Ted was an internationally-renowned ecosystem scientist whose work provided important advances in ecology and soil science. Early in his career he illuminated the role of microscopic soil animals in controlling nutrient cycling and the functioning of whole ecosystems. He later pioneered new methods for studying soil organic matter and was one of the first scientists to study agricultural systems from an ecosystems perspective. He also led new approaches to combine the disciplines of ecosystem science and economics to study agricultural systems at regional and national scales. He earned his BA in Soil Science at CSU in 1977, his MA in Soil Chemistry/Microbiology at CSU in 1978, and his Ph.D. in Ecology at the University of Georgia in 1982. Ted first joined NREL in 1973 working as a technician in the field and laboratory. Over the years, he became a highly successful scientist and in 1993, was appointed as Associate Director of NREL. Although he left two years ago (June 2000) to assume the Directorship of the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska, CSU and NREL remained close to his heart. Dr. Elliott presented numerous invited symposia and invited workshop presentations around the world. He published more than 70 articles in refereed journals, more than 50 book chapters, and 3 books. Dr. Elliott was amongst the 250 most cited researchers in the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) coverage of research in Ecology/Environment, out of more than 19,000 scientists surveyed, illustrating the importance and impact of his work. He was a member of the Ecological Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Soil Science Society of America and the International Soil Science Society. Ted’s love of nature inspired the pursuit of his career, and his passion for his work led to his many academic achievements. His greatest gift was his love for his wife, Kathy, and family. We will all miss him, his humor, and his intellectual contributions. Ted asked “...not to have a funeral, but rather a celebration” in Ft. Collins with his friends and colleagues which was held June 17 at the Lory Student Center, CSU. Services were held in Lincoln, NE at a later date. Ted requested that gifts in his memory be sent to the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, c/o Nancy Gus,NREL, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1499. NREL’S 35-YEAR
ANNIVERSARY REUNION, SYMPOSIUM, AND LECTURE BY PROFESSOR DAVID
COLEMAN, RECIPIENT OF THE NREL AWARD OF EXCELLENCE IN ECOSYSTEM
SCIENCE Rocky Mountain Futures, An Ecological Perspective, Edited by Jill S. Baron presents a comprehensive and wide-ranging examination of the ecological consequences of past, current, and future human activities in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States and Canada. The book brings together 32 leading ecologists, geographers, and other scientists and researchers to present an objective assessment of the cumulative effects of human activity on the region's ecological health and to consider changes wrought by past human use. This combined view of past and present reveals where Rocky Mountain ecosystems are heading, and the authors project what the future holds based upon current economic and social trends and the patterns that emerge from them. SEMINAR SERIES
UPCOMING SEMINARS – 11:00-11:50, B215, NESB, CSU
An ad hoc committee of NREL
employees has finished the report entitled “The NREL
Environmental Footprint: Resource Use at the Natural Resource Ecology
Laboratory." The report quantifies the NREL's
environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas production from
travel and energy use, waste and greenhouse gas produced from office
paper and other consumables, and hazardous waste generation from
research. This report then proposes ways to reduce these impacts.
The report may be downloaded from the NREL web site at http://www.nrel.colostate.edu/reports/reports.html.
NREL IN THE LIMELIGHT Tom Hobbs’ interview with Tom Brokaw regarding Chronic Wasting Disease was featured on the NBC Nightly News in August. National Public Radio interviewed USGS and NREL scientist, Thomas J. Stohlgren, for a story on fire ants and mealy bugs. Stohlgren discussed the economic costs associated with invasive species in the United States ($137 billion per year) and the use of science in developing biological control techniques to protect native species. Stohlgren also shared his observations about aspen abundance and resilience in a story published in the Fort Collins Coloradoan on October 1. Fears of dwindling aspen stands in Colorado due to fire and excessive elk populations are unfounded, according to a new study he led at Rocky Mountain National Park. Elk affect lower-elevation aspen and fire suppression allows conifers to move in, but aspen root systems are more plentiful than previously thought and will regenerate with the return of fire or an insect outbreak. APPOINTMENTS Tom Hobbs serves on the Fall Advisory Panel for the Program in Ecological Studies of the National Science Foundation, the Executive Committee of the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, and the Board of Editors of Ecological Applications. Tim Kittell was recently appointed as a Research Affiliate with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado at Boulder. Diana Wall was appointed a Committee member of the NASA PPAC (Planetary Protection Advisory Committee), the Island Press Board, and NRC member, Frontiers in Polar Biology Committee.
HAPPENINGS Jill Baron presented the talk, “Meeting Ecological and Societal Needs for Freshwater: Managing Freshwater Ecosystems in Light of Growing Worldwide Human Water Demand,” which she co-authored with LeRoy Poff, at a SCOPE meeting in Granada, Spain in Sept. (in press in Ecological Applications); and hosted a workshop to develop a South Platte Basin Integrated Assessment on Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at Pingree Park, CO, to begin to address the vulnerability of the South Platte environment to climate variability and societal activities. The workshop was sponsored by the USGS, CSU, and the CU Western Water Assessment. Jill also participated in a SCOPE Rapid Assessment Project workshop on Element Interactions in Prague, Czech Republic in Oct.
Tom Hobbs gave a featured presentation at the Workshop on Impacts of Large Herbivores on Ecosystems in Umea, Sweden, May 15; attended the NIH/NSF Ecology of Infectious Diseases workshop in Washington D.C., June 12-14; and gave a presentation and served on a panel on Life Choices at McGraw Elementary School in Sept. discussing what it is like to be a scientist and the life choices he used to put him on that career path. Tim Kittell was an Instructor with the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC), Columbia University, New York, teaching a class on ecology and conservation biology of Brazil's endangered Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica). Dennis Ojima presented “Ecosystem Land-surface Process Modeling and Analysis for Global Change Studies” at the 8th International Congress of Ecology Symposium in Seoul, Korea in Aug. as part of his project “Integrated Research Challenges: Biological Control of Terrestrial Carbon Fluxes” funded by NSF; presented “Ecosystem Level Changes in Semi-arid Grasslands” at the UNESCO-MAB/SCOPE Workshop on developing a research framework on ‘Emerging Ecosystems’ in Granada Spain; and spoke on Regional Perspective of Land Use and Disturbance on Biogeochemical Cycles at the IGBP/GCTE-LUCC Workshop in Guangzhou, China in Sept. Keith Paustian presented a paper on “Erosion, carbon sequestration and soil health: an ecosystem perspective” at the National Research Council Colloquium on Science and Conservation: Farm Bill Opportunities and Challenges, Washington, D.C., in April, and spoke to the National Board of Environmental Defense on “Science, Policy and Economics of Agriculture Carbon Sequestration” at the ED Science Day at Menlo Park, CA in Sept. Keith is also working as a Lead Author in developing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Good Practice Guidance for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and attended workshops in Tampere, Finland in July and Rio De Janiero in Oct. Diana Wall attended the 4th International Congress of Nematology in Tenerife and was part of the Bay Foundation Biodiversity Award Panel in New York City in June. Special workshop: Diana Wall, Chair, SCOPE Committee on Soil and Sediment Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning, and Stella Salvo, Program Officer, have been preparing for the international and final workshop, “Integrating concepts of biodiversity in soils and sediments: a transdisciplinary assessment of the most critical taxa, functions and habitats for sustainability, their vulnerability and management options” which will be held on Oct. 22-23 at Aspen Lodge, Estes Park. CONGRATULATIONS-AWARDS Awards were given to Carlos Cerri for 2nd place oral presentation and John Brenner for 1st place poster at the Western Soil Science Society Meeting held at CSU in August. PROJECTS FUNDED Niall Hanan, Jack Morgan, Indy Burke, and Keith Paustian have received funding to research the impacts of land use change in the shortgrass prairie region of Eastern Colorado on biosphere-atmosphere interactions, carbon and water dynamics, and long-term sustainability. The project is funded for three years by the National Institute for Global Environmental Change (NIGEC) and will support the development of a cluster of eddy covariance sites, and associated biogeochemical and biophysical measurements, to examine grazing and agricultural impacts in the region. Scientists from NREL are among the leaders of a multi-university Consortium for Agricultural Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases (CASMGS), which received a $13.3 million appropriation through Congress. Keith Paustian is the PI at CSU and funding to CSU investigators totals $1.85 million over the next two years. The consortium will provide assessments of current and potential carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions from US agricultural soils, develop integrated policy assessment tools, evaluate best management practices for agricultural mitigation of greenhouse gases, and provide information to national, state and local policy makers, farm and environmental groups and other stakeholders. Jeff Welker was awarded funding for a NSF Biocomplexity project entitled “A Coupling of Carbon and Water Cycles in a Cold, Dry Ecosystem: Integrative Physical, Chemical, and Biology Processes and Their Controls on CO2 Exchange” for $1,700,000. Co-PIs are Jace Fahnestock, B. Hallet and R. Sletten, University of Washington and J. Schimel, University of California, Santa Barbara. AWARDS
3F FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENT NEW GRADUATE STUDENTS Gabriella Bucini, from Italy, is a GDPE PhD student working on the NREL project "Biocomplexity in African savannas" with advisor Niall Hanan. Gabriella is investigating the mechanisms that allow trees and grasses to coexist in these ecosystems on the basis of climate, soil, herbivory, and fire data. The study will include analysis of new and historical field measurements and satellite data at local and continental scales. Erandathie (Erandi) Lokuitaya, a Sri Lankan, is working on her Ph.D. at NREL and the Dept. of Soil and Crop Sciences, with advisor Keith Paustian. Her research will be on regional assessment of carbon sequestration in agricultural soils. She earned her B.Sc. (Honors) in Zoology at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and her M.S. in Ecology from the University of Wyoming. Upon completion of her MS, Erandi returned to her country and worked at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. William (Bill) Sea is a GDPE PhD student, working on the development of ecological models to study savanna dynamics for the Biocomplexity in African Savannas project. His advisor is Niall Hanan. Bill is originally from northern Minnesota, but most recently, lived in Florida. Ted Zbacnik moved to Ft. Collins from Traverse City, Michigan. He is working on his MS in Soil & Crop Sciences and on the CASMGS project with advisor, Keith Paustian. DEFENDED Jerry Hudson, advisor, Kathy Galvin, successfully defended his Master’s thesis, “Responses to Climate Variability of the Livestock Sector in the North-West Province, South Africa.” Brenda Moraska LaFrancois successfully defended her doctoral research entitled “Algal and invertebrate responses to atmospheric nitrogen deposition in Rocky Mountain lakes.” Jill Baron was her co-advisor. Rebecca McCulley, GDPE and Forest Sciences, Ingrid C. Burke, advisor, successfully defended her PhD thesis “Biogeochemical response of U.S. Great Plains grasslands to regional and interannual variability in precipitation.” She is now working as a post-doc at Duke University. Koren Nydick successfully defended her doctoral research entitled “The effects of atmospheric nitrogen deposition on mountain lake chemistry, productivity, and community composition” on Aug 28. She has accepted a post-doctoral research position at Utah State University where she will join a team studying stream-lake interactions. Jill Baron was her advisor. VISITORS Dr. Mgrigesh Kshatriya, from the International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya visited with Mike Coughenour and Randy Boone to learn the Savanna Modeling System and discuss research on livestock movements. He will be using Savanna to model the Greater Meru Ecosystem of central Kenya in a NREL/ILRI project, POLEYC, supported by the Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program. John Yarie, a professor of Silviculture in the Forest Sciences Department and Head of the Forest Soils Laboratory in the Forest Sciences Department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, is currently on sabbatical at NREL through May 2003. He is working on several projects including: performing an analysis of the moisture dynamics in interior Alaskan forests using the DAYCENT model; and continuing work on the SAFED (Spatial Alaskan Forest Ecosystem Dynamics) model and moving its spatial representation from a meter square basis to a kilometer or larger cell size basis. Ching Yu, a graduate student from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan visited Diana Wall’s Lab on July 30th. She was working in the tropical rainforest in Taiwan. Her research interests are the role of invertebrates in the decomposition process. PEOPLE Thomas “Pete” Peterson has joined NREL as a research associate working with Niall Hanan and other investigators on a study of the biophysical and biogeochemical impacts of land use change in Eastern Colorado and the interactions with regional atmospheric processes. Chad Schneider comes to NREL from the Computer Science Department. He is working on the NSF funded Integrated Research Challenges project with Dennis Ojima doing software design and development. Holley Zadeh, a Colorado native, has joined Diana Wall's team as a Scientific Administrator. She has an M.S. in Rangeland Ecosystem Science from CSU and came from the Soil & Crop Science Dept. where she managed the Wheat and Barley Genomics Lab for Dr. Nora Lapitan. In her spare time, she sings and plays banjo in the band 'Victor Barnes.' LEAVING Dr. Jace Fahnestock is the Principal Natural Resource Scientist and Natural Resource Program Manager of North Wind Environmental, Inc., Idaho Falls. He will remain affiliated with NREL as a visiting research scientist. Dr. Dorota Porazinska, a scientist and nematologist, and Mark Campbell, a GIS specialist, moved to Florida in July. Dorota is at the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, University of Florida and Mark is a GIS Analyst with Broward County, Florida. Mark Sperow is now an Assistant Professor in Agricultural and Resource Economics at West Virginia University. GIFTS TO NREL |
||||||||||||||||
Edward
T. “Ted” Elliott Jr., 50, of Lincoln, Nebraska died
June 7, 2002 after a valiant battle with cancer. We mourn the
loss of a colleague who shaped and cared so much for the future
of the NREL.
Kathy
Galvin, along with her sons and colleagues, conducted
fieldwork on livestock production and wool and cashmere marketing
in Kazakstan in Aug. In addition, Kathy Galvin, along with Mike
Coughenour, attended the working group on “Serengeti:
The Origins and Future of a Complex Ecosystem” at the National
Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara,
organized by Craig Packer and Stephen Polasky, from Sept. 26 -to
Oct. 3. 
Paddy
Sullivan is a GDPE Ph.D. student (Jeff Welker,
advisor). He received a B.A. in Biology and Environmental Studies
in 2000 from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. To date, his
graduate research has been funded through the International Tundra
Experiment (ITEX) at the Toolik Lake Long Term Ecological Research
(LTER) site in Northern Alaska. Paddy’s research falls within
the realms of plant and ecophysiology. More specifically, he’s
investigating the mechanisms that underlie seasonal patterns in
above- and belowground biomass allocation in the dominant Pan-Arctic
sedge, Eriophorum vaginatum. Upon completion of his degree, Paddy
hopes to continue exploring overall plant strategy and processes
at the plant-soil interface, particularly in the context of short-
and long-term climate variability. 
Suzanne
Bird received her undergraduate degree in Environmental
and Evolutionary Biology at Dartmouth College, spending part of
her senior year doing tropical ecology in Costa Rica. Suzanne
is currently a third year candidate for a GDPE Ph.D. student,
Dan Binkley, advisor. Through her dissertation
work, she is trying to understand the complex and multi-scale
relationships between resource supply, production, resource use
efficiency, and stand structure in forested ecosystems. By applying
new spatially explicit methods and statistics, she is hoping to
capture the patterns of spatial heterogeneity in these forest
components and processes. She is primarily doing her fieldwork
in a ponderosa pine stand in the Manitou Experimental Forest,
but is extending certain questions and methods to eucalyptus plantations
in Hawaii and Brazil. After completing her degree, Suzanne hopes
to find a teaching and research position in the field of forest
ecology, with an emphasis on biogeochemical cycling and landscape
ecology. |
Natural
Resource Ecology Laboratory |