USU PROFESSOR AWARDED FULBRIGHT GRANT

John A. Bissonett, College of Natural Resources at Utah State University, has been awarded a Fulbright grant to lecture and conduct research in Germany.

Bissonet who is also a research scientist with the U. S. Geological Survey and leader of the Utah Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, says his research in theUnited States is mostly related to larger scale landscape ecology.

“My students have looked at the effects of logging on martens in Newfoundland and in the Uinta Mountains and the effects of military tank maneuvers on theendangered Desert Tortoise at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California,” Bissonet says. “Other research projects include the impacts of roadconstruction on mule deer both near Park City and in Sardine Canyon.

“In Germany, my German and Polish colleagues and I will map of 13 ‘hotspots’ across Europe and Asia,” he says. “These are larger areas that are able to supportsustainable populations of ungulates (hooved animals). There are currently something like 43 species of larger ungulates, some whose populations are either small ordeclining. We hope to develop a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) format for assessing the health of these populations.”

Bissonet says he will also teach seminars about landscape theory and practice and start a fourth book on landscape ecology.

Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the goal of Fulbright grants is to build mutual understandingbetween the people of the United States and the rest of the world. The Fulbright Program, America’s flagship international exchange program, is sponsored by theBureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, United States Department of State. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic or professionalachievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields.