Category: biology

The legend of the lynx, and the long length of Lloyd

There was once a time when the ground of the forest was clear, and trappers and other users of the forest could cover miles in a day without breaking a sweat. There were no snaking, snagging branches catching your boots or tripping your step. Through this marvellous woodscape strode a great hero by the name … Continue reading The legend of the lynx, and the long length of Lloyd →

Coyote and Squirrel Camp

  Time was, before social media, global warming or Donald Trump, that there were a lot more dangerous animals around squirrel camp.  10-foot beavers would chomp off campers’s heads, giant mosquitos would drink their blood with a single slurp, great ostrich-sized predatory grouse would ambush campers with a loud thud and peck out their large intestines, … Continue reading Coyote and Squirrel Camp →

Squirrel camp and the northern lights

In the beginning there were three ecologists (one tall, one medium height, one short). In the boreal forest. Before that there were squirrels and lynx and bears and other such creatures, but as they cannot hold pens to write their stories down we can hardly start with them, so we will start with the three … Continue reading Squirrel camp and the northern lights →

Becoming a better science performer

Yeah yeah I know, “science performer” sounds hilarious, but let me explain what I’m talking about. Doing science, or being a scientist, is not just about intelligence or raw brain power. As important is imagination to work out new approaches or see new links, tenacity to see your ideas and projects through to the end … Continue reading Becoming a better science performer →

Where did they get that from?

The press, essential part of the science machine or irritating nuisance? Rather excitingly, I had something published the other day. It was about male-male competition in crickets, using social network analysis. You can read about it here. In short, we found that males can't use pre-copulatory competition to avoid sperm competition, that males who attack other males a … Continue reading Where did they get that from? →