[DIALOGnews] DIALOG and DISCCRS News 04/22/05
Susan Weiler
weilercs at whitman.edu
Fri Apr 22 15:44:32 CDT 2005
DIALOG and DISCCRS News
04/22/2005
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
RESOURCES
Two new books re. women in oceanography and the geosciences
http://www.tos.org/oceanography/issues/current.html.
http://www.awg.org
ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in
Academic Science and Engineering Careers
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf05584
Scientists Unite in Call for Action as Global Food Demands Threaten to
Outstrip World Water Supply
www.siwi.org
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) Report Provides Baseline
http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx
SCIENCE NEWS
FAO Says Overfishing Has Reached Crisis Proportions
http://www.fao.org/icatalog/inter-e.ht
European Union To Create New Agency For Managing Fisheries
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7313
Climate Change Impacts On Europe’s Coastal, Marine Biodiversity
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/Environment/
Nature_and_biological_diversity/Biodiversity/codbp03e_05.pdf?L=E
Nasa Study Finds Snow Melt Causes Large Ocean Plant Blooms
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/eurasian_melt.html
Antarctic Glaciers Shrink
http://tinyurl.com/dth23
SUMMER PROGRAMS, COURSES, INTERNSHIPS, MEETINGS
First call: A residential training course
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~serg/serges/
Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology
http://www.ics-graduateschool.nl
Travel Grant Opportunity - IXth SCAR International Biology Symposium
JOBS
Marine Science Initiative within The Australian National University:
New positions available
http://info.anu.edu.au/hr/Jobs/Academic_Positions/index.asp
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Resources
Women in Oceanography and the Geosciences
Submitted by Sue Weiler
There are a couple of really good publications that have come out
recently:
Women in Oceanography: This is a special issue of Oceanography (Vol
18(1), March, 2005, 256 pp) . If you are not a member of TOS, you can
order it for $10.00 at
http://www.tos.org/oceanography/issues/current.html.
Where are the Women Geoscience Professors? 2004, by Mary Anne Holmes
and Suzanne O'Connell. 40 pp. You can order it from the Association for
Women Geoscientists, http://www.awg.org
Both are extremely well written and contain a huge amount of
important information.
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ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in
Academic Science and Engineering Careers
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf05584
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Scientists Unite in Call for Action as Global Food Demands Threaten to
Outstrip World Water Supply
Taken from 4/20/05 Water Institutes Announcement List
April 20, 2005 -- While many of today's rivers, lakes and
groundwater reservoirs continue to be overexploited, a new report
launched today by leading scientists at the United Nations Commission
on Sustainable Development warns that unless steps are taken to improve
the way water is managed, twice the world's current water consumption
may be needed by 2050 to feed a global population of some 9 billion.
The scientists from the Stockholm International Water Institute
(SIWI), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), World
Conservation Union (IUCN) and International Water Management Institute
(IWMI) said that the ambitious international commitment to halve the
number of people facing hunger have missed a fundamental question:
where is the water needed to grow the food to feed future generations
properly? The report, "Let It Reign: The New Water Paradigm for Global
Food Security" points out that feeding the world is in many ways a
daunting water challenge.
To read the full release visit www.siwi.org, where the report is
available for download.
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Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) Report Provides Baseline
By David Suzuki, MA Board Member; Courtesy of Frank Dunnivant
Four years in the making, the project was given the tongue-twisting
name Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and it brought together nearly
1,400 experts from 95 countries. Their goal was to conduct a global
inventory of the state of our ecosystems, quantify the effect that
human activities are having on them and make suggestions for the
future. http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx
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Science News
FAO Says Overfishing Has Reached Crisis Proportions
From SeaSpan April-A 2005, volume 11-6
A new report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
on the state of marine fisheries worldwide says that 52 percent of the
oceans' wild fish stocks are fully exploited. Of the rest, 23 percent
are lightly or moderately exploited and still offer some scope for
further fisheries expansion, 16 percent are overexploited, 7 percent
are depleted, and 1 percent are recovering from depletion, meaning they
have no room for further expansion. These assessments are found in the
most recent Review of the State of World Marine Fishery Resources. The
introductory chapters refer to the global situation and major trends of
world marine capture fish production and the state of the world marine
fishery resources. More detailed information by region. Special
sections address tunas and tuna-like species, squid resources, deep-sea
fisheries, and long-term climate change and fisheries. Summary tables
are provided for each statistical area showing historical and recent
catches for the major marine resources and judgments on their most
current state of exploitation. To download the 200-plus-page report, go
to: http://www.fao.org/icatalog/inter-e.htm
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European Union To Create New Agency For Managing Fisheries
From SeaSpan April-A 2005, volume 11-6
European Union member states have approved the concept of an agency
to manage fisheries, which is intended to protect cod and other
threatened fish species from overfishing. The once-common cod has long
been a staple of European diets, but stocks have dropped dramatically
in recent decades and increasingly tough catch quotas set by individual
E.U. nations have failed reverse the trend. Fishermen say the system of
national quotas has too many loopholes, and the new agency is intended
to improve and streamline controls considered key to E.U. efforts to
build a sustainable fishing industry. Fisheries ministers unanimously
agreed to establish the Community Fisheries Control Agency, which will
be based in the northern Spanish port of Vigo. Scientists say North Sea
cod stocks have shrunk to about a tenth of 1970 levels, and warned of
depletion on the scale of eastern Canadian waters, where cod largely
disappeared in the 1990s.
SOURCE: Associated Press, http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7313.
Cited in EUCC Coastal News, No. 3, March 2005. http://www.eucc.net or
http://www.coastalguide.org/news
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Climate Change Impacts On Europe’s Coastal, Marine Biodiversity
From SeaSpan April-A 2005, volume 11-6
The committee for the activities of the Council of Europe in the
field of biological and landscape diversity (CO-DBP) has issued a
25-page report, Conserving European Biodiversity in the Context of
Climate Change, by Michael B. Usher, School of Biological and
Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling. The paper discusses
five groups of habitats or communities that may be particularly prone
to reduction in extent as a result of climatic warming, four of which
are present in the coastal and marine zone. To read the report, go to:
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/Environment/
Nature_and_biological_diversity/Biodiversity/codbp03e_05.pdf?L=E
SOURCE: EUCC Coastal News, March 2005, No. 3, http://www.eucc.net or
http://www.coastalguide.org/news
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Currents Could Disrupt Ocean Food Chain
From SeaSpan April-A 2005, volume 11-6
The shutdown of the Atlantic Conveyer current isn't just idle
speculation. A growing body of evidence suggests that it switched on
and off 20 to 25 times during the last ice age. If increased
precipitation and sea surface heating from global warming disrupts the
Atlantic Conveyer current--as some scientists predict--the effect on
the ocean food chain in the Atlantic and other oceans could be severe,
according to a new study published in the journal Nature. In a worst
case scenario, global productivity of phytoplankton could decrease by
as much as 20 percent and in some areas, such as the North Atlantic,
the loss could hit 50 percent. The study was conducted by Andreas
Schmittner, an assistant professor in the College of Oceanic and
Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. In his sophisticated
computer model, Schmittner does not predict that the Atlantic Conveyer
current, which drags warm water from the southern tropics into the
North Atlantic and warms Europe, will be disrupted. Rather, he examines
what would happen to the ocean food chain if such a disruption did take
place. For the full story (subscribers only), go to: Andreas
Schmittner: Decline of the marine ecosystem caused by a reduction in
the Atlantic overturning circulation. Nature, volume 434, pages
628-633, March 31, 2005. http://www.nature.com
SOURCE: Terra Daily, April 13, 2005. Cited in Above the Fold, April
14,
2005. www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org
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Nasa Study Finds Snow Melt Causes Large Ocean Plant Blooms
Condensed from NASA Press Release RELEASE: 05-100
A NASA funded study has found a decline in winter and spring snow
cover over Southwest Asia and the Himalayan mountain range is creating
conditions for more widespread blooms of ocean plants in the Arabian
Sea.
The decrease in snow cover has led to greater differences in both
temperature and pressure systems between the Indian subcontinent and
the Arabian Sea. The pressure differences generate monsoon winds that
mix the ocean water in the Western Arabian Sea. This mixing leads to
better growing conditions for tiny, free-floating ocean plants called
phytoplankton.
Lead author of the study is Joaquim Goes. Bigelow Laboratory for
Ocean Sciences, Maine. Goes and colleagues used satellite observations
of ocean color to show phytoplankton concentrations in the Western
Arabian Sea have increased by more than 350 percent over the past seven
years. The study is in this week's SCIENCE magazine
When winter and spring snow cover is low over Eurasia, the amount of
solar energy reflected back into the atmosphere is less. A decline in
the amount of snow cover means less of the sun's energy goes towards
melting of snow and evaporation of wet soil. As a result the land mass
heats up more in summer creating a larger temperature difference
between the water of the Arabian Sea and the Indian subcontinent
landmass.
The temperature difference is responsible for a disparity in
pressure over land and sea, creating a low pressure system over the
Indian subcontinent and a high pressure system over the Arabian Sea.
This difference in pressure causes winds to blow from the Southwest
Arabian Sea bringing annual rainfall to the subcontinent from June to
September. In the Western Arabian Sea, these winds also cause upwelling
of cooler nutrient-rich water, creating ideal conditions for
phytoplankton to bloom every year during summer. Since 1997, a
reduction in snow has led to wider temperature differences between the
land and ocean during summer. As a consequence, sea surface winds over
the Arabian Sea have strengthened leading to more intense upwelling and
more widespread blooms of phytoplankton along the coasts of Somalia,
Yemen and Oman.
According to Goes, while large blooms of phytoplankton can enhance
fisheries, exceptionally large blooms could be detrimental to the
ecosystem. Increases in phytoplankton amounts can lead to oxygen
depletion in the water column and eventually to a decline in fish
populations. The Arabian Sea hosts one of the world's largest pools of
oxygen-poor water at depths between 200 and 1,000 meters (656 to 3,281
feet). Since the Arabian Sea lacks an opening to the north, the deeper
waters are not well ventilated. Also when organic matter produced by
phytoplankton breaks down and decomposes, more oxygen gets consumed in
the process. An increase in phytoplankton could therefore cause oxygen
deficiencies in the Arabian Sea to spread, leading to fish mortality.
Oxygen-depleted waters also provide the perfect environment for the
growth of a specialized group of bacteria called denitrifying bacteria.
These bacteria convert a nitrogen-based nutrient readily consumable by
plants in seawater, called nitrate, into forms of nitrogen that most
plants cannot use. One form of nitrogen that plants cannot consume is
nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. In the atmosphere, nitrous
oxide is 310 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
Thus, as very large phytoplankton blooms deplete more oxygen from the
water, the creation of nitrous oxide in the Arabian Sea could
exacerbate climate change, Goes said.
For more information about this research on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/eurasian_melt.html
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Antarctic Glaciers Shrink
from The Baltimore Sun (Registration Required)
About 90 percent of the glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula have
shrunk in the past half century, scientists reported today in a study
of an area long regarded as a "canary in the coal mine" because of its
sensitivity to climate change.
Researchers for the British Antarctic Survey analyzed 100 satellite
images and 2,000 aerial photos and found that since 1953, 212 of the
244 glaciers on the west side of the peninsula had retreated an average
of about 2,000 feet. Another 32 glaciers in the region grew or advanced
by about 1,000 feet in the same period.
"These glaciers do seem to be responding to climate change," said
Alison Cook, a cartographer for the British Antarctic Survey. The
findings were published today in the journal Science.
http://tinyurl.com/dth23
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Summer Programs, Courses, Internships, Meetings
First call: A residential training course (4th - 8th July 2005, St
Andrews UK): Measuring Biodiversity and ecosystem function in estuarine
systems.
This course is designed for PhD students and early post-doctoral
researchers who want to develop their understanding of estuarine
mudflats and the tools available to sample them. Anyone looking at this
system often has available a wide variety of sampling techniques but
often little guidance as to how to balance their aims with capabilities
and costs. Using the expertise gained from a recent EU project (HIMOM)
this course is designed to integrate the theory and practice of
estuarine mudflat sampling for early stage researchers. The HIMOM
project developed a toolbox of techniques for the sampling of tidal
flats and this will form a key component of the course. All attendees
will be given the HIMOM CD-ROM which includes a book of protocols with
advice in local application, case studies and video demonstrations.
The course will be a mixture of lectures, field and laboratory work
taking advantage of local field site the Eden Estuary (SSSI, Nature
Reserve and SAC) and the state of the art laboratory facilities
available within the Sediment Ecology Research Group at the Gatty
Marine Laboartory. There will be additional opportunity to use the low
temperature scanning electron facilities for own samples.
If you are interested please look under the latest news at:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~serg/serges/
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Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology
The Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology
(ICS) is an institute for postgraduate studies under the scientific
directorship of Siegwart Lindenberg, Tom Snijders, and Rafael Wittek of
the University of Groningen, Henk Flap, Louk Hagendoorn, and Werner
Raub of Utrecht University, and Wout Ultee, Nan Dirk de Graaf, and Peer
Scheepers of the University of Nijmegen. The ICS offers a postgraduate
program for a small selection of excellent graduates in one of the
social sciences (including economics, history, mathematics or computer
sciences). The structured program consists of training in advanced
theory construction and research methods by means of courses, tutorials
and individual study. Supervision and monitoring are intense: each Ph.D
student is supported by a personal supervision team meeting on a
regular basis. At the end of four years our Ph.D students, will also
have finished his or her dissertation, ready to enter the growing
market for highly trained researchers in the social sciences.
We would like to ask you to search in your own network for recent
graduates who might be interested and who are highly qualified.
General information on the ICS and the structure of the program
can be found on the ICS homepage: http://www.ics-graduateschool.nl. An
update of the information concerning the selection procedure 2005 and
the projects which will be offered this year will be on the homepage by
the end of March, 2005. The same information will be issued in a
brochure, which can be ordered via e.mail: sociologie at maw.ru.nl. For
further information and applications (see the last page of the
brochure, and on the homepage: 'How to Apply'), interested graduates
can write to the ICS Secretariat in Nijmegen.
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Travel Grant Opportunity IXth SCAR International Biology Symposium
“Evolution and Biodiversity in Antarctica”
Curitiba, Brazil 25-29 July 2005
Applications are sought from students, post-doctoral researchers,
and investigators at U.S. institutions for partial travel support for
expenses to participate in the IXth SCAR International Biology
Symposium. Travel funds will be provided by the National Science
Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs.
The INTERNATIONAL ANTARCTIC BIOLOGY SYMPOSIUM is held every four
years and will be in South America for the first time in Curitiba,
Brazil from July 25 to 29, 2005. The IXth SCAR International Biology
Symposium will bring together students and investigators of all ages
from around the world with interests in Antarctic biology. The
symposium is an excellent opportunity to view and discuss the most
recent and important results of research on Antarctic biology.
This year’s theme is “EVOLUTION AND BIODIVERSITY IN ANTARCTIA
(EBA)”. However, students and investigators involved in all aspects of
Antarctic biological research are invited to submit contributions.
Topical sessions will include biological linkages to global and local
events. Plants and animals from all environments will be discussed from
microbes to vertebrates. Research at all levels of biological
organization will be included from the molecular to the ecosystem. Pure
as well as applied scientific investigations will be presented. EBA is
also the theme of a major new SCAR Scientific Research Program. SCAR
EBA will be presented to the Antarctic biology community for discussion
and planning at a workshop during the Symposium.
Successful applicants must present a talk or poster at the symposium
and must be enrolled at or employed by a U.S. institution. Priority
will be given to students, post-docs and beginning scientists. The
awards are expected to be in the $1000 to $2000 range. All associated
air travel must be on US flagged carriers. Applications must be
submitted by e-mail, with a brief statement of interest and a copy of
the abstract of the talk or poster to be presented (title, authorship,
content). Applications should be submitted electronically to Monica
Holder, Office of the Vice President for Research, Texas A&M
University, m-holder at tamu.edu (979-845-8585).
Deadline for Applications: May 27, 2005.
Questions: Polly Penhale, National Science Foundation, Office of
Polar Programs, ppenhale at nsf.gov , 703-292-8033 or Mahlon “Chuck”
Kennicutt II, Office of the Vice President for Research, Texas A&M
University, m-kennicutt at tamu.edu , 979-458-0115.
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Jobs
Marine Science Initiative within The Australian National University:
New positions available
As part of a campus wide initiative, we wish to make key
appointments to create a world leading research and teaching centre in
the marine sciences of the southern oceans. Existing programs will be
strengthened and new areas will be developed in the marine sciences,
with a focus on the role of the southern hemisphere oceans in global
climate change. We seek appointments in ocean modelling, physical or
chemical oceanography, marine geochemistry and palaeo-oceanography,
biogeochemistry, and marine ecology, to bring together oceanographic
data, geochemical analysis and modelling relevant to past, recent and
future climate changes.
For information on these positions please see
http://info.anu.edu.au/hr/Jobs/Academic_Positions/index.asp
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This newsletter has been developed by C. Susan Weiler to distribute
information of potential interest to recent PhDs engaged in
interdisciplinary aquatic science or climate-change research, and to
build an international sense of community among recent grads. It
provides an international forum for the exchange of information and
opinions regarding research, professional and social issues. The views
and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the funding
agencies or sponsoring societies. Dr. Weiler reserves the right to edit
or reject material submitted to the list.
Please submit announcements of interest to recent PhDs to
phd at whitman.edu. Send a short message in the body of an e-mail
message, and link to any appropriate websites. Do not send attachments.
Moving? Send address changes to dialog at whitman.edu or
disccrs at whitman.edu
**********
C. Susan Weiler, Ph.D.
Office for Earth System Studies Tel: 509-527-5948
Whitman College Fax: 509-527-5961
Walla Walla, WA 99362
weiler at whitman.edu
Programs for Recent PhDs http://aslo.org/phd.html
DIALOG poster http://www.aslo.org/phd/dialogposter.pdf
DISCCRS poster http://www.aslo.org/phd/disccrsposter.pdf
Workshop Report, Meeting the Needs of Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Graduates
in a Changing Global Environment
http://marcus.whitman.edu/~weilercs/biocomplexity/
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