Just got back from giving a seminar at the University of South Dakota.  Had a wonderful time talking to folks in the department and hearing about some of the exciting research they’re doing!  Also got to spend some time with Dan Soluk (a UTM/Erindale alum!), Kris Pitcher and other members of Dan’s lab seeing the amazing work they’re doing with the Hine’s emerald dragonfly.

Celina and Ilia had a paper accepted for publication in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.  This paper “Sex-biased dispersal is independent of sex-ratio in a semi-aquatic insect” (Baines, Ferzoco, McCauley) presents results from an experiment they conducted last summer manipulating sex ratios of the backswimmer Notonecta undulata in mesocosms. They found that males dispersed more often, regardless of sex ratio.  Nice work!

This paper can be viewed here: http://rdcu.be/uf6e

Dachin’s paper on the effects of environmental warming on early life-history in dragonflies is now up at the Canadian Journal of Zoology (Canadian Journal of Zoology, 2017, 95(6): 373-382, https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2016-0233). Great to see this work coming out!

Sunanda Tah was a runner-up for best undergraduate poster at this year’s OE3C conference!  She presented results from her 481 thesis work on the effects of conspecifics on immune defenses in dragonfly larvae. Well done Sunanda!

Congratulations Rosie!  Massey College awarded Rosemary Martin the Morris Wayman prize, “in recognition of outstanding efforts to better build understanding of her field of interest at Massey College.”   Rosie has been an outstanding science communicator and has shared her enthusiasm for the field of ecology and evolution at Massey and beyond.  Well done Rosie!

Zara Ahmed, who is currently completing a 481 project in the lab, has received funding from the Office of the Dean through the UTM Undergraduate Research Grants to pursue research in the lab this summer.  Congratulations Zara!

We had a fantastic seminar and visit from Liana Zanette on Friday!  The lab is definitely fired up and thinking about the role of fear and non-consumptive predator effects in communities.

We had a great visit from Mike Benard (https://sites.google.com/a/case.edu/benard-lab/mike-benard) who came up from Case Western Reserve University to give a departmental seminar.  It was great to see the really interesting work he’s been doing at the ESGR and in and around Cleveland and talk about winter ecology, climate change, and ponds.  Thanks for visiting Mike!

Congratulations Dachin and Jy!  Dachin Frances and Jy Yang Moon have had a paper accepted at the Canadian Journal of Zoology.  This paper Effects of environmental warming during early life-history on libellulid odonates (Francis, Moon, & McCauley) provides new insights into the effects climate change may have on odonates during this sensitive life-history period.  This is Dachin’s first paper from her thesis and also presents data from Jy’s ROP project.  Nice work!

The lab did amazing things (as always)!  Constructing a Trump Tower Gingerbread House complete with a wall between it and Canada. Then, because they are incredibly kind people, they let me smash Trump Tower, Canada was unscathed 🙂