Greenhouse destroyed

Fred Norris Greenhouse 4, attached to the Hesler building, was destroyed in a windstorm on April 25. Below are photos of the damage. There is a local news story and video here. The other greenhouses appear undamaged. No response plan has been announced yet.

Wildflower pilgrimage begins

The Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage is an annual five-day event in Great Smoky Mountains National Park consisting of a variety of wildflower, fauna, and natural history walks, motorcades, photographic tours, art classes, and indoor seminars. Most programs are outdoors in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, while indoor offerings are held in various venues throughout Gatlinburg, TN. Many UTK faculty, staff, and students participate in and organize these events.

Mariano Rodriguez-Cabal awarded NSF DDIG fellowship for work on invasion ecology in Patagonia

EEB grad student Mariano Rodriguez-Cabal was just awarded an NSF DDIG fellowship for his PhD work on invasion ecology in Patagonia:

DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Direct and indirect effects of invasive species on plant-seed disperser mutualisms.

Many plants rely on fruit-eating animals to disperse their seeds. This interaction benefits both the plant and the animal and is therefore termed a mutualism. Because seed dispersal can determine the abundance and range of the plant, seed dispersal mutualisms can benefit other species that use the plant for food or shelter and thus affect patterns of biodiversity across the landscape. The introduction by humans of new species into a habitat can disrupt seed dispersal mutualisms, but we know little about such disruptions may affect other, interrelated species. This project will test the larger ecological effects of disruption of an important seed dispersal mutualism in the northern temperate forests of Patagonia in Argentina. The mistletoe Tristerix corymbosus is the sole winter nectar source for the hummingbird Sephanoides sephaniodes, which remains in the region year-round and is in turn responsible for the pollination of nearly 20% of the endemic woody flora in the region. The seeds of the mistletoe are dispersed exclusively by the marsupial Dromiciops gliroides. After passing through the gut of the marsupial, most of the defecated seeds stick to branches of maqui, Aristotelia chilensis, the most abundant understory shrub in the forest and the most common host for the mistletoe. Because of these close ecological relationships, exotic species that reduce the density of maqui could also reduce the abundances of the mistletoe, the hummingbird, and the marsupial, changing the forest as a whole. This project will test the effects of the exotic wasp Vespula germanica and of exotic ungulates on maqui populations and on the linked species in the forest.

Conservation of biological diversity is important to human society, and one of the major threats to biodiversity are the accidental and intentional introductions of new species around the world by humans. This research will further our understanding of how introduced species can affect biodiversity and help guide management to conserve diversity. The research will also strengthen international scientific collaboration and training.

Grad student Melissa Cregger invited to climate change colloquium

Classen lab graduate student Melissa Cregger was one of only a few graduate students invited to attend the National Academy of Sciences, Arthur M Sackler Colloquium on climate change in Washington, DC.

Undergrad summer research

EEB undergraduate Heather Tran will be an REU student at the Sevilleta LTER this summer.

Undergrad Sarah Wood received a $4500 scholarship to work at the Rocky Mountain Biological lab (RMBL).

EEB undergrads in science writing workshop with Nature editor

EEB undergraduates Sarah Wood, Danny Lusk, and Alix Pfennigwerth were invited to attend a science writing workshop with 'Nature' Magazine Editor M. Mitchell Waldrop.

Incoming Classen lab student

Relena Ribbons will join the department as a PhD student in the Classen lab this fall and was awarded a Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education (CIRE) fellowship.

Honorable mention for NSF GRFP proposal

Classen lab student Jessica Bryant was awarded an honorable mention for her NSF GRFP proposal.

American Association of University Women postdoc fellowship to Lara Souza

Classen lab postdoc Lara Souza was recently awarded an American Association of University Women (AAUW) post doc fellowship.

Grad student book editors interview

EEB grad students Matt Niemiller and R. Graham Reynolds are editors of the new book Amphibians of Tennessee. See an interview with them about their book at http://www.knoxivi.com/ut_press .

Phi Kappa Phi award winners at EUReCA

Assistant Professor Brandon Matheny sponsored two undergraduates, Pawel Kosentka (biochemistry concentration) and Sarah Sprague (psychology major), in an undergraduate research project that examined the evolution of fungal toxins in the mushroom family Inocybaceae. This work was also performed in collaboration with Dr. Shawn Campagna and Amanda May in the Chemistry Department. Pawel and Sarah's research was featured at the Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement, also known as EUReCA. Of the 187 presentations, Pawel and Sarah's poster won one of three Phi Kappa Phi awards. See http://research.utk.edu/eureca/winners_11.shtml for more information.

Science article on economic importance of bats

Bats in North America are under a two-pronged attack but they are not the only victim – so is the U.S. economy. Gary McCracken, head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, along with lead author Justin Boyles of the University of Pretoria in South Africa, and coauthors Paul Cryan of the U.S. Geological Survey and Thomas Kunz of Boston University, analyzed the economic impact of the loss of bats in North America in agriculture and found it to be in the $3.7 to $53 billion a year range. This was published in the April 1 edition of Science.

Since 2006, more than a million bats have died due to a fungal disease called White-Nose Syndrome (WNS). At the same time, several migratory tree-dwelling species are being killed in unprecedented numbers by wind turbines. This hurts the economy because bats’ diet of pest insects reduces the damage the insects cause to crops and decreases the need for pesticides.

In fact, the researchers estimate the value of bats to the agricultural industry is roughly $22.9 billion a year, with the extremes ranging as low as $3.7 and $53 billion a year.

“These estimates include the reduced costs of pesticide applications that are not needed to suppress the insects consumed by bats. However, they do not include the downstream impacts of pesticides on humans, domestic and wild animals and our environment,” said McCracken. “Without bats, crop yields are affected. Pesticide applications go up. Even if our estimates were quartered, they clearly show how bats have enormous potential to influence the economics of agriculture and forestry.”

According to the researchers, a single colony of 150 big brown bats in Indiana eat nearly 1.3 million insects a year — insects that could potentially be damaging to crops.

WNS infects the skin of bats while they hibernate. Some species such as the little brown bat are likely to go extinct in parts of North America. The disease has quickly spread from Canada to Tennessee, Missouri and Oklahoma and actions to slow or stop it have proven unsuccessful.

It is unknown how many bats have died due to wind turbines, but the scientists estimate by 2020, wind turbines will have killed 33,000 to 111,000 annually in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands alone. Why migratory tree-dwelling species are drawn to the turbines remains a mystery.

Due to the economic and ecological importance, the researchers urge policy-makers to avoid a wait-and-see approach to the issue of widespread declines of bat populations.

“Not acting is not an option because the life histories of these flying, nocturnal mammals — characterized by long generation times and low reproductive rates — mean that population recovery is unlikely for decades or even centuries, if at all,” said McCracken.

According to McCracken, solutions will only be fueled in the next few years by increased awareness of the benefits of insectivorous bats among the public, policymakers and scientists.

Phyloseminar on "Making comparative methods as easy as ABC"

Faculty member Brian O'Meara is giving a phyloseminar on March 30 at 2 pm eastern on "Making comparative methods as easy as ABC" based on work by him and postdoc Barb Banbury. A phyloseminar is a seminar delivered online virtually -- people around the world can log in to watch and ask questions. For more information, see http://phyloseminar.org/.

Update: The seminar is over. You can see a recording at http://phyloseminar.org/recorded.html and the slides at http://www.brianomeara.info/talks.

Fellowship to study fleshy fungi

Brandon Matheny received a Carlos C. Campbell Fellowship from the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association to document fleshy fungi from the Smokies and southern Appalachians.

EEB Newsletter

The first issue of the new EEB newsletter has now appeared. You can download the PDF or email eebnews@utk.edu for more information.

UT EEB undergraduate at STEM Education Research Conference

Sarah Wood, an EEB sophomore, was one of 9 undergrads from across the state of TN selected to present a poster and attend the MTSU 5th annual STEM Education Research Conference Funded by Tennessee Space Grant and MTSU. For more information see this article in the Tennessean.

UT EEB undergraduate teaches science on the National Mall

UTK EEB undergraduate Sarah Jeanne Wood recently participated in a 2-day Science Expo on the National Mall, where half a million people came to learn about science and engineering. Sarah presented on her research on intraspecific variation in Solidago, done in collaboration with postdoc Lara Souza and EEB assistant professor Aimée Classen. For a detailed story, please see this article from UTK's Arts and Sciences magazine, Higher Ground.

REU supplement to Matheny grant

Brandon Matheny has gotten a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) grant from the NSF for his existing grant for a revision of Australian species of Inocybaceae. Quoting from the NSF REU site, "The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation. REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects specifically designed for the REU program."

Grad student Joshua Birkebak receives award for taxonomy

PhD student Joshua Birkebak of the Matheny Lab received a Ben Woo Scholarship Award from the Puget Sound Mycological Society to revise species of Clavariaceae from the Pacific Northwest.

Grad student Mackenzie Taylor to become assistant prof. at Creighton U.

Mackenzie Taylor, a PhD student in Joe Williams' lab, is off to an assistant professorship at Creighton University directly from grad school. Mackenzie studies evolution of the progamic phase in water lilies (the stage between pollination and fertilization).