Monday, January 4, 2010

This class, which has met online every other week for 3 months, is like some long-awaited culmination of virtual dating. While I knew many of the undergrads in the class, I knew only the voices and names of the grad students. Putting together a voice I know well with a brand new face is really, really strange. Admittedly I had already formed ideas in my head about what these people look like and what kinds of lives they lead. I could piece together their interests from they way they talked during their reports, and how agog they might be about the great outdoors and our infamous “rustic” conditions. To top it off, when I finally met them for the first time at the airport today, I realized they had probably been forming ideas about me. So it’s like our first real date together. In Mexico. Giddy up.--Lenna O.

photo from Stephanie L.

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About the Class

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Alamos, Sonora, Mexico
This course combines pre-trip classroom instruction with field study in the Sierra de Alamos in Southeastern Sonora, Mexico. Its purpose is to introduce both undergraduate and graduate students to biodiversity and conservation of a diverse and significantly threatened ecosystem.

Readings

  • Alvarez-Yepiz, J. C., A. Martinez-Yrizar, et al. (2008). "Variation in vegetation structure and soil properties related to land use history of old-growth and secondary tropical dry forests in northwestern Mexico." Forest Ecology and Management 256(3): 355-366.
  • Anten, N. P. R., M. Martinez-Ramos, et al. (2003). "Defoliation and growth in an understory palm: Quantifying the contributions of compensatory responses." Ecology 84(11): 2905-2918.
  • Dacosta, J. M. and J. Klicka (2008). "The Great American Interchange in birds: a phylogenetic perspective with the genus Trogon." Molecular Ecology 17(5): 1328-1343.
  • Endress, B. A., D. L. Gorchov, et al. (2004). "Harvest of the palm Chamaedorea radicalis, its effects on leaf production, and implications for sustainable management." Conservation Biology 18(3): 822-830.
  • Endress, B. A., D. L. Gorchov, et al. (2004). "Non-timber forest product extraction: Effects of harvest and browsing on an understory palm." Ecological Applications 14(4): 1139-1153.
  • Felger, R. S. and E. Joyal (1999). "The palms (Areacaceae) of Sonora, Mexico." Aliso 18(1): 1-18.
  • Joyal, E. (1996). "The palm has its time: An ethnoecology of Sabal uresana in Sonora, Mexico." Economic Botany 50(4): 446-462.
  • Joyal, E. (1996). "The use of Sabal uresana (Arecaceae) and other palms in Sonora, Mexico." Economic Botany 50(4): 429-445.
  • O' Brien, C., A. D. Flesch, et al. (2006). Biological inventory of the Rio Aros, Sonora, Mexico: A river unknown. C. O'Brien. Tucson, University of Arizona.
  • Rendon-Carmona, H., A. Martinez-Yrizar, et al. (2009). "Selective cutting of woody species in a Mexican tropical dry forest: Incompatibility between use and conservation." Forest Ecology and Management 257(2): 567-579.
  • Ticktin, T. (2004). "The ecological implications of harvesting non-timber forest products." Journal of Applied Ecology 41(1): 11-21.
  • Vasquez-Leon, M. and D. Liverman (2004). "The political ecology of land-use change: Affluent ranchers and destitute farmers in the Mexican municipio of Alamos." Human Organization 63(1): 21-33.

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