2012 Dance your PhD submission

In 2012 I participated in the AAAS and Vimeo sponsored Dance your PhD contest.  Here is my entry, along with some info about the video:

Springtime snowmelt has been happening earlier and earlier over the past few decades due to global climate change. Spring snowmelt initiates the flowering season for many plants, therefore, plants have been flowering earlier as a result of the early snowmelt. Part of my dissertation focuses on finding out what the consequences of early snowmelt (and thus early flowering) are for plant reproduction and interactions between plants and their pollinators. Early snowmelt increases risk of frost damage and drought, and could lead to mismatches in the timing of plant emergence and the emergence of their insect pollinators. What's more, conditions such as frost and drought can affect they way flowers look, changing their attractiveness to pollinators. I use shovels to simulate early snowmelt, then collect the fruits produced by several species of flowering plants to compare reproduction as the timing of snowmelt varies.


Research intro for IGERT

Here I describe my research.  This video was made for the 'people' page on Dartmouth's IGERT page. 

 

 

Very early sweat bees

In 2013 I performed an experiment where I altered flowering phenology by placing plants in a greenhouse and then moving them into the field at varying times.  When I placed my plants into the field, small sweat bees were there and ready to go, despite the fact I could find nothing flowering within the foraging area of these bees, and most of the ground was still covered in snow.  Here we see Lasioglossum and Sphecodes bees visiting Claytonia lanceolata in the control treatment of the experiment.

    

Research updates for GK12

In 2011-12 I participated in the NSF GK12 program where I spent one day a week teaching science to Sue Jukosky's 6th grade students at the Indian River School in Canaan, New Hampshire. Unfortunately the low snowpack in 2012 meant we had a very early spring, so I had to leave for Colorado much earlier than I was anticipating.  Instead of visiting the school in person, I skyped with them and periodically made videos about my research.  Here are a few of the videos I made for them.  And yes, that is my terrible guitar-playing in the background.  I am so, so sorry.  


Bed Bugs

The audio is TERRIBLE, but here is a fun little myth busters-esque video I made to test if garlic could be used to repel bed bugs.  

 

 

Bob's Birthday Badminton Bonanza 

The events that led up to Katie falling in the lake