Dear All,
I wish to introduce myself, I am Deborah Pearce the new secretary
(treasurer and chairperson) of the Mires Research Group (MRG). I work
at Oxford Brookes University and my current interest is in understanding
why the main body of peat (the catotelm) decays so slowly. At present,
my work is concentrating on the high cation exchange capacity of peat.
I am replacing the outgoing secretary John Tallis. May I take this
opportunity to thank him and Roger Mead (editor of Mires Research News)
for their work over the last three years.
As you probably all know the MRG is a special topics group within the
British Ecological society (BES). I am having to produce a report for
the BES by the 18th of September 2001 reviewing the Group’s activities
over the last three years, provide a plan of activities for the next
three years and make a case for the Group’s continued existence. I will
also need to include a detailed budget request (money can be requested
in advance from the BES to support expenses for any type of meeting e.g.
costs of conference proceedings or hire of minibuses for field trips).
I would like to consult with as many of the Group as possible for this
and would be very grateful if you could forward some suggestions. I
have formulated a questionnaire to help with this but any response will
be gratefully received. Before producing the report, I am hoping to
discuss the views I receive via-email at the ‘Changing Wetlands’ meeting
in Sheffield with as many members as possible.
Questionnaire:
1. Do you work for an academic institution, conservation body,
government institute or other? Please specify:
2. Are you a PhD student?
3. What do you feel have been the strengths of the MRG?
-Over the last three years:
-Since its formation:
4. What do you think has been the best MRG achievement(s)?
-Over the last three years:
-Since its formation:
5. What do you see as being the role of the MRG at present?
6. What would you like the role of the MRG to be and how could this be
done?
7. How can we attract more younger members (PhD students)?
8. Do you want weekend field visits?
9. Have you any suggestions for weekend field sessions for the coming
three years?
10. Do you want summer field meetings?
11. Have you any suggestions for our next three summer field meetings?
12. Are there any pressing research questions which would benefit from
us pooling together our expertise/equipment? Any suggestions?
13. Should we use our national (or even international) geographical
distribution to carry out research which would benefit from many sites
being visited? For e.g. pool NVC surveys (UK only now) done recently on
sites we work on to see the goodness of fit to Rodwell’s communities ten
years down the line? Any better ideas?
14. Would it be a good idea to have a thematic session at the BES Winter
meeting in 2002? The main advantage is the BES funds a guest speaker
(from anywhere in the world).
15. Have you any suggestions for a theme and a guest speaker?
16. Have you any others ideas for MRG activities over the next three
years?
Thanks for your support.
Cheers,
Deborah
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