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ESA2014

#SketchYourScience at ESA 2014

Can you describe your research with a sketch? What would you draw? Johanna Varner, Erin Gleeson, and Nancy Huntly are passionate about mountain research — and about promoting science communication. They’ve Storified what happened when they roamed the halls at the 2014 Annual Meeting in Sacramento, asking ecologists to #SketchYourScience. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions…

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Pika sketch by biological illustrator, Jennifer Landin

Pikas on Ice

Another fine guest post from Holly Menninger and the ESA2014 EcoCommCrew: Adorable and fuzzy, American pikas have become the spokes-critter for the consequences of climate change in alpine areas. Pika sketch by biological illustrator, Jennifer Landin.

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A puppy from a village outside of Jodhpur, India. Credit, Andy Yoak.

In India, vaccination, sterilization of stray dogs curbs rabies better than culls

When people encounter stray dogs in Jaipur, India, they cross the street to put distance between themselves and a potentially deadly bite. Street dogs are endemic in Indian cities and experience has taught citizens caution. The incidence of rabies in the stray population is uncomfortably high, resulting in about 20,000 human cases every year. Most cities have tried to solve…

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Talking urban flamingos and coral reef villages at the Davis Science Cafe #ESA2014

In cooperation with Jared Shaw, Ben Landis, the Davis Science Café, and CapSciComm, and ESA will bring two ecologists to DeVere’s Pub in Davis, Cal. Madhusudan Katti of Cal State Fresno and Simon Brandl of James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, will lead conversations about living with nature, from city flamingoes to the underwater villages of the Great Barrier Reef….

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Perrin illustrations

New Frontiers in Eco-Communication

Guest post by Clarisse Hart, Outreach and Education Manager at Harvard Forest   Today in the Hyatt hallway, I passed a colleague with an imposing nametag terraced by four colors of ribbon. He is an ESA donor, a moderator, and two other things I can’t recall (possibly a juggler). This year my nametag has a ribbon, too. It’s a regular…

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Rim Fire, California 2013. Mike McMillan, USFS.

The Rim Fire one year later: a natural experiment in fire ecology and management

The enormous conflagration known as the Rim Fire was in full fury, raging swiftly from crown to crown among mature trees, when it entered the backcountry of Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada in late August 2013. But inside the park, the battle began to turn, enacting a case study in the way management decisions and drought can combine to fuel large, severe fires.

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Making Your Science Matter

This guest post is by Chris Creese, a member of the “Eco Comm Crew” behind the upcoming “Beyond the Written Word” science communication workshop (#15) at ESA’s Annual Meeting in Sacramento. See previous posts from EcoComm Crewmates: “Parachuting In: Writing that Drops Readers into the Field of Ecology” by Clarisse Hart, “From Oceans to Mountains, it’s all about Ecology…Communication!” by…

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A lovely Augochlora pura extends part of its tongue. A. pura is a member of the relatively short-tongued Halictidae family, uprettily known as the sweat bees. The small, solitary bee is one of the most common bees of forests and forest edges in the eastern United States, and a promiscuous attendant to many flower species. Collected by Phillip Moore in Polk County, Tennessee. Photograph by Phillip Moore. Photo courtesy of the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab.

For bees (and flowers), tongue size matters

When it comes to bee tongues, length is proportional to the size of the bee, but heritage sets the proportion. Estimating this hard to measure trait helps scientists understand bee species’ resiliency to change. Ecologists will report on this and other pollination research news at the Ecological Society of America’s 2014 Annual Meeting in Sacramento, Cal., August 10-15.   For…

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Parachuting In: Writing that Drops Readers into the Field of Ecology

“Facts don’t have the power to change someone’s story… your goal is to introduce a new story that will let your facts in,” wrote Annette Simmons in her book, The Story Factor. The quote was a game-changer for me, professionally.

This guest post is by Clarisse Hart, a member of the “Eco Comm Crew” behind the upcoming “Beyond the Written Word” science communication workshop (#15) at ESA’s Annual Meeting in Sacramento.

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