ANNUAL REPORT: June 1, 2008 – May 31, 2009
(i.e., Summer 2008, AY 2008-2009)
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND FOREST BIOLOGY
SUNY-ESF
NAME: Jacqueline L. Frair
I. INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES
1. Regular Course Offerings
Course No.
Title
Credit
Hrs.
No.
Students
No. of Lab.
Sections
SUMMER:
EFB 500
EFB 496
Arctic Ecosystems
Wildlife Techniques
3
3
9
10
---
FALL:
EFB 796
EFB 797
Landscape Ecology
Ecological Detective Seminar
4
1
11
10
1
--
SPRING:
EFB 491
Wildlife Ecol. & Manage. Practicum
2
33
2
2. Non-Scheduled Course Offerings (e.g., 496, 899, 999)
Course No.
EFB 495
EFB 498
EFB 498
EFB 796
EFB 798
EFB 899
EFB 899
EFB 999
EFB 999
Title
Undergraduate Teaching Exp
Research Problems EFB
Research Problems EFB
Teaching Experience, LE
Research Problems EFB
MS Thesis Research
MS Thesis Research
Doctoral Thesis Research
Doctoral Thesis Research
Credit
Hrs.
2-3
1-3
1-3
1
2
4
9
4
9
No.
Students
2 (Spring 2009)
9 (Fall 2008)
4 (Spring 2009)
1 (Fall 2008)
1 (Fall 2008)
1 (Fall 2008)
1 (Spring 2009)
1 (Fall 2008)
1 (Spring 2009)
3. Continuing Education and Extension (short courses, workshops, etc.)
4. Guest Lecture Activities
Course No.
ESF 300
EFB 497/797
Title
No. of Lectures
Intro Geospatial Info Technology
1
Landscape Perspectives in Aquatic Ecol. 1
II. STUDENT ADVISING
A. Number of undergraduates for whom you are the student’s official advisor 30 and unofficial advisor ? .
B. Graduate Students: (Name, degree sought, starting date, month & year; if a degree was completed, please give
date and full citation for the thesis or dissertation).
MAJOR PROFESSOR
Christina Boser, M.S., May 2007
Robin Holevinski, Ph.D., August 2007
CO-MAJOR PROFESSOR
MEMBER, STEERING COMMITTEE (other than those listed above)
David Williams, Ph.D., prelim exam Fall 2008, ongoing
Kevin Kapuscinski, Ph.D., prelim exam Spring 2009, ongoing
Kay Hajek, Ph.D., prelim exam Fall 2007, ongoing
Katie Woodside, M.S., defended Spring 2009
Tanya Rogers, M.S., defended Spring 2009
Geof Eckerlin, M.S., defended Fall 2008
Sam Quinn, M.S. , ongoing
Megan Skrip, M.S. , ongoing
Matt Smith, M.S. , ongoing
Angela Sirois, M.S. , ongoing
CHAIRMAN OR READER ON THESIS EXAMS, ETC.
Carrie Osborne, examiner, M.S., Nov 2008
III. RESEARCH COMPLETED OR UNDERWAY
A. Departmental Research (unsupported, boot-legged; title - % time spent)
-
Central East Slopes Elk and Wolf Study (ongoing collaboration, unsupported, 10% AY)
Caribou Movements and Habitat Selection Study (ongoing collaboration, unsupported, 2% AY)
Stable isotope study of coyote diets (initiating new collaboration, unsupported, 2% AY)
Mentor Ossining High School student (Kim Snyder) for research project on coyote diets (1% AY)
UMEB mentor to Jasmine Kosanen for black bear study (1% AY)
B. 1. Grant-supported Research (source, subject, amount - total award and current year, award period starting
and ending dates; list graduate research assistants supported by each grant)
Population Status and Foraging Ecology of Eastern Coyotes (NYS-DEC,
$670,000 total, $187,526 current year, 2007-11, PIs: J. Frair and J. Gibbs; summer support for C. Boser
summer support and annual support for R. Holevinski)
Sustainable Reuse Remedy Demonstration (Honeywell, $354,974,
2008-09, PIs: T. Volk, D. Daley, J. Frair, J. Gibbs; partial support for S. Campbell, post-doc)
Conservation Research on the Chittenango Ovate Amber Snail (US Fish & Wildlife Service,
$60,000, 2007-09, $30,000 this year, PIs: J. Frair and J. Gibbs; partial support for S. Campbell, post-doc)
Determination of Factors Affecting Hellbender Status in Susquehanna River Watershed (NYS-DEC,
$30,000, 2007-09, PIs: J. Gibbs and J. Frair; partial support for S. Quinn)
2. Research Proposals Pending (as in B.1., above)
Monitoring Populations of Elusive Forest Wildlife: A Modern Approach Using Noninvasive Genetic
Techniques (McIntire-Stennis Program, $50,393, PIs: J. Frair and C. Whipps, awarded for 2009-11)
IV. PUBLICATIONS (Full bibliographic citation, i.e., do not use "with Jones," or "Jones, et al."; please list only
publications published, in press, or actually submitted during this reporting period --- do not list manuscripts
in preparation).
A. Refereed Publications
Frair, J.L., Merrill, E.H., Beyer, H.L., and Morales, J.M. (2008) Thresholds in landscape connectivity and
mortality risks in response to growing road networks. Journal of Applied Ecology, 45, 1504-1513.
Wolf, M., Frair, J., Merrill, E., and Turchin, P. (in press) The attraction of the known: the importance of
spatial familiarity in habitat selection in wapiti (Cervus elaphus). Ecography.
Van Moorter, B., Visscher, D.R., Jerde, C.L., Frair, J.L., and Merrill, E.M. (in review) Identifying movement
states from location data using cluster analysis. Journal of Wildlife Management.
Frair, J., Fieberg, J., Cagnacci, F., Hebblewhite M., DeCesare, N., and Pedrotti, L. (in review) Plentiful but
problematic: resolving issues of bias and error in ecological analyses using satellite-based animal location
data. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
Fieberg, J., Boyce, M.S., Matthiopoulous, J., Hebblewhite, M., and Frair, J. (in review) Autocorrelation and
studies of habitat selection: problem, red herring or opportunity? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society B.
Beyer, H.L., Haydon, D.T., Morales, J.M., Frair, J., Hebblewhite, M., Merrill, E.H., Boyce, M.S., Mitchell,
M., and Matthiopoulos, J. (in review) Habitat preference: understanding use versus availability designs.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
B. Non-refereed Publications
Zuckerberg, B., Huettmann, F., and Frair J. (in review) Data management as a scientific foundation for
reliable predictive modeling. Chapter 3 in Drew, A., Huettman, F., and Wiersma, Y., eds., Predictive
Modeling in Landscape Ecology. Springer Verlag, NY.
C. Papers Presented at Science Meetings (give title, date, occasion, and location)
“Modeling the cumulative effects of wolves and industrial activities on habitat effectiveness for elk in the
Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada” – The Wildlife Society annual conference, Miami, FL
“Coyote foraging ecology in NY State” (poster) – The Wildlife Society, Miami, FL (delivered by C. Boser)
“Thresholds in landscape connectivity and mortality risks for elk in response to growing road networks” –
The 8th Western States and Provinces Deer and Elk Workshop, Spokane, WA (delivered by coauthor)
D. Public Service Presentations (lectures, seminars, etc. to and for the public; give group or occasion, date(s), and
attendance)
NY State Conservation Council, Albany, NY (~60 people)
Provided poster on coyote study for Syracuse University Library Associates Spring Luncheon
V. PUBLIC SERVICE
A. Funded Service (include consulting activities)
1. Government Agencies (Federal, State, Local):
2. Industrial and Commercial Groups, etc.
B. Unfunded Service to Governmental Agencies, Public Interest Groups, etc.
- New York State Fish & Wildlife Management Advisory Board, Science Advisor
- Consult with Fort Drum for on-base coyote research
- Consult with Finger Lakes Community College for on-going black bear research
VI. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
A. Professional Honors and Awards (for teaching, research, outreach, etc.)
Journal of Applied Ecology paper (45:1504) was identified as ‘Editor’s Choice.’
B. 1. Activities in Professional Organizations (offices held, service as chairman, member, participant or
consultant)
The Wildlife Society
o Vice-President, NY State Chapter
o Faculty Mentor, ESF Student Chapter
2. Professional Society Membership
The Wildlife Society
Society for Conservation Biology
Ecological Society of America
3. Other Professional Activities
a. Editorial activity
Journal (s)
Responsibility
Other (books, symposia, etc.)
b. Reviewer
Journal(s)
No. of manuscripts
Ecology
Conservation Biology
Ecography
1
1
1
Agency
No. of proposals
SUNY-ESF, McIntire-Stennis pre-proposals 8
SUNY-ESF, McIntire-Stennis full proposals 6
SUNY-ESF, Seed grant proposals
11
Other
“Wolves, Roads, and Highway Development” chapter in book entitled “Recovery
of Gray Wolves in the Great Lakes Region of the United States”, Springer, New York
c. Participation (workshops, symposia, etc.)
Name of workshop, etc.
Date
Place
C. Further Education/Re-training Undertaken, Leaves, Workshops, etc.
D. Foreign Travel (Where, When, Purpose)
Trento, Italy, 5-17 Sept 2008, invited to GPS Telemetry Data Workshop hosted by Centro di Ecologia
Alpina and the Fondazione Edmund Mach
VII. ADMINISTRATIVE AND SERVICE RESPONSIBILITIES (include committee participation)
A. Department-level
Graduate Program Advisory Committee (member)
Betty Moore Chamberlaine Graduate Student Award Coordinator
Conducted personal interviews with potential and accepted undergraduates
Participant in dinner recognizing the Top Graduating Female Students
B. College-level
Campus Committee on Research (member)
Council for Geospatial Modeling and Analysis (member)
Honorary Degree Candidate Nomination Committee (chair)
C. University-wide, including Research Foundation
Scientific Advisor to the NYS Fish and Wildlife Management Advisory Board
VIII. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS DURING THIS
REPORTING PERIOD, ESPECIALLY THOSE MOST NOTEWORTHY AND RELATIVE TO THE
COLLEGE’S AND DEPARTMENT’S MISSION. One paragraph on each of the following would be most helpful:
this past year, what have you done for our students, department/college, and self professionally? NOTE: The
information in this section (along with the supporting specific information elsewhere in this report) should be your
strongest case for being considered for a discretionary raise, which I’ll continue to award based on your contributions
to the department and college this reporting period.
Students – Although not personal accomplishments per se, my most rewarding experiences this past
year have been encouraging TWS students to compete (and win!) quiz bowls at the local, regional, and
national level, watching last years’ students excel as teaching assistants in my class this year, engaging
undergrads (and high school students) in active research programs, and being thanked by both undergrad and
graduate students for the experiences my courses provide as well as my enthusiasm for their education.
Despite periodic frustrations, the enthusiasm for ecology and competence ESF students demonstrate simply
bowls me over. In response to student enthusiasm and feedback, I’ve nearly doubled the size of my summer
wildlife techniques course (from 10 to 18), modified my core course (Wildlife Ecology and Management
Practicum) to include an additional hour of lecture time to provide the students and myself more time together,
and developed a new graduate course (with J. Brunner) to work through the Ecological Detective. I’m quite
pleased with this new grad offering, and, in response to student interest, we are revising the format from a 1credit seminar to a full 3-credit course next fall. This past year I also revamped my Landscape Ecology labs to
be completely GIS-based (no small feat). The content and style of this course is still in flux, but has clearly
proven useful as several students have included aspects of their term projects into their thesis or dissertation
work. This was my third time through my undergrad courses, and now that course content has been largely
refined I am starting to reap the rewards of being more personally invested in the students themselves. I was a
personal reference for at least 10 students recently and am excited to see them go off to help study Mexican
wolves, work at Hubbard Brook, and start grad school themselves.
Department/College – This year I continued to serve on two key committees of interest to me, the
Campus Committee on Research (COR) and the EFB Graduate Program Advisory Committee (GPAC).
Service to the COR has been particularly beneficial to me in that experiencing the process of a grant review
panel has improved my grant-writing ability. It has also provided more insight into the research conducted by
various faculty members at ESF, and has led to potential collaborations. I’m pleased to have been nominated
to serve as the chair of the COR for the coming year. Discussions of the GPAC have led to some interesting
new directions for the coming year such as the experimental offering of ‘top-ups’ as a recruiting tool and a
grad-level orientation seminar to increase student awareness and networking potential early on. I’m pleased to
be on this committee and working towards strengthening the graduate experience at ESF.
Self professionally – This past year I was invited to a workshop on GPS Telemetry in Trento, Italy in
which we evaluated whether this new tool has indeed ‘revolutionized’ the wildlife field as predicted. I was
invited as an expert on the implications of spatial inaccuracy and bias in these systems for ecological analyses.
This week-long workshop spurred new collaborations, and an interesting series of critical reviews on what we
have gained and have yet to gain from this technology. We submitted a proposal for a series of papers
resulting from the workshop for consideration by Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (and it has
been favorably reviewed so far with little requested modification). More locally, as a member of the executive
board of the NYS Chapter of The Wildlife Society, I become more involved with professional biologists in the
state this past year. We organized a very successful annual meeting in Syracuse this past February that
provided a rich networking environment for students and professional alike, and we look forward to offering
continuing education workshops for professional biologists at future meetings.
IX. A. FUTURE PLANS, AMBITIONS, AND POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS FOR YOUR OWN
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE ENHANCEMENT OF THE PROGRAM IN
ENVIRONMENTAL AND FOREST BIOLOGY (brief summary)
This summer my focus is on research: working with the Alberta Government to validate my models of elk
habitat effectiveness and translocation success, getting a new graduate student up and running on her field
project studying coyote populations in NY State, and spending time in the genetics lab to better differentiate
genetic stocks of coyotes in the state. This fall my program will broaden with the addition of two new
graduate students, including one who will remain a full-time DEC biologist while working towards a MS
degree studying river otter. In the coming academic year my plans are to revise my courses to accommodate
more students (such as increasing the enrollment cap in my wildlife techniques class and offering grad courses
every other year), and to give students more time with and a deeper understanding of the material covered (by
increasing the amount of formal course time required). I am collaborating on a book of GIS lab exercises for
Landscape Ecology and hope to intend to complete that in the coming year.
B. PROJECTED ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT YEAR
1. Summer 2009
a. Course(s) to be offered
EFB 496 Wildlife Techniques
b. Proposed research activity






Complete wildlife monograph on elk habitat effectiveness models
Collaborate to validate models of elk habitat effectiveness and translocation success
Complete pilot study of landscape genetics for coyotes and secure additional funding
Begin new study for assessing coyote populations using vocalization surveys
Work with post-doc to conduct wildlife assessment at Solvay remediation site
Work with post-doc to monitor Chittenango Ovate Amber Snail population
c. University, professional society, and public service
Organize fall field meeting for NYS TWS
2. Fall Semester 2009
a. Course(s) to be offered
EFB 797 Tools of the Ecological Detective
EFB 797 Wildlife Seminar
b. Proposed research activity





Begin new investigation of coyote diets using stable isotope analysis, collaborative
work with Kate McFadden at Columbia University
Begin new study of river otter population status
Continue data analysis on coyote project with graduate students – present DNA study
at TWS national conference
Analyze and publish work on Chittenango Ovate Amber Snail
Analyze and publish work on wildlife use of Solvay Remediation
c. University, Professional society, and public service



Committee on Research
EFB Graduate Program Advisory Committee
Science Advisor to NYS Fish & Wildlife Management Advisory Board
3. Spring Semester 2010
a. Course(s) to be offered
EFB 491 Applied Wildlife Science (formerly Wildlife Ecology & Management Practicum)
b. Proposed research activity



Analyze and publish work on Chittenango Ovate Amber Snail
Analyze and publish work on wildlife use of Solvay Remediation
Initiate state-wide monitoring of coyote populations
c. University, professional society, and public service



Committee on Research
EFB Graduate Program Advisory Committee
Science Advisor to NYS Fish & Wildlife Management Advisory Board