What can pigeons teach us about the parental brain? What do COVID-19 testing and animal behavior analyses have in common? Read more about Victoria’s Ph.D. research to find out!
Category: Field Notes
Field Notes: Risky Business
Read all about how California ground squirrels assess risk in a human-dominated environment with our newest Field Notes piece by our own ABGGer Chelsea Ortiz.
Field Notes: California Plants and Pollinators
At least 87.5% of flowering plant species rely on animal pollinators such as bees, birds, bats and butterflies for help with reproduction [1]. Plant-pollinator mutual relationships contribute to biodiversity, ecosystem stability, and promote food security through crop pollination [2]. Much of the food and medicine we use comes from plants that need pollinators to reproduce….
Field Notes: Settling into a Field Site and Embracing my Inner Limpet
As I summit Everest, sweating from exertion with the sun glaring on my face, I turn my gaze downward and sweep the creviced ground with my eyes. The creatures I am here to study are inconspicuous, blending into the rocks with their grey, ridged shells. Their species name is Siphonaria gigas, the Greek gigas meaning “giant,” and these…
What To Do When Sh** Hits the Fan, a.k.a. Alternative Research Plans for Field Biologists
Grad students everywhere have had their best laid research plans stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year has been particularly challenging for animal biologists whose research requires them to travel to other countries to conduct fieldwork. I’ve had many anxiety-ridden virtual conversations with colleagues whose study animals can only be observed once in a blue…
Field Notes: Do You Prefer Your Salmon Hot or Iced?
If you’ve been following the information stream on climate change, you have likely heard of global warming. And, if you happen to be interested in fish or marine life (like yours truly), you also probably know that this means many of the world’s water systems are projected to increase in temperature . Even at face…
Field Notes: Ewe Wouldn’t Believe How Sheep Behave!
It has been two and a half years of collecting data for my oxymoronically entitled study, “An assessment of consistent individual differences during human-animal interactions in the pre and post-natal period in rangeland ewes”. Ewes are female sheep for those of ewe that do not know. I say my study seems like an oxymoron because prior to…
Field Notes: “Feline” fine in the Field
Field work with kittens? 1st year graduate student Sabrina Medero shares her experiences with kitten behavior!
Field Notes: Ruminations on integrated crop-livestock systems.
As I shifted the sheep from one grazed section of the field to the next luscious cover crop patch, they moved in threes, filling the width of the corridor. They became more frantic to get to wherever the sheep in front was going, and the electric netting that formed the corridor leaned precariously on its side….
Field Notes- Storms on the horizon: Former success breeds conservation optimism for the brown pelican
Guest contributor Bradley Wilkinson from Clemson University discusses how brown pelicans on the east coast made a conservation comeback, but face a new set of challenges that he and his colleagues have been opportunistically researching.
