Chiricahua Mountains Fire (from Bob)

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On the way to the Chiricahua Mountains, we had a few adventures. One, my favorite highway sign in the United States. The fissure it refers to is probably because of groundwater pumping.

Second, a fire, now 27,000 acres large, has been burning for a week on the east side of the Chiricahua Mts. The Southwest Research Station at Portal was evacuated a few days ago. Miriam Roe took these pictures yesterday (Monday, 16 May) from east Turkey Creek. In the second photo, you can see the Forest Service plane dropping the fire retardant.

SWRS in danger

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Fire near Portal, AZMany of us have visited the Southwest Research Station near Portal, AZ for research or meetings.  A wildfire is currently threatening the research station and the surrounding area.  All personnel have been evacuated.  It is sad to read about the fire destroying specific sites where I have collected in the past.  Let’s hope it is contained.

More here: Arizona Daily Star

Bob’s Desert Adventures

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Now that the winter has broken and flowers are out in Rochester, and the temperature in the deserts of North America are over 90 degrees each day, the only sensible place to go is the Sonoran Desert. The Minckley lab (Robert, Bob, Roberto, Rob, Adrian and Chan) is headed to northern Sonora for the rest of May and June. No bees are out this time of year, but the perennial plants are. We will be resurveying plants on plots first established in the year 2000 to see how the species composition and cover has changed over the last decade. In 2000, all grazing and agriculture was stopped in this area. We will keep you posted.

The pictures are from Three Points, Arizona-a suburb of Tucson. Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea), left. A Prickly Pear cactus (Opuntia engelmannii), right.

The Desert Tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) were born on 9 Sept 2010.

Summer, Bikes, Caribbean Cuisine, and (the other) Neutral Theory

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The Peppa Pot's oxtail speciality

UPDATE: This expedition has been postponed until Monday due to a few key absences.  We’ll meet 1PM outside Hutch on Monday.

Last summer we took some discussion groups on the road, forming a bike posse to local eateries so that we could discuss research over a meal. We’re going to do the same this summer, starting with a trip this Friday at 1PM to the newly opened Peppa Pot Jamaican Restaurant on Gregory (<1 mile from campus).  We’ll be discussing two recent papers on the unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography.  A review paper in TREE will help refresh everyone’s memory about what the neutral theory is.  A recent paper from Ecology Letters, meanwhile, offers an interesting new application of neutral theory to island biogeography.  We’ll depart from the front of Hutch by bike at 1PM this Friday!

Rosindell, J., S. P. Hubbell, and R. S. Etienne (In Press) The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography at age ten. TREE [doi link]

Rosindell, J. and A. B. Phillimore (2011) A unified model of island biogeography sheds light on the zone of radiation. Ecology Letters [doi link]

Evolution Pub Club

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Some of us in the department would like to start a summer “Evolution Pub Club,”reading a paper a week from the latest issue of Evolution at Sheridan’s Irish Pub. We will pick four articles from each month’s issue for discussion in that month. The general goal here is to read more broadly and stay up to date on content published in that journal. We can decide to meet for lunch or happy hour during the week or on Friday. Sheridan’s is a very nice Irish Pub which serves great food and of course pours a very appropriate pint of Guinness, among other things. It’s about a 20 minute walk, or a 7 minute bike ride. Please send me an email (yasir.ahmed@rochester.edu) if you are interested, and let me know what day/time you would prefer.

Dinner Party for Meghan Jacobs Tonight

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This is Bob's Door

From Bob Minckley: “This is short notice, but I am having a dinner for Meghan [undergraduate researcher in the Jaenike Lab] Tuesday evening at my house. Per the norm, Mexican food. Much of it with no meat, but other kinds too. Miles will be there and needs his sleep, so let’s start at 6:30.  Show up if possible and let me know who I might be forgetting. Everyone is invited and there will be plenty of food.”  Bob’s house is the brick-red two-story on Averill just behind Echo Tone Music.

Roller Derby This Weekend

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Photo by Mitch McAllister (http://www.mitchsgallery.com/)

Come out this Saturday for Roc City Roller Derby in support of Presgraves Lab Post-doc Sarah “Doom” Kingan, who will be competing with her Rottenchester team-mates against the Midtown Maulers.  The bout is at 7PM at the Dome Arena in Henrietta (tickets are available at Thread, Parkleigh, and online).

Glor Lab Band Photo 2011

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With the passing of another academic year, the Glor Lab is pleased to release its latest “if we were a band” photo.  We decided to go for a serious, all-black look this year.  From left to right: Eddie, Audrey Kelly (’12), Ben Desch (’13), Shea Lambert (post-grad), Ryane Logsdon (’12), Rich Glor (PI), Anthony Geneva (PhD), Daniel Scantlebury (PhD), Julienne Ng (PhD).