As it turns out yesterday was just unfortunate. Today was a wholly different experience! I saw some great and very much understandable talks, got to ask a couple of questions even, and met some cool people at the poster presentations. I guess I just had to give it a while and not jump to hasty conclusions. O, and note to self: don’t attend in-depth presentations on ecological modelling, where sheet after sheet of equations is presented with little to no time to explain them… In the morning I attended a series of talks on Scientific Advocacy vs Scientific Advice. Given that societies are getting more and more polarized, and experts are not always trusted anymore, it seemed scientists had a fair question to ask themselves: how objective am I really? This turned out to be a very interesting morning. We learned it’s extremely hard to be fully objective, that advocacy is science with the intent to influence, and advice is science with the intent to inform. It’s alright to advocate, but then be honest about it, and be sure to come fully prepared unless you want to run the risk of getting embarrassed because you didn’t know the whole story. The other talks I picked out were on many different things, often related to climate change: alpine butterflies, Atlantic cod, tundra plants, coral bleaching, ocean acidification, effects of roads through peat lands, spatial and temporal distribution of bobcats and lynx in British Columbia etc. etc. At the poster presentations I met Katie Davidson, a graduate student with Chris Darimont, he's the one who suggested I attend CSEE and helped me get in contact with Misty MacDuffee and Dave Scott who I’m meeting next week. Apparently Chris was present at CSEE as well, but I missed him. Too bad – I would have loved to shake his hand and thank him for his help. Katie studied mice diets on Goose Island (a remote island in the Hakai protected area of the Great Bear Rainforest). What a dream job! Or was it – spending months away from home in a remote location covered in mice poo and pee isn’t always all that glamorous, she said. With a big smile on her face I must add! Afterwards I talked with Deborah Jenkins, who is some kind of ecologist superstar: she studies caribou and muskox in the Arctic. Until a short while ago she used to live in a remote settlement within her research area as well, and she says she really misses the wilderness. Deborah is the first scientist to systematically map population densities of these animals spread out over the Arctic. She did this by covering thousands and thousands of square miles by chopper. Right now she’s worried about the effects of climate change on the dispersal of ‘her’ animals, as they seem to use the arctic sea ice to move around. Loss of ice will, among other problems, result in more isolated populations and poorer gene pools. I was really lucky bumping into Deborah – her poster was tucked away in the farthest corner of the room. It was an absolute delight to get to know her, and I hope to contact her again some time.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Info
In May 2017, I will spend some time in Victoria & Vancouver, British Columbia, as part of a 'Teacher's Internship'. You can follow my adventures in this blog. Archives
Categories
|