When a food source provides almost half a planet with protein, you can expect the people who deliver that food source to play an important role in society. Fishing is no exception. So it makes sense that fishers should have access to good fish science, at every level. It follows, then, that there should be open communication between fish scientists and fishers.
Let’s trawl back through the wreckage that is 2020’s most ‘interesting’ search terms on Ecology for the Masses. Featuring apocalyptic cats, Ross from friends, and mermaid sex (of course).
About a year ago, my colleague and friend Jonatan and I were asked to organize EvoDemo7, the 7th Annual Meeting of the Evolutionary Demography Society. Little did we know that a pandemic would turn the world upside down and spark the scientific community to come up with creative ways to meet, forge collaborations and share research ideas. Here, we list some of the lessons we learned from organizing the conference.
Despite the fact that as a kid I was both a voracious reader and a budding ecologist. When you spend hours listening to your mum reading stories about anthropomorphic kangaroos saving lost children, life and death battles between mongeese and cobras, and islands where dinosaurs never went extinct, how can you not grow up with a passion for the natural world. So for the sake of anyone looking for a good book for themselves or (with the holidays coming up) for relatives of any ages, I asked four brilliant ecological writers to tell us about the fiction which has inspired them.
Building models is a tricky business. There are lots of decisions involved and competing motivations. Say we are an ecologist studying owl abundance in a park near our school. Our primary goal may be to have a good understanding of what is going on in our data. However, as scientists trying to add to a broader body of literature, we also want our understanding of owl abundance to be useful to those with other data from a similar context.
Although it’s Africa’s terrestrial marvels that often get a lot of the press, its underwater life is just as fascinating. A big part of this is the wide range of cichlids on display, beautifully coloured fish that are key species in studying evolution. I spoke to Frederic Schedel about his work with these freshwater marvels, and why they’re so fascinating.
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,
We often worry about how climate change will affect species populations and ranges, but should we really be worried about the effects of mushroom toxicity and pizza toppingness?
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
