Forest ThreatNet

The U.S. International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE) has named Eastern Threat Center research ecologist Bill Hargrove its Distinguished Landscape Ecologist for 2017, the organization's most prestigious award. Hargrove's is the 25th such award, which recognizes scholars whose thinking, writing, and long-term scientific endeavors have shaped the field of landscape ecology. Upon accepting the award on April 18 during a ceremony at the US-IALE annual meeting held in Baltimore, MD, Hargrove told his colleagues, "This group shares a unique belief -- that the most interesting and exciting science comes from intersecting overlaps in the Venn Diagram. You've given me something that I'll never forget." Hargrove is the fourth U.S. Forest Service scientist to have received the US-IALE Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award. He served as chair of the organizing committee for the 2016 US-IALE annual meeting held in Asheville, NC.

Pictured: Bill Hargrove accepts the Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award from US-IALE President Ross Meentemeyer. Photo by Jeffrey Hepinstall-Cymerman, University of Georgia.

Career and Aspiring Landscape Ecologists Present at Annual US-IALE Meeting

Center research ecologists Bill Hargrove, Kurt Riitters, and Steve Norman and North Carolina State University cooperating scientist Kevin Potter, all long-time US-IALE members, contributed oral and poster presentations on a variety of topics to the annual US-IALE meeting in Baltimore, April 9-13. Also at the meeting was former Center intern Molly Bahr, a senior at Carolina Friends School in Durham, NC, who presented a poster based on a learning experience during her 2016 internship with Riitters. Entitled “The landscape ecology game: using Google Earth to teach landscape ecology,” Molly’s poster challenged conference attendees to identify and explain natural and human-caused patterns around the world. She and Riitters designed the game for high school students as a way to increase their awareness and understanding of processes that shape the world they live in.

Pictured: Riitters and Bahr participate in the poster session at the US-IALE annual meeting. Photo by Megan Granda.