Previous Applied Biodiversity Science Seminars

“… they [fragmentation & climate change] represent crucial test cases for the science of ecology and evolutionary biology.

… if we as community ecologists cannot predict the patterns of diversity change associated with these global onslaughts, one has to wonder just what community ecology can predict.”

– Peter Kareiva, Joel Kingsolver & Raymond Huey (1993, pg 6)

This struck me as a potential indictment of my discipline. I believed (and still do) that ecology is a predictive science, and if that is true then we should certainly be able to meet Kareiva et al.’s challenge! So I slowly started to work on the question “are the ecological impacts of climate change predictable?” Notice that this question is subtly but importantly different from the question: “what will be the ecological impacts of climate change?” Over the years I have thought long and hard about the first question, and of course this necessitated thinking about the second as well. In this presentation I will illuminate, using examples from my own research and that of others, the very real difficulties that ecologists face in providing meaningful and robust predictions of the biological impacts of climate change. I will conclude, to co-opt a quote from the artist Francis Bacon, that I am: “Optimistic, and utterly without hope.”

Thursday, Sept 27, 4-5pm, 2405 Memorial Student Center (MSC)

Protected Areas of Mexico: A Place in the Geography of Hope

Presented by Dr. Ernesto Enkerlin- Hoeflich, Leader of Legacy for Sustainability

Friday, Sept 28, 11:15am-12:15pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

Cross-pollination Seminar

Presented by Fiona Wilmot, Department of Geography

Thursday, October 4, 4-5pm, 110 KOLDUS (JJKB)

Building Capital to Enhance Sustainability

Presented by Dr. Urs Kreuter, Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University (website)

Thursday, October 18, 10:30-11:30am, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

Cross-pollination Seminar: Stories stakeholders tell: Environmental Governance of the Manas National Park and Biosphere Reserve (Northeastern India)

Presented by Dhanajaya Katju, Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Science

Monday, October 22, 6:30pm, The Village in downtown Bryan (website)

Fall 2012 Film Screening of QUEEN OF THE SUN

Tuesday, October 23, 1-2pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

Cross-pollination Seminar: Environmental effects on male traits in hybrid populations of northern swordtails Xiphophorus malinche x birchmanni

Presented by Pablo Delclos, Department of Biology (website)

Thursday, November 8, 4-5pm, 2404 Memorial Student Center (MSC)

Local cultural models of conservation and organization legitimacy: A comparison across scales

Presented by Dr. Jane Packard, Associate Professor, Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website)

Tuesday, November 20, 4-5pm, 2404 Memorial Student Center (MSC)

Advancing trait-based ecology for the conservation of freshwater biodiversity

Presented by Dr. Julian Olden, Associate Professor, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington (website)

Tuesday, Nov 27, 4-5pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

Cross-pollination Seminar: Identifying Priority Sites for the Conservation of the Migratory Endangered Bat Leptonycteris nivalis in the United States and Northern Mexico

Presented by Emma Gómez, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences

Thursday, November 29, 4-5pm, 2404 Memorial Student Center (MSC)

Sea otters, kelp forests, and coastal communities: ecosystem services amongst trophic cascades

Presented by Dr. Kai Chan, Associate Professor in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at University of British Columbia (website)

Abstract: The diversity of life on earth is under serious threats from multiple human-related causes, and science plays well-known roles in addressing management aspects of this problem. My presentation will describe how natural history also plays a vital role in enhancing our appreciation for organisms and environments, thereby influencing the value judgments that ultimately underlie all conservation. I will first explain how an 18th century philosopher’s distinction between “beauty” and “sublime” can be used in the context of Darwin’s notion of “descent with modification,” then illustrate this approach with frogs, rattlesnakes, the African megafauna, Longhorn Cattle, and California Condors.

Biography: Harry W. Greene got a B.A. from Texas Wesleyan College in 1968 and served as an army medic for three years. He earned his M.A. from University of Texas at Arlington in 1973 and Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1977. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley for two decades, then moved to Cornell in 1999 as a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He has studied the behavioral ecology, evolution, and conservation of predators in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and most recently Brazil and the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Harry’s honors include the Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award, American Society of Naturalists’ Edward Osborne Wilson Award, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, president of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, and most recently Cornell’s Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellowship. HisSnakes: the Evolution of Mystery in Nature won a PEN Literary Award and made the New York Times’ list of “100 Most Notable Books.” At Cornell he’s taught introductory biology, herpetology, desert ecology, and graduate field ecology, and his next book, Tracks and Shadows: Field Biology as Art, is nearing completion.

Friday, January 27, 12-1pm, 308 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

Pleistocene Re-wilding: Lions in a Den of Daniels?

Presented by Dr. Harry Greene, Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University (website)

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Thursday, September 15, 2011, 4-5pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

Cross-pollination Seminar

Nick Jacobsen, PhD Student, Dept. of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Science, Texas A&M University

Abstract: Human persecution is the most serious and direct threat to many large carnivore populations. Conversely, large carnivores threaten the lives and livelihoods of local people all over the world, especially people who raise livestock. Human-predator conflicts have been the focus of considerable scholarship over the past 30 years. An overriding concern has been determining the conditions under which local people tolerate predators, and the prospects for long-term coexistence between people and wildlife. Yet, the social and ecological pre-conditions for tolerance and coexistence are extremely complex. I propose to investigate human-predator relationships in the Okavango Delta region of Botswana. The Okavango Delta supports some of the highest densities and diversity of wildlife in Africa, and as such has become an important wildlife tourism destination. Specifically, it supports high densities of the complete guild of large African carnivores (lions, leopards, hyenas, cheetahs, and African wild dogs). Since 1982, a “buffalo fence” has transected the Delta and divided protected wildlife management areas from livestock and farming land. The fence was designed to prevent the transmission of disease from wildlife to domestic livestock, and thus to protect the European Union beef market where Botswana exports much of its beef. But because it also serves as a legal boundary that separates wildlife management areas from grazing areas, it has helped shape the relationships between local communities and their environment and with predators in particular. My main objective is to investigate how this national-level policy has impacted both human and predator communities (and the relationships between them) at the local level. My methods include a comparative ethnographic study of two human communities, located 30 km. from each other but on opposite sides of the buffalo fence. Simultaneously (in collaboration with a local NGO), I will employ various ecological methods (camera trapping, call-back stations, radiotelemetry) to determine the population structures of sympatric large predator species on each side of the fence. Specifically, I will measure how livelihood strategy (which varies significantly on each side of the fence) has impacted perceptions and tolerance of predators, as well as the population dynamics of those predators. This comparison will inform understanding of large predator conservation and human-predator conflict both in Botswana and more generally.

Thursday, October 6, 2011, 4-5pm, 510 Rudder Tower (RDER)

Social Networks for Biodiversity Conservation

Dr. Scott Loarie, Post-doctoral Fellow at the Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution, Stanford University (website)

Abstract: Social networks have revolutionized the way people share information across the internet. The volume of plant and animal photographs shared on sites like Facebook and Flickr has outpaced specimen collection efforts by museums governments and academics. But this information has yet to be harnessed for science and conservation. iNaturalist.org, a social network for naturalist, aims to connect amateurs and experts to convert photos of biodiversity shared on the web into useful data for science and conservation. This summer, in partnership with the Smithsonian, IUCN/SSC, and others iNaturalist launched the Global Amphibian Bioblitz, an effort to census every species of amphibian. In the first three months, the effort yielded over 700 distinct species (~10% of the world’s amphibian species) from 55 countries around the world. The effort peaked the interest of those interested in engaging the public about conservation as well as concern from groups combating collecting and poaching. The success of efforts like the Global Amphibian Bioblitz reveals the potential of citizen-science through social networks as a scalable and cost-effective new tool for monitoring global biodiversity.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011, 1-2pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

Cross-pollination Seminar: Mapping social, ecological, and managerial attributes: A spatial analysis of Hinchinbrook Island National Park, Australia

Carena Van Riper, PhD Student, Dept. of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Science, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: Coastal ecosystems are increasingly faced with human impacts on the natural environment. To better understand the processes that lead to changes in these social ecological systems (SES), spatial planning and management is used to incorporate biophysical data alongside social data related to human uses and valuation of natural resources. Within this literature, ecological and economic values have been widely recognized; however, relatively little attention has been directed toward understanding and integrating perceived social values into comprehensive assessments of human-environment interactions. My preliminary dissertation research spatially analyzes the relationship among social, ecological, and managerial attributes of Hinchinbrook Island National Park and the adjacent waters, located in tropical northeast Queensland, Australia. The SES of Hinchinbrook is an extraordinarily diverse ecosystem that supports species of conservation concern, outdoor recreation activities (e.g., fishing, overnight hiking), and a layered jurisdiction among management agencies. My primary objectives are to: 1) identify places considered important through a social attribute mapping survey administered on-site June – October, 2011 (n ≈ 250); 2) spatially locate places of ecological importance based on the occurrence of suitable habitat for endangered and vulnerable species; and 3) examine management zoning that illustrates current efforts to address resource protection and the provision of outdoor recreation opportunities. A secondary objective is to differentiate among subgroups that are clustered by the worldviews of anthropocentrism and biocentrism to reveal complexities in the interactions among social, ecological, and managerial attributes in a SES. Using a GIS application that employs Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) modeling, I will determine “hotspots” or spatial convergence among social, ecological, and managerial attributes that may warrant increased attention because of high value and/or potential for conflict among subgroups of the surveyed populations. This research lends insight on efficacy in decisions that provide restorative experiences to sustain and fulfill human life, while furthering conservation of organisms on a biologically diverse island national park.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 4-5pm, 501 Rudder Tower (RDER)

Complex Ecological Interactions and Autonomous Pest Control: A Case Study from Coffee

Dr. Ivette Perfecto, Professor of Ecology and Natural Resources, University of Michigan (website)

Abstract: When traditional Mayan farmers talk about their farming systems they frequently describe a diverse system that prevents the emergence of pests. Like the traditional milpa system, shaded coffee farms in southern Mexico suffer relatively minor damage from pests. In this talk I will describe this diverse agroecosystem and will unveil the complex ecological interactions that result in the prevention of pest outbreaks in this shaded coffee system.

Thursday, November 3, 2011, 4-5pm, 401 Rudder Tower (RDER)

Interactions between science and management: Lessons learned from the Galapagos tortoise conservation program

Dr. James Gibbs, Professor of Conservation Biology and Wildlife Management, SUNY-ESF (website)

Abstract: Today about 20,000 Galápagos tortoises remain in the wild, reduced by perhaps 10% from their original numbers. The Ecuadorian government has supported near heroic efforts by members of the Galápagos National Park in collaboration with the Charles Darwin Research Station to maintain healthy populations of giant tortoises, including captive breeding programs that have been remarkably successful. The science of conservation biology, particularly conservation genetics, has provided critical inputs to decision-making about tortoise conservation. This seminar examines how science and management articulate within the Galapagos conservation policy realm, and looks toward the future where continuing pressures from feral animals, a burgeoning human population, and limited financial resources are cause for concern for the long-term conservation of these magnificent creatures.

Thursday, November 17, 2011, 4-5pm, 501 Rudder Tower (RDER)

Conservation of a Dune-Dwelling Lizard: From Neighborhoods to Landscapes

Dr. Lee Fitzgerald, Professor of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: A central question in conservation biology is “What allows a species to persist and what causes it to disappear?” The answer depends on the species’ life history and behavioral constraints, its role in ecological communities, and its sensitivity to landscape change. Our research on the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus) carried out over the last 18 years has revealed how their populations are organized from local neighborhoods of interacting individuals up to the distribution of the species across its geographic range. Dunes Sagebrush Lizards are habitat specialists, endemic to the Mescalero-Monahans shinnery oak sand dunes in southeastern New Mexico and adjacent Texas. They occur only in and around wind-hollowed “blowouts” in a matrix of dwarf shinnery oak trees (Quercus havardii). The quality and quantity of habitat are correlated; high quality habitat consists of many interconnected large blowouts. At the scale of habitat patches, lizards live in “neighborhoods”. Larger neighborhoods are found in higher quality habitat and produce an excess of recruits that disperse across the interconnected landscape. Poor quality habitat supports smaller neighborhoods, where recruitment fails to balance mortality. At the landscape scale, the species’ presence is associated with contiguous areas of dunes, and its absence is associated with dunes infiltrated by mesquite.

How does land-use affect the lizards and their habitat? Our results are converging on the conclusion that landscape fragmentation disrupts both the hierarchy of organization of populations and the self-organizing dynamic that maintains the shinnery dune landform. Daniel Leavitt’s dissertation research is showing that Dunes Sagebrush Lizards practically disappear from sites fragmented by dense networks of caliche roads. In this system, top-down disturbance disrupts the relationships between habitat quality, neighborhood size, and connectivity among populations.

The Dunes Sagebrush Lizard is proposed for listing as Endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service because of perceived threats of habitat loss from shinnery oak removal and landscape fragmentation associated with oil and gas development (and because FWS was sued by the Center for Biological Diversity). The lizard’s range lies in the Permian Basin, which produces about 20% of USA domestic oil supply. Not surprisingly, the proposed listing has propagated concerns that if it is listed, oil supplies and jobs will be threatened with devastating economic consequences. Candidate Conservation Agreements have been put into place in New Mexico, and are being enacted in Texas. To date, land use policies are aimed at small-scale practices such as placement of individual well pads, or pasture-by-pasture shinnery oak removal. To preserve the dynamic processes that maintain the unique landform in this system and the resulting hierarchical scaling of populations, land use policies should recognize the potential for hierarchical effects and conserve large contiguous areas of shinnery dunes.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 4-5pm, 401 Rudder Tower (RDER)

Natural Amenity-driven Migration in Costa Rica: Exploring Expats’ and Locals’ Attitudes and Behaviors Associated with Local Natural Resources

Dr. David Matarrita, Assistant Professor of Department of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Sciences, Community Development Program, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: In recent times, many Latin American communities, particularly those with natural beauty, have experienced dramatic changes driven by population growth. These communities have become popular destinations for temporal (tourists), seasonal (second homeowners), and permanent (retirees) migrants attracted by local natural amenities. Parallel to the increase in population, these amenity-rich communities experience changes in their physical environment as more demands on land use is placed. Effective locally-driven conservation efforts in such communities require the understanding of perceptions and behaviors that the different stakeholders have in regard to their natural resources. In this study, qualitative key informant interviews were conducted with local Costa Rican rural residents and expatriates predominantly from the U.S. who currently live in the amenity-rich community of Nuevo Arenal. The study intends to obtain a better understanding of the attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors that both groups have in regard to local natural resources. By gaining a better understanding of how the two main actors in this community view and use natural resources, programs and policies can be designed and re-designed to promote effective conservation practices.

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Monday, February 28, 12-2pm, 213 Nagle Hall

Cross-pollination Seminar featuring Craig Hutton.

Thursday, March 10, 4-5pm, 601 Rudder Tower (RDER)

Seminar: Using Nasonia (& Its Microbes) to Investigate the Genetics of Adaptation and Speciation
Jack Werren, Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Rochester

Co-sponsored with the Dept. of Entomology, the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program, and the Dept. of Genetics

Monday, March 21, 4-5pm, 410 Rudder Tower (RDER)

Rediscovery and Conservation Biology of Endemic Rodents in the Galapagos Islands
Dr. Robert Dowler, Department of Biology, Angelo State University

Co-sponsored with AGWAFS- (WFSC grad students)

March 24-26

The 12th Annual Ecological Integration Symposium: Disturbance, Recovery, & Ecological Implications
See website for more information: http://theeis.tamu.edu/

Thursday, March 31, 10:30am – 12:30pm, 213 Nagle Hall

Cross-pollination Seminar

Monday, April 11, 4-5pm, 410 Rudder Tower (RDER)

Benefits of group feeding in Antbirds
Presented by Dr. Johel Chaves, Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans

Co-sponsored with AGWAFS- (WFSC grad students)

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Monday, September 20, 4-5pm, 501 Rudder Tower (RDER)

A Decade of Investigating Chinese Tallow Tree Invasions in North America: What Have we Learned and Where do We Go from Here?

Dr. William E. Rogers, Associate Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) is an aggressive invader throughout the southeastern United States. For the past ten years my colleagues and I have been conducting studies examining the mechanisms contributing to its invasive success. We have also studied how invaded ecosystems are affected by tallow invasions and have made management recommendations for controlling the species in degraded areas. Our central finding is that Chinese tallow appears to have experienced post-introduction evolutionary adaptations in the introduced environment that promote rapid growth and competitive dominance. Several other recent investigations with different plant species have demonstrated similar phenomena contributing to invasiveness. This information is proving useful for understanding the factors that contribute to a successful invader, predicting potential invaders, and developing effective control strategies for problematic introduced plant species.

Tuesday, October 5, 4-5pm, 401 Rudder Tower (RDER)

Second Nature: The Case for Conservation after the Death of Nature

Dr. Kent Redford, Director, WCS Institute (website)

Abstract: In the modern world many people have declared that “nature is dead” and therefore conservation has no future. However, it is clear to many that even though humans have become the dominant evolutionary force that there much of nature remains and that conservation remains an important social value. In this talk I summarize the critiques of conservation in a human-dominated world and propose a set of ways that conservation can regain its vibrancy and improve its effectiveness.

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Friday, October 22, 4-5pm, 501 Rudder Tower (RDER)

The End Brings the Beginning: Decline, Violence, and Rebirth in a Papua New Guinean Conservation Story

Dr. Paige West, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Barnard College and Columbia University

Abstract: Papua New Guinea’s Crater Mountain Wildlife Management Area (CMWMA), a conservation-as-development project that began informally in the late1970s / early 1980s and that was solidified by national and international conservation policies and practices in the 1990s, effectively ceased to exist in March of 2005. The CMWMA, the oldest Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in the country was a 2,700 km sq. area located at the borders of the Eastern Highlands, Simbu (Chimbu), and Gulf provinces. The area that the CMWMA encompassed is home to the Gimi and Pawaia peoples who believe that their day-to-day lives and social relations with the living and dead bring their forests and the plants and animals in them into being. That land encompassed by the CMWMA matter to Gimi and Pawaia because they sustain them and are sustained by them, because they hold and tell their history, and because they are the source and the sink for their cosmological relations with the past and the future. Although neither of these socio-linguistic groups think of the world in terms of western notions of ‘value,’ conservation scientists, activists and practitioners did see Crater Mountain and the landscape around it as biologically valuable – “a natural resource of national and global importance”. They saw it as valuable for three main reasons. First, much of it is covered with forest that is highly biologically diverse with high rates of endemism. Second, the area encompassed by the Wildlife Management Area is large enough to cover the landscape between lowla Crater Mountain, thus creating a protected area that encompasses multiple natural systems under one project. And third, because there are low human population densities around Crater Mountain, it is assumed that human-generated changes to the landscape are slight. This paper describes the decline of the CMWMA and is based on eleven years of research with the architects of the conservation-as-development project, the people who implemented it and carried out its day-to-day management, the scientists who conducted research within its boundaries, and its Gimi-speaking residents. The paper also describes the decline of a program for training young Papua New Guinean scientists that grew out of the CMWMA.

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences

Tuesday, November 9, 4-5pm, 501 Rudder Tower (RDER)

Brave New Ocean

Dr. Jeremy Jackson, Professor of Oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography & Director, Center for Marine Biodiversity Conservation (website)

Abstract: Human impacts are laying the groundwork for a mass extinction in the oceans with dire implications for human well being. Synergistic effects of overfishing, pollution, and climate change are transforming once complex ecosystems like coral reefs and kelp forests into monotonous level bottoms, transforming clear and productive coastal seas into anoxic dead zones, and transforming complex food webs topped by big animals into simplified, microbially dominated ecosystems with boom and bust cycles of toxic dinoflagellate blooms, jellyfish, and disease. Rates of change are increasingly fast and nonlinear with sudden phase shifts to alternative community states that threaten fisheries, biodiversity, and human health. Saving the oceans will require fundamental changes in the ways we live and obtain food and energy for everything we do.

Co-Sponsored with the Departments of Ecosystem Science and Management & Geography

Friday, November 19, 208 Scoates Hall

Conservation as It is: Producing Wildlife in the Contested Natural Sanctuaries of India

Dr. Paul Robbins, Professor and Director of the University of Arizona School of Geography and Development (website)

Abstract: As police-like enclosures have given way to participatory management only to be supplanted by a return to fortress conservation, the problem of making wildlife conservation work has only become more muddled. Can chaotic, semi-humanized environments be controlled to protect rare endemic wildlife? Reviewing recent research at the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Reserve in Rajasthan India, findings suggest that many wildlife species – those adapted to rule-breaking and illegal grazing, including wolves, panthers, and jungle fowl – have managed to thrive, while others have declined. This has been a result not of planned management, but instead the self-organizing pattern of land use that emerges in the daily struggle for productive resources, within which animals, local people, and over-burdened foresters make do through a series of compromises, deals, and arrangements (locally: “jugaar”). This suggests that while wildlife species cannot be preserved, they might instead be produced, with implications of both sustainability and democracy.

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography

Tuesday, November 30, 4-5pm, 501 Rudder Tower (RDER)

The Hunting Footprint of Amazonian Forests: Implications to Ecosystem Structure

Dr. Carlos Peres, Senior Fellow, Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, University of East Anglia (website)

Abstract: I investigate nearly continental scale patterns of game vertebrate biomass across a large network of sampling sites surveyed over two decades throughout lowland Amazonia and the Guianan Shields. Macroecological patterns at different spatial scales are examined in terms of the historical and environmental determinants of habitat patch occupancy and species turnover. I first examine the extent and scale of the game vertebrate harvest across Amazonia. Patterns of frugivore abundance in structurally undisturbed forest sites are then explained in terms of key determinants of population densities, including forest type, floristic diversity, forest hydrology, rainfall seasonality, soil fertility and degree of hunting pressure. Regional scale estimates of aggregate frugivore biomass are highly variable and crucially dependent on the interaction between baseline habitat productivity and levels of offtake. On the basis of a large number of tree plots, I then estimate the consequences of persistent defaunation to forest structure and composition, and ultimately the magnitude of forest ecosystem services foregone by the chronic depletion of large-bodied vertebrate frugivores.

Co-Sponsored with the Departments of Ecosystem Science and Management & Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences

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Friday, January 29, 3:30-5pm, 208 Scoates Hall (SCTS)

Conservation Trade-offs and the Politics of Translation: An Integrative Approach

Dr. Peter Brosius, Professor, Department of Anthropology & Director, Center for Integrative Conservation Research , University of Georgia (website)

Abstract: A starting premise for many anthropologists is that many of the practices that define conservation—establishing and enforcing boundaries, curtailing subsistence activities, negotiating benefits—are inherently political. Anthropologists have lately recognized that the contours of power are more convoluted and more implicit than was once thought. Across a range of disciplines the theoretical landscape is defined by a concern with questions of the links between the production of knowledge and the exercise of power. Anthropologists want to know how knowledge is produced and who is empowered to produce it, how it circulates, and how some forms of expertise are considered authoritative whereas others are marginalized. In the view of many anthropologists, a critical perspective alert to matters of culture, power, and history can lead to conservation practices that are both more effective and more just. In planning for conservation, these anthropologists believe it is vital that conservation practitioners understand not only the human impact on the environment but also how that environment is constructed, represented, claimed, and contested.

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography

Tuesday, February 23, 4-5pm, 303 Computer Science Annex (CSA)

Responsible Dive Tourism at Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations: Ecology, Socio-Economics, and Community-Based Adaptive Management

Dr. William Heyman, Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: This talk will share progress on an ongoing evaluation of the possibility that an ecotourism dive industry could be used as an economic alternative to extractive fishing at multi-species reef fish spawning aggregations. Most commercially important and large Caribbean reef fishes reproduce in spatially and temporally predictable spawning aggregations, which are increasingly targeted by fishers. Marine ecotourism in the tropical Caribbean contributes a substantial portion of the region’s income. Experienced and well-travelled divers, however, are looking for new and interesting opportunities. We pose that dive tourism could replace extractive fishing in these critical areas, but only if the tourism does not cause more harm than the good that it generates. To evaluate the potential disturbance effects of divers on reef fish spawning aggregations we evaluated behavior gleaned from 9 h 22 min of digital video data collected during 1998-2008, showing 744 unique interaction events between divers and spawning reef fish. Three potential management actions are weighed for their social and economic costs and benefits as follows: controlled ecotourism, extractive fishing, or no action. Results indicate that impacts from well-managed diving are limited and we recommend a code of responsible dive tourism at reef fish spawning aggregations and a glimpse of the way forward.

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Wednesday, March 10, 3:30-5pm, 204 Harrington Education Center (HECC)

Biodiversity and Social-Ecological Resilience of Irrigated Agriculture in “Ethnodevelopment” Policies

Dr. Karl Zimmerer, Professor and Head, Department of Geography, Penn State University (website)

Abstract: My presentation describes a case study of agrobiodiversity-irrigation interactions through the continuities and changes of agrarian landscape dynamics in the Calicanto area of Bolivia between 1990 and 2002. The study´s goal is to analyze capacities of social-ecological resilience in response to ethnodevelopment-guided irrigation change. Resilience levels are estimated for a group of three central components using mixed quantiative and qualitative methods in ecology, geography, anthropology, and related fields. Estimates show moderate, moderate, and moderate-high resilience in cultivated agrobiodiversity, uncultivated agrobiodiversity, and canal woodlands, respectively. The study evaluates the roles of ethnodevelopment-type approaches to sustainability and implications for global-change policies.

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography

Tuesday, March 23, 4-5pm, 303 Computer Science Annex (CSA)

From the Amazon to the Mekong: Reconciling Conservation and Development in an Era of Climate Change

Dr. Timothy Killeen, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Applied Biodiversity, Conservation International (website)

Abstract: The goal of creating a global green economy must resolve the conflict between traditional concepts of development and conservation. Legitimate aspirations to promote economic growth and reduce poverty are driving change in both the Amazon and the Mekong river basins. Infrastructure, biofuels, mineral extraction, hydropower, and an expanding agricultural frontier are common elements in a shared development paradigm. Will efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation succeed on landscapes characterized by weak governance, entrenched poverty and powerful elites? The dimensions of this challenge and the opportunities for mitigating global warming are explored in two globally important regions that encompass two of the planets great – and still wild – rivers.

Tuesday, April 6, 4-5pm, 303 Computer Science Annex (CSA)

Ecotourism and Common Pool Resource Management

Dr. Amanda Stronza, Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: Forests, rivers, wildlife, and other common pool resources share two characteristics that have direct relevance to ecotourism. One is controlling access, and the other is preventing individuals from degrading the resource for all others. Scholars of commons management have referred to these problems as “exclusion” and “subtraction,” respectively. Ecotourism development can compound the problem of exclusion by opening commons to tour operators, tourists, and other outsiders. Ecotourism can also exacerbate the problem of subtraction by expanding the number of users and generating revenues that enable more efficient exploitation. In this light, ecotourism seems like a bad idea for conservation. On the other hand, ecotourism can provide precisely the right economic incentives and social conditions to strengthen collective management of common pool resources. These pros and cons of ecotourism for conservation will be evaluated with ethnographic evidence from four study sites in Latin America and Africa.

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Wednesday, April 14, 4-5pm, 252 Francis Hall (FRAN)

Provisional Protection: Species Protection Policy and Democracy

Dr. Elisabeth Ellis, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: Are policies to protect biodiversity compatible with democratic institutions? On the one hand, there are many instances of democratic expressions of support for the protection of fragile species; moreover, democratic theory would suggest that present-day decision-makers should not unilaterally reduce the scope of future generations’ decision-making power by allowing unique species to go extinct. On the other hand, a crucial aspect of democratic institutions is policy reversibility. Democracy depends at least in part on rotation in office and the policy fluctuations that ought to follow changes in parties’ political fortunes. In the case of protection of fragile species, however, policy fluctuation between decisions to develop or preserve unique habitat leads to a single possible outcome: extinction. In this project I: (1) develop a theoretical argument about the implications of policy irreversibility for democratic theory; (2) investigate a series of cases of democratic efforts to preserve endangered species; and (3) propose institutional reforms that could reduce the flux in biodiversity policy to levels compatible with both democracy and the prevention of extinctions.

Wednesday, April 21, 4-5pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

Marine Management Area Science: A Paradigm For Applied Biodiversity Science in Coastal Marine Settings

Dr. Les Kaufman, Professor, Boston University Marine Program and Conservation International (website)

Abstract: Biodiversity science can be applied in a way that enables coastal societies to achieve marine resource sustainability by retaining biodiversity and rebuilding ecosystem health. The Marine Management Area Science (MMAS) Program at Conservation International was launched to develop this application, as a model for active (experiment-driven) adaptive management in coastal communities. At its core is a global network of marine zoning schemes. The various management regimes within and among sites in the network are treated as an adaptive management experiment. Ecological and socioeconomic monitoring yield the data stream on what works or doesn’t, and sampling is designed to appreciate change attributable to management by weeding out variation due to other factors. The program is enhanced by basic science projects that elucidate processes and trade-offs, and refine diagnostics and predictive power across the network. Communication unites the network into a global learning community to share insights and reduce errors. Project results are integrated through dynamic ecological economic models, and the alternative policy scenarios that emerge are communicated with a platform-free decision tool called MIDAS. During its initial 5-year funding period MMAS enjoyed concentrated funding, staff, skills, and technology- resources at a premium in most of the world. The real experiment is to see if the science can be forged into an economical clinical ecology for coastal communities, and propagated across seascapes through earned trust, common sense, and pragmatism.

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Friday, September 18, 4-5 pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

She Devils: Assessing the Ecological Threat of an Army of Female Crayfish Clones

Dr. Zen Faulkes & Stephanie Jimenez, Department of Biology, University of Texas-Pan American (website)

Abstract: Our research analyzes the invasive potential of a species of marbled crayfish that was discovered in the aquaria of tropical fish hobbyists in Germany in the 1990s. Known informally as Marmorkrebs, these crayfish belong to the genus Procambarus, but have no formal scientific name, and their origins are unknown. Marmorkrebs are unusual because they are parthenogenetic: they are all females and reproduce asexually, which increases their potential to become an invasive pest species. Since their discovery, Marmorkrebs have proliferated in the pet trade in North America and have been introduced into natural ecosystems in three European countries and Madagascar. Our research tests if Marmorkrebs can compete with and dominate other crayfish species by studying patterns of aggressive interactions. We are also surveying pet owners to examine how Marmorkrebs are being distributed in the North American pet trade.

Wednesday, September 23, 4-5pm,109 Francis Hall (FRAN)

Environmental Governance in Brazil’s Soy Belt

Dr. Christian Brannstrom, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: Balancing agricultural production with environmental conservation is a major global challenge confronting many stakeholders in an era of strong projected increases in agricultural cropland by 2050. In South America, commercial agriculture has expanded during the past two decades, converting large areas of savanna and dry forest formations south and west of the Amazon rainforest into croplands integrated with global markets. This paper analyzes environmental governance in one area of South America, the soy belt of northeastern Brazil, where cropland has increased rapidly at the expense of native Cerrado vegetation. In this region, a key issue in environmental governance is the claim of excessive clearing of Cerrado, at odds with a powerful farmers’ organization that has developed an environmental agenda since 1999. I present findings from a Q-method study to measure subjectivity that points to sharp divisions between two groups: critical environmentalists and agri-environmentalists. The sharp divide helps explain why, in this region, the governance form is primarily collaboration between some state agencies and the farming sector, and why farmers’ organizations are reluctant to collaborate with environmentalists.

Friday, October 2, 3:30-5pm, 303 Computing Services Data Processing Addition (CSA)

Deep Sea Corals of British Columbia: Distribution, Role as Habitat, and Threats from Commercial Fishing

Dr. Thomas Shirley, Professor and Endowed Chair for Biodiversity & Conservation Science, Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi (website)

Abstract: Deep sea corals provide structural complexity and habit for many marine species, yet little is known of their taxonomy, distribution, habitat preferences, life history, or ecological interactions. In many places these deep sea octocorals form extensive meadows and are the primary habitat for many marine animals. The corals are to the deep sea as oyster reefs and seagrass beds are to estuaries, scleractinian corals are to tropical shallow water reefs, and trees are to forest ecosystems. Unfortunately, many of our modern commercial fishing techniques, particularly benthic trawling, are destroying these long-lived colonial animals. From June 8 to June 23, 2009 Dr. Tom Shirley and doctoral student Michael Reuscher participated in the Living Oceans Society expedition ‘Finding Coral’ to study deep sea corals in the Queen Charlotte Basin and Hecate Strait. The area is responsible for 60% of the British Columbia seafood harvest, yet little is known about the distribution of deep sea corals, or the effects of bottom trawling on them. Two, one-man research submersibles were used to conduct video transects, photograph, and collect coral samples at depths sometimes exceeding 500 meters. Dr. Shirley will describe the expedition, show videos and photographs, and present preliminary findings. For photos and more information, see: http://findingcoral.com

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography

Wednesday, October 14, 4-5pm, 229 Animal Industries (ANIN)

Developing a Multiple-Use Management Plan for Allocating Freshwater Fisheries Resources

Dr. Frances Gelwick, Associate Professor, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: Our research establishes baseline information for the fish populations and ecological interactions in the El Palmito Reservoir in Durango, Mexico. We also worked with fishermen and other stakeholders concerned with natural resources of the reservoir (commercial fishery and storage for irrigation in eastern Durango) to develop a viable sustainable fisheries management plan. Most reservoirs were originally built for water supply, irrigation, and secondarily stocked with a mixture of introduced and nonnative food and sport fishes (carps, tilapia, black basses, and crappies). Aside from ecological effects of introduced species, reservoirs also experience issues common in over fished stocks — dominant species of lower economic value than initially, stunting, low fecundity and recruitment, and shortened food webs. Several problems in the El Palmito Reservoir stem from lack of knowledge by fish farmers and fishermen about the costs as well as benefits of integrated use of reservoirs, effects of humans on capacity for production, and social as well as economic aspects of trade and marketing of their catch. In the case of El Palmito, the cause for stock declines is largely due to lack of scientific data. More recently, interest by state governments has grown for developing reservoirs for sportfishing, following the success of several regional fishing tournaments organized by members of sportfishing organizations. No management plan yet exists to coordinate the interests of all stakeholders.

Tuesday, October 27, 4-5pm, 109 Francis Hall (FRAN)

Holism v. Individualism in Environmental Ethics

Dr. Gary Varner, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: A standard taxonomy of views in environmental ethics distinguishes among (1) anthropocentrism, (2) animal rights/welfare views, (3) biocentric individualism, and (4) holism on the basis of which things are attributed intrinsic rather than merely instrumental value by each view. Most environmental ethicists criticize non-holistic views for attributing only instrumental value to ecosystems and species. In this talk I will present the standard taxonomy and summarize this criticism of the first three, individualist views. I will then summarize my reasons for thinking that this criticism is not as decisive as most environmental ethicists take it to be.

Friday, November 6, 4:00-5:15 pm, 208 Scoates Hall (SCTS)

The Pacific Ocean and Perfect Droughts – Past, Present and Future

Dr. Glen MacDonald, UC Presidential Chair and Director of the Institute of the Environment and Professor, Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles (website)

Abstract: Dr. MacDonald will speak on issues of climate warming, the Pacific Ocean and the development of prolonged droughts/wet periods at the California-India hydroclimatic diploles. The lecture will consider the 21st century in light of current conditions and past climatic variations and their impacts on hydrology and people over the past 12,000 years. The analyses presented will incorporate paleoclimate reconstructions , paleooceanographic data, archaeological records and modern climate data. It will be demonstrated that a dipole between Califonian and Indian monsoonal precipitation has been a relatively robust feature of climate over the past 12,000 years and that Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures have been an important driver of this linkage. Implications for future water resource stresses will be considered.

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography

Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, 4-5pm, 229 Animal Industries (ANIN)

The IUCN Global Assessments and Their Use in Conservation and Biodiversity Research

Dr. Thomas E. Lacher, Professor and Department Head, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: The IUCN Global Assessments have developed a process and methodology for assessing the IUCN conservation status of major taxa, and making this information, along with relevant ecological and biogeographical information, available for research use on the web. I will briefly review the process of the Global Assessments, highlighting the Global Mammal Assessment, and present a recent example of the use of this database for research relevant to conservation. We used data from the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to examine conservation status, threat, and range size for north and south temperate zone mammals. Temperate zones are heavily exploited for human activities, especially grazing, and agriculture. The proportion of southern temperate species under threat is less than the global average (11% vs. 21%), and less than the northern temperate zone (11% vs. 14%). However, southern temperate endemics are about 50% (25% vs. 16%) more likely to be threatened than northern temperate endemics. There is also a trend towards smaller range sizes in southern temperate endemics and poorer protected area coverage for them overall (% of gap species: 4.48 vs. 2.43), and for endemics in particular (13.38% vs. 3.65%). The scenario now is one of regions of restricted range endemics under high potential threat from human activities.

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Friday, January 30, 308 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

To revalue the rural? A multi-scale analysis of the national payment for ecosystem services programs of Mexico

Elizabeth Shapiro, Applied Biodiversity Science NSF-IGERT Program, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: The research presented analyzes the discursive drivers, policy evolution, and community-level impacts of two federal payments for ecosystem services programs in Mexico. These programs, the largest of their kind globally, provide payments to communities for conserved or increased forest cover, which is used as a proxy for the production of hydrological services, carbon sequestration for climate change mitigation, and biodiversity conservation. The long-term goal of these programs is to link rural communities with international markets for carbon and biodiversity and regional markets for water conservation. Through close examination of the discourse, policy and practice of these programs, this investigation provides an empirical analysis of a very deliberate attempt to commodify values of nature previously unrecognized by the market, contributing to the current debate in the field of geography over the processes and providence of the neoliberalization of nature.

Wednesday, February 18, 3-4pm, 109 Francis Hall (FRAN)

Land-use and land-cover change in the Brazilian Cerrado: Understanding the context for conservation policy and practice

Dr. Wendy Jepson, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: Conservation policy and practice are considered in the current context of Cerrado land-use change. The current conservation model in the region is dominated by the conservation set-aside and command-control policy models. The spatial characteristics of Cerrado remnants create considerable obstacles to implement the models; an alternative approach, informed by countryside biogeography, may encourage collaboration between state officials and farmer-landowners toward alternatives conservation land-use policies.

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 4-5pm, 105 Horticulture/Forest Science Bldg. (HFSB)

Biodiversity maintenance mechanisms differ between native and novel ecosystems

Dr. Brian J. Wilsey, Associate Professor, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University (website)

Abstract: In many systems, native communities are being replaced by novel exotic-dominated ones, and our previous research has found that exotic species can greatly impede the return to native dominance. We experimentally compared species diversity decline between grassland communities under field conditions to test whether diversity maintenance mechanisms differed between communities containing all exotic or all native species. A pool of 20 native and 20 exotic species were planted as seedlings as monocultures or in 9-species mixtures in Central Texas in experimental plots. Niche overlap in time and space, as well as phenology and overyielding behavior (biomass production in mixture compared to what would be expected from monocultures) are being measured over time to see whether they are correlated with diversity decline. First-year aboveground biomass was greater in exotic than native plots, and this difference was much larger in mixtures than in monocultures. Species diversity declined more in exotic than native communities by year two, and declines were explained by different mechanisms. In exotic communities, overyielding in mixtures occurred in species with high biomass in monoculture, and diversity declined linearly as this effect increased. In native communities, however, overyielding occurred in species with low biomass in monoculture and there was no relationship with diversity decline. This suggests that native communities have stronger diversity maintenance mechanisms than comparable exotic communities, and that native-exotic status is important to consider in rangeland management when maintaining high diversity is a management objective.

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Friday, February 27, 4-5pm, 207 Harrington Education Center (HECC)

Spatial and temporal controls of carbon cycling in arid and semiarid ecosystems

Dr. Osvaldo Sala, Sloan Lindemann Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Brown University (website)

Abstract: The overall objective of this talk is to discuss patterns and controls of carbon cycling in arid and semiarid ecosystems through time and space and at different spatial scales from the region to the patch-scale. First the talk will describe large-scale patterns of primary production for the region of the Central Plains of the US and identify its major controls. The spatial controls will be contrasted with the controls of primary production through time. The talk will postulate hypotheses for the differences between spatial and temporal controls and will describe manipulative field experiments that address the hypotheses. The concept of lags in the ecosystem response to increases in water availability would be central to understanding the differences between spatial and temporal models. The talk will describe results from ongoing experiments in the Jornada Experimental Range in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where we are manipulating incoming rainfall using a combination of rainout shelters and irrigation systems that yield a range from -80% to + 80% of incoming precipitation.

Co-Sponsored with the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Interdisciplinary Research Program

Friday, March 6, Rudder Theater (RDER)

Ecological Integration Symposium

(Sponsored in part by the Applied Biodiversity Science NSF-IGERT Program)

Abstract: The theme for this, the Symposium’s 10th year, is “Resilience from Genes to Ecosystems”. Featured speakers will include Dr. Craig Allen from the University of Nebraska, Dr. Don DeAngelis from the University of Miami, Dr. Lance Gunderson from Emory University, Dr. Randall Hughes from Florida State University, Dr. Mary Power from the University of California-Berkeley, and Dr. Ken Whitney from Rice University. The symposium is completely organized by graduate students, with the objective of stimulating interest and discussion in conservation, ecology, and evolutionary biology. For more information please see the Symposium website at http://eeb.tamu.edu/eis/index.html.

Saturday, March 7, Memorial Student Center (MSC)

Ecological Integration Student Conference (website)

(Sponsored in part by the Applied Biodiversity Science NSF-IGERT Program)

Following presentations by invited speakers at the EIS Symposium, on March 7, 2009, graduate and undergraduate students from Texas A&M and beyond are invited to participate in the student research portion of the symposium. Lunch will be provided for all participants, and prizes (up to $100) will be awarded for the best presentations and posters (in graduate and undergraduate categories). Students involved in any stage of research may present their work. To register, please email your title, list of authors, presentation type (oral or poster), and abstract (no more than 250 words) to the address eis.tamu@gmail.com. Registration will be due on February 23, 2009.

Wednesday, March 11, 4-5pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

Biodiversity conservation: Linking the biophysical and human dimensions of habitat management in multiple land use ecosystems

Dr. Urs Kreuter, Associate Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science & Management, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: The vision of the Applied Biodiversity Science is to integrate biodiversity research with on-the-ground conservation practices. Attaining this necessitates a clear and explicit understanding of the linkages of the biophysical and human dimensions affecting biodiversity. Such linkages are often complex and unintuitive. Identifying such linkages, threshold conditions that affect them and appropriate indicators to monitor changing conditions requires a systematic investigative approach. In this presentation I will describe the Integrated Social, Economic and Ecological Concept (ISSEC) as a framework for systematically identifying biophysical/human linkages affect ecosystems services in general. I will apply the framework to conservation of the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler (Dendroica chrysoparia) in the Leon River watershed in Texas which exhibits a diverse range of land use patterns and stakeholders.

Tuesday, March 24, 4-5pm, 105 Horticulture/Forest Science Bldg. (HFSB)

Ecosystem services, information, and the tragedy of the non-commons

Dr. Joshua Farley, Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, University of Vermont (website)

Abstract: The so-called “tragedy of the commons” occurs when rival goods (resources for which use by one person leaves less for another to use) are non-excludable (i.e. there are no laws or institutions to keep people from using them), and economists have proposed private property rights as a solution. In distinct contrast, a “tragedy of the non-commons” occurs when private property rights systematically produce unsustainable, unjust or inefficient outcomes. I use a number of case studies to show that the tragedy of the non-commons is widespread and occurs when resources that produce non-rival benefits are privately owned. This tragedy is a major obstacle to solving some of the most serious environmental problems we face today. The solution to this problem is some form of common ownership and cooperative provision. Conventional economists assume that people always act in their own self-interest, which would make it difficult to develop economic systems based on cooperation. Fortunately, research in evolutionary biology has convincingly established that evolutionary forces favor cooperative behavior in social animals and research in behavioral economics sheds light on mechanisms for inducing cooperative behavior. I offer examples of common property regimes and allocative mechanisms that can address the tragedy.

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Tuesday, April 14, 4-5pm, 701 Rudder Tower (RDER)

Evolutionary social dilemmas associated with resource conservation

Dr. Michael Alvard, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M (website)

Abstract: Even when ecological circumstances favor conservation, theory points to a number of social obstacles that work against the kind of cooperation required for conservation to develop as a subsistence strategy. In spite of the theory, some communities do appear to use their resources sustainably. I will discuss new models that work to reconcile the theory with data. Recent research on a number of topics including the transition from hunting to animal husbandry, cross-cultural behavioral economics, and ethnography with indigenous hunters will be brought to bear to learn more about how the collective action required for conservation might evolve.

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Monday, April 20, 4-5pm, 109 Francis Hall (FRAN)

Science, scientists, and the scalar politics of wildlife conservation

Dr. Lisa Campbell, Rachel Carson Assistant Professor, Marine Affairs and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University (website)

Abstract: Dr. Campbell employs political ecology and common property theory to examine sea turtle conservation, how it is articulated and executed at different sociopolitical and geographic scales, and the consequences for local rights of access to resources. She draws on ten years of research at various field sites in Costa Rica, and on sea turtle conservation policy in general, to show that although most sea turtle conservation policy is legitimized in the language of ecology, beliefs about rights to sea turtles as a resource underlie ecological arguments. This becomes clear through analysis of the local, national, and international scales, where ecological arguments are employed differently in order to discount or promote certain types of property rights and to promote particular types of conservation interventions; thus, promoting conservation action at a particular scale is not simply a matter of ecological necessity.

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Monday, September 8, 4-5pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

Research and Education Opportunities at Texas A&M University’s Casa Verde Center in Costa Rica

Dr. Eugenio Gonzalez, Director of Texas A&M’s Casa Verde Research Station, Costa Rica

Abstract: The Casa Verde Center is located in San Isidro de Peñas Blancas, Costa Rica. Situated near the Chachagua River at the foothills of the world-renowned Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, it comprises 101 hectares (250 acres) of tropical rainforest primary and secondary growth and has an average rainfall above 4000 mm/yr (over 13 feet). The main objective of the Center is to support the University’s research, education, and outreach initiatives in Costa Rica and the Central American region.  The Center’s broader mission is to promote and support the sustainable use and conservation of the tropical biodiversity while encouraging the social and economic development of the local inhabitants. Although still under construction, the Center offers a unique setting for the development of multi-disciplinary research and education activities, service projects, and study abroad courses from all the Colleges of the University.

Co-sponsored by the Texas A&M Office of Latin American Programs

Wednesday, September 17, 4-5pm, 109 Francis Hall (FRAN)

The Butterfly Conservatory: An Multidisciplinary Opportunity for Applied Research and Sustainable Development in Costa Rica

Jonathan Herrera, Master’s Student, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica

Abstract: The Butterfly Conservatory was founded by Glenn Baines, a process control engineer in the paper industry who spent most of his life working overseas. He retired in Costa Rica after a vacation trip to the country where he bought the land with the intention of become a demonstration project in rainforest regeneration and restoration. Mr. Herrera will provide an overview of the activities that Conservatory carries out, the importance of carrying out applied research in the region and the specific topics currently open for multidisciplinary research investigations. For more information about the project please see [http://www.butterflyconservatory.org/]

Co-sponsored by the Texas A&M Office of Latin American Programs

Monday, September 22, 4 – 5pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

Paying for Environmental Services in Costa Rica: Do Hydroelectric Power Plants Get What They Pay For?

Dr. Richard T. Woodward, Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University

Abstract: Costa Rica’s Payment for Environmental Services (PES) program is often promoted as a model for similar programs.  In the program, firms and individuals that benefit from the forest cover can make payments to protect that resource.  The private hydoelectric sector has been the largest contributor to this program.  Using a detailed analysis of this sector, we evaluate whether private participation in the PES program can be a sustainable source of funding for environmental protection.

Monday, October 6, 4:30 – 5:30pm, Geography Dept., Rm 303, Computer Services Data Processing Addition (CSA)

Land Cover Effects on Water Inputs and Atmospheric Deposition Across a Mexican Tropical Montane Landscape

Alexandra Ponette, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Abstract: Human land use activities affect ecosystem structure and composition in subtle and extensive ways, but the consequences of these changes remain poorly understood.  By altering water and nutrient supply to soils, land use change can influence species distribution, ecosystem hydrology and biogeochemistry, and regional climate.  This research examines the influence of three land cover types––forests, shade coffee plantations, and pastures––on rain and fog water and chemical deposition to a fragmented tropical montane cloud forest landscape in central Veracruz, Mexico.  Implications for payments for watershed services are discussed.

Wednesday, October 22, 4 – 5pm, 109 Francis Hall (FRAN)

Conservation of Fisheries in Tropical Rivers:  The Challenges of Documenting Biodiversity and Understanding Biocomplexity

Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University

Abstract: Tropical rivers support major fisheries that supply critical animal protein for rapidly increasing human populations, most which struggle with chronic poverty.  Fisheries management and conservation of imperiled aquatic biodiversity in tropical freshwaters is complicated by extraordinary species diversity as well as lack of empirical data and fundamental knowledge of ecological relationships.  Dr. Winemiller’s seminar will describe research documenting aquatic biodiversity in poorly surveyed regions of the tropics, and research that yields new understanding of the roles fishes play in the food web dynamics of tropical floodplain river foods.  His seminar will explore the management and conservation applications of these discoveries.

Thursday, October 30, 4 – 5pm, Rudder 510

Research and Education Programs for Conserving Biodiversity in the Ganges River, India

Dr. Sunil K. Choudhary, Department of Botany, T.M Bhagalpur University of India

Dr. Choudhary is a professor in the Dept. of Botany at T.M.Bhagalpur University in India, and he has been involved in teaching and research for 30 years. His research priorities are wetland ecology and, more recently, ecology of the Ganges River dolphins in the Vikramshila Reserve in India. His team has been conducting a variety of research and education programs in Vikramshila Reserve for conserving this highly endangered species of river dolphin as well as other aquatic fauna. He is a member of the State Wildlife Board, Bihar Province, and principal coordinator of Vikramshila Biodiversity Research & Education Center (VBREC) at Bhagalpur University. Presently, he is visiting several US institutions as a Fulbright Scholar. His presentation will include a viewing of a short video: Jewel of the Ganges.

Wednesday, November 19, 4 – 5pm, 311 Computer Services Data Processing Addition (CSA)

Community Forestry in Mexico: A Viable Option for Biodiversity Conservation?

Dr. Leticia Merino, Institute of Anthropology, National University of Mexico

Abstract: Mexico is considered to be one of the world’s “mega-diverse” countries. The majority of this biodiversity is found in Mexico’s forests. Approximately 70% of the country’s forestland is communal property of legally recognized indigenous and peasant groups. Dr. Merino will present data from her research concerning the social conditions of forest communities, their forest management practices, and the impacts of recent policy programs on poverty and the capacity of communities to act as forest stewards.

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