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March 2009 update
The Eckert Herbarium announces the arrival of the Dr. Carol R. Sweeney Plant Collection to Buffalo State College.
Dr. Amy McMillan has organized the campus’ effort to recognize and celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth. The highlight of this semester’s activity will be a lecture by Dr. Michael Ruse of Florida State University. An ardent evolutionist, Ruse, for decades, has fought the Creationist agenda in the classroom, in the courtroom, and in the political and public arenas.
Dr. Ruse’s lecture entitled, "Charles Darwin: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow?" will be presented Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 7:30pm in Rockwell Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.
The NSF-URM Program in Aquatic and Watershed Ecology at Buffalo State College is now accepting applications for undergraduate researchers through March 30, 2009. Students who participate in this 2-year program of research and study will earn a stipend while gaining valuable, hands-on experiences in the field and laboratory.
February 2009 update
On February 12, 2009, the Buffalo State Biology Club invited the campus community to join in a celebration of the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. While enjoying birthday cake and refreshments, students, faculty, and staff enjoyed evolution-themed literature, games, and exhibits created by students from Dr. Amy McMillan’s organic evolution class. In addition, a prize drawing was held to win evolution-themed t-shirts and a Charles Darwin bobble head figurine. This event was made possible by generous contributions from Dr. McMillan and the textbook publisher, Pearson Education, Inc. The Biology Club is planning several other events for Spring 2009 including presentations by guest speakers, trips to museums and nature preserves and a campus clean-up on Earth Day. For information about club meeting times and upcoming events, please contact buffalostatebiology@yahoo.com.
October 2008 update
This summer, aquatic biologists from the Biology Department and the Great Lakes Center attended the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) annual meeting in St. John's, Newfoundland to present their research and share ideas with other researchers. Buffalo State attendees included Mark Clapsadl, Alicia Perez-Fuentetaja, Howard Riessen, Alexander Karatayev, Lyubov Burlakova and Randal Snyder.
Dr. Randal Snyder was recently awarded a grant from New York Sea Grant to fund his proposal entitled, "Improved Predictions of Condition and Growth in Alewives: Effects of Dietary Fatty Acids, Temperature, and Ration". Dr. Snyder will conduct experiments at the College's Aquatic Research Laboratory to examine how diet influences the growth of alewives, an important Great Lakes fish, and will use mathematical models to predict fish growth under different environmental conditions.
September 2008 update
Former graduate student Robin Foster, undergraduate Dawn Schranz and Dr. Amy McMillan published the first of at least two papers from Robin's graduate research examining the population genetics of eastern hellbenders in the journal Herpetological Review.
Foster, R.L., A.M. McMillan, A.R. Breisch, K. Roblee, and D. Schranz. 2008. Analysis and comparison of three capture methods for the eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis). Herpetological Review 39(2): 181-186.
Dr. Daniel Potts and coauthors Stan Harpole, Mike Goulden and Katharine Suding of the University of California-Irvine, report on the carbon cycling impacts of the invasive plant artichoke thistle in the October issue of Biological Invasions.
Potts, D.L., W.S. Harpole, M.L. Goulden and K.N. Suding. 2008. The impact of invasion and subsequent removal of an exotic thistle, Cynara cardunculus, on CO2 and H2O vapor exchange in a coastal California grassland. Biological Invasions 10: 1073-1084.
