RTG: Linking Levels of Ecological Organization

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9602252 This award renews support for a Research Training Group in Linking Levels of Ecological Organization at the Kellogg Biological Station of Michigan State University. During the period of the award, NSF support will be gradually phased out as other sources of funding are identified. The faculty group currently has 8 members drawn from 5 departments. The funds awarded will provide stipends for graduate students, for trainee travel to other institutions for specialized training not available at Michigan State, and to bring investigators from other research and academic institutions to the Kellogg Station for seminars and workshops. During the initial 5 years of funding, a number of new courses in both basic and applied aspects of ecology. Several of these have now become a standard element of graduate training in ecology and evolution at the University. In addition to the funds provided by this award, institutional and other resources help extend the program to include the participation of elementary and high school students, and a separate NSF award for an REU-site activity supports the participation of undergraduate students during the summer. The need to train scientists who can attack research problems across levels of ecological organization is significant and growing. The problems of global change and of maintenance of biological diversity combine to make such training increasingly important. This program will provide such training, taking advantage of the techniques and concepts of researchers who address a variety of evolutionary and ecological problems at the level of genes, individual organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems or entire landscapes.