Alaska Ecosystems Summer Research Program
TEN RESEARCH POSITIONS AVAILABLE IN ALASKA
JUNE - AUGUST 2001
Bonanza Creek LTER program
Intended for undergraduates
Applications due: 23 March 2001
See each section below for contact information for that position.
We are seeking ten enthusiastic undergraduates or recent graduates who
are interested in summer field research in Alaska. The overall objective
of the research program is to understand the ecosystem and global
consequences of potential future changes in arctic and boreal
vegetation. There are seven separate research projects. In addition to
participating in the overall program research, students will be
encouraged to develop their own individual research project.
Each position pays $336/week (before taxes). Travel from your university
to and from the field site will be covered. Class background in ecology,
botany, soil science, and/or meteorology/climatology and experience in
field or laboratory is preferred. Students must be willing to work long
hours in the field, occasionally under adverse weather conditions.
Competent, careful, emotionally mature, and enthusiastic people desired!
We want the work to be fun as well as intellectually challenging. We
encourage applications from women and minorities. These positions are
open only to U.S. citizens who are undergraduates or have graduated
since January 2001.
To apply, please do the following: 1) send us a cover letter and a
resume, that includes the names, phone numbers, and email addresses of
two referees, 2) have your referees send letters of recommendation
separately; and 3) fill out the first page of the University of Alaska
Fairbanks application form located at:
http://www.alaska.edu/hr/application/employment_app_0998.pdf
To qualify for any of these positions you must be a citizen or permanent
resident of the United States and be an active student or within six
months of graduation. In your cover letter, explain why you are
interested in this program and how it fits into your long-term education
and career goals. Also describe your background and include anything
that you think would convince us that you are the most appropriate
person for one or more of these research positions. Please list which
project(s) you are most interested in, in order.
Submit your application materials via email between 13 March and 23
March to: Marta Conner at: fnmrc [at] uaf.edu or send them by mail to:
Institute of Arctic Biology, ATTN: Marta Connor, Irving I Building, Room
311, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99775. If you send your
application by mail, make sure that it is postmarked between March 13
and March 23, and ensure that your letters of recommendation are also
postmarked during this period.
For questions about the application process, you may contact Wendy Davis
by email at: wdavis [at] lter.uaf.edu or phone: 907/474-5881, or fax
907/474-6251.
One position is available from June through August to work on research
examining interactions between fire regime, vegetation, and climate in
interior Alaska and Yukon Territory, Canada. This research will focus on
experiments in recently burned forest that examine the effects of burn
severity, summer temperature, and seed availability on tree seedling
establishment. We will also be conducting surveys of previously burned
forest stands of different ages to evaluate post-fire successional
changes and collect information on how differences in stand composition
may influence fire regime. Research sites will be located in Alaska and
Yukon Territory. The student will spend approximately two-thirds of the
period doing field work, and one-third of the summer working on samples
in the lab in Fairbanks. Field accommodations will involve camping at
road-accessible sites between Fairbanks and Whitehorse. We will try to
arrange temporary accommodations while in Fairbanks, but the student
will need to pay for food during that time. A valid passport and
driver's license are required.
If you need more information on this project, please contact Jill
Johnstone at: ftjfj [at] uaf.edu
Two positions are available to work in the boreal forest near Fairbanks,
Alaska. These positions will go from approximately 1 June to 31 August.
The purpose of the research is to determine how different species affect
nitrogen retention in a boreal forest community following fire. We
established plots in the boreal forest near Helmer's Ridge and Delta
Junction and treated the plots with a 15N tracer following burns in
summer 1999. We seeded in or removed different groups of plant species,
and are using the 15N tracer to see how these plant species affect the
flux of nitrogen through the different plant and soil components of the
ecosystem. Students will assist with maintenance of the treatment plots,
weekly surveys of leaf area index to monitor canopy development, surveys
of seedling establishment, measurements of photosynthesis and
respiration, and biomass harvests and soil core collections. Students
also will be expected to complete independent research projects focused
on a topic related to the program and their own interests. Students will
be based in Fairbanks, but will spend extensive time camping near the
field sites.
For more information, contact Michelle Mack at: mmack [at] lter.uaf.edu,
Donie Bret-Harte at: syndonia [at] lter.uaf.edu, or Amber Moody at:
fnam [at] uaf.edu, the people who will be working most closely with the
students on this project.
One position is available to work at the Bonanza Creek LTER site and the
boreal forests near Fairbanks from approximately 11 June through 17
August. In addition, work trips will be made to field sites near
Talkeetna and near Cooper Landing and Clam Gulch on the Kenai Peninsula.
The research will be part of ongoing studies that examine the ecology
and silviculture of boreal forests. One project examines the long-term
dynamics of mixed plantations of white spruce and alder (see
http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/gtr481.pdf and
http://www.lter.uaf.edu/ascii/twurtz/graphs/nr.html), and will focus on
documenting forest regeneration after timber harvest on three sites that
were clearcut in 1992. This project offers an opportunity for the
student to do a comparative independent project of his/her own choosing
along a three-site, north-south transect through boreal Alaska. A second
study, located near Fairbanks on an island in the Tanana River just
outside Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest, examines alternatives to
clearcutting in the management of boreal white spruce forest. The
student will help in establishing plots, identifying plant species,
collecting soil data, and in database management of existing plots and
vegetation mapping. A third, and new, study will examine the effect of
herbivory by moose on forest regeneration after timber harvest, will
involve the construction of large moose exclosures in recently harvested
units, and the documentation of first season vegetation development. The
student will require a valid driver's license.
For more information please contact Trish Wurtz at: twurtz [at] lter.uaf.edu.
Further information about some of the research sites is available at
http://www.lter.uaf.edu/html/site_info.html
Two positions are available from June through August working on
below-ground community structure and its response to litter manipulation
and disturbance in boreal forests. We are involved with a number of
projects that are examining the influence of litterfall (root,
needle/leaf senescence) and disturbance (fire and logging) on
biogeochemical cycling in Alaskan forests. The projects focus on the
interactions between disturbance, litter dynamics, and abiotic controls
on the flux of carbon and nitrogen between various ecosystem
compartments. We are seeking students interested in developing
project(s) that will examine how the below-ground community responds to
carbon cycling changes brought about by disturbance or litter
manipulation (litter removal or prevention). A background in entomology,
forestry, biology, soil science, or ecology would be considered helpful,
but not mandatory. The student(s) will be based in the Fairbanks area
and will be required to make their own financial arrangements for
housing, but we will assist them in finding a residence that fits their
needs. Food costs are not covered unless the student is asked to remain
overnight away from Fairbanks.
Please contact Jason Vogel at: ftjgv [at] uaf.edu for more information about
this project.
One position is available working with the LTER site management team
from June to August. This REU will assist in activities related to the
collection of the long-term ecological data sets that the Bonanza Creek
LTER has been maintaining. This year we will be upgrading all of our
climate stations to reduce the number of manual measurements. Selected
sites will be equipped with wireless communications equipment for remote
field data collection. In addition, the site management team will be
setting up new vegetation plots and climate stations in the recently
burned FROSTFIRE site. Fieldwork will be done at sites near Fairbanks
and require travel by boat and four-wheel-drive vehicles. The student
will participate in all site management activities and will select an
independent project related to these activities. Topics range from the
comparison of pre- and post-fire effects to set up of wireless
communications equipment in remote locations. We are looking for
students interested in remote measurement of ecological data. This
student will be based out of Fairbanks and will be required to make
their own financial arrangements for housing. A valid driver's license
is required.
Please contact Wendy Davis at: wdavis [at] lter.uaf.edu for more information
on this project.
Two positions are available working in the Northern Ecosystem Analysis
and Mapping Laboratory from approximately 1 June through 31 August. One
project focuses on developing an AVHRR-derived, land-cover
classification for the North American tundra zone The project will
combine fieldwork such as familiarization with arctic vegetation along
three major tundra phytogeographic subzones along the Dalton Highway,
and collaboration on developing the AVHRR-derived classification which
will require extensive knowledge in remote sensing and geographic
information systems (GIS). The other project is field-based and focuses
on site characterization of seven cryoturbation study sites along the
Dalton Highway. This project will relate vegetation characteristics to
key climate and site characteristics. Both students will be responsible
for their own food and lodging while in Fairbanks, but will be provided
with both in the field.
For further information please contact Jamie Hollingsworth at:
fsjh [at] uaf.edu, or phone: 907/474-2459.
One position is available to work at the Toolik Lake Field Research
Station on the North Slope of the Brooks Range in arctic Alaska from
approximately 1 June through 31 August. We will be working on the Toolik
Snowfence Project (part of the International Tundra Experiment network)
which examines the long-term effects of increased snow depth (shortened
growing season) and increased summer temperatures on the tundra
vegetation, to assess possible changes that may occur in tundra plant
communities due to global climate change. There are two snowfence
experiment sites which have been established since the summer of 1995;
one in moist tussock tundra and the other in dry heath tundra. There is
also a new study site in a natural snowbed community which will help
explain some of the vegetation changes that we are beginning to see at
the snowfence sites. At each of these sites data on plant phenology,
growth, reproductive effort, thaw depth, soil moisture, and nutrient
cycling are collected, using a variety of techniques. In addition,
long-term plant community data will be collected at all of the snowfence
experiment plots in order to assess plant community shifts due to the
experimental manipulations.
For more information contact Amy Carroll at: fnabc [at] uaf.edu, or phone:
907/474-1534, or Julie Crawford at: fnjac2 [at] uaf.edu, or phone:
907/474-1534.