University Of Arkansas Biology Professor Appointed Editor Of Ornithology Journal

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Biology professor Kimberly Smith, an international conservation researcher, has been named editor of The Auk, the oldest continuously published ornithology journal in North America. He will serve as editor for five years, and the editorial offices, complete with staff, will be located on the University of Arkansas campus.

Smith, who recently returned from a semester serving as interim director of the Manomet Center for Conservation Studies and a professor at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts, has studied avian and mammalian biology for almost two decades. He currently combines computer technology, geographic information systems, (GIS) and avian biology to help determine conservation priorities for birds of conservation concern in North and South America.

The Auk is a quarterly journal published by the American Ornithologists’ Union. It contains original reports on the biology of birds and reviews of recent ornithological literature.

Smith will be responsible for selecting peer reviewers for the more than 250 manuscripts submitted annually to the journal. He then makes the final selection of 20-25 manuscripts to be published in each edition. As editor, Smith will also select the artist to design the original art work for the magazine’s cover. His first issue will be volume 118 in 2001.

While in Massachusetts last fall, Smith assisted in the initial steps towards creation of a natural resources project for Southeast Massachusetts. Many of the 61 towns in southeast Massachusetts traditionally meet once a year in a town meeting to discuss planning issues - a 300-year-old tradition, in some cases. In recent years, however, new commuter train lines have allowed a large influx of people to move into that area.

"You have people who need to make decisions about this region," Smith said. "We want to give them useful data to help them make those decisions."

To this end, the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, the Coalition for Buzzards Bay, and the Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts have partnered to develop a regional project to address this situation. This project, directed by Lori Kleifgen, will produce information of a wide variety of environmental resources and will give towns information they can use in regional planning.

While at Bridgewater State College last semester, Smith also taught an undergraduate research course to 5 senior biology majors. For the first part of the semester, they were volunteer bird-banders at the Manomet Center for Conservation Studies, under the direction of staff scientist Trevor Lloyd-Evans. During the second half of the semester, they gathered data on distributions of fish, mammals and birds within the 61 towns of southeastern Massachusetts and produced computer-generated maps of the vertebrate biodiversity of the region. Those students will be presenting results of their research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research at the University of Montana at the end of April.