Tuesday, Part I: Our tree climbing club got out for some early morning practice

Tuesday, Part II: Hosted Dr. Kevin Chase from Bartlett Tree Experts. He gave a great talk on how Bartlett uses science to guide tree care, applying many concepts familiar to students from classes. Then we did some fine root sampling for Phytophthora root rot as evidence of stress in our study trees.

Another healthy neighborhood street tree soon to be lost, shown here with the orange dot kiss of death. We're guessing the kiss of death is because the tree hasn't been playing nicely with the sidewalk, has made for an uneven path. We usually seem to care so little about pedestrians.

Lots going on for #EarthWeek this week. This morning, our Environmental Club hosted a banner signing for students to show their support for the planet. The banner is now hanging in the hallway. Here's club president, Anna, with the completed banner.
#LoveYourMother

Some of last week's awesome examples of my #SciArt skills. The first two from introducing ecosystem ecology in intro BIO III, and the last two from the nervous system chapter in intro BIO II.

Nighttime wetland amphibian calls YouTube video by Mark Norris

Take a listen here, how many species can you hear?
youtu.be/5roYSfIEhwQ

Light pollution has always been bad in parts of our campus natural habitat (why are the stadium lights always on?), but with recent development, there's substantial light pollution everywhere. What's the impact on our campus wildlife? I think we might explore this next semester in my Ecology class.

Especially fun to listen to the wetland frogs and toads

Undergrad research Thursday: Nocturnal red-backed salamander survey. We didn't find many (record high temps?) but we still had a fun time exploring the nighttime activity of other critters.

#TenMinMerlin mid-April update: 24 sampling dates since early March, 51 total species detected and rising. Two warblers so far, each only detected once.
Totally taking Merlin's word for it.

And don't poopoo the Master's degree! It's a wonderful option to learn, do research, network, etc.

The first step in solving a problem is understanding what the problem is.

When it comes to climate change, it basically boils down to phasing out greenhouse gas emissions.

But what gases, exactly? And where do they come from?

Here's the latest data.

New article in our student news site on our Environmental Club/ESA SEEDS Chapter. I'm really proud of the work that Adam as founder of the chapter has done with the club, greatly expanding opportunities to our students.
stevensonvillager.com/36225/featur...

A little time in the trees this afternoon, trying new devices, checking for critters, getting a workout, watching leaves flush
#Arboreal

Concerned about a tree? Consult an ISA certified arborist and learn your options.

As much as there is love about spring, I hate to hear the seasonal return of chainsaws in our neighborhood and see the loss of big, healthy trees. Both of these trees were healthy and not a hazard. One of these homeowner simply considered his large, beautiful tulip tree a liability.

We had a grad school info session yesterday, featuring a colleague's path/story here.
Key points:
1. Grad school is not like undergrad
2. If you're well qualified, you should get paid to go to grad school
3. Most important step of the grad school process is finding a good mentor

Images from NASA's Artemis II mission (from NASA www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii-m...).
“There’s no adjectives. I’m going to need to invent new ones. There’s absolutely no words to describe what we are looking at out this window.” - Reid Wiseman, mission commander, a grad of our local public school district

Eastern N. America folks, it's just about go time for the start of the ~3 week peak migration (unless you're on the Gulf Coast, in which case it is go time NOW). Expect waves of incredible birds for the next month and a half

Turn those overnight lights off to protect them!

[stolen from local news]

Some Easter weekend shenanigans: 1) first college visit for oldest daughter, 2) stream cleanup in our neighborhood, and 3) our family Easter gathering. And got to catch up with an old friend to watch some div. I men's lax.

Undergrad research Thursday: Last week we surveyed for salamanders, finding the same pattern as in previous surveys. We also got to check out the prescribed burn at one of our research sites two days after the fact.
Thanks to Brett for the pics!

“This move will lead to an increasing divergence between sound science and land management"

I appreciate this take on this evening's Artemis II launch...

Our monthly #sunrise & #sunset to wrap up March. On our short sunset hike at the reservoir, I saw more bloodroots (Sanguinaria canadensis) than ever, just starting to open.

Another scene from campus and my annual reminder that some invasive forest shrubs like Japanese barberry (most everything green here) have an earlier phenology than the natives and get a jumpstart on the growing season

Quick visit outside to talk about our Environmental Science research with a few high school students this afternoon, noticed a few of these spring beauties, Claytonia virginica. These are my indicator that it's officially #spring.

And a few more pictures from #Arboreal collaborator Jason Kilgore. It's always good to catch up with him and hang out (literally!) with his students. #MA-ESA

And this morning we met up with an #Arboreal collaborator and his students for a climbing party on campus #MA-ESA

Four of my research students presented posters, all did a great job #MA-ESA

Another good Mid-Atlantic ESA meeting. Seven of our students attended (Thanks to SEEDS!), heard about lots of cool science, met some new friends, and got to catch up with old friends. #MA-ESA