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.

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.