Sabbatical Fellows
Kimberly Schulz | David Vieglais | Jacob Weiner
Center Associates
John Alroy | Juliann Aukema | Nancy Baron | Elsa Cleland | Ben Halpern | Kim Selkoe
| Sabbatical Fellows | |
I am interested in how the biochemical composition of food (‘food quality') affects the performance and fitness of consumers, and how these nutritional effects on individuals translate to higher ecological levels such as population dynamics, community composition, and trophic transfer efficiency. The ultimate goals of my NCEAS study are to provide an estimate of the importance of nutritional constraints in nature and to establish common metrics and a cohesive framework for incorporating food quality into ecological studies in aquatic systems. | |
Vast quantities of data relevant to ecological studies are accessible through the internet, however the lack of consistent frameworks for discovering, accessing, and describing these data often impose unnecessary and frustrating hurdles to effective integration of existing and emerging data sets. The Semantic Web is an emerging set of guidelines, standards, implementations and behaviors that allow data to be shared and reused across applications, systems, and domains. The primary goal of my time with NCEAS is to evaluate the practicality of using semantic web software tools to augment existing metadata catalog applications such as Metacat, and data access environments such as EarthGrid (formerly the EcoGrid of the SEEK project) being used by ecologists and environmental scientists. The practicality of providing a desktop or workgroup level semantic web node for indexing and sharing of researcher data using standard protocols such as SPARQL, the Open Archives protocol for metadata harvesting, and LSIDs (Life Sciences Identifiers) will also be investigated. | |
I have always been interested in variation among individuals within plant populations. Growth and reproduction are two of the most fundamental processes for plants, and individuals vary greatly in these behaviors. After a plant grows (i.e. produces biomass), it allocates this biomass to different structures and functions, among them reproduction. Researchers have recently found that most allocation patterns can be better understood in terms of size than in terms of time, so we need to analyze allocation “allometrically”, rather than as proportions. My goal at NCEAS is to gather and analyze as much relevant data as possible on the allometry of reproductive allocation within plant populations to look for patterns. Such patterns are fundamental if we are to understand the behavior and evolution of plant populations, and if we are to optimize the use of resources in agriculture and forestry. | |
 | I study large-scale ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes in the fossil record. My research mostly focuses on North American fossil mammals and Phanerozoic marine invertebrates, connecting regional and local diversity, taxonomic composition, body mass distributions, ecomorphology, and hylogenetic patterns to intrinsic diversity dynamics, evolutionary trends, mass extinctions, and the effects of global climate change. Additional projects involve time scale theory, methods of sampling standardization, and simulation analyses. I also coordinate the NSF-funded, NCEAS-based Paleobiology Database project, which has brought together scores of workers in an effort to document the global marine and terrestrial macrofossil record of plants and animals. |
My research interests lie in spatial patterns, processes, and mechanisms underlying species interactions and distributions, and in applied conservation. I draw on the fields of spatial ecology, plant community ecology, plant-animal interactons, conservation biology, and epidemiology; and I strive to bridge the gap between science and conservation practice. At NCEAS, I am working on a project to quantify the economic and ecosystem impacts of non-native forest pests and pathogens in North America. Both the economic and ecosystem efects of these introductions ahould be considered in developing public policy. | |
| Nancy Baron, a zoologist and science writer, is the Science Outreach Director for SeaWeb/COMPASS. She is also the lead communications trainer for the Aldo Leopold Leadership program and helps scientists translate their work to journalists, the public and policymakers. She and her Washington DC based team keep their fingers on the pulse of important marine conservation research. When new “tipping point” science is published, they coach scientists to talk about it in ways that are readily understood and get the story out to the media. Nancy also leads communications training workshops to help bridge the worlds of scientists and journalists. |
| I study the response of plant communities and ecosystems to global environmental changes, such as nitrogen deposition, elevated CO2, and invasive species. I am also interested in strategies for restoration of native plant communities in the context of present and future environmental changes. My current research focuses on responses of plant communities to nitrogen deposition, asking whether the functional traits of invasive species differ between low and high nitrogen conditions, and whether the functional traits of the native community influence the success of the invading species. |
| I received my Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology from UC Santa Barbara in 2003 and was then a TNC David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellow jointly sponsored at NCEAS and UC Santa Cruz. As Project Coordinator for the Ecosystem-based Management Program, I help coordinate and guide the working group and post-doctoral research funded through this project, participate in these efforts when appropriate, and work to help translate products from these efforts into real-world management and policy changes. My own research focuses on evaluating population and ecosystem level ecological processes of coastal marine species and systems, developing and evaluating the science and methods for managing and conserving marine resources (particularly marine protected areas and EBM), and determining factors that control food web structure and dynamics. |
| I am a molecular ecologist who uses genetic tools to investigate marine dispersal. My research, funded by the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, applies these interests to the coral reefs of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. I will determine the genetic structures of various reef species and use modeling to estimate the likely source-sink dynamics throughout the archipelago. I am also leading a collaborative project using microsatellite markers to determine the degree of larval dispersal of nearshore fishery species across the US/Mexico border. |
Kimberly Schulz
David Vieglais
Juliann Aukema
Elsa Cleland
