We had a great visitor at the Biology department yesterday, Dr. Rosi-Marshall of the Carey Institute of Ecosystem Studies. The title of her presentation was, "Pharmaceuticals and personal care products as agents of ecological change." Research she conducts with others at the institute, as well as graduate students, is about understanding the changes that occur when these drugs/chemicals are put into freshwater streams, and how that influenced ecosystem function.
She was able to meet with quite a few people from the department so we
could talk about related topics before her seminar lecture. It was very nice to talk to someone who has such enthusiasm for science and interest in trying different methods to conduct research. For example, one of her collaborators is trying to figure out how to get small scale movements of hippos in Africa. They ask questions like, "Could we make a device that will land on these huge animals and stick to them?". We told her about how we use a fluorescent powder & mineral oil mixture on undersides of turtles to track them in our area. We also discussed the importance of science communication to the public and how interesting things will be for the future of science in social media. Also, how interesting it is to gather data from apps and how we could use apps for science? Like in the case of Lauren's research, could we get people to use an app to take pictures of roadkill or animals they see crossing the road? (hopefully not while driving).
You can find more about the research and her at this link: Dr. Emma Rosi-Marshall Profile
Check out our pic with her on Instagram
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