Does Biodiversity Matter?

Through fashion, I showed you how scientists calculate biodiversity and what it means. While some areas of the world are naturally more diverse than others – one thing is true: we are losing biodiversity at an alarming rate due to manmade causes. We are currently in the sixth mass extinction event to ever happen on…

Interpreting the Biodiversity of Your Wardrobe

I love fashion, especially garments with animals on them. I wear so many of them, that my boss asked me about the biodiversity of my closet. I was genuinely curious so I counted all the plants, animals, and any other life forms that I could spot and calculated the Shannon Weiner Index, a real index…

Breaking Through the Masses at Scientific Conferences

I’m off to the 2017 Wildlife Society Conference tomorrow. I’ve been to 22 conferences over the years, yet, I still find it can be an awkward experience to meet new colleagues. People think I am a social butterfly, but when you walk into a ballroom full of groups of people standing around tiny tables it…

What’s the Biodiversity Within Your Closet?

Conservationists and other nature lovers frequently advocate to save or increase biodiversity, but what exactly is biodiversity? One conjures up images of rainforests, coral reefs or animal clipart arranged artistically. These hint at the concept of biodiversity, which on the surface, seems simple, but gets more complicated once you try to measure it (even for…

The Best Thing You Can Do for the Environment That Almost No One is Talking About

For Earth Day 2016, the Wildlife SNPits scientists wrote a series of daily blogs on easy things you can do to help the environment. One of the topics I wrote about was taking kids outside. It’s not the most intuitive thing you’d think of when helping Mother Earth, but this little act makes a really big…

Is Model Emily Ratajkowski Hurting or Helping Sea Turtles?

*This post was updated on April 6th, 2017.  I get a daily alert from Vogue magazine (I know, shocking!). Today, I clicked on a link to check out model Emily Ratajkowski’s vacation photos from Mexico and was shocked to see her Instagram holding a baby sea turtle. This is bad for so many reasons. I am writing…

Making Science Real in Non-Majors Science Class

For the longest time, I complained about teaching one class, non-majors biology. While many teaching assistants complained about students, for me, it was the content I was teaching. The problem wasn’t that it was too simple and not advanced like in a majors class, it was that it was not relevant to the students’ lives (or…

A Year of Science Selfies – Stephanie

When hearing about the #365scienceselfies challenge, I was immediately on board. I love selfies and was very willing to use this excuse to take more. I loved the idea – showing other people what scientists do on a daily basis and “humanizing” us (scientists – they’re just like us!). I was also up for the challenge of coming…

Behind the Paper: Deer Fear in Relation to Human Hunters, Hikers, and Coyotes

Over the past century, the Eastern United States has seen their forests regrow, their large predators disappear, and their white-tailed deer become more numerous than ever. Humans hunt deer in some places during some parts of the year, but regulations to protect the herd have, so far, limited the ability of humans to reduce their…

Tips for a Nature-Themed Halloween Costume

Happy Halloween! The past two years I’ve embraced my profession and have decided to go with some nature-inspired Halloween costumes. Here are my tips for a successful costume: Always make your own costume. I do not sew. Using glue, tape, and garments from your daily wardrobe creatively can make can result in a pretty effective and…

When More Science Isn’t Better

I’ll never forget the first, and only, time I was turned down to give a presentation at a meeting. It’s pretty rare to get turned down for conferences, and if you do, you usually at least get asked to present a poster. It was for the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB), my favorite conference, and I…

Is Man’s Best Friend Wildlife’s Best Friend?

Conservationists love to hate on cats because unfortunately they kill our feathered friends. The solution is easy (keep your cat indoors), but what about our other beloved pet, man’s best friend? You don’t hear much about the impacts of dogs on wildlife and dogs are a pet you have to let outside. Do they ever get the…