UNews - Rocky Mountains

Grant allows Harding opportunity to study Buddhism in Canada

trevor.kenney — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 22:25:52 +0000

Dr. John Harding (Religious Studies, Principal Investigator) has received a five-year, $258,659 Social sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight grant – the largest-ever grant received by the Department of Religious Studies – to study Buddhism in Canada and around the world.

With colleagues Dr. Victor Hori (McGill ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ) and Dr. Alexander Soucy (Saint Mary’s ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ), Harding, the Principal Investigator and coordinator of the U of L’s new Asian Studies program, will develop a better understanding of how Buddhism, like many other religions, is modernizing itself worldwide. He will also look at how it is changing more rapidly as immigration influences the different forms of Buddhism being practiced in Canada.

With an estimated population of more than 365,000 and a strong presence in southern Alberta, Canadian Buddhists have more than a century of religious practice to their credit.

Raymond, Alta. housed the first Buddhist temple in Canada east of the Rocky Mountains (1929) and was in some ways the centre of Buddhism in Canada as significant numbers of Canadians of Japanese descent were relocated to the area during WWII.

Today, the southern Alberta region is still an important hub for members of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist community as a new Buddhist Temple was recently built in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Conservatory connects to community

trevor.kenney — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:39:25 +0000

We've all used guidebooks, maps and compasses when hiking in the Rocky Mountains, but have you ever heard of a musical guide to the Rockies? That is what creator (and Calgary native) Samantha Whelan-Kotkas has produced.

Through the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Feel the Beat concert series, Lethbridge audiences will get an opportunity to take part in the experience.

"After the success of the original Rocky Mountain Fairytales, presented as part of the U of L Conservatory of Music's Feel the Beat concert series in 2008, we knew her More Rocky Mountain Fairytales would also be a hit," says Breeanne Fuller, Conservatory co-ordinator.

Whelan-Kotkas is doing four concerts in Lethbridge on May 17 and 18 at 10 a.m. and noon each day. Tickets are still available for the noon shows at Southminster United Church.

Children of all ages are sure to enjoy the chamber jazz music performed by U of L music professor Dr. David Renter and local musicians Scott Mezei and Paul Holden in conjunction with some of Canada's finest jazz musicians, including composer Tyler Hornby and pianist Chris Andrew from Edmonton.

"The Feel the Beat series offers free concerts year round for children, providing opportunities to hear and see classical music performed live," explains Fuller. "Our programs are age appropriate, relatively short and always free."

Supported by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Feel the Beat is enjoying its third successful season.

"More Rocky Mountain Fairytales showcases jazz music, and as an educational music school in this community, it's important to show young children that jazz music owes a great deal of its legacy to the classical tradition. Duke Ellington, for example, loved classical music," she says.

"Families of all ages are invited to the concert. Although admission is free, seats must be reserved before the show," adds Fuller.

Seats can be reserved by calling 403-329-2304.

This story first appeared in the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Hurly study explores hummingbird habits

trevor.kenney — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:40:53 +0000

By TAMERA JONES, UK (Natural Environment Research Council, with U of L Communications staff and researcher input)

Hummingbirds are a welcome sign of spring, and a colourful reminder that the flowers in your garden are not just nice to look at, but are also an important food source.

But hummingbirds don't rely on taste alone when deciding how much nectar to drink from a new flower. Instead, they wait to see how they feel after their first meal, a new study reveals.

This is unexpected, because scientists know that hummingbirds can detect minuscule changes in nectar concentrations from one flower to the next. This "choice behaviour" research is one result of nearly 20 years of hummingbird study at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Westcastle Field Station by U of L biological sciences researcher Dr. Andrew Hurly, Dr. Sue Healy and numerous colleagues and students from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Edinburgh and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of St. Andrews.

A hummingbird feeds from a constructed feeder. Photo by Dr. Andrew Hurly.

Hurly and Healy have been studying cognition, behaviour and ecology of rufous hummingbirds since 1992.

Approximately 40 undergraduate and graduate students from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Edinburgh and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of St. Andrews have been involved in the hummingbird research project.

Like their extraordinary talent for flying thousands of kilometres from Mexico to Canada, taking the right amount of nectar onboard is a bit of an art – especially for such a tiny bird that weighs just three grams.

If they drink too much weak nectar, the extra load makes flying inefficient; if they don't take on enough of the same nectar, they'll have to eat again much sooner. On the other hand, if they drink too much of a rich nectar, they could easily get fat.

"The birds will almost certainly be able to detect the change in taste, but it seems they choose to ignore it until they get post-ingestive information before altering how much they drink the next time," explains Healy from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of St. Andrews, a co-author of the study.

The researchers wanted to see how a group of wild rufous hummingbirds that breed in the Canadian Rocky Mountains responded to changes in food quality.
They dotted feeders containing different concentrations of nectar solution along the Westcastle river valley to be ready for the birds' return to the area from their overwintering grounds in Mexico.

Nectar concentrations in the flowers hummingbirds feed on vary from as low as seven per cent sugar to as high as 60 per cent. The researchers started by filling the feeders with a 14 per cent sugar solution.

Once the birds got used to this concentration, Healy and her colleagues changed to a 25 per cent solution. They found that the birds didn't change how much nectar they drank, sometimes persisting until the fourth meal.

"They take the same volume irrespective of concentration," explains Healy.

When they trained the birds to expect more concentrated sucrose in the feeders and then switched to the weaker solution, they got exactly the same result. Hummingbirds usually feed every 10 or 15 minutes, and only drink for a few seconds at a time. But because they digest nectar so quickly, they don't have to wait long to get the information they need to decide how much to drink for their next meal.

Other researchers have found that other creatures, like molluscs, wolves and cattle also rely on post-ingestive information about food before deciding how much to eat the next time. So even though hummingbirds certainly prefer sweeter nectar, it may not be surprising that taste alone is not enough to make a decision.

This story first appeared in the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Glacial research boosted by donor support

trevor.kenney — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:15:45 +0000

Glaciers around the globe are continuing to melt so fast that many will disappear in the next 50 to 100 years. Such conspicuous evidence of climate change indicates growing challenges that affect more than polar bears and weather forecasts.

Enter U of L associate professor Dr. Hester Jiskoot: a glaciologist leading efforts to understand what's happening to Earth's ice masses, and what those changes mean for southern Alberta and beyond.

"Glaciers are beautiful and intriguing, and are situated in one of the most pristine landscapes: the high mountains and the polar regions," says Jiskoot, who has been a member and leader on glaciological expedition teams on and around glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland, Iceland, the Yukon, Alaska, the European Alps, the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the Himalayas. "Even if you can't go see them yourself, they are fascinating natural systems to learn about."

Dr. Hester Jiskoot's glacial studies take her to the world's high mountains and polar regions.

Collectively covering an area the size of South America, glaciers are ancient rivers of compressed snow that creep through the landscape, shaping the planet's surface and holding about 70 per cent of the world's freshwater.

"Global warming has caused widespread accelerated glacier retreat, which has negative effects on the fresh water available for humans and in ecosystems, and which has caused and still causes global sea levels to rise," explains Jiskoot, who conducts her research in the Alberta Water and Environmental Science Building on campus. "By being informed about natural systems such as glaciers we can learn why some changes in nature happen so fast while others take longer, but also what our own influence on these systems is. All systems in our world are connected, and a small change on one side of the globe can have a large effect in other parts or even on our entire world."

Understanding the large-scale impact of the research taking place at the U of L, former director of research services, Dr. Einard Haniuk and his wife Kay were happy to support water research at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

"In working at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, I got to know people here and understand their research," explains Einard, who worked in research settings across the United States and Canada. "Because of the importance of water and its widespread impact, particularly in relation to agriculture in this area, we were pleased to contribute to the water building and water research."

When matched by the Government of Alberta's Access to the Future Fund, the Haniuks's gift helped equip the Glaciology and Geoscience Lab where Jiskoot and her research team conduct their research.

"Good facilities and tools are essential to doing research," says Jiskoot, looking around appreciatively at a lab full of equipment. "The Haniuks's gift helped provide the finishing touches to my lab and has enabled me to build an exceptional research environment and phenomenal learning opportunities for myself and the students who work with me."

This story first appeared in the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Conservatory connects to community

trevor.kenney — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:16:01 +0000

Through the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Feel the Beat concert series, Lethbridge audiences will get an opportunity to take part in the experience.

Whelan-Kotkas is doing four concerts in Lethbridge on May 17 and 18 at 10 a.m. and noon each day. Tickets are still available for the noon shows at Southminster United Church.

Supported by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Feel the Beat is enjoying its third successful season.

"Families of all ages are invited to the concert. Although admission is free, seats must be reserved before the show," adds Fuller.

Seats can be reserved by calling 403-329-2304.

For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Rocky Mountains

Grant allows Harding opportunity to study Buddhism in Canada

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Conservatory connects to community

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Hurly study explores hummingbird habits

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