Susan lim's ecology class

Lessons Learned: Suggestions for Studying Ecology in Malaysia,[object Object],Dr. Mark McGinley,[object Object],Fulbright Visiting Scholar,[object Object],University of Malaya,[object Object],September 2010,[object Object]

Who Am I?,[object Object],Ecologist trained in behavioral, evolutionary, and community ecology,[object Object],Birds (sparrows),[object Object],Mammals (woodrats, beavers, deer),[object Object],Plants (trees and herbaceous species),[object Object],Insects,[object Object],Microbes,[object Object],Mycorrhizal fungi and soil bacteria,[object Object],Tropical Marine Systems (Caribbean Sea),[object Object],Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Honors College at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, USA,[object Object]

Who Am I?,[object Object],Today I am more interested in education,[object Object],Science education ,[object Object],Schools,[object Object],Curriculum development,[object Object],Malaysian bats,[object Object],Teacher training,[object Object],Informal Science Education,[object Object],Environmental Education,[object Object],Encyclopedia of Earth ,[object Object],www.eoearth.org,[object Object]

What Am I Doing Here?,[object Object],Fulbright Visiting Scholar,[object Object],Fulbright Program,[object Object],Funded by US government,[object Object],Facilitate exchange of scholars between US and abroad,[object Object],Professors/professionals and graduate students,[object Object],I arrived in June and will remain until April,[object Object],Teach “Special Topics in Ecology and Biodiversity”,[object Object],Malaysia Collection for EoE,[object Object]

Quick History of Natural History and Ecology,[object Object],Natural History is a very old field of study dating back at least to the Ancient Greeks,[object Object],Pliny (CE 77) published the first encyclopedia about nature,[object Object]

Natural History,[object Object],Originally, this work was very descriptive,[object Object],What species are found where?,[object Object],Basic taxonomic work,[object Object],Basic natural history,[object Object]

Natural History,[object Object],When I think of Natural History I tend to think about European Natural Historians.,[object Object]

Asian Natural History,[object Object],I don’t know too much about the tradition of Natural History in Asia.,[object Object]

History of Ecology,[object Object],1960s ecology became more experimental,[object Object],Joe Connell and Bob Paine,[object Object],Pioneered the use of manipulative controlled ecological experiments.,[object Object],Replication,[object Object],Randomization,[object Object],Controls,[object Object]

Connell’s Barnacle Study,[object Object]

Paine’s Pisaster study,[object Object]

Early Ecological Experiments,[object Object],Studied very obvious patterns,[object Object],E.g., Zonationin intertidal organisms,[object Object],Studied very simple systems,[object Object],Often able to focus on interactions between only two or a very small number of species.,[object Object],Learned the utility of an experimental approach,[object Object],Gained insight into important ecological processes,[object Object]

History of Ecology,[object Object],Research increasingly guided by ecological theory,[object Object],Mathematical and graphical representation,[object Object],Robert MacArthur and other 1960s,[object Object],Looking back on my career, if I could do one thing over to make myself a better ecologist then I would have learned more math!!!!,[object Object],Theory,[object Object],Statistical analyses,[object Object]

Old-School Ecology (1960s - early 1970s),[object Object],Single investigators working alone to study a small group of organisms over a relatively short time scale.,[object Object],Obviously, the world is too complex to allow this to be an effective strategy for understanding ecology and environmental issues,[object Object]

Jim Brown’s Experiments in Portal, Arizona,[object Object],Located in the Chihuahuan Desert in southwestern Arizona,[object Object]

Studied Indirect Competition Between Ants and Rodents,[object Object],Harvester Ants. ,[object Object],Genus Pogonomyrmex,[object Object],Kangaroo Rat,[object Object],Genus Dipodomys,[object Object]

Experimentally Manipulated Abundance of Ants and Rodents ,[object Object],What is the effect on ant populations of removing rodents?,[object Object],After 3 years,[object Object],Increase in ant density where rodents removed,[object Object],After 6 years,[object Object],Decrease in ant density where rodents were removed,[object Object]

Indirect Effects,[object Object],Understanding these results required an understanding of the diets of the ants and competition between plants,[object Object],Thus, plant ecologists were required to help determine the answer.,[object Object]

What Have We Learned From Ecological Studies in Temperate Regions?,[object Object],[object Object]

Abioticand biotic factors important

Combination of direct and indirect interactions

Interactions can take a long time to express themselves

Can increase progress if we allow ecological theory to guide our investigations,[object Object]

Requires Some Fundamental Changes,[object Object],Funding,[object Object],Although ecological research is much cheaper than molecular biology, it is still quite expensive,[object Object],If a scientist is going to undertake a long-term study then they need to be relatively sure that funding will be available,[object Object]

Requires Some Changes,[object Object],Rewards,[object Object],Hiring, tenure, promotion dependent of publishing,[object Object],Scientists conducting long term research may publish less often,[object Object],How does that influence their careers?,[object Object],Some of the research that I was doing in West Texas would have been very interesting after 25 years but not so interesting after only three.,[object Object],What motivation did I have to continue the study for so long?,[object Object]

Long Term Ecological Research (LTER),[object Object],US LTER Network,[object Object],The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network is a collaborative effort involving more than 1800 scientists and students investigating ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. ,[object Object],The National Science Foundation established the LTER program in 1980 to support research on long-term ecological phenomena in the United States. ,[object Object],The 26 LTER Sites represent diverse ecosystems and research emphases ,[object Object],http://www.lternet.edu/,[object Object]

US North American Sites,[object Object]

International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER),[object Object],The International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER) consists of networks of scientists engaged in long-term, site-based ecological and socioeconomic research. ,[object Object],Forty member networks have established formal LTER programs and joined the ILTER network. In addition to these affiliated member networks, several other groups of scientists are actively pursuing the establishment of networks and many others have expressed interest in doing the same.,[object Object],http://www.ilternet.edu/,[object Object]

ILTER Networks in East Asia/Pacific,[object Object],Australia,[object Object],China ,[object Object],Japan ,[object Object],Korea ,[object Object],Mongolia ,[object Object],Taiwan ,[object Object],Thailand,[object Object]

Long Term Ecological Research in Tropical Rainforests,[object Object],Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI),[object Object],Field site located in Barro Colorado Island (BCI) in Gatung Lake in the Panama Canal,[object Object]

BCI 50 Hectare Plot,[object Object],Barro Colorado Island (BCI) has been the focus of intensive research on lowland tropical moist forest since 1923, and its flora is better known than any site of comparable size throughout the world. ,[object Object],The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Princeton University established the first Forest Dynamics Plot at BCI in 1980, as part of its comprehensive program of research in tropical forest biology, which includes plant physiology, canopy biology, and animal ecology. The first census was completed in 1982, revealing a total of approximately 240,000 stems of 303 species of trees and shrubs more than 1 cm in diameter at breast height. ,[object Object],Recensused every 5 years,[object Object],The plot is maintained by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.,[object Object],Robin Foster and Steven Hubbell,[object Object],http://www.ctfs.si.edu/data/pdf/CTFSbook_PDF/BCIchapt.pdf,[object Object]

BCI 50 Hectare Plot,[object Object],Lots of important papers have been based on research conducted at this site.,[object Object],Often published in Science, Nature, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,[object Object]

Center for Tropical Forest Science,[object Object],[object Object]

The multi-institutional network comprises more than thirty forest research plots across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe, with a strong focus on tropical regions. CTFS monitors the growth and survival of approximately 4.5 million trees and 8,500 species.

http://ctfsnews.blogspot.com/,[object Object]

Center for Tropical Forest ScienceSites in Asia,[object Object],China – 4,[object Object],India – 1,[object Object],Malaysia – 3,[object Object],Phillipines – 1,[object Object],Singapore – 1,[object Object],Sri Lanka – 1,[object Object],Taiwan – 3,[object Object],Thailand - 4,[object Object]

Center for Tropical Forest ScienceSites in Malaysia,[object Object],Danum Valley,[object Object],Lambir,[object Object],Pasoh,[object Object]

Danum Valley,[object Object],The plot is part of the Royal Society's South East Asia Rain Forest Research Programme, which has operated the Danum Valley Field Centre with local partners since 1985. ,[object Object],The plot is located in the Danum Valley Conservation Area in Sabah,[object Object],Plot is funded by HSBC Malayisa; establishment began in early 2010.,[object Object],http://www.ctfs.si.edu/site/Danum+Valley/,[object Object]

South East Asia Rainforest Research ProgrammeThe Royal Society,[object Object],established in 1985 in response to mounting concern over the future of SE Asia's rainforests,[object Object],efforts are primarily focused at one site in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo - the Danum Valley Conservation Area. ,[object Object],http://www.searrp.org/index.cfm,[object Object]

Support for Training of Malaysian and SE Asian Students,[object Object],SEARRP is able to provide direct support for Malaysian and other scientists from SE Asia who would like to do field research at Danum Valley, primarily by providing top-up funds to cover the additional costs of traveling to and staying at Danum Valley. ,[object Object],SEARRP can also advise local students of options for funding post-graduate research based at Danum Valley, and opportunities to work SEARRP academics who may be able to offer funded PhD or MSc degrees at UK or European universities. ,[object Object],For further information please contact glen@searrp.org,[object Object]

Lambir Hills Forest Dynamics Plot,[object Object],The Lambir Hills Forest Dynamics Plot was initiated in 1991 in Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo) by the Sarawak Forest Department, CTFS/Harvard University, and Plant Ecology Laboratory of Osaka City University, Japan. Ehime and Kyoto Universities (Japan) are also close collaborators at the site. ,[object Object],http://www.ctfs.si.edu/site/Lambir/,[object Object],http://www.ctfs.si.edu/data/pdf/CTFSbook_PDF/LambirChapt.pdf,[object Object]

Lambir,[object Object],Lambir's mixed dipterocarp forest is characterized by high endemism, and with approximately 1,200 species found in the 52-ha plot contains possibly the richest diversity of tree species in the Old World. ,[object Object],This high species count at the plot is partly due to the plot's location. The plot crosses an abrupt change in soil types that results in a more than 60% change of species composition within 50 meters.,[object Object]

Lambir,[object Object],Research results,[object Object],http://www.ctfs.si.edu/site/Lambir/Bibliography,[object Object]

Pasoh,[object Object],In 1986, Forest Dynamics Plot was initiated in peninsular Malaysia in a collaboration among the Forest Research Institute Malaysia, the CTFS/Harvard University, and STRI. Since the project's initiation, the National Institute of Environmental Studies of Japan has become a project partner. ,[object Object],The plot is located in Pasoh Forest Reserve in lowland dipterocarp forest, a type of evergreen tropical moist forest. The first census was completed in 1989, and two recencuses have been completed since then. ,[object Object]

Pasoh,[object Object],This plot contains more than 800 species and approximately 340,000 trees. Many of the plot's species are commercially important and are the focus of intensive demographic study.,[object Object],http://www.ctfs.si.edu/site/Pasoh/,[object Object],http://www.ctfs.si.edu/data/pdf/CTFSbook_PDF/PasohChapt.pdf,[object Object]

Pasoh,[object Object],Research,[object Object],http://www.ctfs.si.edu/site/Pasoh/Bibliography,[object Object]

Future of Ecology in Malaysia,[object Object],Obviously, critically important to the future development of Malaysia,[object Object],We know a lot more about ecological interactions and the importance of biodiversity than we did when the United States was in a similar stage of economic development,[object Object],Wise insight from knowledgeable scientists might help Malaysia from making some of the same “harmful” decisions we made in the US,[object Object]

Llano Estacado Today,[object Object]

Susan lim's ecology class

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Susan lim's ecology class