I see it's been very close to two months since the last post. Reasons abound but would just, well, waste space. Of course the problem with not writing is having to catch up later.
In any event, summer field season began on May 17th, with graduate student Stefan Dennenmoser (hailing from the Dr. Steven M. Vamosi lab). He's sampling prickly sculpin (Cottus asper) while I'm working on predaceous diving beetles (family Dytiscidae). It occurs to me not infrequently that I'm doing what every kid dreams of: essentially, doing what you did for fun when you were 8, and actually getting paid for it, while travelling through some of the most breathtaking scenery on Earth. I'm writing now from Shawnigan Lake on the southern part of Vancouver Island, where we've stopped momentarily before heading over to the Sunshine Coast to check out a few lakes over there. This has meant lots of camping, which is fantastic, and more than enough driving, which just goes with the territory of a biogeographic study.
But while I'm off playing in ponds catching bugs and fish, the outside world continues to revolve; so today this post, courtesy of Kelsey Reider, a fellow researcher from my time last summer at the CICRA research station in Los Amigos, Peru:
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0606-oil_or_death_in_the_amazon.html
with more information on the indigenous peoples of Peru and their plight at
http://www.aidesep.org.pe/
It's so frustrating to see this happening, again and again, particularly in countries so rich in biodiversity and culture. Again it makes me think of the situation in northern Alberta with the oilsands, the rights of our own indigenous and Canadian peoples and the blatant disregard shown them by the Canadian government. Of course as always there are authorities far more well-versed than I; it feels sometimes like while the treasure trove of learning to be done while completing a university degree is fulfilling in and of itself, it's served to soak up all my spare moments such that I've become more, and not less, ignorant on world issues over the last few years. The activist part of me vies for the attention of getting good fieldwork done; erstwhile the fieldwork part is duking it out with the writer and the artist, friend, daughter and relationship all sort of get tossed up in the mix. Hardly excuse for not paying attention, though; I'll just have to work harder at it.
The details help to distract; so far Stefan's had the opportunity to see a "BC wildlife sampler pack" - three black bears, a pine marten; black-tail, white-tail and mule deer; elk (but no moose yet) and we've sat at a campfire listening to barred and boreal owls. We've caught (and released) Dolly Varden, brookies and rainbow trout, stickleback, sunfish, and of course several species of sculpin; enough crayfish that if we were selling them in petstores we could have bought a kayak, a mountain bike, or the summer's worth of ferry rides; two red-legged frogs (Rana aurora), two boreal toads (Bufo boreas) and a Pacific tree frog (Hyla regilla). We lost count of the rough-skinned newts and were delighted with a... large, gilled, but as-yet-unidentified specimen. I thought it was perhaps a Coastal Giant salamander but so far nothing matches up well enough for me to be satisfied with that. Their range is extremely restricted in Canada, to a small region inland (the "coastal" part refers to their range in California). Anyway, onward; we've got photos and will keep looking as time permits.
Going to have breakfast now; I think we'll head over to the mainland around noon (I suspect, no plans have been confirmed as yet) to head up to the Sunshine Coast. I'll try to post briefly more often - oh and so far the weather has been STUNNING, hitting the low 30s the last few days with nearly endless sunshine. And I'll try to add some photos when I next get a chance.
Take care,
Susan
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