Haldre was on BBC!

Listen here to hear more about how bird loss affects Guams forests!

New paper out today!

This study has been long in the making, but is finally here! We describe the impact of frugivorous bird loss on seed dispersal and recruitment in two forest tree species. This is my favorite figure from the paper, thanks to collaborator, Eric Buhle.

Figure 3 | Dispersal across the landscape. Seed dispersal kernels of (a) Psychotria and (b) Premna on Guam as compared with three nearby islands where forest birds are present. The fitted kernel models were used to predict seed rain in a hypothetical forest plot. Panels c,d depict seed rain in forests with frugivores, and panes e,f depict seed rain in forests without frugivores. Shading indicates the mean seed density (seeds m - 2, note logarithmic scale) arriving at each location on the forest floor. Circles indicate crowns of conspecific adult trees.

Ep. 96 - Guam's Changing Forests

Check it out! Haldre Rogers talks about seed dispersal, predator interactions, and the work that EBL does on the In Defense of Plants podcast. 

Flashback to Summer 2016, gut passage experiment

Here are three of our biologists (Kloe Borja- Kagman High School, Amanda Santos - Oregon State University, and Joma Santos - University of Guam) from this summer working on sorting seeds from our gut passage experiments with captive forest birds. We fed seeds of over 20 tree species to captive Mariana fruit doves, white-throated ground doves, Micronesian starlings, bridled white-eyes, and golden white-eyes to see how gut passage affects germination.

Local conference presentations

We had a busy week for conferences in the Mariana Islands. On Monday, Haldre and our high school STEP-UP intern, Kloe Borja, presented at the Asia Pacific Academy of Sciences, Science Education, and Environmental Management.  And on Tuesday at the annual Brown Treesnake (BTS) Technical Committee meeting on Guam, Haldre gave a talk on which tree species are likely to be winners or losers in Guam's forests without targeted management actions. There was a lot of excitement and optimism during the BTS meeting this year - landscape-level BTS suppression using toxicant drops is now feasible, and we are brainstorming ways to reintroduce birds and bats and restore forests on the island. Stay tuned over the next few years... it's possible that the agencies and researchers working on this problem will turn this conservation disaster into a conservation success!

Looking for a lab manager!

Do you love organizing large, complicated projects? Do you want to develop your experience in project management and field research in an academic setting? Are you excited about splitting your time between a great little town in Iowa (Ames) and the Mariana Islands? Do you want to be around a bunch of inspiring students and researchers focused on conservation and global change?

Apply to be the Rogers Lab Manager. See here for more details.

Hiring avian biologist on Saipan

Check out the jobs page for more info!

Hiring interns and field research leader

We have 4 open intern positions, and an open field research leader position. Check our jobs page for more information!

Calling all prospective graduate students...

I am looking for one MS or PhD student interested in studying the role of non-native seed dispersers in the Mariana Islands. These species, including feral pigs and rats, are typically thought of as highly detrimental invasives in island ecosystems, but in the bird-less forests of Guam, they may be performing a unique role as seed dispersers. This student would develop a project assessing the contribution of non-native pigs and rats to seed dispersal of native tree species. The student would apply to the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Graduate Program at Iowa State University, and would join the Rogers lab. They will be funded through a research assistantship for four semesters, and will be expected to TA for the remainder of their degree. For more information, check out: http://haldre.weebly.com/prospective-students.html 

Job opportunities

We are currently looking for one intern to be based primarily on Guam, starting in March or April 2016. Click here for more information.