Follow Dr. Meg Lowman as she travels to Ethiopia to help save the Church Forests of Ethiopia. Updates will be posted under the Ethiopia category of the CanopyMeg blog as well as on:

Ethiopia Trip Sponsers: National Geographic, TREE Foundation, and NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

Ciegler, J. C. 2010. Weevils of South Carolina (Coleoptera: Nemonychidae, Attelabidae, Brentidae, Ithyceridae, and Curculionidae). Biota of South Carolina. Vol. 6. Clemson University, Clemson, S. C. 276 pp.

This book contains keys, descriptions, drawings, and photographs of 522 species of weevils found or likely to occur in South Carolina, USA (exclusive of Scolytinae and Apioninae). Appendices include host plants, new state records, aquatic and semiaquatic forms. The book may be purchased for $40.00 (shipping & handling included) from: Public Service Room, 96 Poole Agricultural Center, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0129, or online from http://clemson.edu/psapublishing.

Popular Science Magazine is doing an article on the 10 coolest college classes in the country. One of their selections was Canopy Ecology with CanopyMeg. Canopy ecology has been taught at New College (FL) for 7 years, but will be taught at North Carolina State University (NC) in the next few years. So, hopefully canopy students can take flight to all different types of forests in USA.
Photos of our demonstration — with students — in Myakka River State Park, FL are below.

 

Students in pictures include: Christine McCormick, Taylor Jamrok, Meghan McAvoy, Sun, Ling

From Wired News:

If you want to study the rainforest, there is no better place to be than on top of it — literally. This pretzel-shaped structure on top of the Masoala National Park forest in Madagascar is called a canopy raft. Biologists use it to access the rainforest canopy, the upper layer of the forest.

These inflatable surfaces are lowered by a blimp and placed right on top of the trees, providing scientists with a working surface of 400 square metres of mesh strung between PVC hoops. “We just used to have ropes and climbing gear,” says canopy scientist Meg Lowman of the New College of Florida. “Now, a canopy raft mission costs about $1 million, involving about 50 people at the base camp and eight on the raft,” she says. “They last for days and everybody takes turns on one.”

From the Herald-Tribune:

Although it is tempting for residents around the Gulf Coast to limit their conversations to complaints about the oil spill, it is even more important to talk about solutions, and educate ourselves about the scientific process of “ecosystem restoration.”

Employing the best solutions is critical to the future of jobs, economy, ecology, tourism and quality of life in Florida and throughout the Gulf states. Insisting on the best solutions to this catastrophe will require citizens with a sound education of restoration ecology. This science is defined as “restoring the natural cycles to a disturbed or damaged landscape.”

In a nutshell, here are 10 ways to clean up oil from water bodies. While each has potential benefits, most restoration processes also involve drawbacks:

1.Manual shoreline cleanup — Although time-consuming and requires training, this is a great way to utilize large teams of volunteers.

2.High-pressure washing — Pressure-cleaning can actually damage more delicate organisms, but may be effective for sea walls, boats and other surfaces.

3.Natural recovery — Eventually Mother Nature will do the best job of any restoration actions, but she requires a relatively long timeline, perhaps beyond our lifetimes.

4.Dispersants — Chemicals break down surface oil effectively, but they actually break the oil into smaller particles which can enter the food chains and contaminate ecosystems for generations.

5.Burning — If oil slicks are collected into thick mats, burning reduces the chance of onshore oil, but the resulting black smoke and particulates produce a different type of pollution.

6.Booms and skimmers — This labor-intensive equipment is very effective with few side effects, but is best used near the source before the oil disperses. Booms can be effective in keeping oil away from delicate areas such as bird rookeries, public beaches, or harbors; but placement is tricky and uncertain.

7.Absorbent materials — Pads, bark-chip mats or other large sponge-like substances can absorb oil, but then require removal themselves as toxic waste.

8.Vegetation cutting — Removing marsh grass or other oily vegetation usually does more harm to the integrity of the ecosystem than the benefits of a relatively small amount of oil removal.

9.Mechanical removal — Bull-dozing and hauling away oily sediments such as blackened beach sand are appropriate for heavily soiled areas, but usually does more harm to the ecosystem over time than the short-term aesthetic benefits.

10.Use less oil — The most powerful action for cleaning oil spills is to avoid them altogether. One important solution is embarrassingly missing from most regional, and even national, conversations: conservation of fuel.

Americans may be missing the biggest educational solution or teaching moment of the Gulf catastrophe if parents and policymakers overlook these three important words: Use less oil.

Margaret Lowman is director of Environmental Initiatives at New College of Florida.

Bethany Laursen is a budding forest ecologist preparing for graduate studies in 2011. Do you need an intern or technician for your research this coming winter, spring or summer? In 2006, Bethany graduated from Biola University, summa cum laude, with a B.S. in Biological Sciences and a minor in Chemistry. Since then, she has enjoyed challenging, inspiring work as an outdoor educator and science teacher in California and Maine, earning high praise from parents, employers and coworkers as “a captivating teacher” and “an invaluable source of knowledge.” Now, Bethany will gain graduate training as a forest ecologist in order to study experiential, ecology education at the PhD level, and she hopes to gain more research experience before enrolling in 2011. Currently, her research experience includes entomology with the USDA and self-guided surveys of California’s and Maine’s ecosystems. As a wilderness trip and encampment leader, Bethany feels at home in the woods and enjoys strenuous, engaging work in the outdoors. She is excited to work with any part of a forest research project in any part of the world winter 2010, and/or spring or summer 2011. Please contact her now at bklaursen@gmail.com

From the Times of India:

Directorate of tourism, Andaman and Nicobar administration invites proposals for development of canopy walkways project in Andaman & Nicobar Islands under item rate base offer.

Details:

Click for larger image

Please welcome our first TREE student leadership fellow. Taylor is our first student officer for TREE, as part of our new outreach to educate young people about non-profit management. Welcome, Taylor.

Taylor Jamrok graduated from New College of Florida in 2009 after studying environmental issues, sustainable development, economics and business. His final thesis combined many of these interests as he organized a team of developers to produce energy conservation software that would increase the efficiency of computer networks by eliminating corporate costs and carbon footprints. His interests in computer technologies also includes web design, programming, and graphic design. After founding the Jamrok Consulting Group during his senior year of high school, Taylor has worked with numerous clients in Sarasota and his hometown of Florence, South Carolina. Here he was directly involved with the technical development of the Pee Dee Land Trust, helped establish an Internet-based tracking system for threatened raptor species, and has worked closely with various nonprofit organizations.Taylor enjoys hiking and kayaking at local state parks, exploring speleological sites in the southeast and cooking fresh foods grown in his backyard organic garden. He is currently a supervisor at a local branch of the Department of Commerce and the new Vice President of Development for TREE.

Photo-Key Field Guide for common arthropods found in Ethiopia’s Church Forests.
Arthropods Field Guide