These tiny creatures are everywhere we turn, yet rarely do we pause to acknowledge their key role in our lives. DeShea Dillard explores flies.
An REU Summer at the MSP LTER
This SSALTER blog is modified from the REU students’ weekly blog posts. Check out the fieldwork snippets they have done this summer!
Anxious, Elitist, and Eccentric: Species of the Chihuahuan Desert
today, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to some of the remarkable flora and fauna who call the Chihuahuan desert home—I hope you’ll meet their smug, elitist, shy, anxious selves in person one day.
A Meditation on Mosquitos
As I find myself in the dog days of an Alaskan summer – powerless to change my bug-infested situation – there is no choice but acceptance.
Modeling Provides Clues for Salt Marsh Health
“We know that salt marsh plants face stressors like sea level rise, drought, and excess nutrient runoff. What is more difficult to predict is the localized response to these stressors,” writes Kyle Runion of his
A Lotta Gelata in the California Current Ecosystem!
There are a multitude of reasons why gelatinous zooplankton pose an enticing scientific challenge. Dante Capone explores why the CCE LTER studies these creatures in a new SSALTER blog post.
The Lessons Wildfire Can Teach: Destruction and Resiliency after Disaster
Cole Doolittle studies how fires alter plant communities in the Pacific Northwest, and he talks about the impact of fires in this SSALTER blog.
The tall and short of it
Research from Dr. Robyn Zerebecki and collaborators demonstrates that intraspecific variation can have ecosystem-level consequences.
We are all interconnected
When the sun bakes me in the heat, when I find a tick crawling on my skin, when water has soaked the socks through my boots, when the tree branches whip my face, when equipment breaks, when I am staying up late labeling plastic bags, when I am waking up pre-dawn to take measurements, when I am feeling completely overwhelmed – I remind myself of my favorite things.
Winter is Not Coming
A warming climate, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the harsh conditions make research at the McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER site remarkably interesting!
Hung out to dry: conducting ecological research in grassland streams during a historic drought
Molly Fisher and James Guinnip pen this entry for the SSALTER Blog, describing stream research in the Konza prairie Ecosystem.
Understanding Coral Bleaching: Research and Lessons from Mo’orea
by Jannine Chamorro, Moorea Coral Reef LTER Last September I had the opportunity to participate in a project studying coral bleaching in Mo’orea, French Polynesia. This was the first time I had ever worked in a remote field location. While initially the thought of flying to a place I could not see on a map… Read more »