MES/MESC Seminar Series is back

Nipissing University’s Master of Environmental Studies/Sciences presents Avian choruses and nocturnal song: social and environmental factors influence vocal behaviour on Thursday, September 24, at 7 – 9 p.m. at the Raven and Republic to kick off the 2015/16 MES/MESc Seminar Series.

The presentation will be lead byDr. Jennifer Foote, assistant professor department of biology at Algoma University.

Here is an abstract:

Diurnal birds often produce pronounced choruses at dawn and/or dusk. These impressive displays involve all territory holders singing at high rates. Choruses are less well studied than daytime song and as such; the functions of choruses are not well understood. A number of diurnal birds also sporadically sing during the night. This behaviour is even less well studied due to low light levels and low song rates, but also because most biologists are also diurnal. Both choruses and nocturnal song are likely explained by a number of proximate and ultimate factors. This talk will cover work on both the dawn chorus and nocturnal song exploring the possible social factors (mate attraction or territory establishment/maintenance) and environmental factors (light levels, weather) that shape these displays.

Next up for the series is Boards and Bodies: Militarizing the Human Sciences in the Cold War North will be on Friday, October 30, from 2:30 – 4 p.m. This event will be co-hosted with the Department of History. Location is to be determined.

The presentation will be lead by Dr. Matthew Farish, associate professor of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto.

Here is an abstract:

In the aftermath of World War II the militaries of Canada and the United States both created overarching agencies – the Defence Research Board and the Research and Development Board, respectively – to coordinate and provide advice on a wide variety of research activities. Both boards took a significant and immediate interest in the North American Arctic, which had already emerged during the War as a strategically significant region. While not an exhaustive history of these two institutions, this paper uses them, and their work, to consider the history of the north (both Arctic and sub-Arctic) as a sort of laboratory for the human sciences – those nominally scientific fields concerned with human behaviours and physical experiences. The significance of the Arctic, both generally and in specific northern locations, for the development of the human sciences during the Cold War is undeniable, but this paper is concerned with the more elusive question of consequences. These included an understanding that an appropriate northern body was a militarized one, concerned with survival in a ‘hostile environment’.