[SEMCO] Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative Conference Schedule Announced for 9/22

[Sheri DeRosa]

Contact:       Dr. Robert Kennedy

                   National Biodiversity Initiative Chair

                   rkennedy at mmo.org <mailto:rkennedy at mmo.org> or (508) 
228-1782

 

For Immediate Release

September 14, 2007

 

2nd Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative Conference Schedule Announced for 
Saturday, September 22

 

NANTUCKET--Scientists from across North America will converge on 
Nantucket on Saturday, September 22 from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. to join local 
experts in discussing the island's rich biodiversity--the variety of all 
life (plants, animals and other living things) that occur here, 
including ecosystem, species and genetic diversity. 

 

Admission to attend the lectures is free to the public but donations 
will be gladly accepted.  The day-long conference will take place at the 
Egan Maritime Foundation at the Coffin School, 4 Winter Street. 
Registration begins at 8 a.m. with coffee and refreshments. The program 
starts at 8:30 a.m.

 

The Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative is a partnership between Nantucket 
conservation organizations, universities, non-governmental 
organizations, and individuals interested in documenting the 
biodiversity of the islands and adjacent waters and monitoring and 
conserving that biodiversity over time.  Members of the partnership 
include the Linda Loring Nature Foundation, Maria Mitchell Association, 
Massachusetts Audubon Society, Nantucket Conservation Foundation, 
Nantucket Garden Club, Nantucket Islands Land Bank Commission, Nantucket 
Land Council, Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program of 
Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, Science Department of 
Nantucket High School, The Trustees of Reservations, Tuckernuck Land 
Trust, and University of Massachusetts Boston Nantucket Field Station. 

 

For more information, please visit 
http://www.nantucketbiodiversityinitiative.org/ or contact Dr. Bob 
Kennedy, Director of Natural Science at the Maria Mitchell Association, 
who serves as chair of the National Biodiversity Initiative.  He can be 
reached at 508-228-1782 or rkennedy at mmo.org <mailto:rkennedy at mmo.org>.  
A complete schedule of the program is attached.

 

# # #

 

 

2nd Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative Conference

8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

September 22, 2007

The Coffin School, Egan Institute of Maritime Studies

4 Winter Street, Nantucket, MA

 

Tentative Program Synopsis

 

8:00 - 8:30 a.m.

Coffee and refreshments

 

8:30 - 8:40 a.m.

Opening Remarks

Bob Kennedy, Chair, Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative

 

8:40 - 9:40  a.m.

Session 1:  Plants  - Chair, Ernest Steinauer, Massachusetts Audubon Society

 

1)  BRYOPHYTES OF NANTUCKET: TOWARD A MODERN SPECIES CHECKLIST.  Norton 
G. Miller.

 

2)  LICHEN DIVERSITY IN THE PLANT COMMUNITIES OF NANTUCKET AND 
TUCKERNUCK ISLANDS.  Elizabeth Kneiper.

 

3)  WEE BEASTIES AND TEENY PLANTS II - THE STUDENT VIEW.  Douglas E. 
Eveleigh.

 

9:40 - 10:40  a.m.

Session 2: Marine Ecosystems - Chair, Sarah Oktay, UMass Boston 
Nantucket Field Station

 

4)  BIODIVERSITY SURVEYS OF NANTUCKET AND MADAKET HARBORS - 
INCORPORATING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING WITH FIELD RESEARCH.  Rachel 
Dacks, Bridget Deemer, W. Forrest Kennedy, Meghan J. Massaua, Caroline 
Polgar, and Robert S. Kennedy.

 

5)  THE POSSIBLE ROLE OF TELOMERE LOSS IN THE SHORT LIFE SPAN OF THE BAY 
SCALLOP, Argopecten irradians irradians  (LAMARCK 1819).  Stephen L. 
Estabrooks.

 

6)  UNDERWATER SURVEYS OF THE PLANTS AND INVERTEBRATES OF NANTUCKET 
HARBOR, MASSACHUSETTS.  Meghan Massaua, W. Forrest Kennedy, Rachel 
Dacks, Peter B. Boyce and Robert S. Kennedy. 

 

10:40 - 11:10 a.m.

Break & Refreshments

 

11:10 a.m. - 12:10 p.m.  

Session 3: Terrestrial Invertebrates -1 - Chair, Cheryl Creighton, 
Tuckernuck Land Trust

 

7)  A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF ANT SPECIES DIVERSITY ON CAPE COD, 
MARTHA'S VINEYARD, AND NANTUCKET.  Aaron M. Ellison, Mark R. Johnston, 
and Kelly C. McBride.

 

8)  INVENTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF SPIDERS ON NANTUCKET, TUCKERNUCK AND 
MUSKEGET ISLANDS, MASSACHUSETTS.  Andrew Mckenna-Foster and Cheryl Beaton.

 

9)  THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANNUAL CICADAS ON NANTUCKET.  Gerry Bunker.

 

12:10 - 1:40 p.m.

Lunch Break and Session 4:  Posters:  Chair, Sarah E. Hinman, Nantucket 
Conservation Foundation

 

10)  POPULATION TRENDS OF NESTING PIPING PLOVERS (Charadrius melodus) 
AND LEAST TERNS (Sterna antillarum) ON NANTUCKET ISLAND, MASSACHUSETTS:  
30 YEARS OF MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT.  Karen C. Beattie, Edith A. Ray, 
Scott M. Melvin, Bradford G. Blodget, and Carolyn S. Mostello. 

 

11)  PRELIMINARY RESPONSES OF RARE SANDPLAIN WILDFLOWERS TO PRESCRIBED 
FIRE MANAGEMENT ON NANTUCKET ISLAND, MASSACHUSETTS.  Sarah E. Hinman, 
Rachael S. Freeman, Karen C. Beattie, and Sarah A. Treanor. 

 

12)  THE MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION ELECTRONIC FIELD GUIDE TO THE 
INVASIVE PLANTS OF NANTUCKET ISLAND, MASSACHUSETTS.  Cheryl Beaton, 
Kristen Checkalski, Jennifer Forman Orth, Robert Stevenson, Jacob 
Asiedu, Robert Morris, and Robert S. Kennedy.

 

1:40 - 3:00  p.m.

Session 5: Terrestrial Invertebrates-2 & Vertebrates -1 - Chair, Cormac 
Collier, Nantucket Land Council

 

13)  ABOVEGROUND ARTHROPOD COMMUNITY ASSEMBLAGES WITHIN NANTUCKET'S 
PITCH PINE AND SCRUB OAK BARRENS HABITATS WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO 
THE BEETLE FAUNA. Aaron S. Weed.

 

14)  NANTUCKET LEPIDOPTERA:  AN ONLINE SEARCHABLE DATABASE OF THE 
CHANGES IN THE MOTH FAUNA ON NANTUCKET BETWEEN THE EARLY 1900'S AND THE 
PRESENT.  Mark J. Mello.

 

15)  BOX TURTLES (Terrapene carolina carolina) ON CAMP EDWARDS, A 
SPECIES OF SPECIAL CONCERN, AND DO THEY CLIMB UP HILL.  Michael Ciaranca.

 

16)  WHIP-POOR-WILLS (Caprimulgus vociferous) AND THEIR SPATIAL NEEDS ON 
CAMP EDWARDS.  John P. Kelly.

 

3:00 - 3:30 p.m.  

Break & Refreshments

 

3:30 - 4:50 p.m. 

Session 6: Vertebrates-2:  Richard R. Veit, City University of New York  

 

17)  DIET COMPOSITION OF GRAY SEALS (Halichoerus grypus) IN U.S. WATERS. 
Kristen Ampela.

 

18)  WINTERING HABITAT OF SEADUCKS IN THE NANTUCKET ISLAND COASTAL AREA 
BASED ON SATELLITE TELEMETRY AND FOOD HABITS. Matthew C. Perry and Simon 
Perkins.

 

19)  THE POPULATION DYNAMICS OF THE AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER (Haematopus 
palliates) ON THE ISLANDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. Sean P. Murphy and Richard 
R. Veit.

 

20)  WHAT DO HISTORIC ACCOUNTS OF THE HEATH HEN TELL US ABOUT SANDPLAIN 
HABITATS?  Tim Simmons.

 

Special thanks for support from Provisions, Cisco Brewers, Foood for 
Here & There,

Nantucket Allserve,  Nantucket Ice House, Espresso To Go and Island 
Coffee Roasters.  For information go to: 
www.nantucketbiodiversityinitiative.org 
<http://www.nantucketbiodiversityinitiative.org/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.whoi.edu/pipermail/semco/attachments/20070914/2762bceb/attachment-0001.htm 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Biodiversity Press Release 2007 FINAL VERSION.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 47616 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.whoi.edu/pipermail/semco/attachments/20070914/2762bceb/attachment-0001.doc