Nat Geo Blog Post

Ecology of Bird Loss project got a mention in this National Geographic blog post- check it out!

Island Ecology course postponed

We have decided to postpone the Island Ecology course until early January 2015 due to a lack of available mentors. Stay tuned for more details.

Island Ecology Course deadline = April 10th

The deadline for applications for the Island Ecology course is now April 10th. To apply, Email a cover letter, resume, and your unofficial transcript to Dr. Haldre Rogers (haldre@rice.edu). Your cover letter should describe why you are interested in the course, and how it fits into your career goals. This opportunity is only for students and professionals in or from the Mariana Islands.

Island Ecology Course 2014!

We will be running another Island Ecology course from May 26-June 14th of this year. If you are a student at Northern Marianas College, Guam Community College, or University of Guam, interested in learning more about natural resources, conservation, and ecology in the Mariana Islands, you should apply! Participants will start on Saipan, then travel to Rota, and finish on Guam. On each island, they will conduct a research project in small groups, and then will present their results in a symposium at the end of the course. The course is supported through a research grant from the National Science Foundation, so costs for travel between islands and for stays on islands away from a participant's home island will be covered. For more information click here!

EBL in print!

Check out Evan Fricke's recent publication on the causes of distance-dependent mortality here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12261/abstract

This work was done on the island of Saipan during the summer of 2012 with field help from Monika Egerer and Tor Shimizu.

See Evan's blog post here (http://scipos.blogspot.com/2014/03/grad-publication-evan-fricke.html) for more details on this research.

Treefall gaps have been created!

Over a hectic 2-week period in December, we created 43 treefall gaps across Guam, Rota, and Saipan. To create these gaps, we cut down small trees of three common species: Aglaia mariannensis, Guamia mariana, and Cynometra ramiflora- and then trimmed the adjacent vegetation. The gaps are about 8-12 m2 in size, which is approximately the size of an average gap in these islands. Now, we get to follow regeneration in these gaps over the next 3 1/2 years- will the presence of birds affect which species recruit in each gap, or the pace of regeneration? Stay tuned!

Islands Beyond the Horizon

A few years ago, Roger Lovegrove, the former director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, came out to Guam to gather information for his book "Islands Beyond the Horizon".  He joined some EBL'ers in the field to learn about our research, and included a brief mention to our research in his book. The chapter profiling invasive species issues on Guam (Ch5) is well-written and up-to-date. I haven't finished the book yet, but recommend it nonetheless.

VIDEO: Does the Loss of Guam's Birds Mean Warmer Forests?

Read August 16, 2013 story at Pacificnewscenter.com.

GUAM: Supermoon from North Blas

Taken while studying nocturnal spider behavior with nests made in Mammea trees.