Student post: Brad Wells - Tuesday, December 30 (Day 2)

From Haldre: 

Day two of the course consisted of lectures on Ecology and Economics (Dr. Fred De Torres- Northern Marianas College), Ecology of Bird Loss (me), and several exercises to help students develop potential research questions. After this, the students and instructors each proposed one to several research questions, which were posted on the board. Then, students signed up for their top five questions, and Ross, Evan and I sorted them into their groups. We unveiled the groups and the projects officially began after lunch! We have five research projects, with 2-3 people in each group. We'll post more details about these projects over the next 2 1/2 weeks. For now, check out University of Guam Marine Lab student, Brad Well's thoughts and pictures from the course, below. 

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Brad Wells

Roughly 20 days ago I was not sure I wanted to join the EBL Island Ecology course. I thought it might be a bit more intensive than I would like, but a course alumnus changed my mind. Having just finished day 2, I have found that the course is much more intensive than I anticipated, but much more rewarding than I imagined. The best part has been the opportunity to experience Saipan. The wildlife and the views here are incredible, but the lectures and field work have also been invaluable. We will be visiting Tinian on Friday, and completing group research projects within the next two weeks. It was definitely a good choice to participate.  

Student post: Jolly Ann Cruz - Monday, December 29 (Day 1)

We just finished the first full day of the 3-week Island Ecology course. Each student is responsible for writing one blog post during the course, so you'll be seeing lots of updates on this site. Today’s blog post is from Jolly Ann Cruz, a student at Northern Marianas College on Saipan.

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Hafa Adai from Saipan!

Today was day 1 of our Island Ecology Course and what a day it was!  With 14 students, 3 instructors, and 2 teaching assistants we began the morning with lectures on the course overview and an introduction to entomology. In the afternoon we headed to the Forbidden Island Conservation Area where we got hands on experience collecting data. We also learned how to identify plants, and were quizzed on how many species of plants we could identify. In groups, we completed an exercise where we recorded the number of seedlings in a 1 meter squared quadrat, the number of adults within 2 meters, the most common plant species in the surrounding area, and whether the adult trees were flowering or fruiting.

The day was one well spent and we look forward to the rest of the course. Stay tuned for more of our activities, as we'll be posting blogs daily!

Avian Research Biologist position

We have an open position for an Avian Research Biologist. The avian biologist will be responsible for a research project focused on determining the effect of gut passage on seed germination. This person will: i) assist with protocol development; ii) manage the construction of aviaries; iii) maintain birds in captivity, which includes daily diet preparation and provision; iv) collect fruit from the wild, expose fruits to experimental treatments, plant seeds in the nursery, record germination; v) train other crew members in the care of captive birds, vi) communicate regularly with project leaders based in Houston, TX, Fort Collins, CO, and Switzerland; and vii) manage and analyze data and write up results in a scientific paper. 

The deadline for applications has been extended to December 20th. See our jobs page for more information.