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Posts

June 10, 2013

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4:41 PM | OpenCTD first soak test
Two weeks ago, we launched Oceanography for Everyone–The OpenCTD, a crowdfunding project to develop a low-cost, open-source CTD. After a few days hunting around for the best sealants, I put the prototype (name pending, suggestions welcome) through its first soak test. OpenCTD first soak test. Please ignore how dirty my tub is. The results were… [...]
Southern Fried Science
Conservation | Marine Biology
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2:24 PM | "Bitches get stuff done."
“Bitches get stuff done.” - Tina Fey (via annaoposa)
Mad as a Marine Biologist
Conservation | Marine Biology
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2:15 PM | annaoposa: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,...
annaoposa: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.” -The Lorax, Dr. Seuss Source
Mad as a Marine Biologist
Conservation | Marine Biology
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2:14 PM | crookedindifference: Mangroves: The Forest Through the Trees
crookedindifference: Mangroves: The Forest Through the Trees
Mad as a Marine Biologist
Conservation | Marine Biology
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11:00 AM | Recap of the 3rd International Conference on African Digital Libraries and Archives and BHL participation.
We had a very good 3rd ICADLA meeting in Ifrane, Morocco. As part of the Advisory Committee, I was very pleased with the over all program (though disappointed that there was so much confusion in having a representative from the Google Cultural Institute and then the person ended up not attending).The opening keynote, by Misako Ito (UNESCO Office for Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia) provided a good kick off to the meeting.Next up was a special panel presentation by members of the Global […]
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Biology | Conservation

June 09, 2013

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5:04 PM | Ghosts of the Appalachians or the Missing Actors?
<!--StartFragment--> When we pass through the Appalachian Mountains along its vast extent from the humid southeast of Alabama and Georgia to the cold and barren of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, we cannot help but marvel of its beauty and extensiveness.  Unlike its western cousin, the Rocky Mountains, which is a mixture of forested ranges imbedded in a matrix of lowland shrub and grass

Laundré JW (2010). Behavioral response races, predator-prey shell games, ecology of fear, and patch use of pumas and their ungulate prey., Ecology, 91 (10) 2995-3007. PMID:

RIPPLE, W. & BESCHTA, R. (2004). Wolves and the Ecology of Fear: Can Predation Risk Structure Ecosystems?, BioScience, 54 (8) 755. DOI:

Living Alongside Wildlife
Conservation | Ecology
Citation
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3:49 PM | I have a question for you not entirely about your work, but marine related anyway. With all the creatures you know and have experienced the pleasure to witness, has there ever been one you have looked at and created your own personality for? I'd like to know how you imagined them for some work i am doing :)
I always imagine juvenile Sweetlips are on uppers… and totally off their faces! I’ll post an example...
Mad as a Marine Biologist
Conservation | Marine Biology
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2:22 PM | I have to tell you! Because of you and your blog that you sparked my love for the ocean so much that I've struggled with this for the past year because everybody, EVERYBODY I know has told me that I have to be a teacher.. so yeah.. I'm going to school to become a teacher in the fall BUT BUT BUT!!!!! I have started emailing a Whale and Seabird research station and they want me to be on the basking shark conservation research team! I am SOOO STOKED RIGHT NOW!!!! Thank you so much! so so so much!
Nice work!  I don’t mean to rock the boat, but you don’t have to do anything because...
Mad as a Marine Biologist
Conservation | Marine Biology
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1:08 PM | sallysnowglobe: Just the other day I danced with my first...
sallysnowglobe: Just the other day I danced with my first manta ray ;-)….and fell in love
Mad as a Marine Biologist
Conservation | Marine Biology
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1:05 PM | "We as a culture are forgetting that we are actually natural organisms and that we have this very,..."
“We as a culture are forgetting that we are actually natural organisms and that we have this...
Mad as a Marine Biologist
Conservation | Marine Biology
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7:36 AM | Raindrops
What to do in a wet weekend is often a puzzle. I have no enthusiasm for shopping so that rules out going to a mall. It's also harder to rouse kids to venture outside and into the bush. So, it was a bit of a solo mission with camera. While winter here means flowering plants are thin on the ground, the Kniphofia (red hot poker plant) is flowering. It's also popular with the silver-eyes (tauhou). This time round, it was the rain-drops hanging on the flowers that appealed. These shots were […]
Chthonic Wildlife Ramblings
Conservation

June 08, 2013

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4:31 AM | Happy World Ocean’s Day!  Brilliant news from Brunei,...
Happy World Ocean’s Day!  Brilliant news from Brunei, which announced a nation-wide ban on shark catches and landing, the first country-wide commitment to shark protection in the Asia!  “The Sultan of Brunei, makes a landmark declaration today, on World Oceans Day: “That the government (through the Department of Fisheries), will enforce the ban on the catch and landings of all shark species from the waters of Brunei Darussalam and thus their sales in the domestic market. Furthermore, […]
Mad as a Marine Biologist
Conservation | Marine Biology
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12:07 AM | Understory Fires a Major Factor in the Amazon
NASA scientists have determined that a previously unmapped type of wildfire in the Amazon rainforest is responsible for destroying several times more forest than has been lost through deforestation in recent years. This suggests that future projections of frontier landscapes in Amazonia should separately consider economic drivers to project future deforestation and climate to project fire risk.
Planet 3.0
Conservation | Policy

June 07, 2013

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11:34 PM | Google’s Schmidt calls climate-change deniers ‘liars’, believes internet will save the day
Google chairman Eric Schmidt has a low opinion of climate-change skeptics and global-warming deniers. He values the internet as a tool to move beyond the foolish controversies. In these matters he is aligned with Planet3.0. But is his solution a bit facile?
Planet 3.0
Conservation | Policy
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11:12 PM | Academic Publishing: Hating a Trap is Not Enough to Escape the Trap
Academic publishers have an amazing business model: they get smart people to work for free, then sell what they make back to them at high prices. There are reasons they get away with it, but with a little cleverness publishing academics do not have to capitulate.
Planet 3.0
Conservation | Policy
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7:57 PM | On The Danger Posed By Non-Expert Critiques Published To Large Audiences
Geoffrey North, the editor of Current Biology, has written a critical editorial that questions the role of social media in science (which I strongly suggest you read before continuing). In it, he refers to blogs as “”vanity publications”,” written by those “prone to self-indulgence”. He warns that blogs can be dangerous, that their speed and virality [...]
Science Sushi
Evolution | Conservation
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6:33 PM | World Oceans Day 2013
Saturday, June 8, is World Oceans Day.  This global event honors our blue planet and celebrates all that it means to us. The idea of a worldwide ocean day began in 1992, and in 2008, the United Nations General Assembly established … Continue reading →
Bay-to-Beach Life
Conservation | Marine Biology
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12:00 AM | the-science-llama: Rare footage of an Oarfish in the WildVideo...
Rare footage of an Oarfish in the Wild (Regalecus glesne) // posted by The-Science-Llama Rare footage of an Oarfish in the Wild (Regalecus glesne) // posted by The-Science-Llama the-science-llama: Rare footage of an Oarfish in the WildVideo — Via DeepSeaNews Of all bony fish, the oarfish, Regalecus glesne, is the longest.  It is suggested that oarfish can reach up to 15 meters (49 feet) in length but actual recorded lengths put them at still impressive 8 meters (26  feet).  Oarfish […]
Mad as a Marine Biologist
Conservation | Marine Biology

June 06, 2013

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5:23 PM | funfrom4chan: wat
funfrom4chan: wat
Mad as a Marine Biologist
Conservation | Marine Biology
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4:00 PM | Why did the chicken cross the road? Maybe it was looking for its penis.
Warning: the following may be considered NSFW, particularly if your employer finds avian genitalia inappropriate.  Thanks to the detailed research of Patricia Brennan and the fluent coverage of it by Ed Yong and Carl Zimmer, a lot of people have not only heard of the impressive duck penis, they’ve seen it in all its explosive glory (if you [...]

Herrera A., Shuster S., Perriton C. & Cohn M. (2013). Developmental Basis of Phallus Reduction During Bird Evolution, Current Biology, 23 1-10. DOI:

Science Sushi
Evolution | Conservation
Citation
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12:10 PM | #RaysTheRoof : Research symposium will focus on the biology and conservation of stingrays
July 10-15th in Albuquerque! I hope to see you there! The upcoming Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists will include a research symposium focusing on the biology and conservation of durophagous (shell-eating) stingrays. Organized by Dr.’s Matt Ajemian (Texas A&M University Corpus Christi) and Julie Neer (Southeast Data Assessment and Review), this symposium aims [...]
Southern Fried Science
Conservation | Marine Biology
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11:00 AM | Celebrating Oceans and Marine Biodiversity
50 Fish from American Waters (1870-1900). Allen and Ginter.  The Seafood Picture Shrimp (the most-consumed seafood in America) and other Crustaceans. Natural History of the Animal Kingdom for the Use of Young People.This Saturday, June 8, is World Oceans Day, the UN-designated day for the global community to celebrate and take action to protect Earth's oceans. 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water, and every living thing depends on water to survive. Sadly, according to the […]
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Biology | Conservation
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2:40 AM | griseus: FEMALE SQUID EAT SPERM TO BOOST FERTILIZATION Kristen...
griseus: FEMALE SQUID EAT SPERM TO BOOST FERTILIZATION Kristen Butler / UPI Female southern bottletail squid (Sepiadarium austrinum) have been observed eating the sperm and ejaculate of males, for their own health, and to improve egg production. Females store the sperm packages, called spermatophores, for up to three weeks in an external pouch near the mouth, called the buccal cavity. A female extracts mature eggs from her own body and passes them over the spermatophores to fertilize them […]
Mad as a Marine Biologist
Conservation | Marine Biology

June 05, 2013

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10:39 PM | Tide Goes In, Tide Goes Out
Great moments in science communication from Fox News, via Media Matters
Planet 3.0
Conservation | Policy
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8:02 PM | Extinct Frog Rediscovered in 2011; World Takes Notice in 2013
What was once lost has now been found. Well, it was actually found about a year and a half ago, but most people just seem to be noticing now. The Hula painted frog was probably never common. The species, native to just a few small habitats in Israel, was only recorded by scientists on a [...]
Scientific American - Extinction Countdown
Biology | Conservation
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5:19 PM | It Depends on Your Point of View: “A Water Moccasin Tried to Get in My Boat” (Guest Post)
<!--StartFragment-->     Besides the myth that Cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus, on right) bask in trees along waterways and plop into boats and the unfounded legend that Cottonmouths are aggressive and attack people, the next most common misconception about the Cottonmouth is that they try to “get into” boats. At first glance this may appear to be a variant of the “falling into boats”

S.P. Graham (2013). How frequently do Cottonmouths bask in Trees?, Journal of Herpetology,

B.C. Savitzky (1992). Laboratory Studies in an Opportunistic Pitiviper, the Cottonmouth, Agkistrodon piscivorus, Biology of the Pitvipers, 347-368.

Living Alongside Wildlife
Conservation | Ecology
Citation

June 04, 2013

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8:38 PM | Monbiot: Canada is Developing in Reverse
“the influence of the tar sands industry has begun to change the whole character of the nation”
Planet 3.0
Conservation | Policy
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2:56 PM | Hedgerow cutting: an eco-worrier response
The Wildlife Act 1976, amended 2000, prohibits the cutting of hedgerows in Ireland during the period of March 1st to August 31st. However, under section 40 of the Wildlife Act a number of exemptions have been made including cutting for … Continue reading →

E.J.Lindquist,, R. D’Annunzio, A. Gerrand, K. MacDicken, F. Achard, R. Beuchle, A. Brink, H.D. Eva, & P. Mayaux, J. San-Miguel-Ayanz & H-J. Stibig (2012). Global forest land-use change 1990–2005, . Stibig. FAO Forestry Paper No. 169. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and European Commission Joint Research Centre. Rome, FAO., Other: Link

A dribble of knowledge
Environment | Conservation
Citation

June 03, 2013

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10:54 PM | Central Europe Flooding
Central Europe is encountering severe floods
Planet 3.0
Conservation | Policy
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7:08 PM | Readers Write In: Is This A Rattler? I Think So And I Don't Want To Kill It
"Hi, I read your article on relocating rattlesnakes today because I captured this snake, which I am pretty sure is a rattler. This is in the Santa Cruz Mountains and it was against the sunny side of the house earlier this afternoon. It's a baby - so I think it will be okay to relocate it a few hundred yards away into a ravine in the chaparral where nobody travels. Right? Rock Santa Cruz
Living Alongside Wildlife
Conservation | Ecology
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