UNDERC // UNDERC

UNDERC student wins prestigious Udall Scholarship

2017-05-03T16:00:00-04:00

Dominic Acri, UNDERC-East (2016) and UNDERC-West (2017) student, was just awarded a prestigious scholarship from the Udall Foundation. The Udall Foundation supports study in fields related to the environment and to Native Americans in fields related to health care and tribal public policy. Dominic's project at UNDERC-East investigated the effect of photoperiod on the foraging behavior of deer mice, and will be presented at the Ecological Society of America's annual meeting this summer. The only other Notre Dame student to be awarded this honor was Lauren Eckert, UNDERC-East student (2012) and teaching assistant (2014).

This link provides additional information about Dominic and the Udall Foundation.

How Wolves are Helping Nature Thrive

2017-03-02T12:00:00-05:00

Read all about how the presence of wolves affects not only deer, but the plants they feed on. In addition, wolves also affect coyotes and their prey. This was research conducted by David Flagel, UNDERC Graduate Research Fellow and current Assistant Director for UNDERC West.

Forcing Evolution on the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem

2016-08-16T16:05:00-04:00

UNDERC Alum and Mentor Shayna Sura and UNDERC Director Gary Belovsky recently published a study demonstrating the effect of harvesting on the evolution of brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana) in the Great Salt Lake. Commercial harvesting targets floating cysts of this important crustacean, which has altered their population, leading to less buoyant cysts. This could ultimately affect brine shrimp survivorship in the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.

Read the whole article on the Notre Dame Research webpage.

Of wolves, deer, maples and wildflowers: trophic cascades at UNDERC

2016-06-21T10:35:00-04:00

UNDERC Assistant Director and former UNDERC Research Fellow David Flagel recently published some of his dissertation work investigating trophic cascades in Great Lakes forests. He addressed the effect of the presence of wolves on the foraging behavior of deer, and how this affected the growth of forbs and saplings. In the perceived presence of wolves, deer spent more time being vigilant for predators and overall consumed fewer saplings and forbs in these areas.

Read more about his research: Of Wolves, Deer, Maples and Wildflowers

Fr. Hesburgh's Impact on UNDERC

2016-03-07T13:30:00-05:00

During the one year anniversary of the death of Fr. Hesburgh, the College of Science recalls and appreciates the impact that he had on science at Notre Dame. Fr. Hesburgh was instrumental in the establishment of UNDERC, which has grown into a world-renowned educational and research program.

Hesburgh's Influence on Science at Notre Dame

2016-02-24T18:00:00-05:00

As the anniversary of Fr. Theodore Hesburgh's passing approaches, the University reflects on Fr. Hesburgh's great contributions to the study of the sciences at the University, including his involvement with the establishment of the UNDERC program. Read more...

Graduate Student & Post-doctoral Summer Course at UNDERC

2015-12-21T11:00:00-05:00

Offered by: PalEON (PaleoEcological Observatory Network; www.paleonproject.org)

Course Dates: August 13-20, 2016

Application Deadline: February 15, 2016. Selected candidates will be announced by March 15, 2016.

Course Description: Estimating the impact of global change processes like land-use and climate on terrestrial ecosystems requires an integration of long-term data and ecosystem models. This course will provide 20 graduate students and postdocs with intensive training in the emerging tools that allow us to:

• estimate the signal and uncertainty in historical and paleoecological data
• assimilate both signal and uncertainty into the current suite of terrestrial ecosystem models

The course has a hands-on, integrated curriculum emphasizing the data/model process from design through data collection, analysis and back to design. We will collect tree-rings and sedimentary data (e.g., pollen, charcoal, and macrofossils). Analysis of these data will take place in a Bayesian mode of inference addressing uncertainty in age-models, calibration of proxy data, and integration of diverse historical data. After an introduction to inference from ecosystem models in traditional "forward" mode, participants will integrate ecological parameters estimated from their data sets into these ecosystem models using formal Bayesian data assimilation.

Participating Faculty: Mike Dietze (Boston University); Steve Jackson (U.S. Geological Survey and University of Arizona); Jason McLachlan (University of Notre Dame); Chris Paciorek (University of California Berkeley); Jack Williams (University of Wisconsin)

Location: University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center, Land O'Lakes, WI, USA.

Fees: This workshop is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation and is free to participants. You must provide your own means of transportation to Chicago, Illinois or Madison, Wisconsin.

Application: We are seeking students with interests and backgrounds in paleoecology, terrestrial ecosystem modeling, and/or statistics. Send a CV, a statement detailing why you want to take the course and how you anticipate it helping your research, and arrange to have a letter sent from your major advisor supporting your application.

Apply to: Jody Peters at peters.63@nd.edu

UNDERC welcomes new Assistant Director

2015-10-28T12:00:00-04:00

We are excited to have a new Assistant Director, Dr. David Flagel, to oversee the UNDERC-West program in Montana. Dr. Flagel received his doctorate degree from the University of Notre Dame, working with Gary Belovsky on trophic cascades in the Great Lakes region. He will continue his research at UNDERC-East and plans on extending his research to UNDERC-West.

Dr. Angela Nardoni Laws, the previous UNDERC-West Assistant Director, recently started a post-doctoral position with Steve Pennings at the University of Houston, investigating how micronutrients affect insect community composition.

Rediscovering the West -- the journey to UNDERC-West

2015-10-09T10:00:00-04:00

This summer, journalists from Notre Dame Magazine accompanied the UNDERC-West class on their trip from Michigan to Montana. Read about their adventures on the week-long drive across the country.

http://magazine.nd.edu/news/60791/

Also check out the video from the trip.

AD Michael Cramer speaks in Land O' Lakes

2015-08-12T09:00:00-04:00

UNDERC Assistant Director Michael Cramer met with the Land O' Lakes Fish and Game Club to talk about UNDERC and present some of his small mammal research. His visit was well received, and the Fish and Game Club learned more about the importance of mice. Dr. Cramer presented a talk titled "It's Like You Never Left: The Long-Lasting Effects of Predation" which included data from UNDERC student projects, including Danny Osburn (2009), Marie Tosa (2010), and J. Patrick Lunn (2015).

UNDERC student Sean Wineland publishes his project

2015-07-15T12:15:00-04:00

Sean Wineland, UNDERC student 2014-2015, published his project from UNDERC-East with his mentors, Erica Kistner and Anthony Joern, in the Journal of Orthoptera Research. The title is "Non-Consumptive Interactions between Grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) and Wolf Spiders (Lycosidae) Produce Trophic Cascades in an Old-Field Ecosystem". Sean found a trophic cascade between spiders and grasshoppers that was the result of non-consumptive effects and spider presence alone may reduce grasshopper herbivory rates.

Paper link

ND Undergraduate Kaya Moore publishes her project in Scientia

2015-05-05T11:00:00-04:00

Kaya Moore, UNDERC class of 2014, published her project in the Notre Dame College of Science journal Scientia. Mentored by Michael Cramer, her project, titled "Shaping Seed Preference: Familiarity with Food Sources in Forest Deer Mice (Peromyscus maniculatus gracilis), examined the foraging choices of deer mice between red maple and balsam fir seeds.

Full paper

Sherry DePoy joins UNDERC staff

2015-04-24T15:00:00-04:00

Come say hello to Sherry DePoy, who has just joined the UNDERC team as our new administrative assistant.

Jake Zwart awarded NSF fellowship

2014-04-07T17:00:00-04:00

Jacob Zwart, UNDERC-East student and Fellow, was awarded a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Jake was a student at UNDERC-East in 2011 and has been mentoring other undergraduates as an UNDERC Fellow from 2012-2014. Working with Dr. Stuart Jones from the University of Notre Dame, he is working on improving lake carbon processing estimates in the context of regional and global carbon cycles.

Milk River conservation decision

2012-11-18T10:50:00-05:00

The Milk River site in Montana has been designated a state Wildlife Management Area. The UNDERC-West class has been visiting the WMA since 2014.

Full story here

Gary Belovsky offers new insights into predator-prey relationships

2011-04-06T09:00:00-04:00

A new paper by University of Notre Dame biologist Gary Belovsky appearing in the prestigious journal Ecology Letters suggests that predator-prey relationships are much more complex than originally thought.

Belovsky conducted an experiment to examine how behavioral responses of grasshoppers to avian predators affected grasshopper survival and reproduction at different grasshopper population densities. The research demonstrated that grasshopper behavior changed with the threat of predators, reducing grasshopper feeding, and this was apparent at all grasshopper densities.

Full story link

UNDERC provides opportunities for outdoor research

2009-09-21T10:00:00-04:00

An undergraduate perspecitive on the UNDERC program

scientia2009.pdf

UNDERC selected as NEON site

2008-05-27T10:00:00-04:00

UNDERC was chosen as a site for new National Science Foundation funded program aimed at creating a National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON).

Full story link

UNDERC Program Heads West

2006-04-15T10:00:00-04:00

The UNDERC-West program began in 2006. This program offers students who have participated in the UNDERC-West program an opportunity to conduct research in a grassland setting. Students are given more independence in choosing and creating a research project at UNDERC-West.

Full story here

The Call of the Notre Dame Wild

2003-12-21T10:40:00-05:00

UNDERC-East featured in Pathways Magazine

falda_2003_thecall.pdf