Up and running

The semester is beginning with a flurry of speakers and seminars. I enjoyed listening to Dov Sax speak about patterns of plant invasions on oceanic islands. Since part of my research involves thinking about freshwater fish invasions, this was an interesting perspective - the patterns are quite different between fish and plants.

Alexandra Rose gave a seminar on latitudinal gradients in clutch size. Again, I found myself thinking about the potential role of latitudinal gradients in my research and the comparisons among taxa.

This week, Peter Groffman is giving a seminar that I believe focuses on smaller organisms and ecosystem processes. One of the reasons I came to Wyoming was the diversity here - plants, birds, worms - which helps keep me from focusing too narrowly within my own work. The seminars are also a nice way to meet some of the dozens of PiE students who aren't in my department.