Author Archives: Wildlife Blog Editor

Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation

  By Wildlife Blog Editor • February 20, 2017 Uncategorized

The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) has founded a Cornell graduate student chapter called Tropical Biology and Conservation – Graduate Student Association (TBC-GSA).

Seminar dates for Spring 2017: February 22, March 8, March 22, April 5, April 19, May 3, May 17 (every other Wednesday) at 4:00 PM in Emerson 135.  

To join the TBC-GSA listserv, email Ted Lawrence at tjl222@cornell.edu with the subject line of “join TBC”.

TBC-GSA Purpose:
Understanding and conserving tropical species, ecosystems, landscapes and biodiversity is a major challenge facing society today. Furthermore, anthropogenic effects on the tropics and the human factors (social, cultural, political, and economic) driving such effects, add enormous complexity to such an urgent task. In all, tropical biology and conservation involves complex and coupled ecological and social systems. Therefore, in affiliation with the Association for TropicalBiology and Conservation, Cornell’s new Tropical Biology and Conservation – Graduate Student Association (TBC-GSA) brings together graduate students and early career scientists to share their research and efforts, while promoting the links between ecological and social dimensions for conserving tropical biodiversity. Interests of TBC-GSA cover a wide array of basic and applied research topics on tropical biology and conservation, including: structure, dynamics and functioning of tropical ecosystems, anthropogenic effects on tropical biodiversity and ecosystems, social-cultural and political-economic drivers of such effects, and more.

International Experiences Application Deadline: January 20, 2017

  By Wildlife Blog Editor • February 18, 2017 ,

The deadline for applying to International Experiences program is January 20, 2017.

“Thanks to the generosity of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell, we are pleased to announce that we have funds available to support 3-4 veterinary students who are interested in international experiential opportunities in any geographic region of the world. Experiences are not restricted to developing countries. Experience may be pursued anytime between summer 2017- spring 2018.”

Download the PDF call for proposals here: International Experiences- call for proposals 2017

Conservation and the Elephant Listening Project

  By Wildlife Blog Editor • February 18, 2017 Uncategorized

The Elephant Listening Project is a not-for-profit organization associated with the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  ELP strives to study the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) through recordings of the forests that serve as their home, picking up both natural and unnatural sounds – not only the calls of elephants to each other, but also the sounds of human involvement.  Graduate and undergraduate students in a variety of fields have contributed to the analysis of this data.

“Over the last twelve years the project called ELP has found ways to discern key aspects of the forest elephants’ life experience (the sizes and composition of their herds, movements of populations from place to place, evidence of mating, maternal responses to infants, evidence of distress and flight, and of the gunshots and chainsaws that reveal poaching) by listening to the forest from fixed recorders in the trees.”

– Katy Payne
Living With Sound, February 2013.

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Canine Distemper in the Amur Tiger

  By Wildlife Blog Editor • February 17, 2017 Uncategorized

Dr. Martin Gilbert came to Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2016 as a Senior Research Associate with the Wildlife Health and Health Policy Group.

From Dr. Gilbert’s LinkedIn:

I am interested in pursuing health-related research that has direct relevance to the conservation of wildlife, particularly carnivores and scavengers. This includes approaches to understand how endangered species are impacted at a population level by infectious disease (such as canine distemper virus in free-ranging Amur tigers), as well non-infectious agents (such as the pharmaceutical diclofenac in Asian vultures). Health processes can also impact predator populations indirectly, in circumstances where disease influences the availability of prey resources. In each of these situations disease processes must be understood at a landscape scale, whether through the epidemiology of multi-host pathogens operating across the domestic-wild interface, or through the social drivers that influence the use of toxic compounds in the environment. The road to addressing these issues begins in the field, and requires a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on a diversity of skills that includes (but is not limited to): ecology, pathology, clinical medicine, molecular biology, microbiology, toxicology, population modelling, spatial analytics, sociology and ultimately policy. By fostering such collaborative partnerships we gain a more complete understanding of wildlife health issues, creating a platform to identify practical measures to mitigate the conservation impact on species in the wild.

Event: Spotted Hyena Reproduction

  By Wildlife Blog Editor • February 4, 2017 Uncategorized

Dr. Place was in private practice as a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist (OB-GYN) for 4 years in Waynesboro, Virginia before earning a Ph.D. in zoology at the University of Washington.  He came to the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2004 as an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Statistics and Director of the Endocrinology Laboratory at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center.  Dr. Place often refers to himself as a “rehabilitated” gynecologist, focusing his research on mammalian reproductive biology, eco-immunology, and aging.

From the Ned J. Place Lab website:

Dr. Place has studied reproductive aging in naked mole-rats, Siberian hamsters and cheetahs, seasonal reproductive biology in free-ranging yellow-pine chipmunks, and sexual differentiation and behavior in spotted hyenas under semi-natural conditions. Each animal model has provided an interesting perspective into the life history trade-offs that are associated with the timing of hormone secretion and reproductive effort. Dr. Place takes an integrative approach to his research, which is often relevant from both an ecological and a biomedical perspective.

Graduate and undergraduate students interested in comparative endocrinology and reproductive physiology and behavior are encouraged to apply. Our current model organisms are naked mole-rats and cheetahs – refer to research tab for details. However, students are encouraged to consider other systems that might better address their area(s) of interest. Trainees in my lab learn and use a variety of techniques to research questions at multiple levels of investigation (e.g. qRT-PCR, microarray, measures of immune function, immunohistochemistry, behavioral studies, mating tests).

Students interested in pursuing graduate work in my lab should contact me directly after they have read the statement of my current research interests and some of the papers that are listed on my publication page. If you decide our interests are well matched, please send a letter and c.v. via email (njp27@cornell.edu), and describe why you think my lab would be a good fit for you. I usually reply promptly, but send a follow-up email in a couple of weeks if you’ve not heard back from me.