Once in a while, something comes along that really makes it hard to cling to my determined sense of climate optimism. Yesterday the Lufthansa Group, a German company which controls a number of airlines, confirmed that just in this current winter, 18,000 flights were flown completely empty in order to keep the airlines’ slots open at European airports.
Given the constant debate regarding the return of wolves to many parts of the world, finding ways to promote coexistence with them is key. Enter the Livestock Guarding Dog.
Last week, prominent Australian conservation scientist Professor Hugh Possingham caused quite a stir when he stated that “personally [he is] not convinced that climate change is a threat to many species”. This naturally sparked heated debates among ecologists the world over, with varying levels of vitriol. As Dr. Charlie Gardner put it, it “is an extraordinary thing to hear from a leading conservation scientist” .
As a marine biologist, the opportunity to join a research cruise is one you cannot refuse, even if you have to leave solid ground for a total of 73 days.
Failing to reject a null hypothesis that there is no difference between two samples doesn’t necessarily mean that there actually isn’t a difference. There is always a chance that we didn’t have enough evidence to detect a real difference. Finding ways to increase the power, the probability that we reject the null hypothesis when the alternative is really true, ahead of a study can help us feel more confident in our ultimate conclusion. This post talks about strategies for analyzing and increasing power in ecology settings.
You’ve probably heard of the Sargasso Sea – it is well-known for the floating seaweed called Sargassum that provides a habitat for baby sea turtles and many other sea critters. For the last 10 years, Sargassum seaweed has spread throughout more of the Atlantic Ocean and become a problem, with blooms affecting the Caribbean, states surrounding the Gulf of Mexico, South America and even Africa.
Every year after I am finished with Europe’s largest ecology conference I write a summary of my most memorable thoughts and experiences. Truth be told,
I’ve written a lot about our relationship with top predators like bears and wolves on Ecology for the Masses, but their relationship with each other is also capable of having a big impact on their surroundings. When bears co-exist with wolves, predation levels are generally higher, but how much higher really depends on how much competition takes place between the two species.
Perspectives on science, wildlife, travel and all things fascinating on our little blue dot
The Fisheries Blog: Your weekly spot for fun and engaging articles written by fish scientists from around the globe.
Boldly going where no forest ecologist has gone before
Discovering Dynamic Distributions - The virtual lab around Jonas Lembrechts
Don't need to be cool to be kind.
Bridging the gap between researchers, practitioners and policymakers
The Plankton and Policy Research Group at Plymouth University. PI: Dr Abigail McQuatters-Gollop
Ecology for the Masses 