Good news: another manuscript was accepted last week! This one was a joint effort with Os and two other students in the lab. We’ll be writing a full post here and on the Schmitz lab blog, but I’ve a feeling it’s not going to happen until after the holidays – the paper is over 50 pages long and 100% theory. Lots of meat and potatoes!
I was in charge of figure design and I’m excited with how they came out; I thought I’d give you a teaser. One of my mother’s favorite artists is Charley Harper and I tried to give a nod to his aesthetic. I’ve taken out the words, but this is the final diagram of the paper showing the flow of nutrients through four “trophic modules” in an ecosystem. Can you fill in the blanks? There were two carnivores, plants, the detrital pool, soil nutrients, a herbivore, a microbivore, and soil microbes.
Colin Donihue 
Colin, this is delightful, and I love the tip of the hat to Charley Harper. He managed to be modern and yet maintain the basic integrity and character of bird species. Hopefully you’ve done the same in this paper. Thanks for the effort.