Glowworms [HRE]

9 xii 2011
1134- sleeping, sorrowfully back in my bed
1248- sleeping soundly
1439- meeting with Emily
2052- Picking up the camper van

Lunch- a banana, some salami, and 1/5 a gallon of milk
Dinner- Beer battered fish and chips with a hard cider.

Well I slept on the balcony until about 4, when I woke up and the noise was too much for me to go back to sleep.  I was surprised though how warm it was out there, minus the noise it was quite present.  Woke up about 815, ate a chocolate croissant as I walked to the conference center and met with Emily Fountain.  She gave me the details on her DNA protocol.  She too was using the DNAEasy kit, and that worked great with stuff younger than the 1970s, but anything older and she needed to do silica based extractions.  Once she figured out her protocol though she had really good success.  She's been trying to graduate, but with the earthquakes getting specimens from the Christchurch museum was impossible.  Finally she was able to get some from BMNH, apparently weevils are no easier than leafhoppers to get on loan from there. We talked some more and I discovered I had found my Pennsylvanian (by way of New Zealand) clone.  She wanted to do 2 PhDs but the university wouldn’t let her co enroll, one doing her weevil work and the other on frogs.  I told her about my disjunct research interests.  Then I found out her roommate is from the UK and trying to become one of the first falconers in NZ, and fly Harriers (NZ falcon is endangered on the south island).  I mentioned my need for grassland leafhoppers and she said she was going to be in the field checking her traps on Sunday so she would collect any leafhoppers for me and could meet me at the airport with them.  Then just as we were about to part ways she mentioned she had a chewing lice side project.  We are actually doing similar things with different groups of birds (passerines vs. raptors).  She's going to Australia in a few months to collect lice so if she gets any raptor lice shell send them my way and I'll try to get some North American passerine lice for her.  Small world.  Then I pulled down my poster and headed back to the hotel to finish packing.  We caught the shuttle, got to the airport and checked in.  We ate some lunch and then called my Grandpa George to wish him a happy 97^th birthday, then boarded our flight.  I slept most of the way, until just before we landed in Christchurch.  The countryside looked amazing as we landed.  Caught another shuttle and got dropped off at the campervan place.  We got our van sorted and then we were off.  Driving wasn’t nearly as hard as I remember it to be, I think walking around the city a few days getting use to the flow of traffic helped a lot, because I didn’t make any mistakes.  My mom though the first thing she told me was I was in the wrong lane (nope, defiantly the correct one).  The drive was beautiful, passing a lot of farm land and some reserves also, then reached Lake Tickapo at about 7.  The lake was a brilliant blue, from the sediment caused by glacial erosion.  The sky here is also suppose to be the best in NZ, and there is an observatory just up the mountain.  However, the clouds were a bit much and so I don’t think we'll get a good view of the sky tonight.  I went and set up some YPTs and then we went to dinner at a place in town.  The town was walking distance away so we followed the lakeshore there.  Dinner was amazing, the fish was quite tasty..  My cider was also really good, as was my parents black beer.  I finished up my mom's pint for her,  quite a sacrifice.  On the walk back we stopped and took some pictures of night falling, (about 2200), and I chased rabbits, hoping to decrease their fitness a bit and maybe if I was lucky kill a couple or lead to their demise.  I also  picked up a dead bird, but it was too long dead to get lice off of.  Once back at the van my dad and I went on a hunt for Myerslopia without any success. We did see a weird looking lep that seemed to have reduced wings and couldn’t fly.  We gave up searching after maybe 30 minutes, the leaf litter was too compact and dry I think for good habitat for a flightless leafhopper, so hopefully we'll have better luck somewhere else.  The sky cleared a little, and we got a good view of the southern cross and Orion (upside down of course) before calling it a night. 

Random Fact: Lake Tekapo gets its brilliant blue color from rock flour- the pulverized bits of rock produced by glaciers as they move.  The particles are suspended in the water, and the way they interact with light make the water very blue.  This also happens in Alaska, although these seem more blue green instead of blue grey like you see there.

10 xii 2011

359- Getting my tent on top of the van put up.  I ended up having to stand on the tire and turn the bar in order to keep the bar from falling out
857-Sleeping
1344- Eating breakfast- peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  I tried to lure the mallards in with my crusts, but only got them within 4ft or so before they wouldn't get closer
2040- About an hour from Te Anau.  My mom was driving, she did pretty good actually.

Lunch- I had some strawberries we got at a roadside stand.  The stand had a  bunch of coins from all over the world pasted on a map.  Pretty cool idea, I think I'll do something like that.  They didn't have any Swazi coins, and I couldn't remember if I had any in my backpack still.
Dinner- Sausage, Pepperoni, and tomato pizza at an Italian restaurant (complete with Italian music and people wearing shirts with Italy maps).  The pizza was pretty good

My mom woke me up about 830, I slept pretty well up in my tent.  I had a sandwich for breakfast, put the tent away (which took a while to figure out and the assistance of the guy across the road), then went and picked up my traps. There were a few leafhoppers in them, and some other insects, including a bunch of larvae.  Once I was back we loaded up and I drove over to the town center.  We walked to the collie statue. It looked a lot like Dapher pup, we took a bunch of pictures.  There was also a small church right by it, but there was a wedding going on so we didn’t get to go inside.  We then walked to the information center, and got reservations for tonight at Te Anau, the glowworm cave and Milford Sound.  I saw there was a bird trapped inside the shop, so I caught it and took it outside.  It didn't seem to have any lice on it, but it's hard to say without being able to dust it.  Turned it loose and then once my parents were done we headed off.  I got stuck behind some slow dude, passed him then shortly thereafter my mom wanted me to pull over so she could get a picture of the lake.  I did, and the guy passed me, since he was still going about 70km/h I caught up with him shortly and had to pass him again.  This happened a few more times, including when we stopped to get a picture of Mt. Cook, which was visible for a bit when the clouds cleared.  Eventually I decided it was open road enough my mom could try driving, so I let her give it a whirl.  She did pretty well.  We stopped at a fruit stand and got some dried apricots, nuts, and a carton of strawberries.  The views for the entire drive were pretty amazing, we went through a gorge where they do bungee jumping, but no one was jumping when we went by.  We got to Te Anau about 1700, went to the store and picked up some paper towels, and then found our campsite.  Then we walked into town, figured out what was going on with the glowworm tour, picked up some alcohol to keep my bugs in at the pharmacy, and got dinner.  While we were waiting for our pizza my mom went to the grocery store and got the rest of the things on our list.  Then we went back to the campsite, got the tent ready, and then walked to the boat dock for the tour.  The ride across was nice, we stood on top the whole way.  Saw some ducks and some neat coves.  Apparently Lake Te Anau averages 200m deep, and so even though it isn't the largest by surface area, it is the largest by volume in Oceania.  Once we docked there was a short lecture on the cave system (it's about 7km long, but to get past the end of the tour you would need to dive through a submerged portion before it gets above the water table again), and the glowworms themselves.  Then we were divided into groups to enter the cave.  We were in the last group, so I wandered around outside for a little bit before coming back in for a short video on glow worms, including a segment of them fishing for food, and cannibalizing smaller glowworms.  Our group only had 10 people (the rest had 14), so that was nice. The walk through the cave was impressive- the glowworms looked like stars against the night sky.  The cave was young (about 12000 years maximum) so no stalagmites or stalactites over a few inches long.  Water flowed really fast through the cave and included some neat waterfalls.  At one point the glowworms were on a really low ceiling so we could actually see the threads they use to catch their food.  Once we got to the end of the walkway we boarded a small dingy and entered the glowworm grotto.  It was pitch black in there, with just pinpricks of light from the glowworms.  After whirling around in the boat for a few minutes we were taken back to the walkway and disembarked.  On the walk back we saw a long finned eel, which was about .8m long.  The largest reach 2m, and they are quite strong swimmers- they can swim against the current and can even climb waterfalls.  They breed once- in the ocean and the young make their way back to the caves.  As we were the last group in the cave, we went straight to the ferry and then we were off.  We again rode on top of the boat, although this time there were only a couple of us that braved the cold wind.  We are at a high enough latitude, it was still twilight even at 2215.  Back on shore we went searching for a bar to get a beer, but the only one open was too loud for the parentals to want to go to, so we went back to the campground.  I am currently sitting with the electronics charging them, since we have to charge them in the common area (apparently New Zealand campervans have a different plug then normal New Zealand outlets, so our extension cord won't work for the provided power…

Random Fact: Glowworms deploy silk threads, like fishing lines, which are sticky and covered with drops of a paralyzing agent.  When an insect hits one of these lines they become stuck and the glowworm reels the line up and sucks up the hemolymph.  A single glowworm can have a clump of up to 70 of these threads and it sits in the middle glowing to attract prey. 

Endemic Birds [hre]

0603- Just about to go to sleep, have to be up early to catch the ferry in the morning.
1026- sleeping
1934- Sitting on the beach at Tiritiri Matangi Island watching bird.  I got a great view of a variable oystercatcher (Haematopus unicolor) sitting on a rock just offshore.
2132- We were just about to dock back at Auckland.  My dad, mom, Andy's mom, and I rode on the bow on the way back.  Coming into the harbor we had an awesome view of Auckland and the barge loading area.

Lunch- Peanut Butter and jelly sandwich, some salami, ham, ritz crackers, and cheese.  We had to bring our own lunches to the island.  Ate at the visitors center. 
Dinner- picked up Turkish food, so I had lamb and rice with sweet chili sauce.  

Random fact- Navigation Bouys in New Zealand (and everyplace else but North/America and Japan) place red on the left returning.  It threw me for a major loop seeing the bouys on the wrong sides...

Woke up shortly after 8, out the door about 820.  We walked down to the ferry and loaded up.  We grabbed seats on the 2nd deck of the sterm.  We got underway and traveled through the harbor.  After we cleared the harbor we turned for Gulf Harbor where more people would be picked up.  The trip there took about an hour.  Gulf Harbor was full of sailboats, including 2 from California, one from Long Beach and one from Redando Beach.  By this point we were standing on the 3rd level.  From there it was 15 minutes by ferry to Tiritiri Matangi Island.  After listening to the ranger ramble on we set off on a trail.  Spotted a saddleback (Philesturnus carunculatus) almost instantly.  Birding in the thick cover was a challenge, but we managed to get some New Zealand endemics (and some non natives).  The forest was really amazing.  The New Zealand pigeons (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) were huge, and really kinda neat looking.  Tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) were really common and had some interesting feathers.  Had lunch shortly after noon, and then wandered around the visitors center and giftshop.  I quickly got bored waiting for people so sat outside and watched some tuis feeding  We then set off again and had some great views of the ocean.  We made it back to the boat with an hour to spare so walked along the beech and played on the rocks.  1515 we boarded the boat (this time we all sat on the bow) and set off.  By the time we docked at Gulf Harbor only the 3 of us and Reggie were left up front.  I took a nap, then woke up in time to take a bunch of pictures coming into Auckland.  We got some gellato, then back to the apartment.  The parents and I had a beer on the balcony looking out on our 8 degrees of harbor view.  Then Is, Andy, and I went to the conference center.  Markus and Tarla had arrived, so we all talked to them for a while, then I stood by my poster.  Talked to a couple people about it, one from Santa Catalina Island, he worked on the bald eagle reintroduction project, and apparently knew Bob back when he was on the Channel Islands.  The second guy was from Northern Arizona, but did insect systematics with Mike Whitting in Utah on Earwigs and grylloblattids.  Didn't know anyone actually worked on grylloblattids.  After my poster was done I talked to Leigh for a while then then looked at some posters.  Talked to a guy from Ethiopia for a bit, he works on grassland birds (maybe he can help me get insect permits...), and then a guy working in the UAE on Houbara.  It's such a small world.  I said I was a falconer and he aksed if I was going to the festivel.  When I told him i couldn't because of this conference he said he was having to rush back to give a presentation at it. Then I mentioned I had been there earlier this year to do insect work and he asked if I was working with Tony (which I was).  Crazy...  Afte talking to these guys I found Is and Andy, and shortly after we headed back to the hotel.  Stopped and got dinner along the way and took it home to the apartments, and we all had dinner.  After they left, we planned tomorrows leg of the journey then went to bed.  I'm going to sleep on the balcony for fun...

Pictures of the last few days to come, the connection seems to be too slow to load them...

Horse Racing

Todays random points were less than exciting...

351: watching TV with the parents
643: sleeping
824: still sleeping
1015: still sleeping...

Lunch: We walked down to the place we went to yesterday for dinner. I had turkish food- a lamb rice plate with a strawberry smoothie.  I had sweet chili sauce on the lamb, which was also a bit spicy but really good.
Dinner: We had roast beef sandwitches (mine without the bread) at the track.  On our way back from the bus we stopped for some cake at a coffee shop- I had chocolate.  Both were great.

Random fact: 1080 is used on New Zealand to control (and hopefully erridicate) invasive species.

Woke up and and met up with Is, Andy, and their moms.  We walked to the conference center and put my poster up.  The poster boards were really narrow so we had to artfully arrange them to get both mine and Leighs to fit.  Luckily I was next to Leigh, so we didn't mind moving her's around.  Then it was time to go in for the speed presentations.  Andy went 3rd, and there were some really intersting ones, including a talk preceptions of large carnivores- basicly in areas where people arent at odds over land use they tend not to be too upset about occasional depradation by large carnivores.  The presenter was pretty funny too, and cracked some nice jokes about the UK and Norway.  I spent some time trying to track down the presenter from last night who was doing the ancient DNA work, finally was able to get her email address.  Is appeared and we went to look at the conference tshirts.  After a bit of confusion he bought a shirt for himself and me and then I gave Andy the one I had bought earlier.  All headed back to the hotel, got the rest of the gang and went to lunch.  After lunch we wandered around the harbor for a while, got tickets for the ferry tomorrow, then the parentals and I went back to the hotel to catch the bus for the horse races.  The bus was complicated because we didn't know what the name of the stop was, but luckily the bus driver told us where to get off.  Then a guy on the street directed us to the track.  The track was really pretty, very open unlike tracks in the US.  We could see parts of the city skyline also.  At one point it misted for about 30 seconds and then a brilliant rainbow appeared.  It then turned into a double rainbow and was the brightest I'd ever seen.  Im sure the race track was sad Lucky Charm stratched, otherwise I'm sure tons of people would have bet on him.  We bet on longshots all the way through with no luck, I think its a worse stratigy in this time of race where there is such a big range in horse quality compared to graded stakes where all the horses are really close to the same talent level.  The one race I decided not to pick the horses in and left my parents completely to their own devices the longshot won.  Figures.  In the last race though, I misread the odds and picked a non-longshot, and he ended up winning.  So we won 5.90$, totally by accident.  We then caught the bus back to the hotel area, stopped at a coffeshop and got some cake.  My chocloate cake was amazing.  On the way back to the hotel we ran into a couple of the guys who were sitting near us in the general admission (where there were like 10 of us).  They recognized us and said hi.  Apparently they didnt win at all.  We had both bet on a horse called lemonaid who lost by a neck (came in 3rd), really close race.  So glad we went to the races, I love horse racing, and the woman we collected our winnings from said my dad must be old since he use to work as a runner at a racetrack.  Back at the hotel I went and hung aorund with Is, Andy, and Is's mom until about 2300, then went back to my room and watched some tv until about 1am...

more museums [HRE]

222-  Sitting in Is and Andy's hotel room, talking to them and Is's mom.  We "helped" Is come up with his final…
1033- Sleeping, quite soundly
1409-Just waking up.  My parents went to get some breakfast, I had them pick me up a chocolate croissant at the place we went to yesterday. 
1540-  We were trying to figure out how to get to the museum.  We knew we needed to take the bus, but which bus and how it would work out since we had to all be back at different times took some planning…

Lunch- had some cookies and cream gilato at the museum, does that count?
Dinner- Beef Teryiaki and rice, some miso soup, 2 pieces of shrimp tempura, and a large piece of potato tempura, with a strawberry smoothie.  We found a food court online, went there, found out it closed at 6 (we got there about 7) and the security guard directed us to a place down the street with like 15 food stands.  Completely amazing

Random Fact- Peter Blake, who is credited with New Zealand's win of the Americas Cup (and the first country to successfully defend their win in the next cup) was killed by pirates while raising awareness of the Amazon rainforest 10 years ago today.  He sounded like a cool guy, really involved in conservation.

I woke up for good when Is called.  We figured out we would meet in about 45 minutes and go to the museum since there was no way to do the ferry and back before his presentation.  The museum was reachable by a short bus ride.  I figured out why my phone was staying on roaming (somehow got switched to CDMA).  Checked in our backpacks then spent about an hour looking at Polynesian art and life in NZ over the last few centuries.  The intricasys of the carving they did were amazing.  Entire houses were built with each board carved with various designs.  It also appears that when the top chief died the entire town was abandoned and rebuilt.  Better hope you had a long lived dude.  I heard my mom's phone ring and discovered there was a CDMA network, I had just assumed it was only GSM and had kept my phone on airplane mode to save battery.  Quite exciting.  Is, Andy, and I left at about 1, grabbed some gilato and watched birds (house sparrows and pigeons mostly).  I realized I've now seen them on all continents but Antarctica.  We then managed to catch the sky city hotel bus, which took us to the conference center for free.  We found his room, then toured the exhibitor hall.  I went to some presentations, including Is's a really cool one on rock wallaby phyogeography, and one on felids disease interface between domestic and wild species.  I also saw a Hemiptera talk which had cool methods, but I couldn't figure out what the actual point was...  Then I met up with Is and Andy, luckily they had my program book I had set down and walked away from.  We talked to the Sirtrek guys for a while, i love how they always remember me.  Then i went to a talk on sugarcane in Brazil and finished it up with a really cool weevil talk.  She was extracting DNA from 200 year old specimens.  Really interesting, even if it was only 150 bp segments of CO1.  Met back up with Is and Andy then walked back to the hotel.  We had been discussing prelims, so I gave them the blow by blow of mine.  I went up to my room, and played online with my parents.  Then we got hungry and decided to find the food court my mom had found online.  After an amazing dinner we went back to the hotel, checking out a few shops along the way.  Finished up the evening skyping with Maria and Eddie, watched the Peter Blake documentary, drank a beer, and now I'm watching lawn bowling.  Yet another strange sport...

Boats, up close and personal

3:57- We were just about to land in Auckland
7:15-  We were settled into the hotel and trying to watch cricket, quite possibly the worlds strangest sport.
16:13-  After a chocolate croissant, we walked down the harbor, had some gillato, and headed to the maritime museum
20:28- Working our way through the maritime museum.  The museum was pretty amazing, lots of cool boat stuff, a section on boat racing, and we got to explore a steam operated floating crane.  I even got to start the engine, which was super quiet.  The engine room on the boat was much larger than I'm use to, guess that's expected on a 160ft boat.  I also got to design a racing sail boat, 2 of which sank and the other 2 had a chance at winning.  They also had a boat simulator, but the boat responded much faster than I was use to, so steering was a bit of an adventure...

Lunch- What's that?
Dinner- I had a lamb rice plate.  I was going to have a burger, but a group had apparently come through and bought all the beef.  The lamb was amazing so I'm glad that I couldn't have a burger.  We got our food to go from a place called burger kebabs, and ate down on the harbor.

Random Fact-None of the sailors on Captain Cook's ships died of scurvy because he made them eat sauerkraut and lime juice along with regular exercise above deck. 

I woke up a few minutes before 9, then we met up with Is, Andy, and the parents shortly after 9.  We went to a pastry shop and I got a chocolate croissant.  Then we went back to the hotel to figure out where the conference center was.  In the process the 3 of us decided to make the executive decision to go to the harbor, check out the ferry, and visit the maritime museum.  There was a cruise ship in port, and a few barges being unloaded in the harbor.  While the parents were figuring out the ferry Is and I decided we needed gillato, a decision shared by some of the others.  Then it was to the maritime museum.  Just my parents and I actually went to the museum.  It was really well done.  It started with the early Polynesian settlers, and highlighted various important boats and types of boats in New Zealand, including many examples of sail boats and canoes.  Many of the pre European boats were so narrow it's amazing anyone could sit in them.  I think my favorite part was exploring the steam driven floating crane.  The ship was in good shape, and I got to climb all over it.  There was also a cargo sailboat (used to haul produce than explosives) that was inside the museum I got to play inside too.  They also had some really nice nautical themed paintings, and carved figureheads.  We left there shortly before 1700 local and I picked up my registration packet.  We went back to the hotel, got some beer, then met up with the rest of the armada. Andy's parents decided to stay behind, and the rest of us went on a foraging expedition.  Everything was super expensive, so we got some meat and rice to go and ate at the harbor.  Then we headed back to the hotel, stopping at the grocery store.  Is wrote his final, then Andy went to bed, and Is, his mom, and I stayed up talking until about midnight.  Then I went back to my room and watched some basketball (New Zealand Breakers vs. Melbourne).  Game is still ongoing, in double overtime.

New stamps on the passport [HRE]

2 xii 2011 .  Note- all times are central time.  I decided this was the easiest way to deal with time changes
4:17- sleeping finally.  Was up pretty late packing and such
10:59- on the way to Houston Hobby.  We stopped at Blue Baker and I got a chocolate croissant and a mango juice.
20:44- About to leave my grandpa George's house in Anaheim.  We went there for a few hours to see him and my aunt before we left and to drop off some things we weren't going to need.  Always fun seeing them, even if just for a few hours.
23:32- Sitting at LAX under the phone booth bank charging my laptop.  LAX is among my least favorite airports.  Not only are there almost no plugs, but the gates are in isolated blocks so I couldn't even go see Is and Andy who were in a different block of gates.

Lunch- didn't really have one unless you count the honey roasted peanuts (my favorite) on Southwest.  I also got the "Plane Cookies" which were animal crackers.
Dinner- We had take out Varsity (not Academy like my mom kept telling me) Burgers with my grandpa and aunt.  Mine had cheese, pickles, tomatoes, and mustard on it.  Both it and the fries were good.

Packing was  a bit of an adventure, I thought I'd forgotten the nuts for my net, went back to the apartment, gave up on finding them, then discovered they were already packed.  Apparently my mom woke up at 6 and yelled "Oh shit I forgot the passports" only to realize she hadn't, so I guess it was shaping up to be that kind of trip.  The flight to LAX was uneventful and we made it to and from Anaheim without too much trouble, although I wish we had had more time at the house, and less time sitting at the gate at LAX.  My grandpa turned the fire on and we sat around watching the news.  I guess there were 100+ mph winds in SoCal yesterday, and the power was out in some areas, they're pretty wimpy compared to Alabamans. 

Random Fact: the Santa Ana winds that came through were the strongest they had been in over a decade.  I remember them when I was a kid, but they were never that strong in Fountain Valley.

3 xii 2011
115- we've just taken off for Brisbane.  I thought we had to go to San Francisco, but apparently not.  Going to be a long flight, but luckily I can sleep on them fine.  Looks like we'll get dinner, and the entertainment selection isn't bad.
457- I'm watching the Hangover II and about to fall asleep.  Watched me some BBT and HIMYM, and played some trivia.  I did well in geopolitcal, history, and aviation.  Not so good in science (which was really famous authors of fiction novels?) and movies...
1122- I'm completely passed out.  Occasionally I woke up when my pillow moved but i was out for the rest of the flight til breakfast.
2201- We're wandering around South Bank in Brisbane.  There's a really cool bridge that goes over the river so we stood on that for a while and watched boats.  Now we're trying to find some ice cream

Dinner 1- on the plane I had beef stew, not bad for airplane food, and an Australian beer.  I love free alcohol on international flights.
Lunch- we went to a burger place in Brisbane.  I had a burger with tomatoes on a paninii roll while my parents had lamburgers.  Order of chips with tomato sauce, feels like I'm back in Swaziland.  To drink i had Pepsi with sugar
Dinner- we got take away from Red Rooster.  I had a 6 piece nugget.  Not as good as ZFKs but not bad.  I ate just before we boarded.  This flight from Brisbane to Auckland had something I'd never seen before- you had to pay for all drinks, not just alcohol. 

Random fact- Big ships have a rudder with a rudder on it.  The normal rudder is so large it wouldn't be possible to turn on its own, so there is a second small rudder that turns the larger one.

Since I'm exploring a new area I'll also include more details.  We arrived into Brisbane at 0700 local time.  Customs wasn't bad, they looked at my new boots and decided I wasn't going to bring in pests and let me through.  We caught the train to the city center, got off, then instantly got back on so we could try and find lockers at the next station (Roma Street).  Once we got a locker hired we walked to the city center, passing the city hall and Christmas tree.  We went to the Cathedral for Mass, got there about an hour before it started so wandered around some more.  There were some really cool fig trees in one of the center medians so we checked those out.  I found the Woolworths so we could stop by once it was open and get an adapter since I seem to have lost my New Zealand one.  Mass was nice, it always amazes me how its exactly the same everywhere.  They too were struggling with the new responses... After Mass we got my adapter then found a place to eat.  Then it was back to the train station where we caught the train to South Beach.  Passed by a couple cool looking boats in dry dock then stood on the bridge over the river watching boats go by.  They had a couple river boats with paddle wheels, and a bunch of smaller ferries.  One ferry seemed to go back and forth across the river.  That would get boring after a while I would think, although the other traffic on the river would be fun to watch.  I gave my parents a lecture on figs/fig wasps then we walked along the river.  I chased a few birds, and then we sat along the river while my mom took a nap on the grass.  I decided to take pictures documenting my parents sleeping across Oceania.  Then we went on a quest to find ice cream.  The first place didn't take Visa, and I wanted to save the 10 dollar bill we had cause it was blue.  So we found another place and I got a milk shake while my parents got cheese cake.  In the process we passed by Nandos (the same as in Swaziland), and a bunch of little tents selling tshirts etc.  We got a magnet with a koala on it.  My dad jokingly said he should get a tattoo of the bridge, I thought it was a good idea, my mom not so much.  Then it was back to the airport, stopping at Roma Street to retrieve our stuff.  Cleared customs no problem, and found our terminal which was basically empty and waited for our flight to board around 1800 local.  Flight to NZ was uneventful and we landed just after midnight.  Customs wasn't bad.  The passport control guy wanted to talk about the meeting, apparenlty he got his BSc in ecology.  Lots of sniffer dogs, the one in Australia was really interested in my backpack, so the lady asked if I had animals, once i said what I had she decided the dog was just having fun smelling all critters...

today's report

0104: Watching gangland. My sister and I love watching shows about gangs, preferably while eating Hagen Daus Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. It's become something of a tradition.

0259: I was writing up my random points from last night, and wishing I was asleep.

1757: Enjoying a ham sandwich with Dale and Kathy. Dale's been helping me train Dumas since he was a pup, and now he watches Dumas when I'm out of town. I like to go harrass them as often as possible.

2358: My sister and I had just gotten home from Heep. We had to pick up a bunch of reprints I had left in my office. Luckily my swipe card still works (after 3 years).

Lunch- I had a peperonni, sausage, extra cheese, and tomatoes (after its cooked) pizza at blue baker with a coke and a chocolate chip cookie. I went with Silvy so of course that was a good time. He's talking about writing a book about his adventures. I'd totally read that.

Dinner- a multi meal affair. First I had a ham sandwich that Kathy made for me, and a Bud light. Then a few hours later my sister and I picked up some Double Daves pepperonni rolls and ate them at my parents hotel room, after which we went to Yougert Land. They didnt have plain chocolate, so I had to have some wierd chocolate thing with my cookie dough and strawberrys.

Todays highlights were finding out Shawn can take me deer hunting and going to lunch with Silvy. Spent a while talking rifles and optics, can't wait to get my gun, and shipped off the AMNH loan, bringing my total to 2200 specimens returned this week. Today's low point was getting woken up at 645- why do professors wake up so early? Took Dumas to the vet and he got a clean bill of health, the vet commented on how different he is from my old pointer, Dexter and said the case study on Dexie was published recently.

Fun Fact: My sisters civil engineering professor developed the standards met by all glass in the US. He has also designed glass for use in tiger cages...

Todays random points

0312: just gone to sleep...

1218: starting to get really hungry, wandering the halls.  Eventually located Dr. Johnston who was also wandering the halls.  Turns out we were both looking for Jim, so we went down to the classroom he was last spotted in.  Spencer told him to go to lunch with me rather than go swiming with him.

1701: Driving to Houston.  I hate Houston.  But I like having boots that are waterproof.  Especially when going to a rainy place

2356: watching Gangland with my sister, eating ice cream (chocolate chip cookie dough), and noosing my new BC.  Really wish I hadn't left my BC in Africa.

I shipped off the OSU loan, only 3 years late.  Talked to various people in entomology, in general quite plesant, more discussion of my future plans.  Had to brave houston to trade in my trusty boots for a new pair, I love REI's life time guarentee.  When the guy asked how I killed them so fast (2 years almost to the day- 27 nov 2009 to 30 nov 2011) I told him that I picked them up on the way to Swaziland (literally on my way to the airport), and am now dropping them off on my way to New Zealand, with a dozen countries in between.  The life of a field biologist.

Lunch: Enchaladas verdes and a coke with Jim Woolley, at Sol de Mexico in Bryan.  Lots of talk of genes, phylogenies, pick up trucks, Texas BBQ, and maybe planted the seed for a leafhopper systematist on falculty in a few years.  Really had a good time. 

Dinner: Korean BBQ beef on a rice plate (shaped like a heart), at a vietnamese place with my friend Daisy.  The only good thing about braving Houston is seeing my friends, in todays case Brendan and Daisy.  Daisy and I go way back- she use to cook a huge meal for a bunch of us on Thursday nights, which were filled with food, TV watching (what to watch was always a source of argument), and the occasional late night hunting trip.  Fun times were had by all.

Fun fact: The Hidden Valley Gang is not a bunch of kids who really like Ranch Dressing, but rather a pretty violent neighborhood gang in Charllote, NC.  Their gang color is green, for their elementary school. 

Snow...

Driving from Alabama to Texas shouldn't involve 7 hours of snow.  From crossing into Mississippi, through Tennesse and Mousori (had to drop off the falcons), and until about 45 minutes east of Little Rock the snow was falling, in some areas quite heavily.  Dumas got to ride in the cab for most of it..  After a brief discussion about proper behavior for the regal hunting dog he is he did ok.  All that snow added hours to the drive so I finally arrived around 0430.

Often on these long drives I think about some really random things.  This time I was thinking about ways to document my life in some sort of non boring fashion.  My grandpa (he turns 96 next week) told me to write down a few sentences each day about what I did, so that way when I'm as old as he is I can read them and remember the fun.  I guess he's been doing this for decades...  Being a wildlife biologist though I thought it would be more amusing to sample myself at random times like we would doing a natural history study.  So each day I will record what I'm doing during 4 random 15 minute time periods during the day.  Because my sleeping habits are so weird I've decided to sample across 24 hours, not restrict myself to an 18hr stretch or something like that.  As such, some days the random points could be pretty boring...  I will also summarize the day with 3 things- a 5 sentence description of the day, my lunch/dinner menu, and some random fact I learned.  Should be at least moderately interesting I hope.

1043: sleeping.  Quite soundly.

1609: talking to Ira.  Apparently I have to grow up and become a productive member of society sometime, and I should start looking at the jobs out there now to get an idea on how to do it.  My post PhD future was a hot topic all day today. Apparently passing prelims causes this.

1738: putting leafhopper specimens to be returned to The (don't forget the "The" or they get upset) Ohio State University insect collection in unit trays, counting each specimen (over 1000...) and making sure the datebase matched reality.

2102: eating dinner at Bostons with Eric.  Probably talking about diesel trucks.

Nice to be back where I belong, AKA College Station.  Being I slept until noon, not much productive got done today, although I figured out why my database count didn't match reality and fixed it.  This means the OSU loan can get shipped back to OSU, and I can cross another loan off the list.  I need to start thinking more seriously about my plan for the real world.  Post docing in a conservation genetics lab seems like a good idea, and would keep options open for applying for jobs that are more conservation/wildlife oriented or more phylogenetics oriented.

Lunch- Dixie Chicken- Freddy burger on toast, with cheese, tomatoes, and mustard (they forgot the pickles and put lettuce on instead).  Cheese  Fries.  Dr. Pepper.  This meal is heaven on earth, and they were playing a good mix of Texas Country, College Station country, and country.  With Maria, sat on the porch, near where our names our carved.

Dinner- Boston's with Eric.  Had a pepperoni pizza, a shiner, and a Pepsi.  Funny how chordate anatomy resulted in multiple long term friendships.  What an amazing class.

Random fact: American alligators have unidirectional airflow in the parabronchi.  Previously only birds were thought to have unidirectional airflow (making avian respiration completely different from other verts). 

Happy Thanksgiving [HRE}

Celebrated thanksgiving Catanach style- lots of food and football.  Since we don't like turkey we cooked up fillet mignon, twice baked potatoes, and stuffing.  The morning was spent working on my poster for the ConBio meeting next week on my Swaziland work.  Hard to believe in less than a week we'll be landing in Auckland.  I'm so glad I've talked my parents into coming.  My dad hasn't been on a real vacation since I was in 2nd grade, so he's more than due up for one.

One tradition was postponed to a few days after Thanksgiving.  My dad and I make a lemon pie every major holiday.  It's an old Catanach family recipe, so famous it's now found on the side of the Jello brand Cook and Serve Jello boxes.  My mom doesn't understand since it doesn't involve real lemons, but she humorous us.  This year for various reasons we weren't able to make it on Thursday, so we made it today.  It turned out good (as always, well except for the year I forgot to add the Jello mix...), especially with a homemade pie crust my sister made.  Its too bad she had to go back home already and didn't get to partake in pie.

I also decided to build a bigger pheasant cage.  I always forget pheasants are escape artists (Eddie compared them to rats, and it really is pretty accurate), luckily I had them in the garage.  But trying to catch a flock of birds flying around the garage isn't super fun.  After 2 hours without success building an escape proof cage I decided to leave them in the transport box another night and get some more appropriately sized wire since the big stuff didn't contain them and they kept getting their heads stuck in the small stuff.  The next day my mom and I spent another couple hours working on it, and after strapping a screen door to the top of the cage it was finally escape proof.  In the process we had to chase a couple pheasants so my mom got to experience the explosive power of these birds.  By the time we were done I was thinking we should just eat the pheasants. 

Football will not be mentioned.  Only one game turned out as I had hoped- Roll Tide [HRE].

The perfect meal

My brother and I were talking a few days back about what a perfect meal would contain if there were no logistical concerns.  Being the ultimate day to contemplate eating here is my perfect, and rather large, meal:


I would start off with some fresh out of the pot Alaskan shrimp.  Most likely caught in about 320ft of water (that's the depth of the magic hole), in an undisclosed location in southeast Alaska.  I boil mine in salt water for about 3 minutes, they come out perfect.  Eat these shrimp and you'll never eat commercially produced shrimp again. 


Next I would have a small "salad".  This would consist of cherry tomatoes (in Catalina dressing), croutons (in Thousand Island dressing), sliced and skinned cucumbers, and skinned lima beans.  None of these items will touch either cause that's just strange.


The main course is a tough one.  I think I would go corned beef and potatoes.  This is my family's go to meal for occasions such as Easter, birthdays, and treats when were well behaved.  This corned beef comes in a can (make sure you get the imported variety, made by Libby).  Cube up some potatoes, add some oil and fry.  It's a slice of heaven, and a staple during field.  Learned the hard way it's better to drive an hr and pay the extra 4 dollars to get the imported South American corned beef instead of the cheep locally manufactured variety.  It's disconcerting being able to identify parts of the heart in your dinner. 


But there are competitors.  I had an amazing steak one day in South Africa.  It was also grilled, but in a way I've never seen previously.  An empty (I assume) oil barrel was coated with some sort liquid, I think gasoline or something similar, and lit.  A flash fire occurred and the steak was instantly thrown on top of the barrel.  About 5 minutes later you had a perfectly cooked steak.  This is quite different from the BBQing I grew up around, where any sort of lighter fluid or gas was a mortal sin, and multiple BBQs were involved in the grilling process.  If this meal had to be chicken biased I would pick Zaki's Fried Chicken in Sur, Oman.  If you ever find yourself in Sur, be sure you check ZFCs (not the restaurant, I didn't go there since its too fancy for me, but the walk up window where the locals eat) I'm not a poultry person, and yet this chicken really excellent.  It probably didn't hurt we got our chicken to go and ate it on a wall overlooking the ocean.  The final option would be a hamburger.  And what Aggie would not identify the Dixie Chicken as the best burger place around?  I get mine on toast with pickles, tomatoes, and mustard.


Dessert is easy.  My mom makes a cake known as Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake.  It's chocolate awesomeness.  This cake is so good people who have never met her contact her to request them.  If I'm not home for my birthday I get them mailed to me.  Cake isn't complete without ice cream and the best ice cream out there is Bluebell's Triple Chocolate.  This is a seasonal ice cream (don't as me why) but if you are at an actual ice cream shop you can get it year round.  Back when I worked for the P-fund we would go to Ft. Davis and get ice cream at the Caboose- the only place out there to get Bluebell.  Jodie knew my order- 3 scoops of triple chocolate- and I was so predictable even if they were out up front she would keep enough in the back for me to get my order.  To this day I still known as the triple chocolate girl.


My drink of choice is not so easy. 


First we should do beers.  My favorite beer is Shiner Bock, or if you can find it Shiner Black.  However, there are 3 other beers that hold special places in my heart.  The first is Guinness.  Since I was a kid this was my family's beer.  Back when we were young there was a math formula (my dad loves formulas) that calculated how much beer we were allowed to drink on special occasions.  After Easter Vigil we drink Guinness and watch the Pope's Mass while eating corned beef and potatoes.  Castle Milk Stout is an awesome beer I get in Africa.  I have yet to find a good milk stout in the US, something that bothers me to no end.  The last option would be Quilmes Black.  A beer in Argentina.  When I was down there in 2008 the first thing we did was hit a grocery store and bought supplies.  Along with my corned beef and tuna I bought 2 six packs of beer.  We drank most of that the first night but then I decided I should ration the rest, packed it up carefully, and hid it away in my backpack.  A couple weeks later we were all gathered around a light sheet in Calilegua National Park, and I asked who wanted beer.  Chris told me he was impressed that in the middle of nowhere Argentina I could produce beer and that that was the mark of a good grad student.  Probably why he took me on for my Ph.D.  When I left Argentina I wanted a Quilmes shirt so badly, but hadn't seen any anywhere.  In desperation I went to the skateboarding shop in the mall (the only place that remotely looked like they might sell beer shirts) and in my very lacking Spanish asked if they had any ideas.  The guy didn't, but decided to make me one.  Talk about copyright infringement.  He pulled the logo off the internet, I picked the shirt I wanted it on, and 4 USD later I had a Quilmes shirt. 


Non beer drinks would be either chocolate milk (made from US or South African cows, the rest all taste funny), an orange juice from this small place we found in Muscat, Oman (and went back to on our way back through Muscat), or strawberry juice from hole in the wall place in the Bur, Dubai, UAE.  I had never had strawberry juice, but quickly decided it was amazing. 


I would then finish it all off with a shot of single barrel Jack Daniels or some good single malt scotch. 


And that would be my perfect meal, now if I could just teleport it would be possible to eat it. 

Reflections

Today was a solemn day in Aggieland- 12 years ago today 12 Aggies were killed when our Bonfire collapsed.  A&M had been building and burning a bonfire in preparation for our big rivalry game with t.u. (university of texas for the uninformed) since the early 1900's.  Aggies are very tradition minded folks and a number of traditions were built into Bonfire.  Maybe one day Bonfire will be back on campus, but with our move to the SEC and t.u.s decision to not continue our rivalry as a non-conference game I guess it wouldn't be the same anyway.

As life goes on, today was also Ring Day.  If there was a field guide to identifying alma matars the key character would be the Aggie Ring.  Incoming students are told stories at orientation about people seeing THE RING while in some obscure part of the globe and having an instant friend.  I've run into ringed individuals myself and it's always a great feeling.  Ordering (and then later receiving your Aggie Ring) is something Aggies look forward to for years.  My friends who attended other, lesser, institutions are intrigued by this.  They think of it like a high school ring- something that's personalized to celebrate your awesomeness and individuality.  Aggie Rings however are all virtually identical.  There are 4 choices- male or female, gold or white gold; antiqued or natural, diamond or not.  The design is identical- the only difference between my ring and one made in 1894 (the first year aggie rings were not designed for each corps company) is the class year and the change in school name from "A&M Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas" to "Texas A&M University".  As a side note when Bonfire fell a number of seniors left their Rings at the memorial for the victims who had not yet received their own.

My sister and I on her Ring Day

Upperclassmen who have taken enough credit hours order there rings then receive them on one of four ring days.  My ring day was a bit different then most.  Hurricane Rita was forecast to hit the Houston area on Friday, and instead of heading to Wisconsin for the Wildlife Society my roommate Annaliese and I were not allowed to leave College Station.  On the bright side it meant we got to pick up our rings on Ring Day.  Rather than a huge event with much fanfare however we just ran in and picked them up as so many people had gone home to escape the potential hurricane.  Friday classes were canceled and the football game against Texas State was moved up to Thursday night.  As we hadn't been planning on being in CS for the game neither of us had pulled tickets so pulled pretty late.  We ended up on first deck (the only level of Kyle Field with actual wood seats and when you stand on them they rock back and fort).  I realized later there weren't many Aggies who had gotten their rings and gotten to watch A&M BTHO a football team on the same day.  Rings are worn with the date facing the owner until Ring Dance (shortly before graduation).  At this point they are flipped- signifying the wearer is ready to face the world.

While we reflect on the past and those Aggies lost on this day 12 years ago, we also must enjoy the present and look forward to the future.  Having a Ring Day on the same day Bonfire fell seems like a perfect way.

Why my parents should have name me Peregrinus

When I got my passport back in 2005 I had no idea how I would come to rely on that little blue book.  I had decided to go on a study abroad trip to the island of Dominica in the summer of  2006 (check the archives if you're interested).  Before that trip I had figured the tallgrass prairies of the central US was what held my research interests and other than this one trip (which I was going on since a number of my friends were also going on) I had though I'd be spending my field work running around the southcentral US.  Boy was I wrong.  It quicky became apparent I inherited the Tokar traveling gene.  Many of my aunts and uncles on my mom's side have spent large protions of their lives wandering the globe for work and play.  As many of them are into developing agriculture in underdeveloped nations these locations were usually less resort style vacation and more wild adventure.  I grew up listening to stories of finding cobras in trucks, getting diseases most US doctors have at most read a paragraph about, and landing on dirt runways where a mistake sends one into the canyon walls or ocean.  When I told my parents I was going to Dominica the first responce was talk to Matt, he's been there a few times.  In the process of that trip I found a calling.  Even though that trip was overseen by a couple professors who had been working on the island for over a decade, field work in a developing nation is never predictable.  This unpredictablity, presence of situations that require quick thinking, and need for ingenious solutions made for an incredibly exciting time, and something I found I was pretty good at.  International field work has become my addiction. 
Falconry, being the rather rare and idiosyncratic passion that it is, has given me a way to interact with locals in a way most field biologists don't get to.  Often, before I head off someplace I get in contact with the local falconers and when it works out we meet up and go hawking or at least talk birds.  If I've learned one thing it's that falconrys the same the  world over.  As soon as company shows up the birds fly off, the dogs run amuck, and the quarry fails to fly fair.  But when it all comes together the joy is the same be it sage grouse in Idaho or frankolin in South Africa.  Even more amazing is the ability to cross the language barrier.  I don't understand a word of Arabic, but walking into the falconry store in Abu Daubi was walking into the merchants room at a NAFA meet.  Once I pulled out my phone and showed the shop keeper a picture of my peregrine I was instantly "in the club".


So now that passport I wasn't planning on using more than a time or two is literally full.  I already don't have enough blank pages to enter many countries, and once I get back from my December trip to New Zealand (and Australia) I think it will officially be full.  It's more cost effective to get a new passport instead of adding pages to my existing one it'll soon be replaced.  Since it has been my trust companion for the last 6 years the prosepect of getting a new one is a bit sad.  As Peregrinus means wandering (and is the name of a bunch of early Saints, my parents major critera for names) it would have fit quite nicely.

Lets try this again

So I've toyed with the idea of starting this thing again for a while now. The timing seemed right (and I really didn't want to work any more tonight) so here it goes. In the last 2 years I've almost filled my passport up wandering the world (including a revolution for spring break), defended my first masters (Entomology), passed my prelims for my Ph.D, bought an old ford f-250, trapped a beach bird, and navigated a boat through the Inside Passage from Seattle to Wrangell, AK just to hit a few of the high points. With the highs come some lows too. I've lost a few birds, gotten malaria, wrecked a truck in Africa (but was lucky my tech and I walked away without injury) running into a cow, and learned snow and I are not friends. I'm a little bit older, hopefully a little bit wiser, but definitely not any saner than I was when I wrote that last post back in 2009. I'll try and fill in the blanks as I go as I like to think I've done some pretty cool stuff over the last few years. Here are a few pictures...

Marabou storks (Leptoptilos crumeniferus) at the Simnuye dump (Swaziland). We use to prebait them every morning back in June and July 2009 for a research project.  In the process I learned to call down the storks in siSwati, leading local residents to belives 1) I was crazy and 2) i spoke siSwati.
Picture by Laura Sands (December 2009)

Light collecting at Malolotja, one of the National Parks in Swazliand. This national park is one of the coolest places in Swaziland.  It features high elevation grasslands, with really neat rock formations.  More pictures to come.
Picture by Laura Sands (December 2009)

 Trapping peregrines is one of those things falconers have been dreaming of since they were first listed as endangered species.  Starting in 2009 a few lucky falconers got the chance to trap a bird.  I tried (and failed, more on that later) in Oklahoma duirng the 2009 season.  In 2010 I was drawn for a Texas permit.  Here is my passage tiercel peregrine, Diablo, trapped on South Padre Island. (October 2010)

The outcome of 2 hours of war driving in Muscat, Oman. This was the only place we found wifi, and I really needed to send an e-mail. 
Photo by Thomas Catanach (March 2011).

Why human population control isn't the answer to the world's problems

Its weird how things in my 2 worlds (falconry and Ecology/Evolutionary Biology) seem to mirror each other. The last two weeks of one of my ecology classes have been dedicated to human pop dy issues, and I woke up yesterday morning to find a thread on IFF advocating human population control. Well after a pretty extensive literature review on why this really won't work I spent a large chunk of my day typing up responses rather than putting the finishing touches on my thesis. It's a week before my defense anyway, so no rush. After all this time I figured may as well write a blog post on the subject so here it goes.

Controlling population really isn't the magic bullet people see it to be. People look for a quick fix, and more importantly one that doesn't require them to change their lifestyle. In many respects human population control measures fit this bill. People making these suggestions tend to be educated, fairly well off (as in having some amount of disposable income and making a good living when compared to the majority of the world), and live in developed nations. Statistically speaking people with these criteria tend to have fewer kids compared to people with less education or living in developing nations. Because of this they see population control measures effecting other people, not them. Population growth is a southern hemisphere problem, a developing nation problem, a less educated section of society's problem, etc and "those" people need to be controlled, because they are having a large number of kids and causing the population to grow at a fast rate. Once control measures are adopted suddenly resource consumption drops, environmental pressures ease, and life is good. Or so we thought.

A lot of recent work (last 5 years) has discovered a much different reality. A paper by Liu et al. (2003) showed that household dynamics- basically how many people live in a household, affluence of the household, resource consumption etc- really this plays an even more important role than straight up population size does. Even more interesting in areas identified as biological hot spot by Conservation International (regardless of their location in developed or developing nations) the number of households is growing at a much faster rate than population.

So even though the number of people is staying the same or growing at a certain rate (average growth rate in hotspot countries was 1.8%) the number of households is increasing at a much faster rate (those same countries average of 3.1%). While this is happening the number of people living in a household is decreasing substantially so households are becoming less efficient. Even if we had zero population growth (or even a decrease in population growth which is occurring in some countries) as of today, consumption (and environmental impact) would continue to accelerate.

Think about it this way. You have 5 people in a population and they all live in the same house- that is going to use substantially less resources than 4 people living in 2 houses because that 5 person house is 1) going to use the same amount of energy to build, heat, and maintain regardless of the number of people in it, 2) the same amount of infrastructure (roads, gas lines etc) goes in regardless of how many people live in it. Conversely even though there is one fewer person in the 4 people 2 house scenario they over all will use more resources than 5 people living in a single house. Yes 5 people in 1 house will eat more food and use more water, but the overall impact will still be less than 4 people in 2 houses because of the efficiency differences. For instance, two-person households in the United States in 1993–94 used 17% less energy per person than one-person households (O’Neill, B. and Chen, B. 2002). When you have a great increase in the straight up number of households this is a huge deal because now you've got more strain on the environment for the same number of people.

Population control measures themselves can also result in higher environmental impacts. For example affluence- if you have 3 kids and make somewhere around the poverty level you are basically just scraping by, have a pretty small house, and not a lot of money to spend on things like cars or other "luxury items". But if you make the same amount of money and only have one kid you are going to have a lot more disposable income. This translates into larger houses (average house size in China for example has tripled since 1980 while household size in that time has decreased), more cars (again in China from about 2 million to over 20 million), and other status symbols (China data from Liu and Diamond 2005).

So while there may be fewer people those fewer people are having a much larger effect on the environment. This doesn't even address the fact that people living in cities have a much lower environmental impact that those that live in rural situations, which I’ll hit on briefly at the end.

What can be done

Resource consumption is what really needs to be targeted, but who wants to be told that they can live in a smaller house just fine (seriously why do 2 people need a 1,500square foot house), to walk instead of drive their car to the grocery story, etc. This is the answer that educated people in developed countries do not want to hear because it will involve changes in their behavior.

Interestingly enough being oriented towards the environment such as a feeling of environmental activism, participation in recycling programs, or donating to environmental causes seems to encourage people to live in more sensitive areas and more resources (Peterson et al. 2008). Think about it, people who like nature want to live in nature- house in the country, etc. A house in the country is much worse ecologically than living in an apartment in the city, or even a house in the city because infrastructure had to be created in order to live there. So ironically people who tend not to consider themselves “environmentally oriented” in general have a smaller environmental impact. Additionally, people living in natural areas tended to have much smaller households compared to people living in previously developed areas.

So rather than advocating for population control measures environmentalists should be pushing for household control measures- making people live in smaller houses, having more people per household, and encouraging people to live in urban areas rather than moving to rural regions.

Below are a few papers people should check out. Keilman 2003 and Liu et al. 2003 explain household dynamics. The Liu paper especially set off a wave of research. Liu and Diamond 2005 examines China’s impact on the environment and looks at trends over the last 30 years. Peterson et al. 2007 is a more theoretical paper discussing why household control measures should be preferred over population control. Peterson et al. 2008 looks at various facts about a household and how they impact location (and environmental impact).

Keilman, N. 2003. The threat of small households. Nature. 421: 489-490

Liu, J., G. C. Daily, P. R. Ehrlich, and G. W. Luck. 2003. Effects of household dynamics on resource consumption and biodiversity. Nature 421:530–533.

Liu, J. and Diamond, J. 2005. China's environment in a globalizing world. Nature. 435: 1179-1186

Peterson, M. N., M. J. Peterson, T. R. Peterson, and J. Liu. 2007. A household perspective for biodiversity conservation. Journal of Wildlife Management 71:1243–1248

Peterson, M. N., X. D. Chen, and J. Liu. 2008. Household location choices: Implications for biodiversity conservation. Conservation Biology 22:912–921

Well thats a big bigger than a tiercel

So i randomly decided to go to Idaho to meet a falconer I've been corresponding with for a few years. While there I was treated to some awesome merlin flights plus got to hang around at Merlin Systems and see some of the new things they are coming out with. I also went to the Peregrine Fund. Since I worked for them for a few years on Aplomados (and Jim's p-fund connections helped I expect) we went on a behind the scenes tour. The culmination was having a male Harpy on the fist. It was pretty dang heavy, made my tiercel feel like my kestrel. Pictures below


.

So what do systematists do for spring break?

Thanks to a post on Darren Naish’s blog Tetrapod Zoology about plastic pelicans the taxon of interest was pelicans. For people who actually care how I got the tree hear are the methods. Otherwise just skip it and go check out the tree. I only did a parsimony analysis, but if I get bored I’ll do a Bayesian analysis also. As I’m not a pelican taxonomist I’ll leave the result interpretation to someone who actually knows something about these birds.

Methodology

Sequence data

Due to my inability to get morphological data and the fact I was on spring break so didn’t want to spend the entire time tracking down original descriptions etc to code a morph matrix my analysis is only of molecular data mined off of Genbank. I narrowed the sequence data to genes that had sequences for at least 3 taxa included in the analysis (5 pelicans and 1 outgroup a shoebill, Balaeniceps rex). Genes included in my analysis were cytochrome oxidase subunit 1, ATP synthase subunit 8 and 6, 12s, Fibrinogen beta chain gene, cytochrome b, and ornithine decarboxylase gene. A total of 3893 bases were included in the analysis of which 3409 were constant. Of the remaining characters 313 were parsimony uninformative leaving 171 characters as parsimony informative. Because sequences were not from the same specimen they were combined at random in order to have one sample of each taxa with the most possible sequences for analysis.

Taxon sampling

Data were only available for 5 of the 8 species of Pelecanus. Included taxa were the brown pelican (P. occidentalis), American white pelican (P. erythrorhnchous), great white pelican (P. onocrotalus), Dalmatian pelican (P. crispus), and the Australian pelican (P. conspicillatus). Only a single gene (which was not available for any other species) was available for the spot-billed pelican (P. phillippensis). The remaining two species, the Perunvian pelican (P. thagus) and the pink-backed pelican (P. rufescens) lacked any sequence data.

Data analysis

Data were extracted from genbank, aligned in clustal w (using bioedit) then manually checked by eye. Data were then analyzed using parsimony in PAUP*. A heuristic search was done using 1000 random adition sequences. Next duplicates of taxa were removed and an exhaustive search performed (tree shown below)

Results

A single most parsimonious tree was recovered with a length of 547. CI and RI were 0.956 and 0.870 respectively. The ingroup was monophyletic with a bootstrap value of 95. The Australian pelican was the most basal of the ingroup sampled. I haven't done bremer supports or looked at the Ti/Tv ratios etc if people are curious though it could be arranged.

What were they thinking?

The alleged Brazilian wandering spider in Tulsa is a great example as to why we need collections (and taxonomists to work in them). A brief summary of the story: spider found in banana section of whole foods in Tulsa, OK. Manager is concerned its dangerous and commits mistake number 1- taking it to University of Tulsa. Now I'm sure U. of Tulsa is well known for something, but trust met arachnid identification is not it. Once there the spider is shown to the animal facilities manager- mistake number 2. I'm not exactly sure what animal facilities managers do but I expect their knowledge of exotic spider taxonomy is rather limited. Rather than sending the manager off to an actual expert he gave an ID. I'm not sure what his id was based on but whatever the case he made an identification as a Brazilian wandering spider. To be fair if you don't know what something is (and you've made the decision somehow to still answer the question) I guess its safer for all involved to go with it being the more dangerous option rather than saying its not dangerous and finding out the hard way it was (like the assumption an unidentified snake is venomous until it is identified as otherwise). After the determination was made mistake number 3 occurred. According to the new articles after identification the specimen was destroyed at urging of an administrator at the school making it impossible to figure out what species the spider actually was. Based on photos and videos of the spider in question various scientists are questioning the identification.

Although the first two mistakes caused the problem in the first place (taking the specimen to a diagnostic lab at major university or the USDA would have allowed identification by either a trained personal or if that was not possible sent to a specialist for determination) they are not the biggest problem. That distinction goes to mistake number 3. The first two mistakes could have been easily fixed if the specimen was available for study. Destroying the specimen compounded the previous errors by preventing a formal identification by experts. Instead they are stuck watching videos trying to look for distinguishing characters, a process which would take seconds with the specimen in hand.

Incidents like these highlight the need for taxonomists and collections. One of the cardinal rules of taxonomy is always keep the specimens. If the spider had been shown to a taxonomist of any flavor be it spiders or sea-slugs the importance of keeping the specimen in good condition would have been known. Related to the retention of specimens is the need for well maintained collections. If the manager of Whole Foods had taken the spider to Oklahoma State it could have been compared to known specimens held in the collection, making identification (even by someone with limited spider knowledge) more possible.

another month have passed

Well another month has passed and my life can pretty much be summarized with a few brief statements.
1. I defend my first thesis next month, i sank about have the members of the genus, and described a new species. Additionally I'm working on the description of 2 species in a related genus. No names posted so as not to cause confusion.
2. I got a 3 year fellowship to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to get my PhD in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation. Start up there in August doing leafhopper systematics, hopefully some biogeography, and of course still playing in avian ecology
3. My peregrine is molting like its going out of style, if this continues he should be ready to go in September. I flew him in the Texas Sky Trials and learned an important lesson about greedy pitches. My kestrel is still weak from WNV but she is finally flying pretty strongly
4. I go back to africa in May. Will get my plane tickets next week, but it looks like I'll be there for 2.5 months, plenty of time to get the black spar hunting.
5. My pointer is going to be awesome, hes 9 months and already holding point like a pro.

Thats all for now, maybe I'll really start updating this thing now that its spring break and i have time to find cool stories to talk about...

Two months later...

Lets see been to Africa and back yet again, this time South Africa and Swaziland. Was collecting insects in the sugarcane fields among other things as part of some wildlife research projects being done by students at TAMU. My data looked pretty promising so the plan is go to back for a couple months this northern hemisphere summer (southern hemisphere winter). Should be a good time especially since its falconry season- if all goes to plan have a black spar in my future! Plus some hawk trapping for good times.

In other news the peregrine is doing well, hit his first duck a few days ago, been two years in the making. I have to say falcon stoops are always cool, but when its your own bird there is nothing like it in the world. Kes's season starts in 2 weeks starlings beware.