Fall 2011: The Jornada Basin LTER, Las Cruces, New Mexico
The 2011 SEEDS Fall field trip will take place October 6th – 9th in the northern Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico at the Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research site. Join the SEEDS Program as we explore rangeland ecology in this vast and historic wilderness. Rangeland Ecology is the scientific discipline that is concerned with the relationships between organisms and their past, present, and future environments. If you are interested in any aspect of ecological research, you will not want to miss this opportunity. This field trip will provide a unique opportunity for students to learn from and contribute to scientific research being done at Jornada LTER.
The Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research program, in collaboration with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service(USDA ARS) Jornada Experimental Range, studies the causes and consequences of desertification: the broad scale expansion of woody plants into grasslands that results in more "desert like" conditions. The researchers at Jornada Basin are interested in understanding spatial and temporal variation in desertification dynamics, and how historic legacies, the geomorphic template, transport vectors (wind, water, animals), and environmental drivers (climate, land use, disturbance) interact with the patch structure of the vegetation to determine past, present, and future ecosystem dynamics across scales.
A career panel discussion will also give students some ideas of the diverse career paths in ecology and its related fields. Students will be expected to maintain journals on their experience, both individually and as a group. Group journals will create a comprehensive field trip document that students are then encouraged to publish in the ESA Bulletin.
Cost: ALL EXPENSES FOR THIS FIELD TRIP ARE PAID FOR BY SEEDS with the exception of expenses students incur while traveling to and from their home airport (mileage or public transportation costs to home airport, airport parking, in-route meals).
Eligibility: Undergraduate students are eligible to apply who fully support the mission of SEEDS to promote diversity in ecology, with a graduation date no earlier than August 2011.
Application deadline extended to May 11, 2011. Click here to apply now!
To view field trip reports and photos from past SEEDS field trips, click here.
For more information on visiting the Jornada Basin, please see their website at http://jornada-www.nmsu.edu/
If you wish to receive announcements for this and other SEEDS opportunities, please send your name and contact information to charlee@esa.org, with "Add to Listserv" in the subject line.
For all other queries, please contact Charlee Glenn at charlee@esa.org.
Photos and information credit: Jornada Basin LTER website.
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