By the @EEB_POC team From Dynamic Ecology Note from Meghan Duffy: This guest post is a revised version of one that briefly appeared last month. Over the past few months society has once again had to face the stark inequities that disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and other racial minorities. The senseless murders of Ahmaud Arbery,…
Category: research
Academic parenting during a pandemic
Recently, Meghan Duffy had a call while chasing her preschooler — who had just learned how to ride a pedal bike — around the block. (Insert your own life lesson about us both learning how to balance here.) From Dynamic Ecology by Dana Turjeman, Sondra Turjeman, and Meghan Duffy This began as a subsection of…
Going back to (a new) normal: reflections from three academics as universities and society begin to re-open
From Dynamic Ecology by Dana Turjeman, Sondra Turjeman, and Meghan Duffy This blog is directly connected to a post two of us (Dana and Meghan) published on March 15, right as things in the US were beginning to shut down due to COVID-19. In many places, discussions on re-opening the economy are at full speed…
Guest post: a personal account of why science needs inclusion
From Dynamic Ecology by Lynette Strickland, Ph.D. alumnus, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, soon-to-be postdoc, Texas A&M Corpus Christie A diversity of metallic beetles This is a guest post by Lynette Strickland, who just defended her PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She will be moving to Texas A&M Corpus Christie to do…
News and notes from your librarian: beats, birds, and blades edition
by Scott Martin, Biological Sciences Librarian, University of Michigan Library Some of Scott’s toys (guitars and wooden swords in a standing rack). Hey all! It appears as though Sharon the shark still isn’t answering their email, so in lieu of a more entertaining elasmobranch’s-eye view of current goings-on, I’m back with another personal update and…
News and notes from your librarian: Strange Days edition
Scott and his mammoth. Mammoth says “We got this.” by Scott Martin, Biological Sciences Librarian, University of Michigan Library Hey all! When the call went out on Twitter for submissions to the blog, I figured I’d better get in line early. Nobody wants to be the follow-up act to Sharon the shark, right? Like many…
How I think the start of the semester will go vs. how it actually goes
From Dynamic Ecology by Meghan Duffy, a University of Michigan ecologist and professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology I’m not at ESA this week, and in some ways that’s good, because I’m currently being swamped by the beginning of semester deluge. Last week reminded me that I always misjudge what the start…
Fish body size matters for important top-down and bottom-up processes
From National Geographic’s Open Explorer by Katrina Munsterman, incoming University of Michigan Ph.D. student in ecology and evolutionary biology, Jake Allgeier lab Diagram of functional compensation by Katrina Munsterman Herbivorous fishes comprise a large proportion of consumer biomass on reefs. By eating algal resources and excreting nutrients, herbivores influence top-down and bottom-up processes. In my…
Testing artificial reef (AR) design and efficacy
From National Geographic’s Open Explorer by Katrina Munsterman, incoming University of Michigan Ph.D. student in ecology and evolutionary biology, Jake Allgeier lab Building an artificial reef in the Bahamas. Last December, Jake Allgeier and lab technician, Mona Andskog, built new artificial reefs in the Bahamas. Less than six months later, the reefs are already teeming…
Field botany videos (Lecythidaceae)
From the CW Dick Lab blog 2018 Lecythidaceae crew (left to right) Chris, Tamara, Drew, Nicolli, Priscila, Paulo, Cunha. by Christopher William Dick, University of Michigan professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Summary: This post links to videos of Lecythidaceae tree species identifications from the Brazilian Amazon. The videos should be useful for students of…
Four easy tips for preparing a field experiment (Part I)
by Sara Colom, graduate student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan Preparing a successful field project can be boiled down into two major themes, a good experimental design and organization of time and materials. To keep things short and sweet I will go over the experimental design here…
A balancing act: summer sitting and nature time
by Alexis Heinz, former EEB GSI studying conservation ecology and landscape architecture The semester is a whirlwind of social activity. Between studio time and ecology classes, days are filled with talking, observing, listening, and thinking. The fast-paced scholarly environment fits with the dynamic and bustling city of Ann Arbor. Then summer arrives. As…
Rain dance for science
By Sara Colom, a University of Michigan graduate student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology The summer of 2017 was a tough year for plants, it was very hot and very dry. Plants not adapted to hot and dry conditions suffered stunted growth, low fertility and premature death, assuming that they managed to…
Challenging the extractive paradigm in field work: suggestions from a case study in community engagement
View of the St Elias Mountains from the Kluane Red Squirrel Project field site. Image: Jack Robertson From Rapid Ecology, a science community blog by Matt Sehrsweeney, a 2017 University of Michigan alumnus (ecology and history) and Jack Robertson, an MSc candidate at University of Guelph Though we generally fail to acknowledge it, ecological research…
Do your figures tell your story?
From Dynamic Ecology by Meghan Duffy, a University of Michigan ecologist and associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology When I review papers, I often read the introduction and methods, and then skip to the figures to see what I take away from them before reading the results. This can also be…