Focus
on Research
Penn State Intercom......November
29, 2001
Deep-ocean
research
program office funded
By Steve Sampsell
Eberly
College of Science
A program designed to study the mid-ocean ridge system and enhance understanding of the relationship between the geological processes that lead to planetary renewal in the deep ocean and life forms that thrive in the absence of sunlight has found a home at the University.
The RIDGE 2000 Program,
created with the input of more than 200 U.S. scientists and funded by
the National Science Foundation, has elected Charles Fisher, professor
of biology, as chair of its 15-member steering committee. His three-year
term coincides with the creation of the program office at the University,
with support from the National Science Foundation, the Eberly College
of Science and the Department of Biology. 
Along with Fisher, the office will include three full-time employees: a program coordinator, a program assistant and an education/outreach coordinator.
The RIDGE 2000 program works to understand the geobiological, geochemical and geophysical causes and consequences of energy transfer within the globe-encircling mid-ocean ridge system. The mid-ocean ridge system marks the boundary along which Earth's major tectonic plates form. As volcanic material from the planet's mantle surges to the sea floor, it helps resurface the Earth and impacts the deep-ocean environment and its inhabitants.
For 12 years, a predecessor
program, the Ridge InterDisciplinary Global Experiments (RIDGE) Program,
promoted research, scientific communication and outreach related to all
aspects of the mid-ocean ridge system. When that program ended, RIDGE
2000 built on the experience, 
knowledge
and lessons learned through its predecessor to develop a more focused
program stressing integrated interdisciplinary collaboration and long-term
experiments in a limited number of areas of the deep ocean.
With Fisher as chair of the steering committee and the program office located at the University, RIDGE 2000 has differentiated itself from its predecessor program. He becomes the first biologist to chair the committee -- all the others were geoscientists -- and Penn State becomes the first land-locked institution to house the program office.
According the RIDGE 2000 science plan (available on the Web at http://ridge.oce.orst.edu/R2K/R2Ksciplan/), as many as five different deep-ocean sites will be the focus of integrated efforts that involve eight or 10 research cruises, and an investment of about $27 million for research, at each site during the next decade. Science involved in the program requires many different disciplines necessary for the study of the ocean crust and its actions, complex ecosystems and hydrothermal vents. Those disciplines are: biology, chemistry, geology and physics. The RIDGE 2000 program will focus on the integration of research across a wide range of disciplines, emphasizing the interactions between the complex sea floor and sub sea floor ecosystems as well as the geological processes that support them.
Study shows black bears are
a major predator of fawns
By Jeff Mulhollem
College of Agricultural
Sciences
An
ongoing cooperative study of fawn mortality between the College of Agricultural
Sciences and the Pennsylvania Game Commission at two sites in central
Pennsylvania has revealed that black bears are a major predator of young
white-tailed deer. 
Wildlife biologists knew that black bears kill an occasional fawn, according to Justin Vreeland, graduate research assistant in the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, but they were surprised about how many.
"We didn't really expect to find that Pennsylvania black bears are the efficient predators of fawns that they are," he said. "It is widely known that the state's large population of coyotes prey on fawns, but it now looks like bears kill as many, possibly more."
Because deer numbers are stable and have been growing in Pennsylvania, Vreeland noted that predation is not impacting the herd significantly. However results from his 16 months of Game Commission-funded research -- where 218 fawns were captured, fitted with radio collars, then released and monitored -- show that many don't make it. Mortality from predation in the wild ranges from less than 10 percent to 100 percent, Vreeland said, with 50 percent being average.
On his two study sites -- one a mostly agricultural, 200-square-mile area in eastern Centre County called Penns Valley, the other a 100-square-mile "big woods" tract in Elk, Cameron and Clearfield counties known as Quehanna Wild Area -- predation varies widely.
In Quehanna, which is predominantly mature forest, predators kill many fawns. In Penns Valley, Vreeland notes, predation is much less common and fawn survival is higher overall.
"Fifty percent of the fawns we collared in the Quehanna area were killed by predators last year, compared to just 8 percent at the Penns Valley site," he said. "Habitat in Quehanna is poorer for deer in terms of both food and cover."
The study of fawn mortality will conclude in April. Results are updated at http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/PGC/deer/fawn/fwnintro.htm.
Jeff Mulhollem can be reached at jjm29@psu.edu.
Spouses, families,
play role
in global business operations
As more businesses go global and move operations and employees overseas, they must become more aware of the role spouses and families play, suggested a professor who recently completed two studies on expatriate spouse adjustment.
"One of the biggest reasons employees do not complete international assignments is that families are unable to adjust," said David Harrison, management professor in The Smeal College of Business of Administration. "Spouses and families are often the forgotten partners in global operations."
Harrison did his studies with Margaret Shaffer of Hong Kong Baptist University. In a five-year study of 221 international assignee couples working in 37 countries, the researchers found that the process of adjusting is like developing a brand new personal and social identity for a spouse, from the ground up. One of the biggest predictors of adjustment is whether the spouse made an effort to get to know the people who live there.
"We also found that extended family support had an adverse effect on adjustment," Harrison said. A possible explanation for this is that spouses who have very supportive extended families exert more effort to maintain those relationships. They invest less of themselves in forging relationships with host-country nationals.
"Redefining one's identity by gaining fluency in the host location's language, as well as developing a large and varying set of social connections, especially those who are native to the assigned country are all helpful to adjustment," Harrison said.
For the full story, check the Web at http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/depth/september01/study.html.