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P # r =::i* .- ;... :. _..4:a:::=::.._::r=r == f\espite aII the good things that spring and was quickly rewarded, especially by the appear- IJbrinss, this yeilr has seen it bring ance of migrutoty species moving through, such as many seyere storms, including tornados, goldfinches and rose-breasted grosbeaks. Tiy it! in the Oxford area*nd,elservhere. In the spring, we also enjoy visits by numerous school groups taking field trips. This relationship Luckily, the Field Station has escaped any damage, with teachers and schools is growing, and we are but unfortunately our senior staff assistant, Linda proud to contribute to the learning process. We Williams, lost her home to falling trees and water are also very grateful to the gang at the National damage. Sedimentation Laboratory for their tremendous help with larger school groups. Spring is also graduation time, and we salute Rani Menon, who completed her Ph.D. in biology (Dr. Marge Holland, adviser) based on work at the Field Station. She now has a postdoctoral position atTexas A&1\4. Spring has also seen the return of butterfies and birds. In fact, the butterflies seemed to appear be- fore the plants were ready for them. For the first time, I put out birdfeeders near my window when we had a few inches of snow staying on the ground STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS Dr..Jim Anderson attended the Annual IFA Con- ference and Annual Fire Ant CoP Member Meet- ing in Galvston, Texas April 4-7.While there, he presented a paper on Deoelopment of an ant counter forforaging assals or rnonitoring ant actir.tity. The convention had 30 presentations andl6 posters. Next yeart convention willbe April 76-79 in Nashville,Tenn. Congratulations Dr. Ray Highsmith, who was appointed to the Mississippi Water Resources Research Board and to the University of Mississippi Re- search Board. Dr. Rita Moreas is spending two weeks in her native country of Bra- ii to attend meetings and be a guest speaker at EMBttAPlfs National Environment i meeting in Sao Paulo. She is scheduled to give two I presentations on medicinal plants. One highlights nredicinalptantsarz-sourceoFn-aturalpestici*es, { and the other is part of aworkshop for an ongoing project to study the biodiversity of Braitl's Caat- inga region. The Caatinga region comprises more It than 10 percent of Brazilt territory. is a xeric shrubland and thorn forest, which consists pri- marily of small, thorny trees, cacti, thick-stemmed plants, thorny brush and arid-adapted grasses. A1- though it is an arid landsc^pe, mlny annual plants grow, flower and die during the brief rainy season. Donor Information: Friends of the Field Station Account UM Foundation, P.O. Box 249 University, MS 38677 RESEARCH SP0TLIGHT : INFRASOUND Can you hear me now? Most research con- ducted at the UM Field Station centers around something biological, something liv- ing, such as plants or animals, but that is not the case with the latest group of researchers. They are studying sound. The university's Jamie Whitten National Center for Physical Acoustics has constructed a sensor array at the UM Field Station to conduct infrasound research. Infrasound is very low frequency sound, well below the range of human hearing, that travels long distances. Natural infrasound Setting up infrasound sensor at the Field Station sources include volcanoes, hurricanes and tornados (pretty and tornados, and the determina- relevant research considering the tion of the winds associated with weather patterns that have been the upper atmospheric tides. whipping up all the tornados in the South this spring, and the The seven solar-powered sensors hurricane season getting started). Aerial photo ofthe UM Field Station. Red arrows were developed by researchers at Manmade sources of infrasound show sensor locations. NCPA and are arranged in an ar- include large explosions, sonic ray designed to acquire signals in booms and machinery such as wind turbines or a rznge of different infrasound frequencies. The engines. "Infrasonic signals can be detected from information gathered by the sensor array is down- hundreds to even thousands of kilometers from loaded on-site about every two weeks . The array their source," says Dr. Eric Friemark, research as- is being used to acquire signals of interest and as sociate at NCPA. a "test bed" for newly-developed equipment, false alarm reduction algorithms, wind noise mitigation Why study infrasound? "The interest in infrasound schemes and infrasound propagation models. The is two-fold," Friemark explains. "On the one hand, Field Station was selected as an ideal site due to its the propagation of infrasound through the atmo- proximity to NCPA, allowing researchers ready ac- sphere depends critically on the temperature and cess to the array, and because of its tree cover which winds in the various layers of the atmosphere so provides a wind shield at infrasonic frequencies. that information about the atmospheric state can be obtained from infrasonic signals received from Field Station director Ray Highsmith said, "One distant sources. On the other hand, infrasonic of the fun things about being at the Field Station signals can be used to monitor infrasonic sources is seeing the great range of activities that can be safely from great distances." done here by scientists. Also, the continual de- velopment of new technologies is pretty amazing. Research at NCPA addresses several specific appli- I certainly would not have thought it possible to cations, including verification of compliance with monitor hurricanes in the Caribbean or Gulf or the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Tleary the verify test-ban treaties from a patch of cattails at monitoring of natural hazards such as hurricanes the Field Station." Field Work: Dr. Rich Buchholz, Biology 350 Dr. Rich Buchholzis no strangerto the UM Field tification, measurement, marking and the use of ]I Station. His NSF grant-funded Avian Research capture/recapture data for population mo deling. I Facility that studies parasites and mate selec- tion in wild turkey hens is located here. For three (ME) How often is this class taught and what is I weeks in April, his Biology 350 class (Mammal- done with the data the students collect? ogy) also worked on research at the Field Station (RB) The course is taught in the spring semester of I as part of their curriculum. I had the opportunity odd-numbered years (e.g. 2071,, 2073, etc). have to ask him about this class and their research, and taught four times previously, and we've seen inter- q& he graciously agreed to a little A. esting changes in the small mammal communiq at our study site at the field station. Habitat succession I is occurring whereby what was open grass has been colonized by pines. As a result wete catching more deer mice and woodland voles than we used to. (ME) What is the benefit of field work for students ? (RB) Many biology departments at universities across the U.S. have eliminated "whole organism" courses such as Mammalogy, especially when they involve field work. These courses are usually small in size, are a lot of work for the instructors, and some sehools ++sr+y +bout the +osl-and-potential ---i liability of taking students to fie1d sites. fn some cases, administrators at those schools feel that field Students checking the mammal traps courses are "o1d-fashioned" science and mistakenly (ME) Who takes BISC 350 (Mammalogy )? believe that lab work is "better" than field work. (RB) Mammalogy (BISC 350) is a biology elective. Also today's students have spent less time outdoors The only pre-requisite is one year of Introductory as children and they have unreasonable fears about Biology, but the class is limited to 21 students (the nature and exposure to wild animals. number that can fit into two vans for field trips) I teach my students that Mammalogy has applied and is so popular that usually only juniors and se- relevance to everything from agricultural crop pro- niors are able to get in. Most of the students have duction to disease epidemics.Theylearn, for exam- an affinity for a particular mammal group and want ple, how our response to the SARS epidemic was to learn more about them. Others take the course hindered by our lack of understanding of the biol- to round out their training for acareer in conserva- ogy of civets (an Asian family of carnivores). They tion or wildlife management. also learn how today's mammalogists use modern technologies such as DNA sequencing and satel- (ME) Tell me about the project the students have lite transmitters to answer both theoretical and ap- going on at the Field Station: plied questions. The field work is essential for the (RB) The students are learning how to set up and students to develop confidence in applying their monitor a trap array. There are 50 traps set up and skill sets to real-world scenarios. I don't expect that they are checked by the students daily. The traps many of them will become professional mammalo- tell us which rodent species are present, but will gists, but I'm sure that they will have a lifelong in- also give us a population estimate for each. The terest and appreciation of mammal biodiversity. I students are developing skills such as species iden- Micbelle Edutards, UMFS The UM Field Station is very fortunate to enjoy a clude analytical fi ngerprinting for standar dization partnership with the National Center for Natural of herb al products and bio - an alytical approaches to Products Research. Directed by Dr. Larry Walker improvement of product quality and safety. Khan and located in the Thad Cochran Research Cen- is an internationally recognized expert in this field ter, the NCNPR is internationally acclaimed for with more than 300 publications and awards too its work in the field of medicinal plant research. numerous to list here. About 720 researchers from diverse scientific disciplines from microbiology to plant pathology The Oxford International Conference on the Sci- are on staff at NCNPR. Their mission is to find ence of Botanicals, which Khan founded, celebrat- and develop new pharmaceuticals and agricultural ed its 10th anniversary April 11-14 at UM. products from natural resources: plants, animals and microbes. The scientists are deeply involved A growing number of scientists from the Natural in each step of the processl "from seed to clinical Products Center are uttlizing the Field Station's trials" is how Dr. Ikhlas Khan, assistant director of facilities for their research. Three are involved this the center, phrases the research. summer although Khan says this number is likely to increase as new projects are developed. "The Khan also has an appointment as research pro- center and the Field Station have such a synergistic fessor and coordinator for Natural Products Re- partnership," Khan said. "Our missions overlap, search at the Field Station's Center for M/ater and and in this overlap there is a great opportunity to Wetland Resources. "The Field Station seeks to help each other and further these important fields develop partnerships with campus units as well as of research. I look forward to a mutually beneficial government agencies," said Dr. Ray Highsmith, and prolific partnership for many )€ars to come." Field Station director.'lBecause of NCNPR's strong affiliation 7P#tr€:e with the U.S. Department of 7?i-*:2": Agriculture's Agricultural Re- ?-- .*a ta,a.,;: :9...1. search Service, we accomplish ,:?%#.e *474.;!.:i both goals with this partner- '*.<jj1, ship. We couldn't ask for a 'tr;t€;:ee'Ee:Z better arrangement. We really #-4 -'' appreciate all that Dr. Khan and . '-:Etr "!:-' '- "n ' his staff and colleagues do at :l;;=T* and for the Field Station." ,rfi,,iirtt Medicinal plants are Khant area of expertise. Born in Amroha, India, Khan received both his bachelort and master's degrees from Aligarh Muslim Universi- ty in Aligarh, India. He earned his doctorate in pharmacy from the Institute for Pharmaceutical Biology in Munich and joined the UM faculty in 1988. His pimary research interests in- For more photos, check our new UM Field Station flickr page at: http ://www.fl ickr.com/photos/u mfi eldstation/ Non-Profit \ffih?"* U.S. POSTAGE PAID JACKSON, MS University of Misisippi PERMIT NO. 937 15 CR 2078 Abbeville, MS 38601 nluoptero. :,.:,:.? :-'.:: a',: :...-:!,::