We’re in Greece and heading out to check on the introduction island lizards starting on Monday. Last year we found 355 lizards and this year, trying to make sure I bring enough supplies, I’ve been polling friends to guess just how many we’re liable to find. Well, all the vials are packed, and I’m not … More Guess the number of lizards
This spring is flying by and now it’s time to head to Greece. I’m eager to see what tales the Introduction Islands have to tell. Even more so, I’m just excited to get back to Naxos. Every year I go back, I get more excited to reconnect with this incredibly special corner of the world. … More Next stop, Greece
Our little Greek Wall Lizards are getting the full BBC bright-lights treatment in an upcoming show and will be co-starring with long-time friend of the blog Kinsey Brock. For those of you in the states, tune in to PBS today (April 25) at 8pm EST to watch “Natural Born Rebels.” I’m going to have to … More Podarcis on PBS
I’ve posted a lot of really pretty drone pictures and video these last six months and I’m realizing that this drone is actually pretty exciting tool for science communication. A reporter the other day said that she’d watched my Redonda video as part of her background research and it really helped her get a feel for … More Drones to data
Greece came and went this year faster than it ever has before. I think it had to do with the fact that it was the third of my field expeditions this spring. Maybe it had something to do with the only three days at home between returning from the Bahamas and leaving for Athens. Much … More Back from Greece!
The Redonda posts have trailed off because I’m neck-deep in prepping for the next two trips this field season. I’ve still got a few more Redonda stories in mind to write up though so I’ll try to get them posted before I leave next week. I have to tell you about the next trips though! Next Saturday I’m headed … More More fieldwork on the horizon
Yesterday’s post was a bit of teaser for the setup of the high-speed video. Now let’s see a couple of examples! (For full effect, I’d recommend playing this on full volume in the background. Rest assured, once we have a highlight reel of lizard runs we’ll definitely be creating a montage of our own) There’s all … More And some high-speed videos
I’ve posted in the past about the lizard sprint speed studies I’ve tried over the years on erhardii. Each of those experiments have come with the caveat that without a high-speed camera (shooting around 500 frames per second and costing the down-payment for a house) we can’t detect more subtle differences between lizard populations. Well, this year … More High-speed Sprint Speed
I’m about to fall into bed after and before another big day of lizard catching tomorrow but just a quick update because I’m really excited. The island manipulation experiment is working! We’ve revisited two of the islands so far – actually the two least productive I think – and the lizards have made it. What’s … More It’s Working!
“Kanena provlema.” That’s what our taxi driver kept saying. Ultimately we made it, but getting the our kayaks, bags, and research equipment from the castle to the port on Naxos, and ultimately Paros was anything but “No problems.” First, as you can see, the kayaks fit in his taxi only in the most generous of senses. We … More Kanena provlema
