I've just posted links to three papers that will provide some additional information on northern spotted owl. All are papers that I'll include in today's lecture. The links are there in case you'd like to delve into more depth on any of the particulars.
September 2009 Archives
I've posted notes on the northern spotted owl for Monday's lecture. Since the VPN doesn't work with Snow Leopard (or at least I haven't been able to figure out how to make it work), I can't post links for the readings until tomorrow morning. Sorry about that!
Sorry for the short notice, but I realized that there's a seminar today right after class that is of relevance to this course.
Steve Juliano (Illinois State University)The integration of invaders into a community: Diverse biotic interactions in small aquatic systems
12:00PM in TLS 171B - Bamford Conference Room
We won't talk about invasion biology for several weeks, but it's clearly an important topic. Please attend if you can.
I've finally posted the first set of notes on population viability analysis (PVA). I also decided to change the lectures around slightly. Rather than diving directly into a discussion of the PVA for the northern spotted owl, I want to back off a bit and give a general overview. The going may get a little heavy, but I'll try to keep my focus on broad principles. You've done an excellent job of keeping me on track so far, so rein me in if I seem to be heading off too far into the weeds.
There are several papers on biodiversity policy in this week's issue of Science. I suggest that you head over and take a look at them. There's a good chance we'll be talking about them later in the course.
I've just posted links to a couple of papers on genetics that will be relevant for tomorrow's lecture. I'm going to post some supplementary notes, too. But they may not appear until late this evening.
ScienceNews just posted an article about a federal court ruling on a lawsuit to stop wolf hunting in Idaho and Montana. Follow the link if you want to read the full story, but the first two paragraphs pretty much sum up the decision:
A U.S. federal judge denied a request yesterday by a coalition of environmental and animal welfare organizations to stop the hunts of the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf in Idaho and Montana. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled in Missoula, Montana, that the plans to kill more than 20% of the estimated 1350 wolves in the two states would not cause the species long-term harm.
However, Molloy also found that the federal government appears to have violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in May when it lifted protections for the wolves in Idaho and Montana, but kept Wyoming's wolves safe. The selective delisting of two of the three Northern Rocky Mountain wolf populations appeared to be "a practical determination that does not seem to be scientifically based," Judge Molloy stated in his 14-page ruling. He added that the consortium of conservation organizations was "likely to prevail" in its overall lawsuit, which the group filed in June. The suit challenges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to lift the ESA's protective shield from the wolves. "The service has distinguished a natural population of wolves based on a political line, not the best available science," Molloy wrote. "That, by definition, seems arbitrary and capricious."
I've just posted some readings to accompany tomorrow's lecture and next Monday's lecture. I encourage you to take a look at them before lecture if you can. Don't worry about reading them in detail (the Sabo and Post paper, in particular, is both heavy going and long), but I think you'll find it useful to have a sense of what's in them. It will give you an idea of the kinds of things that are possible should you decide to delve into the biology of small populations more in the future.
I've just posted the first two sets of notes on small populations. I have put up any suggested readings yet. For technical reasons I need to be on campus to connect to the database on my server where those references are served to these pages. I expect to have reading for Wednesday posted before lunch tomorrow, and those for next Monday will be posted no later than the end of the day Thursday (and I hope sooner than that).
I hope you had a pleasant Labor Day holiday. I'll see you on Wednesday.
I hope you had a pleasant Labor Day holiday. I'll see you on Wednesday.
