I work on infections in Drosophila - my interest is in coevolution and particularly how the host parasite interaction changes with evironment. And you?
I study tadpoles. More specifically, I'm not sure. I'm starting a PhD program in EEB at the University of Michigan this fall, and I'll be working with Earl Werner. I expect to do tons of community ecology work, since that is what he's known for.
that was freaky. I wonder if they got in trouble? While their goals were, um, somewhat admirable, their efforts were a bit misguided. Apart from legal issues, what if they were to introduce a new (or slightly different) strain of chytrid to their lab or region? Not pretty.
Frogs are in decline in some areas but not all. Coming from Oregon, where a lot of frogs are in decline, that was my primary concern with choosing my area of study. Imagine my embarassment when I interviewed with Pitt, spoke extensively about frog declines, then had the prof go "um, frogs aren't in decline in Pennsylvania."
As far as I know, frogs are in great decline in most of the world. The west coast of the US, Latin America, and really most tropical regions have been hard hit.
The causes are many, but here's a rundown of the most popular ideas. Something to bear in mind is that it is probably several factors working in combination:
- habitat destruction (self explanatory) resulting in greater predation, more intraspecific competition -- logging, forest fires, increased building, ag, and more are all included here, but each subset has its own specific challenges - chytrid fungus (as the weather stays warmer for more of the year, it produces ideal conditions for this fungus to flourish. The fungus is thought to interfere with the skin and cutaneous breathing) - pesticide exposure (related to habitat destruction -- Reylea at Pitt is the main leader in this, I think) - UV exposure (Blaustein in Oregon has done a lot of work on this)
hopefully, I'll learn more in grad school about how the communities develop and are influenced by a few of these variables. I'm hopeful that frogs won't entirely disappear unless the temperature warms considerably and quickly, but the species abundance & diversity is certainly falling.
I totally forgot about this post until I used LJsearch to look for mentions of myself. Wow :-)
So, um, new and recent developing: I am leaving grad school at the end of April. By then, I will have finished a coursework master's degree. I'm just sick of school, and my advisor and I don't get along in a professional sense (we just have different goals and ideas -- we get along fine personally, but that's not as important when doing a PhD). I'm hoping to look for jobs in some sort of environmental education field. So, if you hear of anything, definitely feel free to let me know. For the summer, I'm applying to work at a nature center in Ann Arbor, but I definitely need a fall/winter job to tide me through until I can apply for park/forest service jobs next spring.
It's a bit scary but mostly exciting. I just have so much to do now! But I am quite happy with my decision, so that's good. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that recent development. If you want, you can read all about it; I put you into my "posting" filter on my LJ.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 04:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-07 12:42 am (UTC)Are frog populations still in decline? Do we know why yet?
no subject
Date: 2006-06-07 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 06:07 pm (UTC)Frogs are in decline in some areas but not all. Coming from Oregon, where a lot of frogs are in decline, that was my primary concern with choosing my area of study. Imagine my embarassment when I interviewed with Pitt, spoke extensively about frog declines, then had the prof go "um, frogs aren't in decline in Pennsylvania."
As far as I know, frogs are in great decline in most of the world. The west coast of the US, Latin America, and really most tropical regions have been hard hit.
The causes are many, but here's a rundown of the most popular ideas. Something to bear in mind is that it is probably several factors working in combination:
- habitat destruction (self explanatory) resulting in greater predation, more intraspecific competition -- logging, forest fires, increased building, ag, and more are all included here, but each subset has its own specific challenges
- chytrid fungus (as the weather stays warmer for more of the year, it produces ideal conditions for this fungus to flourish. The fungus is thought to interfere with the skin and cutaneous breathing)
- pesticide exposure (related to habitat destruction -- Reylea at Pitt is the main leader in this, I think)
- UV exposure (Blaustein in Oregon has done a lot of work on this)
hopefully, I'll learn more in grad school about how the communities develop and are influenced by a few of these variables. I'm hopeful that frogs won't entirely disappear unless the temperature warms considerably and quickly, but the species abundance & diversity is certainly falling.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-11 06:42 pm (UTC)So, um, new and recent developing: I am leaving grad school at the end of April. By then, I will have finished a coursework master's degree. I'm just sick of school, and my advisor and I don't get along in a professional sense (we just have different goals and ideas -- we get along fine personally, but that's not as important when doing a PhD). I'm hoping to look for jobs in some sort of environmental education field. So, if you hear of anything, definitely feel free to let me know. For the summer, I'm applying to work at a nature center in Ann Arbor, but I definitely need a fall/winter job to tide me through until I can apply for park/forest service jobs next spring.
It's a bit scary but mostly exciting. I just have so much to do now! But I am quite happy with my decision, so that's good. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that recent development. If you want, you can read all about it; I put you into my "posting" filter on my LJ.