Limnology Underdogs: the local and global importance of pond ecosystems

Dr. Meredith Holgerson spoke at ESF about "Limnology Underdogs: the local and global importance of pond ecosystems" during a joint presentation of ESF's Adaptive Peaks Seminar Series  and the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series on April 6.

Ponds are studied far less than larger water bodies, but they are globally abundant.  They are often viewed as smaller versions of lakes, but as Holgerson demonstrates, they are ecological hotspots with unique rates of interception and retention of nutrients and sediments, methane emission, and carbon storage, resulting in different functionality.

Dr. Holgerson is a freshwater ecologist and Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University.  She holds a BS from Denison University, MS from ESF (EFB; MP James Gibbs), and a PhD from Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She was previously an Assistant professor at St. Olaf Univeristy and completed a David H. Smith Conservation Research Postdoctoral Fellowship

A recording is available 
https://video.syr.edu/media/t/1_wsb6ivan.   This event was sponsored by the Department of Environmental Biology, SUNY ESF and the ESF Women's Caucus.  

Information on the WiSE Speaker Series can be found at http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus. Upcoming events and lectures at SUNY ESF can be found on the college’s calendar: https://www.esf.edu/calendar/ 

Re-usable menstrual products

ESF has received a $5,000 award to further look holistically at the campus' materials ecosystem and to build a zero-waste campus infrastructure that effectively addresses accessibility, equity, and systemic oppression from the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling (NYSAR3) and the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP21). 

With the grant, ESF will purchase menstrual cups and materials for reusable pads. This effort will build upon the College's zero-waste and inclusivity goals and move closer to becoming a zero-waste campus by 2025. ESF launched its campus-wide composting program in August 2019 and has seen a 27 percent decrease in trash (by weight) since that time.

Lack of access to menstrual products (AKA "Period Poverty") also negatively impacts quality of life for far too many individuals.  Such supplies are in constant demand at food pantries and other social support structures.  This can prevent full participation in school and field work; menstrual cups in particular can  Thus the Office of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity has also pledged funds, and the Baobab Society has pledged their supplies of menstrual cups that the had purchased for a tabling event for Womyn's Herstory Month, as well as assistance in tabling.  As a cost saving measure, PIs budgeted funds for fabric, rather than cloth pads, and hope to recruit student groups and volunteers to make pads, and to teach others to do the same.

Read the press release from The Office of Communications & Marketing here.

Information on menstrual products in more ESF restrooms

Shared via "CampusNews"

Dear ESF Campus Community,

Over winter break, the Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Committee worked with the Facilities Department to provide free menstrual products in every restroom on campus. These products have previously been available in women’s restrooms, but have now been placed in men’s and all-gender restrooms as well. A list of locations of women’s, all-gender, single-occupant, and accessible restrooms is available from the ESF Women’s Caucus: https://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/documents/bathrooms.pdf.

The reasoning behind placing menstrual products in all restrooms is simple: there are people on our campus who find themselves in need of these products, and they should have easy access to them. The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) states that all restrooms may be used by any person regardless of gender identity or expression. Women are not the only people who menstruate, and people of all genders should be able to access menstrual health products in any restroom they enter.  The products are in small bins with lids, and can be easily avoided by those who are not in need of them.

One question that has been posed to the Committee is whether these products should be limited to the all-gender restrooms on campus. All-gender restrooms are very limited on campus; some buildings don’t have any, or lack quickly navigable paths to those in other buildings.  Timing access to these products when needed for ¼ of each month can be a challenge.  If any period is extra heavy, or a person also has a mobility challenge or an extra time constrained schedule, the difficulty to reach an all-gender restroom would be far greater. Many folks who menstruate have preferred products and will only be using what’s in the baskets when they don’t have time or funds to get what works best for them. Lacking access to these products can negatively impact access to education and to work.

The IDE Committee is proud to be part of this initiative to promote equitable access to necessary health products for our entire campus community.

For more information on this and other inclusion, diversity, and equity initiatives, please visit www.esf.edu/ide. Additional information and resources regarding GENDA can be found via the New York Transgender Advocacy Group website at https://www.nytag.org/genda. Any questions, concerns, or ideas can be addressed to [revised contact: Heather Engelman, engelman@esf.edu]. 

Best,

Jules Findlay (they/them)

Coordinator of Education Abroad

Office of International Education

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

9 Old Greenhouse · 1 Forestry Drive · Syracuse, NY 13210

https://www.esf.edu/studyabroad/

The Ocean is Losing its Breath: A Marine Scientist’s Call for Action

For years, ESF has celebrated Earth Week, a long-standing tradition where instead of only celebrating Earth day on April 22^nd, the school plans an entire week of events in order to celebrate what defines our campus community: a shared love of the environment.

Now a tradition for staff, faculty, and students alike, this year’s Earth Week had a variety of community clean-ups, sustainability-themed events, and guest speakers.  Amongst these speakers was Dr. Denise Breitburg, a Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland. As a part of the semester long Adaptive Peaks seminar series, Dr. Brietburg’s lecture, “The Ocean is Losing its Breath,” presented an overview of ocean deoxygenation, its effects, and its solutions.

As the leader of the Global Ocean Oxygen Network, Dr. Breitburg has now invested years into researching various anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment. In the beginning of her talk, Breitburg was very quick to clarify, “I’m also talking about coastal waters like estuaries, and also semi-enclosed seas like the Baltic sea, and not just the open ocean.”

Following her introduction, Dr. Breitburg immediately jumped into her presentation. First, she acknowledged that low oxygen levels do occur naturally in the ocean, however, the current concern amongst marine scientists is that oxygen is now declining beyond areas where these naturally low levels have been traditionally observed.

According to her presentation, ocean oxygen levels globally have dropped 2%. While to many, a 2% decline in oxygen does not sound substantial, declining oxygen levels affect organism of all sizes. Specifically, a lack of oxygen affects an organism’s ability to respirate, photosynthesize, and reproduce. While marine deoxygenation has many causes, Dr. Breitburg stated that the primary sources of this global phenomenon are agriculture, human waste, and the burning of fossil fuels.

When discussing any environmental problem many people are often left wondering what they can do to make a difference, especially communities that are inland and like Syracuse, NY, thousands of miles from the nearest ocean. But, Dr. Brietburg pointed out that “it is not all gloom and doom” and that there are actions that we can take.

Dr. Brietburg presented many different pathways for one to make a difference. She pointed out that while we have developed an incredible understanding of the impact of ocean deoxygenation on the marine environment, there is currently no thorough research on the impact of ocean deoxygenation on us. She then explained that, by extending research on this issue to its impact on human health, we can raise awareness of the severity of this ocean deoxygenation, and gain the attention of politicians and other global forces who have the power to influence this problem. Aside from further research, she recommended changes in various agricultural and aquaculture systems. Furthermore, she said with a serious tone, “carbon capture and sequestration need to be added to the equation.”

During her conclusion, Dr Breitburg stated, “The big challenge is to increase engagement, both with civil society, and policy makers. And to do that, we need to increase and improve our communication on these issues.”

While ESF offers a few courses, and a minor in marine science, it is not often that a marine scientist visits campus. While ocean deoxygenation is like all environmental issues- complicated, Dr. Breitburg instilled hope within her audience, and showed that with further research, communication, and engagement with policy-makers, solutions to this issue are not as far-fetched as they might seem.

Dr. Breitburg directs SERC’s Marine & Estaurine Ecology Lab and thinks up new ways to investigate the impacts of dead zones and acidification on Chesapeake Bay’s fish and invertebrates.  Breitburg has also served as  Participating Faculty, Graduate Program in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences, University of Maryland System.  She was previously Curator, Marine/Estuarine Ecology, Ichthyology, at The Academy of Natural Sciences, Estuarine Research Center and Adjunct Professor, and Graduate Faculty member within other departments at the University of Maryland.   She earned a BS and MA in Biology from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara,  where she looked at Marine and estuarine ecology; relationship between behavior and community ecology; and the behavior and ecology of fishes.

This chapter in the Adaptive Peaks Speaker Series is cross-listed with Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions and is sponsored by Department of Environmental and Forest Biology and ESF Women's Caucus.  As part of the requirements for FOR496/497 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on presentations in the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The preceding was prepared by Lydia Torres, BS 2019, Environmental Studies, with a concentration in Environment, Communication, and Society and a Minor in Environmental Writing & Rhetoric. 

Record breaking enrollment at Girls' Summit

Over 100 girls were inspired by women at ESF and in the greater Syracuse Community!  Girls learned about Paper Science, Manufacturing Engineering, Medicine, Physical Therapy, Environmental Engineering, Meteorology and other fields. Thank you so much to presenters:
Focused Physical Exam: Amylisa Christophe, Omoefe Ebhohimen, Alexis Sykes, Upstate Medical University
Evaluation & Treatment of Common Sports Injuries: Mary Mauro-Bertolo, Physical Therapist
How did it Survive? Kim Oswald, Emma Buckardt, Andrew Meashaw, Sierra Coathrup, Jessie Smith, ESF Student Environmental Education Coalition (SEEC)
How clouds Form/The Use of Clouds to predict weather: Katie St. Denis, Solvay High
Jill of All  Trades: Mel Menon, Rose DelVecchio-Darco Manufacturing; Kate Anechiarico- Haun Welding; Patty Golicki and Rebecca Plumpton, -Northeast Region Council of  Carpenters, and Salma Muse, Chloe Connors, Ailiyah Morris, and Desaree Seals. Syracuse P-TECH
Paper and Bioproducts: Dr. Biljana Bujanovic and Service Track students, ESF Department of Paper and BioProcess Engineering
Mercury in Food Webs: Dr. Roxanne Razavi, ESF Department of Environmental and Forest Biology
Designing A Green City with Stormwater Management: Isabelle Horvath, Erin Cuddihy, Elena Araya, Meghan Medwid, ESF's ERE Club
College Readiness Panel: Mel Menon, facilitator;  Panelists: Robertha Barnes (Upstate), Diana Wilson (ESF), Blessy Bethel (LeMoyne), Desaree Seals (Syracuse P-TECH/OCC), Nyell Lopez (Syracuse Univ)
Tower Challenge: Bristol-Myers Squibb

Dr. Nacoulma explores Elephant Attacks on Baobab Trees in Burkina Faso

On February 22, 2018, Dr. Blandine Marie Ivette Nacoulma - a Fulbright Scholar from University Ouaga 1 Professor Joseph KI-ZERBO serving at University of California, Davis as an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science – presented “Why do elephants attack Baobab trees in protected areas of Burkina Faso? Toward the elaboration of a strategy for species conservation.”  This presentation was a join presentation of SUNY ESF’s Advaptive Peaks Seminar Series and the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The Department of Environmental and Forest Biology Department sponsored the seminar with the Fulbright Outreach Lecturing Fund and the ESF Women’s Caucus. 

            Dr. Nacoulma discussed a variety of characteristics of Baobab trees that may indicate a high likelihood of elephant attack, in which the tree is debarked to some degree, including bark texture, bark color, tree shape, and diameter at breast height (dbh).  The research area consisted of a group of protected areas or parks with various management plans in Eastern Burkina Faso.  As this research is ongoing, final conclusions were not presented.

            The presentation began with extensive background information regarding the setting of this research: Dr. Nacoulma’s home country, Burkina Faso, which is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Dr. Nacoulma also provided a primer on the country’s “Big Two” species.  Elephants and Baobab trees are “charismatic flagship and keystone species” important to ecology and economy of the region, and “indirectly in conflict.”    The Baobab trees surveyed for Dr. Nacoulma’s research were found within three adjacent protected areas in Eastern Burkina Faso, each within a different ecological zone and with a corresponding management plans: Arli National Park, W Burkina Faso National Park, and Pama Reserve.  In these areas, debarking of Baobab trees by elephants has been observed repeatedly.  Only one other study exploring this phenomenon has been completed in Western Africa.

  Dr. Nacoulma’s research utilized feedback and input from local people to identify distinct characteristics of Baobab trees, including bark texture (smooth, rough, and cracked), bark color (pink, white, dark, and intermediate), tree shape (“broom”, flattened, round, and “sunshade”), and tree size (dbh).  Tree size was the only characteristic that had a noticeable correlation to debarking, in that larger trees were more likely to have been attacked.  No other measured characteristics had significant correlation to elephant attacks, indicating that these characteristics do not predispose the trees to attack.  Nutrient analyses are still underway.

Local people provided potential reasons that elephants attack Baobab trees, including for a nutritional supplement, as a source of water, because of a need to destroy, and because elephants compete with Baobab trees to be the largest organism on the landscape.  Finally, local people gave suggestions on how to address the problem and protect the trees, including fencing in each tree, providing additional water holes for elephants, planting more Baobab trees, and culling the elephant population. 

During the discussion the day prior and the reception following her presentation, Dr. Naclouma shared many interesting stories about her country’s economy and the financial benefits of Baobab trees. It is obvious that Baobab trees facing threats from the unsustainable tourism and illegal hunting which very common in Africa.

Dr. Nacoulma holds a Ph.D. in Plant Biology and Ecology from the University of Ouagadougou, where she focuses on the diversity, production, uses, ethno-ecology, ethnobotany and conservation of indigenous trees important for the livelihood of rural communities in Burkina Faso. Dr. Nacoulma is studying the functional traits of the baobab as a baseline for its conservation. 

The next presentation in the WiSE Professions series will be March 27, 2018 with Dr. Christine O’Connell of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science “Communicating science to the public.”  For more information about the WiSE Professions Series, please visit http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/Speakers.htm or the SUNY ESF’s Women’s Caucus at http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/. 

As part of the requirements of FOR496/797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series.  The preceding was prepared by:  Xue Dong, PhD student in Environmental and Forest Biology; Megan Gorss, a BS student majoring in Natural Resources Management, in the Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management Department; and Colin Mettey, a MS student focusing on Ecology in the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology.

Dams as a model for shared decision making and management.

How do we communicate for social-ecological resilience? Communication research to connect science with coastal and freshwater management and policy.

As part of the requirements for FOR797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on presentations in ESF's Women in Scientific and Environmental Speaker Series.  The following was prepared by Mariela Cavo, MS student, Forest and Natural Resources and Management, SUNY ESF.

Dr. Bridie McGreavy, Assistant Professor of Environmental Communication in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Maine, studies communication within sustainability science teams in coastal and freshwater management contexts. She is currently the lead investigator on the New England Sustainability Consortium’s Future of Dams Project. This project, funded by NSF-EPSCoR, links science with decision making about systems of dams.

              On January 26, 2017, Dr. McGreavy launched this semesters Adaptive Peaks and Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions (WiSE Professions) Speaker series with the preliminary results of her research Save Beaches and Shellfish.  Her presentation focused on answering the questions, “How do we communicate for social-ecological resilience?” and, “How do we  link science with decision making related to coastal and freshwater management and policy?”

              Attention was first put on describing the most challenging ecological, economic and social-cultural threats identified by the project: the coast of New England has been warming at a higher rate than other similar areas.   They have noticed significant changes in precipitation, t various kinds of pollution in the area, and a green crab invasion because of the increase in temperature. It was also noted that the decline of resources like clams, as well as the price fluctuation and the market power in the shellfish market, have been making stakeholder’s income prediction quite challenging, leading to economic uncertainty. Regarding the social and cultural aspects, the clam industry was identified as the second most important industry in the area of Maine.  The fisheries industry faces pressing social and cultural issues, including biases, restricted access to new technology, and the decline of local knowledge, cultural traditions, and food sources.  In addition, the physically demanding work puts workers at risk of pain and injury, which can lead to opiate and alcohol addiction. 

              The research in question has found that a well-designed “co-management strategy” could improve the shellfish industry. To date, this industry has been co-managed with shared decision making among the fishery industry, municipalities, state agencies, civic groups and private businesses. Co-management is most effective when well designed with opportunities to implement knowledge gained from research.  Topic areas include water quality, natural resources management and barriers to participation. 

Dr. McGreavy also depicted the methods they use to communicate social ecological resilience: incentivizing the participation of the different stakeholders, using an adaptive and iterative engagement through interviews to share information regarding the progress and to get feedback, and being responsive to information and partnership needs. Regarding the linking of science with decision-making for resilience, the project has a decision support team that has been mainly focused on watershed cluster analysis.  

Learning from failure, partnership redundancy and diversity, getting muddy with stakeholders create a shared, dynamic experience that help mold the deliberate, conceptual framework.   To conclude, the professor recommended conducting yearly needs assessments with the towns, improving and leveraging fishermen’s forums, exploring organizational restructuring to expand shellfish science and monitoring, building municipal partnership and infrastructure and increasing the sharing of the information and collaboration across sectors.  

Dr. McGreavy received her B.A. in Political Science from Bates College, her M.S. in Environmental Studies/Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England, and her Ph.D. in communication with a concentration in sustainability science from the University of Maine. Her research has been published in journals such as Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture, Ecology and Society, and the International Journal of Sustainable Development.

This presentation was sponsored by the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, with the assistance of the ESF Women’s Caucus. For more information about SUNY ESF’s Adaptive Peaks Seminar Series, please visit http://www.esf.edu/efb/calendar.asp.  For the WiSE Professions series, please visit:  http://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/speakers.htm.  

               

               

Dittmar presents: Evolution and Ecology of Bat Parasites

Dr. Katharina Dittmar

 

 

As part of the requirements of FOR496 Women in Environmental Careers, students share the responsibility of reporting on the presentations of the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions.  The following was prepared by Julia Hart and Becca Sheetz.

Ever wondered about the genetic variation in the microorganisms in ectoparasites of bats and what impact that has on people? Evolutionary Biologist Dr. Katharina Dittmar of SUNY Buffalo addressed this topic on March 5 on the SUNY ESF Syracuse Campus.

            

 Dr. Dittmar’s lecture focused on the three tiered interaction of blood feeding parasites of bats, bat flies and microbiota in the flies. These relationships that exist between these organisms were previously vastly under-researched. Her research focused on the phylogeny of the bat flies, microbiological communities and interactions, and horizontal gene transfer within microbiota in the bat flies.

Investigating the development of the pupal stages of the bat flies brings forth the ability to research how the flies develop their internal biota. This is important because it helps to determine the function of the bacteria within the bat fly’s system. This sheds light on how the bacteria are passed down between generations of the flies and help define interactions between bat flies, microbes and mammals.

SEM of Megistopoda, courtesy K. Dittmar

Understanding these functions is not only important for the echological contributions to science but also the human health aspect that goes along with these organisms (for example, when people talk about bats being causal agents of disease). It's hard to imagine these seemingly illusive mammals as significant vectors of disease, even though bats may carry different human pathogens. Dr. Dittmar’s research makes the transmission of the diseases in ectoparasites in bat flies relevant to us in not only a scientific way but also a far more intimate fashion.

Dr. Dittmar currently serves as the director if the Graduate program in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at SUNY Buffalo.  Her main focus is the evolutionary history of blood-feeding arthropod vectors, specifically the orders Diptera and Siphonaptera. She also collaborated with Prof. Joyce Hwang of the SUNY Buffalo Architecture Department on the “Bat Cloud”, which won the 2012 Animal Architecture Award In addition to her academic research, Dr. Dittmar teaches courses on Evolutionary Genetics; Medical Entomology and Parisology; Microbial Genomics; and a Colloquium in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior.  She also collaborated with Prof. Joyce Hwang of the SUNY Buffalo Architecture Department on the “Bat Cloud”, which won the 2012 Animal Architecture Award. She holds a DVM, and was a practicing veterinarian prior to earning a PhD in Parasitology from the University of Leipzig.  She has completed postdocs in Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, and Population Biology at Bingham Young Unversity and the University of Wyoming.

Dr. Dittmar’s presentation was a joint presentation of the Adaptive Peaks and the Women andScientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series.  Her visit was sponsored by the ESF Women’s Caucus and the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology.