Life

   Life caught up with me these last two weeks so I will have to continue the Zika & Wolbachia miniseries in the next post.

Logo credit

   On Saturday I had the pleasure of participating in a BioBlitz at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, CA. This event was part of the National Parks BioBlitz series to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the National Parks System. What is a BioBlitz you ask? A BioBlitz is a 24-hour survey of the plants and animals that live in a defined area. Scientists specializing in everything from plants to mammals, birds, and insects convene and document their findings as a series of observations. While the goals of a BioBlitz are to document the biodiversity of a given area, they also serve to introduce the public to the flora and fauna of a specific place. Could a BioBlitz be conducted in your backyard? Definitely.

   During Saturday’s BioBlitz I was a member of the invertebrate team and helped survey for insects, primarily beetles. For entomologists, the BioBlitz can be a time consuming process. Unlike ornithologists that document sightings with photographs and can usually provide species identifications on the spot, entomologists need to collect and curate their specimens before identifications can be made. I collected throughout the day and sorted and pinned my specimens by 9pm. At 9:10pm I was running out of gas at a time when I needed it most, to start identifying. Do I sound like I am complaining here? I may be - just a little. The main reason is that identifying insects can be extremely time consuming. While there are some entomologists that invest huge amounts of time becoming familiar with the insects of a given region, this is often a thankless effort. And thus, people with this level of expertise are few and far between. Would I like to be one of these people? Yes. Do I have the time it takes to accomplish this? No. One of the reasons I don’t is because, unfortunately, these efforts are not often valued by employers and granting agencies. As a youngish scientist I invest my time collecting data for projects that have a chance of getting funded and being published in high profile journals. I do this to keep my scientific career afloat. I am a little torn about this method of prioritization, and have set a goal to invest at least a few hours every week (or two) with the beetles in my backyard.  

   I am not the only one that finds this upsetting, not to mention detrimental to scientific research in general. This was brought to my attention most recently by an article in Scientific American highlighting the loss of natural history courses at colleges and universities. Natural history classes such as botany (plants), entomology (insects), ornithology (birds), ichthyology (fishes), and herpetology (amphibians and reptiles), provide students with the nitty gritty of a specific group of organisms, an overview of their diversity, and how to identify them. The level of identification expertise is usually broad, but provides the foundation for continued refinement. The article highlighted the findings of a recent study published in BioScience that revealed that while over 90% of scientists agreed that natural history was important to their field, young scientists felt under prepared in this area.

   What does a frustrated entomologist do? Tell stories and find a way to communicate the relevance of a name, a species description, and a sound identification.

   I am also a newly minted aunt. Much of my time in the last two weeks has been devoted to my sister and brother-in-law during the birth of my nephew, Matteo Karolos Castañeda. I could not be more proud.