I'm teaching a 1 + 2 credit sophomore-level course that's part of our "superlab" series inspired by previous HHMI finding.
We're going to meet once a week and discuss tropical ecology from historical (a chapter in Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle) and current perspectives.
Here's the website for the course https://sites.google.com/a/wilkes.edu/tropical-ecology/
Ecological research and life at mid-sized liberal arts university
Monday, January 18, 2016
Too many ecology PhD? From whence?
This is a shot from the hip since I don't have data either way (I need to read this) but I have heard several times that we are producing too many PhDs for the number of potentially new academic positions and many are encouraged to seek employment in other avenues, such as government and consulting.
Since most ecology PhDs are funded through NSF (again, I have no data) or teaching stipends and we reduce the number of PhD students then how are courses covered and will ecology itself suffer if we have fewer folks in the field? In a way this is a selfish thought because I'm thinking of sabbaticals and if we have more funded sabbatical positions then we could help fill the gap by reducing the number of new PhDs. I know I would benefit a great deal from being in a new lab for a semester + summer.
Just some pre coffee thoughts, sitting in the lounge, waiting for my chair to get in because I left my office keys at home.
Since most ecology PhDs are funded through NSF (again, I have no data) or teaching stipends and we reduce the number of PhD students then how are courses covered and will ecology itself suffer if we have fewer folks in the field? In a way this is a selfish thought because I'm thinking of sabbaticals and if we have more funded sabbatical positions then we could help fill the gap by reducing the number of new PhDs. I know I would benefit a great deal from being in a new lab for a semester + summer.
Just some pre coffee thoughts, sitting in the lounge, waiting for my chair to get in because I left my office keys at home.
Friday, January 15, 2016
Crow and grackle
This is a picture I thought was a failure and it's been sitting in my Google drive since June. I was trying to get a picture of grackles mobbing a crow. I missed the shot with several grackles nearly on the crow. But I got this and there's something very attractive and a bit spooky about it. I like it.
Quick note on Endnote
I have 943 references in my > 10,000 reference Endnote library with the keyword fragmentation. I have 400 papers with urbanization as a keyword.
How then, to distill down to the most salient papers? They actually have a rating system based on stars (1 to 5) and I find this extremely useful.
The problem (kinda) is that you need to read the paper to figure out how to rate it. Also not available on Endnote Web. Bummer.
Working on a grant to fund grassland research and I have 218 papers in my collection and it is super inefficient going through each one.
How then, to distill down to the most salient papers? They actually have a rating system based on stars (1 to 5) and I find this extremely useful.
The problem (kinda) is that you need to read the paper to figure out how to rate it. Also not available on Endnote Web. Bummer.
Working on a grant to fund grassland research and I have 218 papers in my collection and it is super inefficient going through each one.
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Ups, downs, and purgatory
2015 was a great year for publications with 6 papers or chapters getting out. 2016 has started out a little bumpier. A paper on squirrel spatial memory was rejected from Animal Behavior. I did the stats on it... my first mixed model; a repeated measure with a binomial distribution. Journal of Animal Ecology paper on birds and their malarial parasites is in review.
Just submitted a species richness and urbanization paper to my coauthors to look over. No idea where I'm sending it.
Question is, what's next? Dig up the past, do the new?
The book... the book. It's calling me. Neotropical birds: Evolution, Ecology and Conservation.
Just submitted a species richness and urbanization paper to my coauthors to look over. No idea where I'm sending it.
Question is, what's next? Dig up the past, do the new?
The book... the book. It's calling me. Neotropical birds: Evolution, Ecology and Conservation.
South Jersey coastal birding
Got out to Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge today at 730 AM. And a frosty morning it was. Where yesterday at Sandy Hook I overexposed everything, I initially underexposed today. Switched to auto ISO and that helped a ton.
Did the wildlife drive twice. Was really hoping to pick up a snowy owl but no luck. Also, nobody took over the refuge.
Then I was off to Cape May Audubon/Lighthouse. Super windy and was sand blasted on the ocean side. Still, there's something fun about being the only person around and the wind gusting away. Usually that pays off with a falcon, or gannet, but today is was just sand in the face.
Drive home tonight was really nerve-wracking. Big rigs were throwing that muddy, silty crap on the windows then the wash would freeze so I was driving blind for 3 or so seconds. Horrible.
Did the wildlife drive twice. Was really hoping to pick up a snowy owl but no luck. Also, nobody took over the refuge.
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| Gadwall |
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| Hooded Merganser |
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| Hooded Merganser |
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| Pintail |
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| Snow Goose |
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| American Widgeon |
Then I was off to Cape May Audubon/Lighthouse. Super windy and was sand blasted on the ocean side. Still, there's something fun about being the only person around and the wind gusting away. Usually that pays off with a falcon, or gannet, but today is was just sand in the face.
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| Gadwall.. damn underexposure |
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| Hooded merganser |
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| Attacking shoveler |
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| Non-attacking shoveler |
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| Tundra Swan |
Drive home tonight was really nerve-wracking. Big rigs were throwing that muddy, silty crap on the windows then the wash would freeze so I was driving blind for 3 or so seconds. Horrible.
Monday, January 11, 2016
North Jersey coastal birding
On a two day trip to my parents' place in Cape May and decided to bird on the way down. Left the house at 6 and finally stepped out of the truck at 10 in Sandy Hook. I haven't been there in twenty years and this trip brought back some nice memories of my fisheries course and Plant Ecology. Very few visitors so that was nice.
A big part of this trip was figuring my camera. Yea, the one I've had for years. I put everything on manual so I had to pick all the settings except for ISO (because I'm still figuring that one out... in the context of the other settings).
The first 50 or so pictures were crap - all over exposed. Clouds came over and the pictures came out better. I'm using a Canon Rebel T1i and I don't think it shows a color histogram but this seems to be the best indicator of overexposure.
Tomorrow's plan. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge then Cape May.
In the meantime, here are today's best pics.
A big part of this trip was figuring my camera. Yea, the one I've had for years. I put everything on manual so I had to pick all the settings except for ISO (because I'm still figuring that one out... in the context of the other settings).
The first 50 or so pictures were crap - all over exposed. Clouds came over and the pictures came out better. I'm using a Canon Rebel T1i and I don't think it shows a color histogram but this seems to be the best indicator of overexposure.
Tomorrow's plan. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge then Cape May.
In the meantime, here are today's best pics.
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| Surf Scoter |
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| Common Loon - with crab |
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| Dunlin |
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| Young Gannet |
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| Harlequin Duck |
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| Long-tailed Duck |
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| Purple Sandpiper |
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| Double-crested Cormorant (was hoping for a Great) |
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| Tree Swallow. What. Are. You. Doing? |
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