My Year of Darwin (2/22/2014)

"In England any person fond of natural history enjoys his walks a great advantage, by always having something to attract his attention; but in these fertile climates, teeming with life, the attractions are so numerous, that he scarcely able to walk at all." Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

Darwin is speaking to his experience in the Brazilian rainforest. Examples that one would use in a introductory biology course to a graduate ecology course are seen at every step. 

My Year of Darwin (2/15/2014)

"The trees were very lofty, and remarkable, compared with those of Europe, from the whiteness of their trunks. I see by my notebook, 'wonderful and beautiful flowering parasites,' invariably struck me as the most novel object in these grand scenes." Charles Darwin - Voyage of the Beagle

Midstory in Manaus, Brazil continuous forest site. 

Emergent tree covered in epiphytes at the La Selva Research Station, Costa Rica

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State report on natural gas drilling is due Monday, book chapter overdue, exams to be graded, homeworks and labs to be created and past ones graded. Anxiety. Anxiety. Anxiety.

My Year of Darwin (2/5/2014)

"To a person fond of natural history, such a day as this brings with it a deeper pleasure than he can ever hope to experience again" -Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

Darwin is speaking of his first walk into the Brazilian rainforest. Not the Amazonian rainforest, but the Atlantic rainforest or Mata Atlantica. Sadly, most of the Atlantic rainforest has been converted to agriculture to produce soy beans or sugar cane. Moreover, many urban centers are expanding into the rainforest and very little of the remaining forest is protected. Look for a few articles on the Mata Atlantica to come out at the end on 2014 or early 2015 in Biological Conservation. 

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Snow day in Wilkes-Barre and much of the ne US. At least 20 cm of snow and lots of birds at the feeders including a horde of house sparrows, a few song sparrows and white-throated sparrows. Reviewing manuscripts today. Joy joy joy.