Axolotl Day!

February 19 marked the first annual Brown Science Center Axolotl Day. I know what your thinking. Axolotl Day is a ridiculous concept. Well, you’re right. But, it is also pretty awesome and I was happy to be the guest speaker at the event.

Important Axolotl Facts: 1) axolotls are neotenic salamanders native to ponds just south of Mexico City, 2) they have a broad range of color phenotypes because of breeding for laboratory and pet purposes, 3) they are critically endangered or possibly extinct in the wild.

Enjoy pictures from the 2015 axolotl day.

: Axie art competition – the adapted Brown Logo with axolotl sun won the prize.

: Axolotl cake!

: Axolotl for a day.

: Half geologist-half axolotl.

: Educating young minds (~60 Brown undergrads) on amphibian biology and ecology

Winter Break Pics

Hi, I wanted to share the awesome winter sport of snow mini-golf with everyone. This is a sport introduced to me by my uncle over X-mas break. If you’ve been trying to make the best of this snow-filled New England winter, consider adding this to your list of activities. Continue reading →

Orienteering Meet – May 31 – Lincoln Woods

Keep May 31 open on your calendars! On that day I will be directing an orienteering meet on behalf of the New England Orienteering Club. If you’ve never orienteered and are interested, this will be a beautiful venue for a first time. Details below:

Location: Lincoln Woods State Park outside of Providence.

Date and Time: May 31, 10-12 am

What to bring: Sturdy shoes, $5 or $10 depending on the course you do. Also, if it’s a nice day, bring a swim suit for the beach.

More details at: http://www.newenglandorienteering.org/events-schedule/eventdetail/473/-/lincoln-woods

Providence Canoe Adventure

Perfect

The Providence Canoe club is dedicated to the premise that if your canoe is more fragile than your adventurous spirit, then you need a different canoe. Canoes should not be treated like a glass figurine. They should be happily used to take us across any waterbody we so choose regardless of the bushes, logs, ice, or cliffs that are in the way. Continue reading →

RI Lakes

A recent scientific report determined that there are more than 117 million lakes in the world (Verpooter et al. 2014). Over 200 of these lakes are in beautiful Rhode Island. Rhode Islanders love their lakes, and to ensure that each lake has water safe to drink and nice to swim in, the water quality of each lake in RI is regularly monitored by an army of volunteers. The effort is coordinated by the URI Watershed Watch Program, and one lake, Cunliffe Pond, is monitored by a team Brown University students led by fellow graduate student Marc Mayes and myself. For a full overview of the Watershed Watch program, visit this site. Scroll down to see pictures from Cunliffe Pond.

: Putting together the foldable boat. This boat has seen a lot of field work over the years and is awesome because it fits under the seats of the department van.

: Meyrolin and Joe launch the boat on a beautiful morning.

: Our launching point is the ‘Temple to Music’.

: We take water samples for temperature, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll from 1 meter depth using this sampling device.

: Meyrolin capping the D.O. bottle to get a Bubble-Free sample.

: Joe, a remote sensing technician, uses tubing to collect a phytoplankton sample to test for the presence of nuisence blue-green algae.

: Here I take another phytoplankton sample from closer to shore. The samples are sent each week to URI watershed extension for analysis.

: Meyrolin, an undergrad at Brown, filters water for chlorophyll and phytoplankton measurements.

: Joe using a field-D.O. kit. Dissolved oxygen is a critical indicator of pond health, because fish and other fauna are sensitive to low-oxygen events.