theBuddy Initiative by forwarding themthis invitation and asking them tosign up!

“Tree health is THE issue of themoment, affecting all tree and wood-land organisations, whatever theirparticular interest. The OPAL TreeHealth Survey and the Buddy initia-tive is an excellent way for us all toengage with the wider public so thatthey are more aware of trees and canhelp us by spotting problems early.This is a great way for the publicand professionals to work togetherand generate a whole new army ofsupporters to the cause of trees.”— Joan Webber, Principal Pathologistand Head of Tree Health ResearchGroup, Forest Research

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New England Leaf Out Project

by RICHARD PRIMACK AND LIBBY

ELLWOOD

In New England, leaf out israpidly approaching. If you’re like us,you’re ready for some signs of spring!We are recruiting and organizing vol-unteers from throughout New Eng-land to record the date that they ob-serve leaf out in a variety of commontree species.

Observers in southern New Eng-land will likely start seeing leaf outin the next couple of weeks, andnorthern New England shortly afterthat. We ask that volunteers followthis protocol: When you start to seegrowth of one of the target species,please visit your trees twice a weekand record the date that you first seeone, or up to several, new leaves onthe tree. In this study, we count anew leaf when it has emerged fromthe bud and its final shape is mostlyvisible. This observation should bemade in spring when the first leavesare emerging. These young leaves of-ten have a soft or translucent qualityto them, and may not yet be green.Please do not report observations ofleaves that have reached their fullsize.

We have partnered with JaneMarsching at Massachusetts Collegeof Art and Design and Matt Shanleyto put together a user-friendly web-site for you to send us leaf out datesof trees in your area. To learn aboutthe species we are observing, check

out the site, and if you would like toparticipate you can submit observa-tions through this easy form. Thereare also images of each species tohelp you with identification.

That’s it! Feel free to contact usif you have questions. If you are in-terested in expanding your observa-tions, please read below. We lookforward to seeing your observationsstreaming in in the coming weeks.Thanks!

Additional observation opportu-nities: We have been working withProject BudBurst and Nature’s Note-book, national organizations that col-lect phenology data. If you haveworked with either of these orga-nizations in the past, or are in-terested in expanding the scopeof your observations, we encour-age you to submit your observationsto them, Project BudBurst or here,Nature’s Notebook. However, pleaseonly submit your observations toONE of the databases (ours, ProjectBudBurst, OR Nature’s Notebook).Thanks!

Request for contributions tospecial issue of Méditerranée, theJournal of Mediteranean Geogra-phy

by RÉGIS DARQUES

Mediterranean Great Wildfires —Which reply to environmental disas-ters?, Méditerranée issue #124, is toappear in June 2014. This volume in-tends to focus upon the wildfire dis-asters that left their mark last decadein the Mediterranean, with peculiarattention paid to the forest-city in-terface. Behind the necessary diag-nosis, the authors are invited to fo-cus upon both upstream conditionsand downstream issues of such dra-

matic events, i.e. prior territorial dis-orders, damage extent, spatial andsocial consequences of the crisis.

The exposure of human settle-ments shall be seen through theprism of official and/or unofficialland planning policies. Far behindthe well-worn subject of environ-mental associations challenging withpolitical-economical authorities, thecontributors are called to investigateunderneath power contests and prac-tical conflicting interests on land.

This volume is not dedicated tothe climatic changes that allow suchdisasters to appear, even if such in-put is essential. The vulnerability ofMediterranean environment is alsoaccepted a priori.

A general hypothesis is to be dis-cussed: are great events necessary tobring official institutions revise theirpractical planning policies and mod-ify territorial legislations? To put itotherwise, are disasters the only wayto question territorial orders, play-ing the same function as crisis inthe economic field? Are territorialinstitutions and actors permanentlyfailing? Obviously, many preventionplans have to be improved or re-vised. Which new strategy should beadopted?

As usual, Méditerranée welcomesproposals of scientists coming fromvarious fields: geography, forestry,political science, urban and ruralplanning, as well as economy. The ed-itorial team shall gladly receive stud-ies of all circum-Mediterranean coun-tries as well as comparative worksat lower scales. A special importanceis granted to mapping works. Wealso call for proposals that deal withthe Russian wildfires of 2010, Aus-tralian bushfires of 2009 and Cali-fornian disaster of 2007 to mirror

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the Mediterranean situations to othersimilar events.

For more information and submis-sions, please contact Régis Darques,CNRS-University of MontpellierIII, France; Georges Sidiropoulos,University of the Aegean, Greece;Cristina Montiel, University Com-plutense of Madrid, Spain; or visitthe journal website. Deadline for sub-missions is June 2013.

Up oming Meetings

International Cork Fair

by JAMES WOODCOCK

22-26 May

The fifth International Cork Fair(FICOR) takes place in the ‘worldcapital of cork’ — Coruche, Portu-gal. Organised by the Municipality ofCoruche, this year’s fair includes in-sights into the importance of cork oakforests for soil conservation, the wa-ter cycle and water quality. The fullprogramme for the event will be pub-lished shortly. This is always wideranging, including seminars, tours, atrade exhibition, music, food & winetasting, excellent networking and acork fashion show. Further informa-tion is available here.

Farm Woodland Forum and For-est Ecology Group joint meeting

by JO SMITH

13-14 June 2013

Falkland Centre for Stewardship,Falkland, Fife, Scotland

THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

OF AGROFORESTRY IN THE UKThe call for papers for this meet-

ing is now open. The emphasis is sil-vopastoral systems and the potentialfor converting low grade woodlandsor plantations into grazed woodlandsystems, and will include a visit tothe Silvopastoral National Networkexperimental site at Glensaugh, aswell as a number of other sites wherethinning is being considered to al-low forest grazing. We would like

to invite papers addressing the eco-logical impacts of woodland grazingand silvopastoral sites. There is somefunding available to cover travel andsubsistence. If you would like topresent a paper or poster at themeeting, please contact Jo Smith orMike Strachan.

Agroforestry is a concept of in-tegrated land use that combines el-ements of agriculture and forestryin a sustainable production system.An emphasis on managing ratherthan reducing complexity promotesa functionally biodiverse system thatbalances productivity with environ-mental protection.

The Farm Woodland Forum is aninformal group of about 220 peo-ple people with a common interestin farming with trees in all its as-pects. It aims to facilitate the gen-eration and exchange of informationthat supports best practice in and im-proves opportunities for farming withtrees, and holds annual meetings atwhich there are presentations to de-scribe the latest research, develop-ment and practice related to agro-forestry and farming with trees. Thisyear’s meeting will include a morningof presentations and a day and a halfof field visits to nearby agroforestryand farm woodland sites. More de-tails will be soon available on theFWF website.

INTECOL Workshop: The Cul-tural Forest

by KEITH KIRBY

At INTECOL 2013 there will be aworkshop entitled ‘The cultural for-est — how widespread is it and whatdoes it mean for conservation policyand practice?’

Early ecologists viewed forestsas ‘climax communities’, the ulti-mate end-point of natural succession.However in western Europe forests asthey are today are as much a productof centuries, if not millenia, of humanintervention. Prof. Charles Watkins(University of Nottingham) will illus-trate this with respect to the develop-ment of English forests and one of themost famous in the world — Sher-

wood! Indeed Frans Vera has ques-tioned whether even the last natu-ral landscapes in north-west Europewere forest as we understand theterm, but rather were more like sa-vannahs.

Europeans have often assumedthat the old growth of North America,tropical forests, or the fire-prone Eu-

calyptus forests of Australia were ‘vir-gin’ forests uninfluenced to any greatdegree by the native peoples of theseareas. Modern research has howeverfound that often there is a longer, andmore pervasive human impact thanwas previously thought.

This is of ecological interest, butalso of immense significance forconservation practice and policy. InBritain it has become increasinglyclear that to maintain many of thespecies and assemblages that the con-servation community values will re-quire active intervention, manage-ment, not just leaving nature re-serves to nature. At a global level itraises the question as to attitudes to-wards peoples who may live withinareas gazetted as reserves or nationalparks. For example the IUCN defini-tion of category II protected area Na-tional Park includes the following ob-jectives (with my emphasis):

To manage the area in or-der to perpetuate, in as

natural a state as pos-

sible, representative ex-amples of physiographicregions, biotic commu-nities, genetic resourcesand unimpaired naturalprocesses.

And:

To take into account theneeds of indigenous peo-ple and local commu-nities, including subsis-tence resource use, in sofar as these will not ad-versely affect the primarymanagement objective

However if the character of par-ticular forests is strongly influencedby human populations, now or in

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the past, then these peoples’ activi-ties may be essential to maintain thatwhich we seek to conserve, alongsidebasic issues of human rights.

This also raises questions as towhat is the template to which con-servation is working. Globally thereis often an assumption (as in someof the IUCN categories) that the ul-timate aim is to conserve ‘natural’landscapes (i.e. human influence isminimal or absent) because these arealso be the most diverse. However ifwhat we have taken to be natural isin fact at least partly cultural thenthe justification for our action needsto change. We have to accept thatwe are choosing to value a particu-lar set of conditions, a particular levelof human-influenced diversity overother human-influenced outcomeswhich may be more or (usually) lessdiverse. This is widely recognised inwestern European landscapes whereconservation priorities regularly in-clude the relicts of former land-usesystems such as hay-meadows or cop-piced woodland, but may in fact bea more general phenomenon. If con-servation priorities are a matter ofchoice then others may challengethat choice if they hold different val-ues.

In the workshop we will explorethe following topics, looking for con-tributions and ideas from partici-pants:

• How widespread is human-influence in ‘natural’ forest sys-tems?

• What does this mean for our un-derstanding of how these sys-tems have developed and cur-rently function?

• What does this mean for ap-proaches to conservation?

Central African Forests and In-stitutions Conference

19-20 September

Paris, France

CALL FOR PAPERS

The National Science Foundation-supported Central African Forests

and Institutions (CAFI) program ofthe University of Michigan’s School ofNatural Resources and Environmentseeks paper and poster submissionsfor its workshop on Central AfricanForests. The workshop will focus onsome of the most critical issues inthe region related to forests, gover-nance, climate change, local liveli-hoods, and driving concerns aboutpower, inequality, and institutions.

The Central African Forests andInstitutions (CAFI) Project is an inter-disciplinary, multi-year study at theUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arborfunded by the National Science Foun-dation. The workshop will featurethematically organized presentationsbased on recent research in the re-gion and invites researchers with aninterest in social and ecological out-comes and methods relevant to theanalysis of such outcomes in forestlandscapes. We encourage submis-sions in particular from graduate stu-dents and younger researchers, pro-fessionals, NGOs, and activists thataddress the following five themes rel-evant to the tropical forests of theCongo Basin:

• Logging, concessions, and gover-nance: What are the histories,patterns, and trajectories of log-ging, concession arrangements,and forest governance in theCongo Basin? How can these beexplained? What are the mostimportant drivers of forest out-comes, and how do conflicts, mar-ket integration, and changes inthe involvement of civil societyand market actors affect them?How do asymmetries of powerand resources shape social inter-actions and resource outcomes?

• Climate change and forests: Howdo socio-economic, ecological,policy, and larger institutionaland governance arrangementsrelate to forest outcomes in theregion in the context of climatechange and variability? What arethe likely trajectories of existingarrangements as climate changeimpacts are felt more widely?How do societies and decision

makers adapt to climate impactsand what forms is future adap-tation likely to take? What arethe chief issues and concernsthat need to be incorporated inREDD+ type efforts? How canthe competing objectives of for-est governance — conservation,livelihoods, and carbon seques-tration — be balanced?

• Remote sensing and modeling ofdeforestation and forest cover:What light do remote sensingdata analyses throw on social andecological patterns and change inthe region? In what ways can re-mote sensing analyses of forestsand concessions be made moreuseful for those interested in con-servation, livelihoods, and useof Central African forests and/orbiodiversity? What analytical ap-proaches can help us understandand influence deforestation andassociated forest and social out-comes?

• Ethnographies of livelihoods, log-ging, or adaptation: Deep poverty,extensive reliance on forests forlivelihoods, climate change, andrapid social, economic, demo-graphic, institutional, and ecosys-tem changes in Central Africanforests mean that the region’s res-idents have to adapt to multiplestressors and drivers of change.What are the major patterns ofvulnerability and adaptation inthe forested regions of CentralAfrica? How do these intersectwith changes in technology, agri-culture, hunting, and various for-est uses? What are the most im-portant shifts that affect local res-idents?

• Comparative analyses of conser-vation, livelihoods, logging, adap-tation, and mitigation in tropicalforests in other parts of the world:What lessons are available forCentral African forest governancefrom studies of tropical forests inother parts of the world?

Interested participants are invitedto provide abstracts (no longer than750 words and relevant references)

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of their proposed papers togetherwith contact information and a copyof their recent CV. Applications willbe refereed by a high-level panelof scholars and decision makers. Se-lected participants will be notified oftheir acceptance in mid-April. Sup-port for participation will be availableto selected participants on a compet-itive basis to make best use of limitedavailable funds.

Please go here to submit your ab-stracts or email your questions [email protected].

Silviculture for PAWS restora-tion and plantation diversification

by SCOTT MCG. WILSON

Helmsley, North Yorkshire3-4 October 2013

SPONSORED BY FEG!This meeting will examine a

range of issues and alternative silvi-cultural approaches that are relevantto the restoration of Plantations onAncient Woodland Sites (PAWS), andthe diversification of forestry planta-tions elsewhere, using at least a com-ponent of native species. These arenow increasingly common woodlandmanagement scenarios in the contextof government policies for habitatrestoration, biodiversity conservationand increased diversity and resilienceof forest stands. Gradual approaches,

avoiding the need for clearfelling andstand replacement, are preferred, butthere are significant challenges fromtree diseases, deer browsing, vegeta-tion competition on some site typesand shortages of skilled forestry per-sonnel and flexible forestry equip-ment. During the meeting we willgain perspectives from research, pol-icy and field forestry practitionersacross public, private and charitablesectors.

The indoor component of themeeting on Thursday 3rd Octoberwill be held at the Headquartersof North York Moors National ParkAuthority in Helmsley town centre.Field visits on the afternoon of Thurs-day 3rd October and all day Friday4th October will be to relevant sitesin the surrounding countryside underpublic, private and charitable owner-ships.

Delegates will be provided withtea/coffee and a cold buffet lunch on3rd October and with a packed lunchon Friday 4th October. There will alsobe the opportunity to attend a meet-ing dinner at a local restaurant on theevening of 3rd October. Coach trans-port will be provided for the field vis-its on both days. If there is sufficientdemand, the coach will also collectdelegates from York Railway Stationat 8-30am on the morning of 3rd Oc-tober and return delegates there onthe evening of Friday 4th for 5:30pm.

Delegates are responsible formaking their own accommoda-tion arrangements. Those comingwithout private transport shouldpreferentially use accommodationwithin walking distance of Helmsleytown square. Parking charges applythroughout much of Helmsley towncentre and there is a strictly limitedamount of visitor parking availableat the meeting venue itself. The fullcost of venue, lunches and coach willbe £25, payable in advance.

For bookings or otherenquiries please [email protected].

Wildland Fire in the Appalachi-ans

by CATIA JULIANA

8-10 October

Roanoke, VA

We would like to invite you tojoin us for the Wildland Fire in theAppalachians Conference. This con-ference promises to be unique inits approach to sharing information.First, it is a conference about wild-land fire in the Appalachians thatis held in the Appalachians. Second,and equally unique, is that the con-ference is not a research symposiumand it is not a managers meeting; itis both. The objective of the Consor-tium of Appalachian Fire Managersand Scientists and the Association forFire Ecology is for fire managers andresearchers to learn from each otherso they can better understand prob-lems specific to the highly diverse Ap-palachian Mountains and to work to-gether to solve those problems. Wehope you can join us!

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Early Bird Registration now open— register now for the best rates!Please visit our conference website tolearn more. The Conference Programis complete and available.

All conference registrants receivea one year AFE membership (de-tails will be sent after registration iscomplete). Student Travel Grants andsponsorship opportunities are avail-able.

The conference includes threeconcurrent mini-conferences. Over40 invited speakers will discuss re-search updates and management ex-periences. Researchers will discussplant and wildlife ecology, fire his-tory, invasives, season of burning,and other topics. Managers will shareexperiences on how to apply fire tothe landscape, how to work with me-dia and the general public, and up-dates to fire management tools suchas smoke prediction models, LAND-FIRE, FRCC, and IFT-DSS. A highlightwill be success stories for programssuch as the Fire Learning Network,state Prescribed Fire Councils, and in-teragency cooperation. A field trip onthe third day will share managers’experiences applying research resultson the ground.

The program committee is re-questing abstracts for posters onany topic related to wildland firein the Appalachian region; submithere. Submission deadline is June21, 2013. Poster topics can be basedon completed or ongoing research orthey can describe management ex-periences. Abstract submissions willbe judged by the Program Committeeand notification of acceptance will bein mid-July. Space for posters is lim-ited. Authors will have the opportu-nity to present at their poster at a

specified time for audience questions.There will be no open call for oralpresentations.

Call for papers for session atSoil Science Society of America An-nual Meeting

by JEFF HATTEN

3-6 November

Tampa, FL

Please consider submitting an ab-stract to the session entitled ‘SoilMechanisms Controlling Forest Re-sponses to Management and Change’,organised by Jeff Hatten, OregonState University, and Brian Strahm,Virginia Tech.

A mechanistic understanding ofhow soil processes respond to chang-ing environmental conditions is re-quired in order to predict how for-est ecosystems will function andchange under different managementand environmental conditions. We in-vite presentations that highlight pro-cesses in forest soils as they re-spond to changes in forest manage-ment (e.g., harvest intensity, fertil-ization, site preparation) or otherenvironmental changes (e.g., landuse/land cover, climate, fire regime).We also invite presentations that ex-amine how those soil processes af-fect larger scale phenomena, such astree, ecosystem, and stand productiv-ity, water quality, long-term soil pro-ductivity, or biodiversity. We are par-ticularly interested in presentationsto go beyond the effect of treat-ments on soils or forest productivityand present tested hypotheses on themechanisms responsible for trendswitnessed as a result of the treat-ment. We look forward to an activediscussion over a half-day session ofinvited and volunteered poster andoral presentations and hope you willconsider submitting your abstract tothe SSSA Forest, Range, and Wild-land Soils Division. We welcome anysuggestions for invited poster presen-ters and/or speakers that you mayhave knowledge of, in particular stu-dents and early career scientists.

Abstract submission is here.

Deadline 14 May.

Large Wildland Fires: Social,Political and Ecological Effects

19-23 May 2014

Missoula, MT

The causes and effects of largewildland fires are the subjects ofgreat debate among fire researchers,managers, and policymakers. Arelarge wildfires unnatural events,causing great ecological harm thatshould be suppressed at all costs?Or could they provide opportunitiesto reduce fuel loads, restore alteredecosystems, and improve resiliency inthe face of climate change? What arethe latest research findings, manage-ment treatments, and policy initia-tives addressing large wildfires? Joinus for this unique event co-hosted bythe Association for Fire Ecology andthe International Association of Wild-land Fire with support by the JointFire Science Program, where we willexplore these questions and relatedissues.

Now Open: Call for Workshops& Special Sessions. Themes include:Large Fires, Fire Management, Cli-mate Change, Fire Ecology, WildlandFuels, Smoke & Fire Behavior.

Workshops will be held on Mon-day, May 19, 2014 at the Universityof Montana in Missoula. Workshopsare half- or full- day (4 or 8 hour)training sessions on new and revisedsoftware, sampling techniques, andprofessional improvement. The pur-pose of the workshops is to providea forum for researchers and prac-titioners in wildland fire to discussand exchange interests on a defined

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topic. We view these workshops asan opportunity for Technology Trans-fer; the process to ensure that scien-tific and technological developmentsare accessible to a wider range ofusers who can then further developand exploit them. Everyone is invitedto submit a proposal for a workshop.Please submit workshop proposals toBob Keane by Aug. 15, 2013. Furtherdetails and template example avail-able on the workshop page of ourwebsite.

Special sessions may be 3-4, 5-6, or 10-12 presentations on a com-mon topic or theme. Each presenta-tion within the session will be 20minutes in length with time allot-ted for Q&A and discussion. Propos-als should consist of the title of thespecial session and a preliminary listof speakers and draft titles for indi-vidual talks. The number of specialsessions is limited, so organizers areencouraged to submit their proposalsearly. Please submit special sessionproposals to Louisa Evers by Dec. 1,2013.

Watch our website for upcom-ing information about the Confer-ence Program, Registration, Sponsor-ship Opportunities, Student Travel(TREE) Grants, and more. Comingthis Summer: Call for Papers (1 Au-gust 2013) & Early Bird Registration(1 September 2013)

Grants & Funding

CTFS-SIGEO

The Research Grants Programof the Center for Tropical For-est Science - Smithsonian Institu-tion Global Earth Observatory (CTFS-SIGEO) supports research associatedwith the CTFS-SIGEO network of For-est Dynamics Plots. A new roundof research grants will be awardedin 2013. The majority of the CTFS-SIGEO research grants will fall in the$2,000–$15,000 range.

The program is intended to pro-vide opportunities for senior re-searchers, post-doctoral fellows, andgraduate students to utilize existing

Forest Dynamics Plots and to conductresearch with scientists associatedwith these plots. Topics can rangefrom working directly in one of theplots, analyzing data, or generatingcomplementary data that strengthensCTFS-SIGEO programs. Funding isrestricted to expenses directly relatedto field research, laboratory research,and data analysis. Examples of eli-gible expenses include travel, livingexpenses during fieldwork, supplies,and research assistance. Funds arenot available for salary and/or fringebenefits of the applicant, tuition, non-project personnel, or travel to meet-ings. In addition, the grants programwill NOT support indirect costs forinstitutional support. Priority will begiven to early career researchers, re-searchers with less access to other in-stitutional funds, and to projects thatinclude multiple sites. The deadlinefor applications is 14 June 2013.

For more information, please goto the website. Applications MUSTfollow grant requirements as outlinedat that website. To learn more aboutCTFS and SIGEO, visit our websitesand newsblog.

Employment

Program Manager, Lake StatesFire Science Consortium

The Ohio State University, OH

We seek qualified applicants fora full-time position. Duties include:managing liaison activities with sci-entists, resource managers, fire man-agers, and policymakers across theregion; organizing and conductingeducational programs and develop-ing outreach materials related to firescience, including research summarybulletins, briefs, newsletters and websites; assisting Consortium partnersto coordinate, organize, and lead re-gional meetings and conferences re-lated to fire science; developing train-ing modules on topics related tothe application of fire science in-formation (e.g., fire behavior mod-eling, prescribed fire use, fire risk,fuel management, etc.); leading ac-

tivities with Consortium partners todevelop a network of demonstrationsites, including collecting, analyzing,and publishing findings from demon-stration sites; collaborating with Con-sortium members and PIs to de-velop technical research bulletins andpeer-reviewed manuscripts related toapplied fire science and manage-ment; and, coordinating and assistingConsortium Advisory Committee andPrincipal Investigators with reportingand budgets.

M.S. in forestry, fire science, orrelated field (e.g., natural resources,biology, ecology), or B.S. in forestryor related field with equivalent workexperience, is required. Evidence ofstrong writing and other communi-cation skills is required. Expertisewith natural resource managementagencies, fire behavior models, pre-scribed fire, and silvicultural prac-tices is strongly desired, as is ex-perience with project administration,planning, and training/outreach.

Location is negotiable, with theexpectation of travel throughout theregion and periodic travel to OARDCin Wooster, OH to meet with the Pro-gram Director. Start date is also nego-tiable.

To Apply: Applicants are requiredto apply online with The Ohio StateUniversity here (position #375366).For more details about the position,please contact Dr. Charles Goebel,Program Director.

Post-doc position: Dynamics oftemperate mountain forests inCentral Europe

Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sci-

ences, Czech University of Life Sciences,

Prague

The project is titled ‘Naturaldisturbance regimes of mountainforests: the basis for ecological forestmanagement’. The aim is to study therole of natural disturbances in the dy-namics of mountain forests in centralEurope. We will determine patternsof natural disturbances and their re-lationship with structural data, car-bon storage and landscape pattern.The study will take place in several of

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the largest old-growth forests in Eu-rope (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ro-mania and Ukraine). The activities,together with our team, will includefield work, processing and analyzingdata, statistical analyses, and com-piling the results. The results shouldbe then presented at conferences andpublished in international scientificjournals.

Applicants should have a PhDin environmental or related sciences(biology, ecology, geography, forestsciences), and English communica-tion and writing skills on the levelof native speaker. We are looking forany of the following skills: analysisof forest dynamics, modeling, and re-mote sensinG. We offer a 2-year po-sition starting as soon as possible.The monthly salary will be arounde1400, which represents double ofmedian salary in the country. We area young and energetic research team,with close collaboration with inter-national partners. Opportunities existfor exchange visits and meetings.

For further informationcontact Miroslav [email protected]. Applicationsshould attach CV listing skills andqualifications, list of publications andother documents deemed importantby the applicant. Applicants shouldalso write a short description explain-ing why they believe themselves tobe suitable for the above position.Include also contact information fortwo references.

Post-doc in invasive speciesmodeling

Department of Forestry and Natu-

ral Resources at Purdue University

The incumbent will conduct re-search on a NSF funded project tostudy the distribution and dispersalof invasive plants in the SoutheasternU.S. Available immediately. Reviewof application materials will continueuntil the position is filled. Duration ofAppointment: 24 months.

The postdoctoral scientist will col-laborate with other researchers in thearea of landscape to regional levelmodeling of invasion dynamics. The

incumbent will study the distribu-tion and dispersal of invasive plantspecies with the consideration of in-vader traits, recipient system, and in-vasion drivers at multi-spatial scales.

Purdue University will provide a$40,000 annual stipend plus healthcare benefits.

A PhD in ecology, forestry, geog-raphy, or biology is required with ex-pertise in invasion ecology, modeling,and spatial analysis. Experience withR programming, GIS, and other ana-lytical tools are highly desirable. Abil-ity to work with researchers across avariety of disciplines is required.

To apply, please send statementof interest, curriculum vitae, and thenames and contact information ofthree references to SongLin Fei.

Postdoctoral Associate — Tropi-cal Forest Ecology and Biodiversity

Arlington, VA

The Tropical Ecology Assessmentand Monitoring (TEAM) Network isadvertising a post-doctoral position.Details about the position and how toapply can be found here.

Post-doctoral fellowships in for-est ecology

SIGEO-CTFS, Washington DC or

Panama

The Smithsonian InstitutionGlobal Earth Observatory - Centerfor Tropical Forest Science (SIGEO-CTFS) is a global network of researchplots focused on the dynamics and di-versity of forests. Over the past threedecades, the SIGEO-CTFS network,involving hundreds of scientists fromdozens of institutions, has estab-lished 47 standardized large-scalelong-term forest monitoring plots in21 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe,and the Americas. This internationalcollaboration is now monitoring thegrowth and survival of 5 million treesin 9,000 species.

Two post-doctoral fellows aresought by SIGEO-CTFS to conductanalyses of data from the network oflarge forest plots. One of the posi-

tions will have a focus on the forestsof Asia, the other will be open to theglobal network. Candidates shouldhave a strong analytical background,an established record of research andscholarly publication in forest sci-ence, and interests allied with thoseof principal scientists at SIGEO-CTFS.Research topics may include any re-lated to dynamics of tropical ortemperate forests, emphasizing com-parative studies among forests. Formore information on SIGEO-CTFSsee here.

Applications should include abrief research proposal or state-ment of research interests, a cur-riculum vitae, and the names ofthree references. Submit applica-tions by e-mail to: Delaney Rakos-nik, SIGEO-CTFS Program Assistant([email protected]). The successfulapplicants may be based at one ofseveral research institutes within theSmithsonian (Washington DC area orPanama). The positions will remainopen until filled.

Questions can be addressed toStuart Davies, SIGEO-CTFS Direc-tor ([email protected]).To learn moreabout CTFS and SIGEO, visit ourwebsites and newsblog.

Post-Doc: Tree modeling andenvironment

Olympia, WA

The Genetic and SilviculturalFoundations for Management Team,USFS Pacific Northwest Research Sta-tion in Olympia, WA is advertisingto fill a research (post-doc) positionon modeling tree responses to envi-ronment or management. The candi-date will contribute to on-going stud-ies that focus on testing hypothesesrelated to the growth and function ofnorthwest tree species, especially inrelation to climate change. Examplesof on-going studies include evaluat-ing the impacts of genetic and envi-ronmental factors on growth, phenol-ogy, and physiology in both field andgreenhouse trials or other data setsto look at phenology of vegetativeand reproductive budburst. This in-volves limited data collection (as sev-

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eral data sets already exist), compila-tion of data from multiple data sets,editing, and analysis of multiple datasets and writing up results for scien-tific journals. The candidate may alsoprovide training and equipment sup-port to other staff.

More information on the team canbe found here, and information aboutthe Olympia area here.

Initial appointment will be 1 yearbut may be renewed for 1 or moreadditional years. Note, this could bea sabbatical opportunity. Position willbe filled approximately August 1,2013. Salary approximately $61,255per year (GS-11) depending on qual-ifications. Position includes paid hol-idays, vacation and sick days as wellas health care benefits.

Qualifications: (1) US citizen witha PhD in natural resources completedprior to beginning of employment;(2) Knowledge of tree physiology, ge-netics, and ecology. (3) High profi-ciency in R [Skills in R should in-clude: a) writing scripts to automatethe process of combining, query-ing, and updating large databasesand generating graphical reports; b)model fitting using nonlinear mixed-effects models; and c) developinggraphical user interfaces for data ex-ploration and model fitting]; and (4)Experience in publishing in peer re-viewed journals.

To apply: Send one pdf documentwhich includes a letter of interest (in-cluding date when you could start),resume, list of references, and tran-scripts to: Connie Harrington. Applyby June 3, 2013. You may send a sec-ond document which includes a re-cently authored publication relatedto the position if that publicationwould not be readily available online.

Graduate Openings

PhD: Modeling and analysis ofdynamic ecological boundaries ofsacred forests in Epirus, Greece

Ioannina University, Greece

Sacred groves exist all over theworld as places of cultural and sym-bolic significance which were man-aged differently to secular (or ‘work-ing’) forests. Such groves often con-sist of trees of greater age andhigh biodiversity value. Many sacredgroves are found in the mountains ofEpirus in western Greece, having per-sisted for hundreds of years associ-ated with churches and chapels. Man-agement regimes varied over timealong with socio-economic and in-stitutional changes and so did thegroves’ boundaries. With the mod-ern age came local depopulation andwidespread abandonment of farmingactivity. The resulting secondary suc-cession has led to the return of for-est cover over much of the landscape.The sacred groves have often beensubsumed or lost. Yet, on closer in-spection, there are clearly discern-able ecological differences betweenthese old forest patches and the sec-ondary forest matrix.

Our aim is to understand the con-servation value of these groves, bothin terms of the biological diversitywithin the groves themselves, andtheir impact on the wider landscape.But where are their boundaries? Thisis a vexed issue for describing bothhistorical management and currentecological function. We know that theboundaries were created by culturalrestrictions interacting with environ-mental constraints, which has led totheir change over time. Current for-est dynamics are therefore a complexcombination of historical legacy andactive ecological processes. Many im-portant questions remain to be solvedregarding the dynamics of ecologicalboundaries.

The project will develop a modelof the dynamic ecological bound-aries of applicable to sacred groves.Boundaries arise as a balance be-

tween conflicting forces: ecologicalexpansion, environmental variabilityand human intervention. They areimportant topic of current ecologi-cal research, especially the conceptu-alization of boundaries and the na-ture of the patches they separate.One of the foci of this study willbe the exploration of alternative rep-resentations of forest patches. Thismay include fractal geometry, use ofBayesian models and modeling ofboundaries as ecotones derived fromdynamic processes. Boundaries alsopresent the statistical challenge of in-ferring their properties from spatialsampling.

This work will develop pragmaticyet statistically rigorous samplingsystems to collect the data required toparameterise these models of sacredgrove boundaries. The field workwill include survey of vegetation andtree populations and recording oftree traits including samples for adendrochronological analysis to infertheir age and past management. Thiswork will be carried out in mountainterrain with the help of experts in thearea. Other sources of data will in-clude historical and contemporary re-motely sensed images, and historicalinformation of past management.

This is a key component of thenew international, multi-institutionalEU project ‘Thalis-SAGE: Conserva-tion through religion — The sacredgroves of Epirus’. This project com-bines research in quantitative land-scape ecology with remote sensing,GIS, multi-taxa biodiversity monitor-ing and ethnographic and historicalresearch. It brings together severalmultidisciplinary research teams in-cluding conservation biologists, land-scape ecologists, cultural ecologists,statisticians, ecological modelers andsocial anthropologists. The project isbased at Ioannina University, Greece,in the Laboratory of Theoretical Ecol-ogy, where the student will be regis-tered. It will be co-supervised by Ban-gor University, Wales, UK (where thestudent will spend a proportion oftheir time).

The lead supervisor will be Pro-fessor John M. Halley (website)

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with co-supervisors Professor JohnHealey (website) and Dr Jenny Wong(website).

Applicants should have an MScor excellent bachelor’s degree in arelevant field. We particularly wel-come applicants with a strong quanti-tative/mathematical background. Aswell as modeling, the project willinvolve considerable fieldwork, forwhich enthusiasm and aptitude willbe required. Some experience withecological fieldwork is an advan-tage. However, we will offer consid-erable training and support for thefieldwork to assist a student whodoes not have a strong backgroundin forestry/ecological/environmentalsciences. This is an excellent opportu-nity for students of mathematics, en-gineering or other quantitative disci-plines to transfer their skills to tacklea fundamental problem in ecology ina fantastic setting. Students must befluent in English.

Duration: Three years. Financialsupport e39,000 (subject to Greektaxation if more than 183 days/yearare spent in Greece).

Further details: Dr.Nikos Monokrousos. All applicationsshould make reference to THALIS-SAGE, should include a cover letterof not more than one page describingresearch interests and relevant ex-perience, a current curriculum vitaeand one letter of recommendation.Applications are accepted until June2013.

Graduate Research Assis-tantship

Department of Ecosystem & Con-

servation Sciences, University of Mon-

tana

A Graduate Research Assis-tantship is available focusing on thecarbon (C) vulnerability and bioen-ergy potential of beetle kill wood inforests of Western North America.Bark beetle outbreaks have devas-tated forest resources across west-ern North America leaving massiveamounts of C in the biomass of stand-ing dead trees. We are seeking acreative and curious PhD student to

assess how much C has accumulatedin standing dead biomass of NorthAmerican forests, the vulnerability ofthis C to re-entering the atmosphereas CO2, and the potential for usingthis biomass to produce energy. Theprospective student will collaboratewith scientists from the University ofMontana, Missoula, MT and the Na-tional Renewable Energy Laboratory,Golden, CO. Formal appointmentswill begin in the fall of 2013, but pref-erence will be given to candidateswho can begin research in the sum-mer of 2013. For more informationplease contact Ashley Ballantyne. Toapply, please send: 1) a letter, includ-ing scientific interests, professionalgoals and prior research experience;2) a current resume or CV; and 3)contact information of three poten-tial references.

PhD: Urban Forest Carbon Se-questration Processes

The University of Missouri

The University of Missouri, in col-laboration with Lincoln University, isseeking a Ph.D. Graduate ResearchAssistant (GRA) that will investigateurban forest carbon sequestration ina dynamic multi-land-use watershedof the central U.S. Even though ur-ban areas are a net source of CO2

to the atmosphere, urban vegetationand soils are capable of sequester-ing substantial quantities of carbon.Urban forests may therefore play animportant role in regional climatechange mitigation.

The successful applicant will in-vestigate carbon flux and storageabove and below ground as a func-tion of forest density along a wild-land to urban forest gradient. Thestudy is designed to span the rangeof forest stand density and soil condi-tions in order to identify urban foresttypes that maximize C sequestration.Study sites include heavily (down-town), moderately (residential areaand city park) and minimal develop-ment (bottomland hardwood forest)areas. An additional hardwood forestAmeriFlux reference site is locatednear the study watershed. Carbon

storage will be quantified by sam-pling and analyzing mass and C con-centrations of major C pools. C fluxeswill be quantified by measuring pho-tosynthetic and respiration rates ofvegetation and soil.

This is a fully funded position be-ginning as soon as filled. Applicantsmust possess a master’s degree andhave completed at least one degree inforest ecology (or related discipline),biology, environmental sciences, soilscience, soil chemistry, biogeochem-istry, or a related field. Experiencein carbon cycling and measurementof carbon pools and fluxes (C/N el-emental analyzer, IRGA) is a plus.Strong verbal, written, and compu-tational skills are essential. Success-ful applicants will be required towork collaboratively and indepen-dently, and conduct field work undervariable weather conditions. Appli-cants must possess a valid US driver’slicense and be able to lift and carryequipment and tools.

When applying, please forwardby email the following documents:transcript, curriculum vitae, recentGRE scores, recent TOEFL scores(international students only), coverletter (including academic, researchand professional goals and interests),and the names and contact infor-mation of three references to: Dr.Jason Hubbart (website).

MS in floodplain forest restora-tion

University of Illinois

A Graduate Research Assis-tantship (M.S.) is available startingFall 2013 in the Department of Nat-ural Resources and EnvironmentalSciences at the University of Illinois.Research will focus on the relation-ship between hydrology and the es-tablishment of restored floodplainforest. The ideal candidate will havea strong interest in applied ecologyand a B.S. in ecology, botany, envi-ronmental science or a related dis-cipline. Preference will be given toapplicants with experience in fieldresearch, GIS or the flora of theMidwestern U.S. Interested students

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should contact Dr. Jeff Matthews andinclude a statement of research inter-ests and experience, GPA, and GREscores and percentile ranks. The se-lected candidate will be supportedwith a stipend and tuition waiver.To be selected, a candidate must beadmitted to the graduate program inNatural Resources and Environmen-tal Sciences (see website for programinformation and application instruc-tions).

MSc in poplar biology

Department of Renewable Re-

sources, University of Alberta

A MSc position is available tostudy adaptive traits related togrowth performance in hybrid poplarclones.

Poplars are common in manyNorth American forest types. Popu-

lus species and their hybrids havebeen planted for wood and fiber pro-duction, as well as for emerging ap-plications such as biomass and bio-fuel production, and phytoremedia-tion. Much fundamental and appliedresearch has focused on poplar biol-ogy. Populus is also the forest tree ofchoice for genomics.

In this particular project, we arestudying differences in growth ofvarious inter-specific poplar hybrids.Trees will be planted outside in2013, and growth patterns will belinked with differences in allocationof biomass to roots versus leaves,wood anatomy, and other potentiallyadaptive traits.

Funding: NSERC funding; a Stan-dard Graduate Stipend can be of-fered. Students with an educationalbackground in plant ecology, phys-iology, forestry, climate change orother related areas are encouragedto apply. Strong verbal, written, andanalytical skills are essential. Hav-ing a valid driver’s license would bean asset. Selection of students willbe based on academic achievements,reference letters, and, if applicableprevious research experience.

To apply or to inquire about theposition, email Dr. Uwe Hacke. Senda copy of your transcripts, a CV, con-

tact information of two academic ref-erees, and a statement of interest.

Field Stations

No items this issue.

Courses

Training workshop on agentbased modelling techniques

13-17 May

Bournemouth University, UK

Last places remaining!

SPONSORED BY FEG!Agent based models (ABMs) are

increasingly being recognised as avaluable tool to address a wide rangeof ecological research problems. Re-cent technological developments inboth software and computing hard-ware provide unprecedented oppor-tunities to ecologists to build power-ful ABMs, which can be used to sim-ulate the behaviour of populationsof individuals, and to understandthe emergent properties of ecologi-cal systems. However, relatively fewecologists have taken advantage ofthese opportunities to date, becauseof the difficulty of learning and get-ting started with a new method. Thissituation has been greatly improvedby the recent publication of ‘Agentbased and individual based mod-elling: a practical introduction’, bySteven Railsback and Volker Grimm.This provides the first hands-on, prac-tical textbook to lead classes or in-dividuals through the basics of de-signing, implementing, and analyz-ing models. This focuses on the useof Netlogo, an open source program-ming language that has proved to bean outstandingly useful piece of soft-ware for scientists and students touse as they learn agent-based model-ing — and to continue using for manykinds of very serious research. It isboth an incredibly powerful and easy-to-use platform.

We are offering a short course offive days duration to provide an in-

troduction to the use of Netlogo tobuild ecological models. This shouldbe of interest to both postgraduatestudents and academic staff who areinterested in learning these skills.The course tutor will be Dr StevenRailsback, who is an adjunct pro-fessor at Humboldt State University,California, and a consulting environ-mental engineer. He will be sup-ported by Dr. Juergen Groeneveld ofthe Department of Ecological Mod-eling, Helmholtz Center for Environ-mental Research, Leipzig. Both tutorshave extensive experience of usingand teaching use of Netlogo to buildABMs.

Course fees are £600, which in-cludes light refreshments, lunch, anda BES sponsored evening event. BESmembers will be offered a special dis-counted rate of £250. Current PhDstudents from any institution will beoffered a special discounted rate of£250. Contact Gill Seaton for furtherdetails and booking information, orsee the website.

Fungi for Forest Ecologists

by MARTHA CROCKATT

8 October

The John Krebs Field Station,Wytham, Oxford, UK

SPONSORED BY FEG!Fungi are vital to forest ecosys-

tem functioning through their rolesas plant symbionts and decomposers.The impact of fungi within forestsis often not fully acknowledged orunderstood within mainstream for-est ecology. This workshop will en-able forest ecologists to learn directlyfrom mycologists about the basicfunctions of fungi within forests, andhow this knowledge might be appliedto, or influence, their research. Con-tent will focus on saprotrophic andmycorrhizal fungi. The day wouldconsist of taught sessions in themorning, followed by a field visit andfinal discussion. Costs are likely to be£68 for the day (£35 students). Forfurther details and bookings [email protected].

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Waxcaps and Wood-pastureFungi Identification Workshops

9 October

Longshaw, Peak District, UK

Ian Rotherham and colleagues areorganising another 1-day workshopwith a field visit during autumn 2013following on from their successfulevent in 2012. The workshop will bean introduction to the ecological im-portance of wood-pasture fungi espe-cially waxcaps at one of the UK’s bestsites for the species. The day will in-clude field identification of species aswell as looking at their characteris-tics in the classroom. The workshopwill be suitable for beginners, thosewho want to brush up on their fieldskills, and for those who want to gaina greater understanding of the im-portance of wood-pasture fungi as in-dicators of an older landscape. Formore information and to be senta booking form for the workshops,please contact Christine Handley.

Arti les

Forests, Trees and LivelihoodsThe Editor of Forests, Trees and

Livelihoods, Hubert de Foresta, callsfor the submission of high qualitymanuscripts to be considered for pub-lication in this global journal.

Covering the diversity of treebased systems within the field of ru-ral development, the journal is con-cerned with:

• Economic and social importanceof trees including their culturalsignificance, potential for en-hanced livelihood benefits andthe alleviation of poverty.

• Non timber forest products andthe various ecosystem services de-rived from trees, at various spatialscales.

• The management of forests andtrees outside forests, for en-hanced livelihood benefits - in-cluding indigenous tree and forestmanagement systems.

• The role of trees in a contextof change, including mitigationof and adaptation to, climatechange.

• Policies and institutional issuesrelated to rural developmentforestry and agroforestry, includ-ing policy implementation.

Make a valuable contributionto the globally recognised Forests,Trees and Livelihoods, by sendingyour manuscript for consideration [email protected] (website).

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Page 16: Forest Ecology Bulletin - British Ecological Society€¦ · Forest Ecology Bulletin Introduction by MARKUS EICHHORN In idle moments I follow the eruption of Tolbachik volcano in

Dates for the Diary

If you haven’t booked for INTECOL 2013 in London yet, then here are some additional incentives. There are atotal of FIVE symposia dedicated to forest ecology (two of which are sponsored by FEG), plus SIX ordinary sessions,and at least TWO workshops (one of which is again sponsored by FEG). In other words, it’s the biggest forest ecologyconference of the year!

2013

• 13-17 May AmeriDendro Tucson, AZ (website)

• 17-18 May Shadows & Ghosts: Lost Woods in the Landscape Sheffield Hallam University, UK (website)

• 16-21 May 3rd International Congress on Planted Forest Planted forests on the globe: Renewable resources forthe future Lisbon (website)

• 22-26 May International Cork Fair Coruche, Portugal (website)

• 13-14 June Farm Woodland Forum and Forest Ecology Group Joint Meeting The past, present and future of

agroforestry in the UK Falkland Centre for Stewardship, Falkland, Fife, Scotland (website)

• 21-25 June Evolution Snowbird, UT (website)

• 26-30 June IAVS Vegetation patterns and their underlying processes Tartu, Estonia (website)

• 23-27 June ATBC-OTS New Frontiers in Tropical Biology: Next 50 Years San José, Costa Rica (website)

• 4-9 August ESA Sustainable Pathways: Learning From the Past and Shaping the Future Minneapolis, MN (website)

• 18-23 August INTECOL 11: Ecology: Into the Next 100 Years London, UK (website)

• 17-20 September 17th Evolutionary Biology Meeting Marseilles, France (website)

• 19-20 September Central African Forests and Institutions Paris, France (website)

• 23-27 September European Forest Institute Our forests in the 21st century – ready for risks and opportunities?

Nancy, France (website)

• 8-10 October Wildland Fire in the Appalachians Roanoke, VA (website)

2014

• 13-15 January American Society of Naturalists Next generation naturalists: new perspectives on integrating

evolution ecology and behavior Asilomar Conference Center, CA (website)

• 19-23 May Association for Fire Ecology Large Wildland Fires: Social, Political & Ecological Effects Missoula, MT(website)

• 28 June - 4 July International Statistical Ecology Conference Montpellier, France (website)

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