This is a re-post of one that Max Lambert and I wrote for the blog “Life in the City: Evolution in an Urbanizing World.” — A variety of species – animals, plants, fungi, microbes – share our cities with us. Some we love, some we hate, and some we hardly notice. Some of these species … More Conserving urban biodiversity needs an evolutionary mindset
Exciting news: Our next paper on the effects of hurricanes on Anoles has just been published in PNAS! Here’s a link to the paper. This study has been on my mind since our first paper about the lizards on Turks and Caicos before and after Hurricane Irma back in 2017. You can see some terrific … More Hurricane effects on Anoles
We have a new paper out today from the Greek Island system! As readers know, we’ve been tracking the Aegean Wall lizards introduced to the Greek experimental islets back in 2014. The experimental islets are predator-free, and so the lizard populations have really taken off. With this increase in lizard numbers, we’ve been finding signs … More Rapid and repeated shifts in chemical signals in Greece
Another postdoc in the Losos lab, Kristin Winchell, just put together a list of online learning resources about lizards sprinkled all around the internet. I want to spread the word by reposting the link here. If you’re looking for classroom activities (or just some cool lizard info) definitely take a look. In particular, there are … More Online lizard learning activities!
Continuing on with the theme of posting lessons from my Conservation Biology class this January, another lesson that turned out to be really effective in Week 1 was centered on reading and presenting data. One of my learning goals for the course was for the students to be able to collect original data, analyze it … More Visualizing data
Pre-dendum: I’d originally outlined a series of posts talking about each week’s lecture from my course at Colby College on biodiversity conservation. In the last few weeks though, well, everything’s been turned on its head. My heart goes out to my friends, family members, and the many strangers on the front lines of the struggle … More Week 1: What is Biodiversity Conservation
Last week I was invited to give a seminar at the University of Kansas. I’d never been to Lawrence Kansas but it often comes up in lists of surprisingly excellent places to live. Go figure! That said though I did know all about the KU herpetology collection. It is famously one of the best natural … More A quick detour to Kansas
This January, I had the the immense good fortune to be invited to teach a “JanPlan” at Colby College, in Waterville Maine. I’d never designed and led a course before, but I knew I wanted to get some teaching experience before becoming a professor. The Colby JanPlan ended up being a perfect opportunity because my … More Conservation biology, in a month
After a long hiatus through just about all of 2019, I’ve decided it’s time to get back to this blog! There are fun, interesting, and exciting things afoot for this year and I miss the writing. I’m in St. Louis, working in the biology department at Washington University. I’ve just wrapped up the final year … More 2020
I recently heard about ESRI StoryMaps for the first time from my brother who just started a job working there. They’re a great, free online platform for using maps, pictures, and videos to tell a compelling story. I think they make for a great science communication tool. Ross and I put together a StoryMap about … More StoryMap science communication
Colin Donihue 