Very excited to report that our NSF Dimensions of Biodiversity grant to continue ForestGEO/CTFS analytical workshops with NSF – China has officially been awarded.  This is in collaboration with PI Stuart Davies (STRI) and coPIs Liza Comita (Yale), Nathan Swenson (Maryland), and Helene Muller-Landau (STRI). Looking forward to seeing everyone in China in the summer of 2016.  See the research page for more details.

The Jones lab is happy to report that we’ve been awarded an NSF RAPID grant to study the effects of the extreme 2016 El Nino event on tropical forest regeneration across a strong rainfall gradient in Panama.  The project is in collaboration with Drs. Liza Comita (Yale University), Bettina Engelbrecht (University of Bayreuth), Joe Wright (STRI), and Owen Lewis (Oxford).  See the research page for more details.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2016 Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program in Integrative Tropical Biology at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama.

The program will run from June 6 – August 13 2016 with an application deadline on February 15 next year. During the 10-week REU summer program, interns will experience several aspects of project design, fieldwork and research on existing projects led by STRI scientists. Students will receive a highly competitive stipend, travel expenses, food and housing during their stay in Panama.

STRI looking for advanced undergraduate students (third or fourth year) interested in the life sciences, broadly defined, who are interested in exploring the processes that generate our world’s extraordinary diversity. To qualify for NSF REU funds, applicants must be U.S. citizen or permanent resident. New funding from Panama’s National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (SENACYT) will allow Panamanian students to pair up with U.S. students in the 2016 program. Our program reaches across disciplines and in addition, we hope to identify a diverse cohort of students and encourage applications from women, ethnic minorities, economically disadvantaged students, and students from institutions that lack direct access to research opportunities.

Contact strireu@si.edu if you have any further questions.

New paper on the relationship between above and below ground plant and microbial community structure is available online in Ecology Letters.

Well done all.

Read about the El Nino event and the implications it has for tropical forests in Panama, including our current drought experiment. Download TROPICOS here.

The Jones lab and collaborators have been awarded a Dimensions of Biodiversity grant “Dynamical interactions between plant and oomycete biodiversity in a temperate forest.” by NSF. The work will be done in collaboration with PI Brett Tyler (OSU CGRB), and coPIs Nik Grunwald (USDA ), David Oline (Southern Oregon University), Margaret Metz (Lewis & Clark), and Jim Lutz (Utah State University). Check the research page for more details.

Kristen and Jessica introduced some kindergarden girls scouts to the fun of botany last weekend.

The Jones lab has an opportunity available to any elegible REU student from the US.  For more information, see the website at STRI here.

Join 9 other students for an intensive summer program in Integrative Tropical Biology at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. The 10-week program is driven by the common need to understand how biological systems are integrated to answer questions about the origins, maintenance, and preservation of biodiversity. Over the 10 weeks, you will conduct mentor-driven research at STRI on elements of existing projects that fit your needs (see Mentors and Project Descriptions for a list of scientists and potential projects). Additionally, you will participate in workshops, professional development activities, and networking events that will challenge you to critically think about science and present several opportunities for future academic careers.

2015 Program Dates: June 6 to August 14

Application deadline: February 15

It is advised to consult this website frequently for updates.

This REU program is supported by NSF’s Office of International and Integrative Activities and the Directorate of Biological Sciences and STRI.

The Jones lab has an opportunity to do research in our lab as part of the USRA Engage program.

Here is a short description of our proposed research, this would be an ideal project for a student interested in bioinformatics and genomics.

Tropical forests harbor the majority of the Earth’s terrestrial diversity. Global climate change is predicted to affect the tropics by generating changes in total annual rainfall, seasonality and the severity and frequency of extreme events. The goal of this project is to characterize the genome variation of ten common tropical species that are distributed along a drought gradient in Panama.  This information, combined with field experiments, will help us determine how much of these species’ genetic diversity is locally adapted in the landscape and might be under selection and therefore important in a species ability to respond to changing climate.

More can be found here.

Contact Dr. Jones for more information or stop by Cordley 2070 to talk in person!

Sean Matson has a nice write up of our drought project that can be found in the weekly STRI news, also some nice pictures.  Thanks Sean! pdf can be found here.