Join Dr. David Flagel , Notre Dame Dept. of Biological Sciences, in this adult only program to learn how gray wolves have impacted forest community structure by altering the foraging behavior of white-tailed deer and coyotes.

Title: The Consistency of Pesticide Effects on Freshwater Systems.

Abstract: Freshwater systems are the most biodiverse in the world and provide important ecosystem services to humans, yet these systems are globally imperiled because of widespread pollution of thousands of synthetic chemicals. Predicting the ecological effects of contaminants on freshwater systems remains a challenge because of the sheer number of contaminants, including pesticides. A central objective of my research is to evaluate if the effects of pesticides on freshwater systems are independent of each other or if they share some consistencies. Overall, we see that the effects of pesticides on parasite transmission, community structure, and ecosystem function are consistent within pesticide chemical class (those that share similar chemical structure) or pesticide type (those that share similar targets in the environment). My research suggests that an enormous amount of complexity in risk assessment could be reduced by considering a smaller number of chemical groups. …

Title:  When Economic Visions Clash with Socio-Ecological and Health Realities: Limitations to Refugee Self-Reliance in Arid and Semi-Arid Landscapes in Northern Kenya

Abstract:  

In recent years, relief agencies and donor groups have pushed for converting refugee camps into economic business zones where refugees and displaced populations living in enduring encampment situations and their (usually impoverished) host communities can enhance their resilience and achieve self-reliance. Drawing on recent work on refugee-host dynamics and social economies in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) areas of Turkana and Garissa Counties in Northern Kenya, we show that economic visions of refugees and hosts living self-reliant lives in integrated settlements face numerous and even fatal limitations due to the combination of psycho-social and psycho-biological health of refugees and hosts in ASALs and the specific human-environmental dynamics of ASALs. …