Volume 15, Number 3
May - June 1998

Director’s Note

IES scientists have written or edited 24
books since the Institute opened in
1983. Books represent a major form of
synthesis — the process of bringing
existing information together to
discover patterns, mechanisms and
interactions — by integrating facts and
ideas into a coherent whole. Synthesis
of their own research findings with
those of others is one of the hallmarks
of the work of our scientists.

Dr. Juan Armesto, IES adjunct scientist,
has been awarded a Guggenheim
Fellowship to write a book about
management and conservation of
temperate forests. In his book, Dr.
Armesto will integrate his findings as a
forest ecologist with those of other
experts in the fields of ecology, natural
history and social science. This
important project is described in the
article on page 1.

The IES Newsletter is published by
the Institute of Ecosystem Studies,
located at the Mary Flagler Cary
Arboretum in Millbrook, New York.

Director: Gene E. Likens

Administrator: Joseph S. Warner

Head of Education: Alan R. Berkowitz
Newsletter editor: Jill Cadwallader

Address newsletter correspondence to
the editor at:

Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Education Program, Box R

Millbrook NY 12545-0178

e-mail: cadwalladerj@ecostudies.org

Printing: Central Press, Millbrook, N.Y.

You Can’t Have Your Forests and Use
Them Too ... or Can You?

Imagine a forest set aside as a park. With
the woodland safe, humans carve out
chunks of the surrounding landscape,
converting vast tracts to agricultural
lands, residential areas, commercial
districts. Then disaster strikes — a forest
fire, or a blight, or a catastrophic blow-
down — and the trees in the park are
destroyed. Will the forest be able to
recover, now that the adjacent lands have
been stripped of the diversity of trees
needed to produce seeds for reestablish-
ment? Probably not.

Environmentalists work hard to preserve
forests, frequently by lobbying to create
parks. Foresters, with an eye toward com-
mercial uses of trees, often are opposed to
the environmentalists’ efforts. Ecologists
increasingly are realizing that conserva-
tion cannot be left solely to parks, and that
human influences on surrounding eco-
systems must be taken into consideration
to ensure successful conservation efforts.

Ecosystems typically have been studied
from one of two perspectives: plant-
animal interactions, or biogeochemical
cycling*. Throughout history, however, the
human presence — roads, houses, agricul-
ture, the people themselves — has had a
significant impact that in large part has
been ignored in ecosystem study. Now, Dr.

Juan Armesto, forest ecologist at the
Universidad de Chile and adjunct scientist
at IES, is combining the knowledge he has
gained in his studies of the forests in Chile
with an understanding of the important
role that humans play in ecosystems. By so
doing, he plans to come up with ways to
protect forest ecosystems, and their wealth
of biological diver-sity, and at the same
time allow people to use wisely the broad
range of valuable resources in forests. The
result, he hopes, will be simultaneous
management, protection and conserva-
tion of forests.

The project earned Dr. Armesto a fellow-
ship from thejohn Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation. As a Guggenheim
Fellow, he will spend a sabbatical year
writing a book addressing the problem of
management and conservation of
currently threatened temperate forests of
southern South America. By integrating

* Biogeochemical cycling — or nutrient cycling
if the elements concerned are essential to life — is
the movement of chemical elements from
organism to physical environment (soil, water
or atmosphere) to organism in more or less
circular pathways.

three elements — ecological principles,
natural history of forest plants and
animals, and the needs, interests, values
and accumulated knowledge of the
humans who live in forests — he antici-
pates that the book will have applications
to conservation issues not only in Chile
but in other parts of Latin America and
the world, as well

The working title of the book is Natural
History, People and Corner vat ion of Forests.
Writing for scientists and managers as
well as for a general public interested in
science and environmental issues, Dr.
Armesto will explore the need for seeing
the whole system — the forest and its
surroundings — as a unit, and will propose
ways to conserve and manage forests that
are practical and relate to present and
future human needs.

Dr. Armesto is spending several months
planning and writing at IES because, he
explains, the Institute is unique in having
a history of integrating people’s needs
with ecosystem research and models. He
also is consulting with a number of IES
ecologists, some of whom will contribute

continued on page 2

Dr. Juan A rmesto holds a copy of Ecologia de
los bosques nativos de Chile (Ecology of the
Native Forests of Chile), his first book ( with co-
editors Carolina Villagran and Mary Kalin,
both botanists at the Universidad de Chile).
Now, as a Guggenheim Fellow, Dr. A rmesto is
writing a book about natural history, people
and conservation in forests.

Water Wonders: More Than Just a Trip to the Pond!

by Thomas A. Moorcroft

“ The pond looks like a turtle with three legs
and hair on its head. ”

— description of Cary Pond by a
5th grade Water Wonders participant

During late spring and fell each year,
hordes of 1 st through 8 th graders from
local schools become junior ecologists
and explore Cary Pond through the
Institute of Ecosystem Studies’ Water
Wonders program. During this Ecology
Field Program, students spend two hours
investigating ecological relationships at
the pond. The Water Wonders lesson plan,
first developed in 1994, is flexible and
constantly fine tuned by IES educator
Kris Desmarais and me to meet the
individual needs of each group.

Water Wonders is divided into four
different stations. At each station, students
are encouraged to open their minds and
explore nature with their five senses as
they grapple with questions that require
them to think critically and creatively.
Each station is set up to explore an
element of pond ecology, such as decom-
position or food webs, through a hands-on
activity. For example, at the Dissolved
Oxygen Station students perform a
chemical test to determine how much
oxygen is in the pond water. Then they
discuss the effects of different oxygen
levels on aquatic plants and animals.

IES educators have long been proud of
this program, firmly believing that
students experience more than just a fun
field trip to a pond; they acquire a basic
understanding of pond ecology. However,
like all ecologists, we wanted evidence to
support our claim. An innovative assess-
ment program was developed to help us
evaluate students’ knowledge before and
af ter their visit to Cary Pond to see what
they are or are not learning. The assess-
ment begins before the field trip with a
guided journaling activity —journaling is
an informal way of writing essays, much
like writing in a diary — that is followed by
an interactive slide-show tour of Cary
Pond. Af ter the field trip, students do
another journaling activity followed by a
debate. The debate requires students to
synthesize all they have learned at Cary
Pond and apply it to a hypothetical
environmental issue: a proposed develop-
ment project at Cary Pond.

I am always pleasantly surprised and often
amazed at student insights. Following the
program, one 5 th grade student told us, if
all the plants in the pond were killed “all
the herbivores would die then all the

carnivores would die because they eat the
herbivores ^That is called the food chain”.
Another 5 m grader explains this concept
further by telling us that food chains exist
“because everything is something else’s
food”. One afternoon I was reminded by a
student that smaller animals use plants as
shelter from larger predators and may
also feed on very small animals that live
among the plants.

Af ter analyzing the results of the autumn
1997 evaluation, we see a marked increase
in students’ post-program scores. We now
have evidence to support our claim of the
strength of the Water Wonders learning
experience. For example, when asked to
name four non-living things at the pond
and how the pond life interacts with each,
one student was able to come up with only
one example prior to the field trip.
Following the field trip, however, this
student provided four correct examples
and told us a “dead fallen down tree”

could be used as a “nesting spot for a bird
that might feed on animals in the pond”.

One of the most useful aspects of our
assessment is that it not only allows us to
determine if our students are learning, but
it also helps us to identify program
shortcomings and ecological concepts
that students may have a difficult time
understanding. With these insights we are
able to improve our program to meet both
the needs of our visiting junior ecologists
and the educational goals of local schools.

Thomas Moorcroft, anAmeri Corps member,
is doingecology education and evaluation at
thelnstitute.

As members of A meriCorps, young people
provide a year of service to a variety of social
and environmental programs across the
United States, in exchange f or a modest living
stipend and an educational award to helppay
student loans or tuition costs. ■

This drawing of Cary Pond is by 5 th graders in M rs. Synan ’s class at Mill Road School, Red Hook, N. Y.
In the foreground is the “T-dock”, from which students can observe the pond’s plant and animal life.

F Orests, from page 1

essays to complement the book’s contents
by providing additional ideas, informa-
tion and illustrative case studies.

Dr. Armesto’s proposal to the Guggen-
heim Foundation was an elaboration of a
challenge he gave to himself: “I’m a scien-
tist. How can I help people who want to
manage forests?” The prestigious
fellowship that he received to work
toward this challenge will, he hopes, help
turn the homelands of people into a new
concept of park, where the need to protect
the environment and the need to use the
environment become complimentary
goals rather than opposing ones.

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial
Foundation was established by UnitedStates
Senator Simon Guggenheim and Mrs.
Guggenheim as a memorial to their son. The
Foundation offersfellowships to further the
development of scholars and artists by
assisting them to engage in research in any
field of knowledge and creation in any of the
arts. Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded
through two annual competitions. One is open
to citizens and permanent residents of the
UnitedStates and Canada, and theother is
open to citizens and permanent residentsof
Latin America and the Caribbean. Therewere
278 applications in the latter category inl997.
Dr. A rmesto was one of the 32 recipients. gg

IES Notes

• Mary Flagler Cary, whose father was a founding member of
The Millbrook Garden Club, was also a member of that
organization. In 1915 the club was elected to membership in
the Garden Club of America, and Mrs. Cary began receiving
copies of the Garden Club of America Bulletin. In the late
1960s, Joyce Harris Stanton, now president of The Millbrook
Garden Club, was invited by the caretaker of the Cary home,
which was about to be torn down, to come take a last look
around the house. There, she discovered stacks of these
bulletins, dating from 1915 to 1942. In April of this year, she
donated the collection to the Institute of Ecosystem Studies.

Mrs. Stanton described how, even in its earliest days, the
Garden Club of A merica Bulletin included articles about
conservation and the importance of using native plants in
gardening. Here, she donates a set of the earliest copies to
IES Trustee Jeanne Blum, left, who is also a member of The
Millbrook Garden Club. Both Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Blum
are members of the Institute’s Aldo Leopold Society.

• Visitors to the Institute of Ecosystem
Studies pass a meadow management
demonstration as they follow the drive to
the Plant Science Building. The first field

relating global environmental change,
particularly increases in atmospheric
carbon dioxide and temperature, to the
quality of plants as food for other

organisms. He did the bulk of
this research in England, at the
Centre for Population Biology
at Imperial College at Silwood
Park, using a controlled
environmental facility called
an Ecotron. Dr. Jones and his
collaborators, among them
IES adjunct scientist Dr. John
H. Lawton, determined that
increases in atmospheric
s carbon dioxide may affect
| long-term processes in soils
5 via changes in the release of
3 carbon from plants into the

soil. These findings were published in the
17 April 1998 issue of the journal Science.

• Increasingly, health professionals are
recognizing the links between ecological
relationships and the disease process. In
April, a two-day symposium at the
American Museum of Natural History
brought together an international body of
experts to present evidence for “The Value
of Plants, Animals and Microbes to
Human Health”. Dr. Richard Ostfeld, IES
animal ecologist, spoke on Ecology and
Lyme Disease, explaining how diseases
often have an intricate life in nature
before humans enter the scenario, and that
understanding the ecology of diseases can
help us avoid or prevent them. g

on the left is mowed. The second field on
the left is burned. Burning is an effective
way to foster bluestem, a warm-weather
grass, and prevent the meadow from being
overtaken by shrubs, trees and broad-
leaved herbaceous plants. These cool-
weather plants start growing first, and are
set back, or sometimes killed off, by a well-
timed burn. Bluestem grass, on the other
hand, gets a boost from the increased
warmth and light in the now open space.
The Institute burns this field every other
year, on a windless day in early spring.
Flames are controlled by a fire break, with
a complement of fire-fighting equipment
standing by. Within several weeks, the
meadow is already green with sprouting
bluestem. A bove, IES grounds foreman Mr.
Allan Kling patrols the perimeter of the
burn with a water hose.

• The cover story of this issue of the
newsletter describes work supported by a
Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1994, Dr.

Clive Jones, an IES chemical ecologist,
was selected for a similar honor, and as a
Guggenheim Fellow pursued a study

Dr. Hogan’s Dissertation Receives Recognition

IES Educational Research and Develop-
ment Specialist Kathleen Hogan, right,
earned her doctoral degree in Educa-
tional Psychology and Statistics from the
State University of New York at Albany
injuly 1997. Now, her dissertation —
Thinking Aloud Together: A Test of an Inter-
vention to Foster Middle School Students’
Collaborative Scientific Reasoning— has
received two awards. In April, at the
National Association for Research in
Science Teaching annual meeting in San
Diego, Dr. Hogan was honored with the
1997 NARST Outstanding Dissertation
Award. And, in mid-May, the University at
Albany recognized her with a 1998
Presidential Distinguished Doctoral
Dissertation Award.

tVi

Dr. Hogan currently is comparing how 8 in graders reason about ecosystem dynamics,
alone and with their peers. She also is developing ecology programs for after-school
groups; these programs will serve as a venue for her future investigations of science
learning while providing educational enrichment for local youth. g

INSTITUTE OF
ECOSYSTEM STUDIES
Education Program
BoxR

Millbrook, New York 12545-0178

Newsletter

Volume 15, Number 3
May -June 1998

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CONTINUING EDUCATION

For a summer semester catalogue, listing
July and August courses and excursions, or
for program information, call the Continu-
ing Education office at 914/677-9643.

SUNDAY ECOLOGY PROGRAMS

Free public programs are offered on
occasional Sundays. Call 914/677-5359 to
confirm the day’s topic or, in case of poor
weather, to learn the status of the day’s
program. Meet at 2 p.m. at the Gifford
House on Route 44A for:

June 7: Environmental Monitoring

Program and Tour of the IES Weather

Station, led by Ms. Vicky Kelly

July 12: A Stream Walk, led by Dr. David

Strayer

• We recommend that participants wear long
pants tucked into socks and sturdy waterproof
shoes for all outdoor programs.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

The IES Education Program needs
volunteers ...

Ecology Shop: assist with sales transactions,
greet and orient visitors (afternoons)
Continuing Education: update computer
database, assist with marketing (afternoons;
work at home is an option)

Education Program Office: assist with
reception, clerical work, special projects
(mornings, afternoons)

For information on opportunities and
benefits, call Ms. Su Marcy at 914/677-7641.

IES SEMINARS

Free scientific seminars are held each
Friday from mid-September through early
May. For a free schedule of fall programs,
contact the seminar coordinator at
914/677-5343.

Calendar

IES ECOLOGY SHOP

New in the Shop ... Birder’s World, a bi-
monthly magazine ... large canvas tote bags ...
butterfly and hummingbird T-shirts ...
for children ... more Folkmanis® puppets ...
Gardening Wizardry for Kids (a book and
activity set) ... and in the Plant Room ...
garden trowels and kneepads ... “face pots” ...
weather sticks

Senior Citizens Days: 10% off every Wed.

•• Gift Certificates are available ••

GREENHOUSE

The IES greenhouse, a year-round tropical
plant paradise and a site for controlled
environmental research, is open until
3:30 p.m. daily except public holidays.
Admission is by free permit (see HOURS).

GROUP TOURS

Garden clubs, horticulturists, community
groups, student organizations and others can
request guided tours of the Perennial
Garden, Fern Glen or Greenhouse, or a
general tour of the Institute. Tours should be
arranged four weeks in advance. For
information on fees, or to make reservations,
call Ms. Su Marcy at 914/677-7641.

HOURS

Summer hours: April - September
Closed on public holidays.

Public attractions are open Mon. - Sat.,

9 a.m.-6 p.m. & Sun. 1-6 p.m., with a free
permit*. (Note: The Greenhouse closes at
3:30 p.m. daily.)

The IES Ecology Shop is open Mon - Fri.,

11 a.m.- 5 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 8c Sun. 1-5 p.m.
(The shop is closed weekdays from 1-1:30 p.m.)

* Free permits are required for visitors and
are available at the IES Ecology Shop or the
Education Program office daily until 5p.m.

MEMBERSHIP

Join the Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
Benefits include subscription to the
newsletter, member’s rate for courses and
excursions, a 10% discount on IES Ecology
Shop purchases, and participation in a
reciprocal admissions program. Individual
membership: $30; family membership: $40.
Call Ms. Janice Claiborne at 677-5343.

The Institute’s Aldo Leopold Society
In addition to receiving the benefits listed
above, members of The Aldo Leopold
Society are invited guests at special events
including spring and fall IES science updates.
Call Ms. Jan Mittan at 677-5343.

TO CONTACT IES...

... for research, graduate opportunities,
library and administration:

Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Box AB

Millbrook NY 12545-0129
Tel: 914/677-5343 • Fax: 914/677-5976
Street address: Plant Science Building,
Route 44 A Millbrook, N.Y.

... for education, general information and
the IES Ecology Shop:

Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Education Program, Box R
Millbrook NY 12545-0178
Tel: 914/677-5359 • Fax: 914/677-6455
IES Ecology Shop telephone: 914/677-7649
Street address: Gifford House Visitor and
Education Center, Route 44A, Millbrook,
N.Y.

... IES website: www.ecostudies.org