FES graduate students Adam Hadley, Tana Ellis and Mikhail Yatskov have received lottery scholarship funds.  Oregon State University awards Oregon Lottery Scholarship funds in accordance with guidelines established by the 2005 Lottery Legislation, and in accordance with the guidelines and intent of the Oregon University System and Oregon State University.

Congratulations to Bryan Black and Tory Bennett, FES researchers who each had proposals approved for funding from the General Research Fund (GRF) 2010 Spring solicitation.  Professor Black's proposal is titled "A Tree-Ring Approach to Developing Growth Chronologies for Marine Mammal Species".  Professor Bennett's proposal is titled "Do Rare Species Perceive Habitat Features as Barriers Where Common Species Would Not: A Comparative Study to Explore Landscape Permeability among a Local Butterfly Community?"

A study suggests that a new level of international coordination is needed to monitor global vegetation and help address many challenges facing the Earth by the growth of what’s being called the “technosphere” – the full impact of human-made objects and their interactions on the planet.  A new system should be set up under the auspices of the United Nations or other organization to accomplish the type of monitoring that is needed, said David Turner, an OSU associate professor of global change biology, in a new publication in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Research by William Ripple and Robert Beschta is featured in the June 2010 issue of Oceanography.  The scientists’ study showed that cougars not only have direct effects on populations of animals such as deer and elk, but also indirectly affect entire ecosystems. Without cougars, deer dramatically increased, leading to loss of the riparian cottonwood trees deer love to nibble on. Lack of cottonwoods, which serve as riverbank anchors, resulted in extensive erosion. Biodiversity in Zion’s waterways plummeted.