What We Read- Favorite Papers of 2018

Anna I’ve selected three favourite papers from 2018: a research study, a think piece and a technical review. I was really excited to read “Digging mammals contribute to rhizosphere fungal community composition and seedling growth” (subscription) because I’m interested in how conservation management actions – in this case conservation and potential reintroduction of digging mammals…

What We’re Reading- Dec 15, 2017

Oyster Adaptation to Ocean Acidification Oceans are a large carbon sink, and one of the effects of climate change is that the oceans are becoming more acidic (see here for a description of how this happens).  This changing environment presents a problem for marine species that must acclimate or adapt to living in a more…

Domestication of Your Jack-O-Lantern

Happy Halloween everyone! As I was walking around the pumpkin patch picking out my Jack-O-Lantern-to-be, I started wondering: where in the world are pumpkins from?!  To be fair, as a phylogeographer it’s my job to wonder where different species came from and what geographic routes they took to arrive at their current distribution.  Usually a…

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…

Guest Post: My trip to Madagascar, and why you should jump on a plane and go now! (Reptiles, Amphibians, Insects, Plants, and Fishes)

Guest Post by Katy Klymus Continuing on from my last post, I will now describe some of the reptiles, amphibians, insects, and plants I saw on my trip to Madagascar. Reptiles Besides lemurs, Madagascar is also known for the diversity of chameleons (family Chamaeleonidae); including half of the world’s total diversity. With their opposing fused…

What We’re Reading: Oct 16, 2015

Bushbaby BMI A new study reports that bushbabies (Galago moholi) in urban environments have higher body-mass indexes (BMI) and stress hormone levels than their rural counterparts. The authors also observed higher use of human food and less movement in the urban primates. Their results show how urbanization can impact the health of wild animals. How…

Learning from the Success of the American Chestnut Restoration Project for Species Conservation

The story of the decline of American chestnuts (Castanea dentata) is the stuff of conservationists’ nightmares. First, a magnificent and abundant species provides habitat and an annually stable mast crop (full of protein and fat) for overwintering forest dwellers. The species also serves as a timber product for people. But then the import of a…