August 14, 2014 The ES George forest is now part of the Smithsonian’s CTFS-ForestGEO network of plots. Thanks to Dave Allen and a crew of 12 U-M and Middlebury students, who spent 11 weeks mapping and tagging 46,510 stems in the 23 ha plot, which was initially established by John Vandermeer and Ivette Perfecto in 2003. There are 41 woody plant species in the plot. Not quite the 1200 species of the Yasuní forest plot, but admirable nonetheless. Here is the U-M Press Release.
July 29, 2014 – The CW Dick and SA Smith labs (EEB Department, University of Michigan) are seeking to fill two post-doctoral positions as part of an NSF funded “Geogenomics” project. The goal of the project is to use phylogenetic data from Andean and Amazon plant groups to test hypotheses pertaining (especially) to the uplift history of the Andean region. A computationally-oriented post-doc will primarily analyze published data within an open source tree-of-life framework; an empirically-focused post-doc will perform de novo phylogenetic analyses of select Andean-Amazon plant groups using genomic and transcriptomic tools. There are possibilities for South American field work and interdisciplinary collaborations with geologists, ecological modelers, and paleontologists. If interested please send a statement of interest and CV to cwdick@umich.edu.
July 10, 2014 – Three student papers were accepted this week. Wei Na published genetic marker papers for two of the five dioecious tree species that comprise her study system on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama. This is part of her research on the dynamics of seed- and pollen-mediated gene flow in tropical trees. John Schroeder, who was an undergraduate REU student in our lab (now in the Dirzo lab at Stanford), just published the results of his undergrad research on genetic structure in Pouteria reticulata (Sapotaceae) from the BCI plot. Great work John and Wei Na!