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Alan Covich elected president of INTECOL
lan Covich, Professor of Ecology, has been elected to a four-year term as president of the International Association for Ecology (INTECOL).
New model may help scientists better predict and prevent influenza outbreaks
A new study by an international team of researchers, led by assistant professor Andrew W. Park, who holds a joint appointment in the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology and College of Veterinary Medicine, may help public health officials to combat the ever-evolving influenza virus.
UGA Odum School of Ecology graduate student receives Fulbright Scholarship
Julie Rushmore, a joint Ph.D. and DVM candidate at UGA’s Odum School of Ecology and College of Veterinary Medicine, has been awarded a 2009-10 Fulbright scholarship to pursue her study of how behavior affects pathogen transmission among great apes in Uganda. Her work has implications for wildlife conservation and public health.
Link between unexploded munitions in oceans and cancer determined
During a research trip to Puerto Rico, ecologist James Porter took samples from underwater nuclear bomb target USS Killen, expecting to find evidence of radioactive matter - instead he found a link to cancer. Data revealed that the closer corals and marine life were to unexploded bombs from the World War II vessel and the surrounding target range, the higher the rates of carcinogenic materials.
"When you remove the bomb, you remove the problem - but you've got to pick it up," said Porter.
Biologist Gretchen C. Daily to speak at 24th annual Odum Lecture
Renowned scientist Gretchen C. Daily will be the keynote speaker at the annual Odum Lecture Seminar, sponsored by the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology. Daily’s presentation, “Ecosystem Services in Decision-Making” will begin at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday, March 4 in the ecology building auditorium.
UGA Odum School of Ecology to hold annual student symposium
The University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology will hold its fifteenth annual symposium showcasing student research Jan. 23-24. The free public event will feature graduate student oral presentations, an undergraduate poster session and a keynote address given by Evelyn Gaiser, UGA alumnae and associate professor at Florida International University.
Odum School of Ecology researchers discover new Percina fish species
While surveying fishes in Georgia’s Flint River, Byron and Mary Freeman noticed that a certain darter fish had a striking orange color in its fins—much different than the Blackbanded darter that is prominent in the southwest Georgia River. The University of Georgia researchers had indeed come across a new species: the Halloween darter or Percina crypta.
“The Halloween darter is a great example of ‘cryptic biodiversity’—species that have gone unrecognized because they look a lot like other species that are known,” explained Mary, an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and the UGA Odum School of Ecology. “Ichthyologists have documented many new fish species in the southeastern U.S., showing that despite nearly 100 years of scientific study of fishes in this region, there are still surprises.”
Two UGA researchers honored in White House ceremony
Sonia Altizer, associate professor in the Odum School of Ecology, and Chad Fertig, assistant professor of physics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, were among 68 researchers honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) - the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists and engineers beginning their careers.
UGA Odum School of Ecology graduate student receives Wildlife Disease Association Award
Nicole Gottdenker, Ph.D. student at the University of Georgia, recently received the Wildlife Disease Association Graduate Student Scholarship Award. The $2,000 award was presented for leadership, scholarship and service at the 57th annual meeting of the Wildlife Disease Association held in Alberta, Canada.
UGA Honors student Christina Faust receives 2009-2010 George J. Mitchell Postgraduate Scholarship
Christina Faust, a University of Georgia Honors student from Athens, is one of 12 national recipients of the 2009-2010 George J. Mitchell Postgraduate Scholarship. She will use her fellowship to study immunology and global health at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.
UGA Odum School of Ecology faculty member honored for innovations after age 60
Carl Jordan, senior research scientist at the University Of Georgia Odum School of Ecology, was recently designated as a 2008 Purpose Prize Fellow by Civic Ventures think tank. The Purpose Prize is awarded for people over 60 who are taking on society’s biggest challenges.
Student Comment: Sustainable Seafood
When Ph.D. student Jake Allgeier realized the information gap between sustainable seafood research and the public, he wrote a letter to the Flagpole. Read more to find out which fish are overfished so that you can make smart eating choices to protect the global fish population.
Green Building Blog Launched
Keep up with the latest on the Green Building conceptual design plan here! The goal is to create a conceptual design for a new Odum School building that will physically embody Eugene P. Odum’s legacy of ecosystems ecology. This is not by merely being a construct sitting on the land, but by being a living laboratory that interacts in a constructive and beneficial way with the ecosystem.
Study helps clarify role of soil microbes in global warming
Current models of global climate change predict warmer temperatures will increase the rate that bacteria and other microbes decompose soil organic matter, a scenario that pumps even more heat-trapping carbon into the atmosphere. But a new study led by a University of Georgia researcher shows that while the rate of decomposition increases for a brief period in response to warmer temperatures, elevated levels of decomposition don’t persist.
UGA study reveals ecosystem-level consequences of frog extinctions
Streams that once sang with the croaks, chirps and ribbits of dozens of frog species have gone silent. They’re victims of a fungus that’s decimating amphibian populations worldwide.
Such catastrophic declines have been documented for more than a decade, but until recently scientists knew little about how the loss of frogs alters the larger ecosystem. A University of Georgia study that is the first to comprehensively examine an ecosystem before and after an amphibian population decline has found that tadpoles play a key role keeping the algae at the base of the food chain productive.
EcoVoice Fall 2008/Winter 2009
In the Odum School's bi-annual newsletter, read more about our environmental film festival, new faculty members, the undergraduate recycling effort, how we're helping save a not-so-little piece of Ecuador, how the River Basin Center is working to protect coastal areas from global climate change, updates on our Green Building and much more!
Odum School presents EcoFocus environmental film festival Oct. 23-26 in Athens
The University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology will present a 4-day environmental film festival at Ciné in downtown Athens Oct. 23-26. Open to the public, EcoFocus will feature world-class environmental films, as well as children’s programming, Q&A sessions with film directors and more.
UGA Odum School researcher creates tool demonstrating profitability of organic farming
Research at the Agroecology Laboratory at the UGA Odum School of Ecology has led to the creation of organic farming enterprise budgets. Prior to this development, the economic decision-making tool used to estimate profitability was not widely available for organic production.
“Centuries of extensive tillage have caused much of our native topsoil to be washed into rivers,” said Krista Jacobsen, a recent Odum School Ph.D. graduate. “Many farmers in the Southeast inherit these degraded soils and it is important to develop and study farming practices that can restore soil and allow it to be farmed profitably at the same time. That’s where enterprise budgets come in.”
Shallow-water corals more resistant to bleaching than deeper water corals
Stressed corals lose the symbiotic algae that help them survive in a process known as bleaching, but University of Georgia researchers have discovered that one subtype of the symbiotic algae that live mostly in shallow-water corals of the Caribbean provide resistance to environmental stress.
The researchers, who include plant biologists Gregory Schmidt and Brigitte Bruns and ecologists William Fitt and Jennifer McCabe Reynolds, showed for the first time that clade A Symbiodinium has complementary mechanisms for surviving in its coral hosts during periods of warmer-than-normal water temperatures and intense late-summer sun.
Odum School and Georgia Review Present "Ecology of the Georgia Coastline" and "The Pulitzer Legacy in Georgia"
The UGA Odum School of Ecology and The Georgia Review have partnered to offer this special event on the past, present and future of the Jekyll Island region. This event is one segment of the exciting conference, "The Pulitzer Legacy in Georgia" - the Oct. 27-30 celebration of fine writing and writers.
Undergrads provide game day recycling
When seeing a need to provide recycling for UGA football games, the Odum School's Ecology Club quickly stepped up to the plate. Clearly, this group of undergraduates is passionate about recycling and respecting the UGA campus. Student volunteers pair up with the Athens-Clarke County Recycling Division, who provides supplies. Every game, the aluminum cans are separated and donated to Habitat for Humanity and the Ronald McDonald House Foundation. For more information on the Ecology Club's recycling efforts, please visit the official site of UGA Game Day Recycling.
UGA Odum School of Ecology hosts aquatic conservation science symposium
The University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology will host “Aquatic Conservation Science: Merging Theory and Application” on Oct. 3-4. The symposium is being held in honor of the careers of emeritus faculty members Judith L. Meyer and Gene Helfman.
Ecology Thrives at UGA
UGA's Research magazine profiled the world's first School of ecology in their Winter 2008 issue.
Parasites might spur evolution of strange amphibian breeding habits
Parasites can decimate amphibian populations, but one University of Georgia researcher believes they might also play a role in spurring the evolution of new and sometimes bizarre breeding strategies.
Ongoing Grant: Odum School receives grant to increase soil nutrition suitable for organic farming
A $190,000 grant from Southern Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education will help the University of Georgia's Odum School of Ecology study the use of shrubby perennial legumes such as false indigo in making soil more suitable for organic farming.
Modeling dengue fever
Traditionally, the study of infectious diseases has taken two distinct routes, with epidemiologists focusing on quantifying disease outbreaks while researchers in fields such as microbiology and genetics have concentrated on the infectious agents themselves and the mutations they undergo.
UGA ecologist Pejman Rohani said understanding both aspects of infectious diseases is critical to revealing the complex dynamics that drive epidemics such as dengue fever and is working to combine the traditionally separate fields of study.
Love the one you’re with
New research that crosses several species boundaries shows that when animals must choose less-than-preferred mates, females and males apparently have ways to compensate that increase the chance their offspring will survive. The study, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds weight to the Compensation Hypothesis, a proposal that has given insight into how individuals can pass on their genes even under less than ideal circumstances.
Dead zones
A pioneering study on the effects of nitrate, a form of nitrogen, in streams was recently published in Nature, with a team of 31 researchers including major contributions by Ashley M. Helton, a graduate student in the university's Odum School of Ecology.
The study demonstrated how varying amounts of nitrate are biologically processed in streams. And with the push for development of alternative fuels, it is important to note that excessive amounts of nitrogen may be created during the process of producing corn-based ethanol.
Odum Update
To announce the launch of the new School, a predecessor to EcoVoice was created. The name of this publication is Odum Update.
EcoVoice Spring/Summer 2008
The Odum School official newsletter, EcoVoice, was first published in April 2008.
Monarch butterflies help explain why parasites harm hosts
A new University of Georgia and Emory University study of monarch butterflies and the microscopic parasites that hitch a ride on them finds that the parasites strike a middle ground between the benefits gained by reproducing rapidly and the costs to their hosts.
UGA Honors student Christina Faust awarded 2008 Harry S. Truman Scholarship
Christina Faust, a University of Georgia Honors student from Athens, has been awarded a 2008 Harry S. Truman Scholarship, a prestigious national honor recognizing outstanding juniors who are preparing for public service careers.
Grant to help UGA's Odum School of Ecology explore building green
The University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology, the world’s first standalone school of ecology, wants to go green with a building that would showcase its environmental conscience. Now, with a grant from the Dobbs Foundation, the first step in considering and exploring such a facility has begun.
Emerging infectious diseases are on the rise: Next target “hotspot” predicted
It’s not just your imagination. Providing the first-ever definitive proof, a team of scientists has shown that emerging infectious diseases such as HIV, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), West Nile virus and Ebola are indeed on the rise.
Ecology faculty help guide local conservation policy in Ecuador
As Bud and Mary Freeman describe a recent trip to Ecuador to collect fish samples to help guide local conservation policy, their story is abundant with color—giant electric blue butterflies, orchids rampant in the lush landscape and tropical fish species with a variety of interesting patterns.
UGA Odum School of Ecology assistant professor receives grant to study West Nile Virus dynamics in New York City
When West Nile virus first struck New York City in 1999, news of the potentially fatal illness alarmed citizens and public health officials alike, showing that even affluent, urban societies are vulnerable to vector-borne diseases. Although West Nile virus has been widely studied, there is still little known about how the ecology of mosquito-borne diseases differs between urban and rural areas. Assistant professor at the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology John Drake hopes to shed light on these differences with a recently awarded $578,619 grant from the National Science Foundation.
UGA's ecology experiment
The bust of one of science's most respected ecologists stands at the entrance to what could be the nation's first university-level school of ecology with a ready reminder: The ecosystem is greater than the sum of its parts.
