Sometimes you get to travel for your PhD and last week was one of those times for me. This last week I was in France doing fieldwork with my colleague Antonietta Knetge, her co-supervisor Bernard Gomez, and his PhD student Axel Montigny. The purpose of this trip was to collect fossil specimens from Cretaceous localities around Poitiers, from the active quarries of Persac to the beaches of Ile d’Oleron.
Fig. 1: Ile d’Oleron at low tide. Left to Right: Axel, Catarina (me, hi!), and Bernard. Photograph by A. Knetge.
This trip, like all trips, was a learning experience. And everyone loves a list so today we’re counting down the Top 5 things I learned during fieldwork last week.
5. Gear isn’t everything, but it does make a difference
You don’t need to be decked out in Arc’teryx and have the latest in ~geological hammer technology~. However – a solid pair of boots and access to proper tools will absolutely make a difference.
Fig. 2: Drip. Photograph by Antonietta Knetge.
4. Finding Good Rocks is Good Pt.1
The debate of “Good Rock vs Good Stick” has been ongoing for as long as hominids have had the capacity to debate (citation needed). It can be argued that a good stick is more versatile than a good rock, however, in the presence of a large body of water, a Good Rock reigns supreme. Quarries, especially inactive ones, are usually home to small lakes. And paleontological excavations are known to produce some quantities of big rocks, especially if you’re trying to uncover a specific level. The conditions were perfect. If you ever need to raise morale on a dig, Good Rock Thrown Into Lake is sure to do the trick.
Fig. 3: Good rock found and expertly chucked at the Persac Quarry. Photos by A. Knetge, gif editing by C. Barbosa.
3. Wear sunscreen but most importantly cover yourself
The first time I ever did fieldwork, it was an afternoon in mid-June in Lisbon on a southwest facing cliff. This is to say, it was very very hot and there was no shade whatsoever. I wore a tank top and sunscreen but got a peeling sunburn the shape of the top on my back. This is not ideal. This time, I wore longer sleeves when the weather permitted and always had my shoulders covered. Spent the whole week in the sun, only got a little pink in the forearms the first day. I know it’s obvious, but it really can’t be stressed enough.
2. Nutrition
This is another obvious one but bear with me. Watchers of Dungeon Meshi will be familiar with the importance of balanced, tasty, and warm meals to keep your body healthy and yourself happy, but it really cannot be stressed how much eating well (and enough) will affect your mood. Making sure you’re getting enough water (and also electrolytes!) and enough carbs/protein/fats will keep your eyes and mind sharp and keep you motivated throughout the day. Not enough praise can be said for a hearty, warm meal after a hard day’s work.
1. Finding Good Rocks is Good Pt.2
Doing desk work and data analysis is all well and good but nothing beats the rush of cracking open a hunk of clay and finding a perfectly preserved leaf. Venations visible, margins intact, petiole and everything. Effervescent.
Fig. 4: Eucalyptus-like angiosperm leaves from Puy-Puy (Albian-Cenomanian, ~100.5Mya).
Here it is, the ever anticipated results of this year’s photo competition.
This year was one of the most successful yet, with 56 applications, highlighting the diverse array of work, hobbies, fungi, plants and animals encountered by you all. We feel very fortunate to have seen each application. We want to thank each and every one of you for your submissions. Every year, the competition to be the new image of the blog is fierce, and this year was no exception.
With 56 applications, we somehow had to create a short list. Thankfully for us, the wonderful Siobhan McDonald, an Irish artist that has collaborated with Trinity’s School of Natural Sciences on numerous occasions, took on this job. Siobhan was tasked with selecting 8 photos, which she did in her stride. Thank you so much Siobhan for selecting such an amazing shortlist – we couldn’t have done it without you!
Next came the task of selecting which one of the 8 would be our winner. This is where you came in. Thank you to everyone who voted on this year’s competition! We had great engagement in the poll, which saw three images constantly battling for the top position. One image in particular started to take the lead, and received over 30% of the votes. Before we jump ahead and announce the new face of EcoEvo, let’s take a look at the top 8, who are all worthy of the title.
The 2023 Shortlist
Blue rayed limpets by Katrin Schertenleib
When snorkeling in Wicklow, I found some of these beautiful, mysterious marine gems: blue-rayed limpets (Patella pellucida) sitting between encrusting bryozoans on some serrated wrack. Their bright blue, iridescent stripes are marvellous to look at and reflect far under water. The stripes are caused by special mineralized (not organic) structures in the limpet shells and might be some mimicry to trick potential predators (DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7322).
Katrin is a PhD student in Zoology, working in the O’Connor lab in the Zoology Dept., who just recently submitted her thesis, and was the winner of last year’s competition. Her Twitter handle is @KatMarSci
Vervet Monkey by Niamh McCartan
This image was taken at a campsite on Lake Baringo, Kenya, in October 2018 while on a field course trip with the Zoology Department.
Niamh is a PhD student in the Luijckx Lab in the Zoology Dept., researching disease dynamics and outbreaks on host-parasite interactions in Daphniamagna.
Proboscis pollination by Elena Zioga
The plant Lilium chalcedonicum can be found in Greece, parts of Italy and Albania. This lily has an interesting way of ensuring pollination. The blooms hang downward, offering nowhere for pollinators to perch, so this lily is usually pollinated by insects with a long proboscis. These include moths, like Zygaena ephialtes which fly from bloom to bloom, and suck out the nectar with their long proboscis. In the picture, you may observe its proboscis rolled under its head.
Elena is a PhD student in the Stout Lab in the Botany Dept., who just recently submitted her thesis, and is evaluating the potential for pesticide contamination of floral resources and its impacts on plant-pollinator relationships as part of the PROTECTS project.
Puffed Robin by Whitney Parker
This robin (Crepe Bench Robin) was trained during a Biodiversity and Conservation master’s thesis project, which tested whether European Robins generalized their experience with familiar food by presenting them with an assortment of food arranged in a color gradient.
Whitney is a PhD student in the Luijckx Lab in the Zoology Dept., researching how disease burden and prevalence differs between Daphnia magna individuals that vary in both genotype and geographic origin.
The Poached Egg Fungus by Luke Quill
Pictured is Oudemansiella mucida, known as the poached egg fungus, growing from a tree.
Luke is a PhD student in the lab in the Botany Dept., identifying species of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that are present in an agro-ecosystem, which will be incorporated into a myco-phytoremediation plan for edge of field control of agricultural runoff.
Facing Upstream by Frank Spellman
Standing on Mendenhall Glacier looking up-glacier towards its source. Pollen from the surrounding coniferous forests of Tongass National Forest add a brown dusting on top of the ice, and low groans echo as the ice slowly moves down the valley.
Frank is a research masters student in the O’Connor lab in the Zoology Dept., applying ecological theory to improve the stability of yields of cultivated macroalgae, and quantifying the ecological impact.
Endophytic filamentous fungi by Diego Bianchi
Fungi isolated from leaves and roots of wild relatives of barley.
Diego is a PHD student in Hodkinson and Murphy group in the Botany Dept., researching Biostimulants and Biopesticides for Crop production.
The Winner Is…..
Eyes up to the sky submitted by Jenny Bortoluzzi
Dr. Aoibheann Gaughran pictured while bird netting in Áras an Uachtaráin as part of the biodiversity survey carried out by the TCD team of ecologists. This image being the winner of the photo competition this year is even more meaningful, as Aoibheann’s bright presence is continually missed in the department. Aoibheann is pictured here doing what she loved, which is how she will always be remembered.
Jenny is a PhD student, who just submitted her thesis, in the Jackson and Payne lab group in the Zoology Dept., focusing on the ecology and conservation of elasmobranchs, studying variation in trophic niches, blue shark feeding ecology, and socio-economic links between angling and conservation in Ireland.
Once again, thank you to everyone who submitted a picture – the competition was very strong! A special thanks again to Siobhan for creating the shortlist and to everyone who voted.
The TCD Botany-Zoology Postgraduate Symposium made its annual return this month on the 7th and 8th of March for its 13th edition. This is a time when postgraduates and research assistants from the departments in the School of Natural Sciences could showcase their work and gain valuable experience presenting to peers. There was a diverse range of talks spanning from climate change, to fossilised plants, and a post-doctorate discussion panel. We also had the pleasure of hearing from the two keynote speakers Anja Murray who has had an extensive career in policy and media and talked about her expansive career and her new book. Secondly, Dr. Cordula Scherer works with the Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanites and is currently in charge of the IRC funded project Food Smart Dublin. She discussed branching the gap between science and humanities.
The keynote speakers and 2024 organising committee: (from left to right) Antonieta B. Knetge, Clinton Haarlem, Anja Murray (keynote), Cordula Scherer (keynote), Kathleen Conroy, and Simon Benson.
Day One
The first day kicked off at lunchtime on the 7th with a fascinating talking from Anja Murray. She started by discussing how her early career was mainly in policy making, aiming to make a difference with her ecologist perspective and knowledge. She then discussed her move into media hosting RTE’s “Eco Eye” for 11 years before its ending, writing “Wild Embrace: Connecting to the Wonder of Ireland’s Natural World” during lockdown, her podcast “Root and Branch” and weekly piece “Nature File” on RTE Lyric FM, and her column in the Irish Examiner. It gave us a great perspective on how to communicate what we, as scientists, know to a broader audience.
Anja Murray presenting her presentation about her career.
In the afternoon we heard from Thibault Durieux a third year PhD student who talked about analysis of plant stems to reconstruct plants from the early Carboniferous period. Next was Niamh McCartan a third year PhD who discussed how cold snaps can influence disease in the Daphnia system. Following Niamh, was Ian Clancy a second year PhD student who taught us about greenhouse gas fluxes (CO2 and CH4) from grassland on peat soil. Next was Antonietta B. Knetge, a 2nd year PhD student who showed us plant fossilisation and diversity at South Tancrediakløft, Greenland, across the end-Triassic biotc crisis. The final talk of the day was from Catarina Barbosa, a 2nd year PhD student who told us about dominant and rare genera (groups of plant) in the same area as Antonietta’s study.
Day Two (Morning)
Day two started off with a talk by Kathleen Conroy a third year PhD student, who showed us how Bayesian Belief Network models can help land managers make decisions based on ecosystem services. Next, Simon Benson, a third year PhD student, talked about his work on identifying kelp functional traits in North Atlantic kelp species and their use in industry. After Simon, Aoife Molloy a Research Assistant showed us how to identify and assess best practice nature-based solutions for climate action in Ireland. Following Aoife, Josua Seitz a 2nd year PhD student talked about his work on modelling grassland turnover in the land surface model QUINCY.
After a quick coffee break we jumped right back in with Charlotte Morgan, a second year PhD student who taught us about the threat of emerging herbicide resistance in Irish weeds. Next, Emma King a Research Assistant told us about using Natural Capital Accounting to identify how to manage wind farms to increase biodiversity. After Emma’s talk, we heard from Kate Harrington, a third year PhD student, who told us about factors driving the diversity and composition of floral and insect communities of young, native woodlands in Ireland. Next up was Vivienne Gao, a Research Assistant who showed us how polyphenolic content in seaweed, an important property for the food and pharmaceutical industry, varies with cultivation method and between species.
To finish off the session we heard from the post-doctorate Charlotte Carrier-Belleau who gave us an inspiration session about her journey so far. She began with how she began studying communication before realising science, and more specifically multiple stressors in the environment was her calling. This was followed by a Q&A with a panel of post-doctorates who gave great advice and honest answers to any curious people considering a post-doc.
The post-doctorate panel answering questions. (From left to right) William Matthaeus, Edward Straw, Saté Ahmad, and Charlotte Carrier-Belleau
Day Two (Afternoon)
After a delicious lunch the final session kicked off, we heard from MacDara Allison a 1st year PhD student who works on modelling plankton transport in Irish coastal areas using ocean current models. Next, Lauren Sliney, a Research Master’s student who showed us how studying tendon development in mice can help us uncover possibilities of tendon repair and regeneration in humans suffering from tendon and ligament damage. After Lauren, Whitney Parker, a third year student who discussed the varying host specificity and resistance between 200 Daphnia genotypes. The final postgraduate short talk was given by Moran Mirzaei, a first year PhD student who told us about using eddy covariance data to assess the impact of management practices on CO2 dynamics in Irish grasslands.
To end the day the second keynote speaker Dr. Cordula Sherer discussed how she had to learn a new perspective of working when she joined the humanities looking at marine ecology in history. One such project she recently worked on was adapting historical seafood recipes to the modern palette to encourage more seafood consumption and published “One Year of Irish Seafood: Traditional, Historical, Sustainable” while the recipes themselves are available on the Food Smart Dublin webpage.
Dr Cordula Scherer presenting her work on encouraging the consumption of seafood
The Winners
Finally, the winners for the talks were announced:
MacDara Allison won best 5-minute talk, Charlotte Morgan won best 10-minute talk, Emma King won best overall talk and Simon Benson won audience choice. Congratulations to them!
The winners (from left to right): MacDara Allison, Emma King, Charlotte Morgan, and Simon Benson.
Until Next Year!
We want to say a huge thank you to the committee members for putting on such a friendly and supportive event! And congratulations to all the speakers, with a special mention to the winners again!
Finally, a quick reminder that if you have any EcoEvo news, research updates, or think pieces you’d like to write about, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you and share your piece on the blog!
We are living in a biodiversity crisis, with many species shrinking in numbers and at risk of going extinct. To put a stop to, or at least slow down this seemingly inevitable fall into the abyss for many of the world’s species, one action that is considered effective is establishing protected areas.
“A protected area is a clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.” IUCN Definition, 2008
When we imagine a protected area, we typically picture a pristine natural environment with gorgeous landscapes, thriving diversity of wildlife, and no human beings. The reality, however, is strikingly different, especially in Europe where very few locations have never been used by humans. In fact, most protected areas are under pressure from human activities.
The pressure comes in different forms: from farming to roads, from urbanization to hunting, from mining to logging etc.. We may expect that some of those threats are more harmful than others. We may also expect that some of those threats are more “central” than others. In other words, that some threats may be sources of other types of pressures. A classic example is roads, which favour the spread of invasive species and increase hunting. New roads make it easier for hunters to access more land to hunt on. If we want to reduce hunting, we could well reduce access to areas that host endangered species.
In the European Union (EU), protected areas are managed through an integrated network called Nature 2000, which includes over 27,000 land and marine protected areas and covers over 1.1 million square kilometres, an area almost four times the size of Italy. The EU collects an impressive amount of information about its protected areas. For example, data on protected species, habitats, what management actions are carried out, and importantly human activities. Remarkably, all this data is made openly available (it can be downloaded here)!
We used this data and we tried to identify relationships between human threats, hoping to provide guidance for a better management of these sites.
Map of the terrestrial Natura 2000 sites used in the study, shown in dark green colour.
By analysing the data from the EU, we found that many of the human threats recorded within the Natura 2000 network are related with each other. For example, as introduced earlier, we observed that the presence of ’roads, paths and railroads’ is strongly related with ’hunting and collection of wild animals’. We also observed that ’Urbanised areas, human habitation’ is related threats such as ’Fire and fire suppression’, ’Introduced genetic material, GMO’, and ’Taking/removal of terrestrial plants’, among others. In these examples, roads and urban areas are likely acting as sources of the other types of threats. Generally, we found that threats related to agriculture and urbanization are more frequently related with other threats. In practical terms, it means that if we are going to eliminate, or at least reduce the presence, of those types of human activities we will be more likely to also reduce other threats that are associated to them. We can kill two birds with one stone, but now the birds are nasty human activities that harm ecosystems and biodiversity. Minimizing threats that are strongly related with others should be prioritized.
The full article “Examining the co-occurrences of human threats within terrestrial protected areas“, published in Ambio, can be accessed here.
In December 2023 the discipline of Zoology in the School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin were awarded a green certificate from My Green Lab after achieving a phenomenal score of 97%! This was a major effort thanks to a dedicated committee led by Emma King.
My Green Lab Committee (from left to right): Ebru Talak Bastürkmen, Aoife Molloy, Prof Paula Murphy, Emma King, Niamh McCartan, Grace McNicholas, Simon Benson, Aedín McAdams, Clinton Haarlem, Alison Boyce, and Grace Aspell.
What is My Green Lab?
My Green Lab Certification is awarded by My Green Lab to encourage sustainability in a lab-based environment. It has been recognised by the United Nations Race to Zero campaign as a key measure of progress towards a zero-carbon future. Even Science Foundation Ireland is encouraging participation recently provided support for applications. This can be undertaken by a single lab group or can even be carried out as a co-ordinated effort across a whole Discipline or School, as we did! Finally, once awarded, the certification lasts for two years and then needs to be reapplied for. Sustainability is a continuing process and there are always ways to improve!
On top of certification, there are many of programmes run by My Green Lab to encourage sustainability. These programmes provide guidance and inspiration to improve specific operations such as ultra-cold freezers and green chemistry. We have also previously partaken in the freezer challenge which was a big help in maximising our energy efficient use of freezers!
Our Journey
Way back in December 2022 a Green Lab committee was formed with at least one person representing each lab group. We first met to find out what My Green Lab certification was all about. We then completed a survey asking all sorts of questions in areas like travel, purchasing, and water. After returning the surveys we received a baseline score (of 55% which is still a bronze certificate so not bad aye). From here we could target where we could improve our sustainability and how to implement changes.
This was a team effort which involved regular meetings to keep on top of our progress and ensure we were improving steadily. We learned from each other and the co-operation and communication ensured that the learnings were spread across the whole discipline. Committee members then reported back to each of their lab groups to see what can change and be improved internally. Our score was also greatly improved by finding out a lot of information, this included finding relevant policies which were already in place departmentally. This endeavour was mainly taken on by our wonderful Senior Technical Officer Alison Boyce and Department Head Prof Paula Murphy.
Then in November 2023 the committee filled out the final survey. We completed it at the same time so if anyone had a question it could be answered immediately. This is where we scored 97%!
My Green Labs green certificate for the Discipline of Zoology
It has been an extremely rewarding journey, and one we are proud of! If any of you readers are interested in getting involved the committee would be happy to give some directions. Just email us (ecoevoblog@gmail.com) and we can send you on to the right people!
As usual, if you have any questions or ideas about a blog, please feel free to get onto us via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or email.
We’ve all been there, trying to get some out of reach object only to dejectedly ask for the assistance of another. Turns out, this behavior has been with us for most of our lives. It is known that children as young as 12 months will start to point at certain objects that they desire but are, for obvious reasons, unable to obtain (Figure 2). This behaviour is known as imperative pointing and, as it turns out, you don’t even need to point to be able to do it. In fact, gaze alteration, the process of looking between the desired object and a specific individual, is seen as an analog of this in our four-legged friends, the canines. This behavior has been widely examined in domesticated dogs, who humans have a long history of cohabitation with. Indeed, many of us can probably offer anecdotal evidence of this in our own dogs, be it looking at treats on a shelf, or their favourite toys on kitchen tabletops. However, surprisingly, it has never been studied in wolves, the wild relatives of our beloved pooches. In 2016, Heberlein et al. set to change this, and their findings have some important implications, not least concerning our understanding of the very domestication of dogs itself.
Figure 2: A cartoon of imperative pointing in infants
The experimental premise was relatively simple. A group of grey wolves (subspecies: timber wolf) and a group of dogs (breed not given), were both obtained from animal shelters in Europe and were raised from puppyhood with daily human interaction. When the canines were around 2 years old, the experiment began with a pre-feeding and training phase. This involved an experimental room with 3 boxes (Figure 3), each too high for the canines to reach by jumping, the poor guys. In this phase, food was first shown to the animals, one animal at a time, and then clearly placed in each of the boxes. If the animal looked at the box and then at the human, the human would automatically get the food for them. The wolves and dogs were then introduced to 2 new humans, a mean competitor who would steal the food, and a helpful cooperator, who would share any food the animals identified. This whole process would serve to inform the canines that the humans could provide them with out of reach food, but that only the cooperator would actually give them any of it. Why go through all this trouble you may ask? Well, turns out there were some very clever scientists involved in the experiment. Those involved wanted to avoid the possibility that gaze alteration for food could simply be the result of a food human association, i.e., if I stare at a box and then a human, then the human must give me food. If gaze alteration reflects some true communicative intention on the part of the animals, then one would expect that they should ask for help mainly from the cooperative human, I know I definitely prefer working with cooperative humans. Once trained, the test was ready to begin.
The actual experiment involved a tasty sausage being presented to a lone wolf/dog and then being hidden in one of 3 boxes located in the room, the same room used in pre-training. Then, either the cooperative human or the competitive human, the same humans the animals had been trained with, entered the room. They would passively observe the animal for 1 minute after which they would go to the box they believed the animal was looking at. If correct then the sausage would wither be given to the animal, if the cooperator was present, or eaten by the human, if the competitor was present. The process was repeated a total of 4 times, twice with each type of human.
Figure 3: The experimental setup. Stars represent the food boxes, the circle is where the human was positioned, and D is the rooms door.
The results were incredibly interesting. In most cases, the canines, both wolves and dogs, showed the correct food location to the cooperator but not the competitor (P = 0.006) (Figure 4). Importantly, there was no difference between this behaviour between the two species (P = 0.24). As an aside, P values are statistical values that tell you if there is a significant difference between two things. All you need to know is 1) Any P value less than 0.05 means that the event is unlikely to have happened by chance and 2) That scientists are very fond of including them in their papers. In any case, what’s even more interesting is what these results can tell us about their evolutionary histories. While both directed the cooperative human to the food box, wolves spent more time looking at the food itself when compared to the dogs (P = 0.03). This may reflect a higher food motivation present in wolves. Intuitively this makes sense, as, while some of us would surely like them to be, wolves are not pets and so need to hunt for food themselves. In addition, the ability of dogs to referentially communicate with humans was thought to be a result of their domestication and close association with us ever since. The results of this experiment would, however, suggest that this ability was at least present in the common ancestor of the wolves and domestic dogs. Therefore, rather than this communication being a product of domestication, it is more likely that the skill of referential communication had evolved in canines to promote the social coordination needed for group living, i.e., living in their packs. In other words, the common ancestor of today’s canines may have also been a good boy.
Figure 4: A graph comparing the percentage of showing behaviour, i.e., gaze alteration, in wolves and dogs towards competitive and cooperative humans.
In summary, dogs, are not alone in their ability to ability to referentially communicate with us. This ability is shared with the grey wolf and the choice to work with a cooperative human over a competitive one provides evidence that there is some conscious thought in this decision-making process (both in dogs and wolves). While this raises important questions about the evolutionary histories of these animals, more intriguing questions remain. Namely, what other well-known traits of dogs are also present, but undiscovered, in wolves. Personally, I am very much excited to find out.
Figure 5: Grey wolf puppies playing next to their mother.
For more information on this topic, you can read the paper discussed here(free of charge)
Blog written by Niall Moore, a final year undergraduate student, as part of an assignment writing blogs about an animal behaviour paper!
We would like to say a big thank you and goodbye to the 2022/2023 editors Aedín McAdams and Luke Quill. Throughout the year they have provided a wide variety of posts including saying goodbye to Prof. Celia Holland and the annual 2023 Botany-Zoology Postgraduate Symposium. They were also responsible for the revival of the annual Photo Competition, which we will continue next year! We want to wish them both the best of luck and hopefully they will keep us updated with their works in future blog posts.
But now it’s time to introduce ourselves to you – hello, it’s Josua and Niamh here – the new editorial team for 2023/2024! We are super excited to be a part of this blog and we are looking forward to bringing you the latest research, ideas, opinions, and advice from Trinity’s EcoEvo contributors and to keep making this blog a centre of science and innovation.
Niamh
Hi there, I’m Niamh Mc Cartan a Dublin native, and a 3rd year PhD student in the Sick Water Flea Lab led by Dr. Pepijn Luijckx. I graduated from Zoology here in Trinity in 2019 (went to Queen’s University Belfast for a 1-year MSc in parasitology and pathogen biology) and then returned to Zoology where I have been studying disease and climate change since 2021. I am particularly interested in looking at how extreme temperature variation (heatwaves and cold snaps) affect disease using the model organism Daphnia magna and its parasite Ordospora colligata. In my free time I love reading and knitting, and the pub with friends!
Josua
Hi everyone, I am Josua (he/him). I started my PhD in the Botany Department, TCD in January 2023. I work with Prof. Silvia Caldararu on modelling carbon dynamics in grasslands within QUINCY, a land surface model. Before coming to Ireland, I did a Master’s at Umeå University, Sweden where I studied Earth Sciences with a focus on biogeochemistry. In my free time I love hiking and camping!
If you have any questions or ideas about a blog, please feel free to get onto us via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or email (ecoevoblog@gmail.com).
It’s been three years since we’ve had transition year students pass through the door of the Zoology building to take part in a week long work experience programme. A huge thank you to everyone who made this possible and to Prof. Nicola Marples for organising another successful ‘Zoology TY Week’.
The Zoology TY Week is dedicated to exposing transition year students from around Ireland to what it is like to study Zoology in Trinity College Dublin, and to show them the opportunities that come with it. This year we had almost 100 applications, that was whittled down to 24 students, who were then invited to attend the course. The winners got to experience life as an undergraduate zoology student, attending lectures, researching in the lab, conducting fieldwork, having discussions, siting and chatting with new friends over coffee and meeting the cohort who work in Zoology everyday.
And importantly, applications for next year’s TY week are open now until 1st December 2023!
This year, we asked the students to write about their experience of zoology. The following blog consists of paragraphs written by the Zoology TY class of 2023, reflecting on their last day as a zoologist.
“I really enjoyed my time here and the opportunity to be able to participate in this course, meeting others with the same interests as me and meeting the zoology department team. My view on zoology since before I started this course has definitely changed. I wasn’t expecting this course to have such a vast variety of topics to possibly specify if you were to take this course. I learnt that zoology covers nearly all living organisms, right down to bacteria and parasites, and up to big blue whales.“
by Sean Keating
“I have really enjoyed my TY zoology week, I wish it would never end. I learned so much from all the lovely people here and they are all much friendlier than I expected…although I don’t know what I expected. During the week I learned about cells, parasites, how animals work and much more. We did experiments in the science labs which I loved because it was very hands-on and we got to do more than just theory classes.
In my opinion one of the most helpful things was speaking to people who have just finished their degree or are almost finished. They spoke about where they have travelled to, the pros and cons of this course path and what they do as a career from studying zoology. This got me thinking about what career I would like to do after college too.
If you are thinking of doing the TY zoology programme next year I would definitely recommend it as it’s more beneficial than I thought it would be. If you have an interest in ecology, the natural world or animals in the wild etc.. then this is perfect and very ideal for you. I’m walking away from this course with lots of information that I didn’t have before and I’m delighted I did it.”
by Caoimhe Dunne
“My experience in the TCD Zoology TY course has been one of the best things I have done in recent years. I learned so much during the week from fascinating owl pellets to intriguing parasites. It was a truly magical experience and has given me a great view into what it is like to be a zoologist. This course is a must do for anyone who has an interest in zoology. You learn so many intriguing things, I for one never knew the amount of little critters living in the rivers – fascinating! As I reflect upon the week, there was not a moment where I was bored. Everything we did was fascinating, fun and taught by such kind and caring Zoologists. If you have an interest in zoology this is the course for you and I would highly recommend it.”
by Charlie Maher
“I loved my week in the zoology department at Trinity. I loved all the practical work and the experiments we got to do – in and outside the classroom. I never knew there was so much diversity in the types of jobs you can do in zoology, but I learnt about things like parasites to extinct birds to how sharks are monitored and tagged. It’s not just sitting in a classroom learning about different animals. We got to learn about genetics, how PhDs work, the different opportunities zoology can give you and we got to even pull parasites out of fish! When I signed up for this week, I didn’t think I’d actually enjoy zoology to the level I did and I’m now wondering if I should try to do it after school. There’s so many things you can do and places you can travel to by doing zoology. Due to this week, I’m extremely interested in sharks and marine life, and want to know more about what I could do with that after school.”
by Katie McBride
“Overall I really enjoyed this zoology work experience. Zoology is one of my favourite areas of science and I’m so glad I got a chance to experience what it would be like to study this subject in Trinity. I liked how we got to talk to some students, asking them questions to learn more about zoology and how we got experience working in a lab. On the first day we were told the story of the elephant skeleton in the Zoological Museum called “Prince Tom.” The story stuck with me because it was incredibly sad how the elephant was mistreated. We learned how he was forced to carry people on his back when his ribs were damaged, and when he started acting strangely due to the pain he was tied up and kept away from the public in case he tried to hurt someone.
What interested me most about zoology is that you get to travel around the world for fieldwork and get to see animals in person in their natural habitat, rather than just hear about them in lectures. I really like travelling and this is definitely something I would like to do, especially since most of my favourite animals are not found in the wild in Ireland.
I think this experience has made me excited to go to university as I will get to study a topic of my choice rather than studying everything like in secondary school.”
by Elia Ross
“After spending a week in the zoology department of Trinity College, I have learnt so many new things. One of which being exactly what a course and career in Zoology entails. We heard about this from many different people from the undergrads, to the PhD students to the faculty members. We also got to experience first hand what it’s like being a zoology student through lots of field work. One morning, we went to the Dodder river and learnt how to take samples of insects within the river. Afterwards, we brought the samples back to the lab and looked at them under a microscope, to determine what species they were. We learnt that you could tell a lot about the cleanliness of a river by looking at what insects inhabit it. Zoology is a very broad subject and during the week we learnt about everything from mammals, to parasites, to birds and to even skeletons and bones.”
by Emilie Duffy
“When I applied for this program I didn’t think my perspective of zoology would differ. I do love science, but I’ve never really had an interest in zoology, but I just thought “why not”. Ever since taking part in this program my opinion has changed immensely. There’s so much more to zoology than I thought. We took an interactive museum tour and we learnt about different animals, extinct and existing. I’d never heard about the auk bird and learning about its extinction was very interesting. We also had the privilege to hear from undergraduate and postgraduate zoology students. It was very helpful to hear about their journey and the process of studying a science subject at Trinity. My favourite modules were Pepijn’s Parasites and Teeny Tiny Organisms. I knew what parasites were but I learned about how they spread and the way they control their victims’ brains. We got to look at different kinds of parasites in real life and we dissected a worm parasite out of a small fish. It was quite disgusting but very intriguing. For Teeny Tiny Organisms we collected different small organisms from the river and when we brought them back, we examined them through microscopes and identified them. I felt like a real Trinity student! I also learnt other things I didn’t know, for example, how different coloured foods affect bird’s eating habits and how shark data is collected by marine biologists. Overall participating in this programme really changed my view on zoology and I feel more encouraged to apply to Trinity College in the future.”
by Naomi Abu
“The Zoology TY Week was an opportunity not to be missed. This week far exceeded my expectations in so many ways. We were exposed to many different areas of zoology, giving a well-rounded experience of what studying zoology would be like. We were exposed to a broad range of animals, for example, insects, mammals, birds, and parasites in a variety of experiments, both in the lab and in the field. The activity that I most enjoyed was the invertebrates of rivers. We took samples of invertebrates in the Dodder river to gauge how pure the water is in that river. We then took our samples back to the lab and identified them under a microscope. I found this very interesting as I had never seen any of the invertebrates up close before, and it’s certainly not an opportunity that would be available to me in school. I learned in this activity the importance of insects in our ecosystem and definitely have an increased appreciation for them now.”
by Arianna Petley
“One thing I really enjoyed about the Trinity TY zoology course was the bird race. I was amazed how many birds we were able to find in such a small area. That had been a common trend this week. I’ve been amazed by so many aspects of zoology. From the impressive museum and massive elephant to the equally massive laboratory and the gross parasites we saw living there. I’ve learned so much about zoology and science as a whole, and learned what life on campus can be like.”
by Derry Flanagan
“My favourite part of the first day was in the Zoological museum when we were told the story of the Great Auk. We also learned about ‘Prince Tom’ a royal elephant who had an incredible and diverse life. I had to try very hard to not say “Let’s talk about the elephant in the room”, but I managed to persevere .Day 3 was probably my favourite day. The first thing we did was learn about Mini-Mammals with John Rochford. That was my favourite part of the week. It was interesting to see how to trap the animals safely for testing and then to release them back into the wild. We also looked through owl pellets and looked for the bones of little animals. I found the skull of a mouse. We also went to St.Stephen’s Green and tested if seagulls would eat bread if it was a different colour. That was quite fun and we analysed the data later on. What I loved at this experience that was unrelated to zoology was the lunch breaks and tea breaks because I got to socialise with everyone and know my peers better. I would recommend this course to anyone even if you’re not too interested as there is a wide range of things to learn and you will enjoy most of it. All in all a great experience.”
by Euan Flanagan
“I came to the placement with one friend from my school, and within only a few minutes in the Zoology building I had made many more. The friendships that were fostered between others and myself were greatly encouraged by the games and activities that we do, not only on the first day but in the week throughout. As someone who came into TY not really knowing what I wish to do with myself, as I would probably guess most people to be – the sheer scope of Zoology as a whole made it extremely interesting, even if you’re not particularly interested in Science or Geography. For example, History is probably my favourite subject in school and I wasn’t really expecting this week to have much to do with history, but the Zoology Museum viewing with Professor Linnie and the general evolutionary studies that we carried out also brought what I believed to be my main interests to the fold. It’s an extremely hands-on experience, so if you like wading through rivers or cutting up fish I think you should consider! The miny mammals class with Professor Rochford was completely new and was a subject that greatly made me want to look into zoology as a career after school. He showed us the different traps used in field studies to allow Zoologists to study the environment and ecology of a specific area and also explained to us how his students are granted the opportunity to work all over the world in places like Canada and New Zealand, working with species that most of us have only seen in the wild on our TVs. This practical element of Zoology began a genuine interest to pursue doing something similar.”
by James Meehan
“I’ve really enjoyed experiencing what it is like to learn like an undergraduate student of zoology. My favourite part of the week was when we collected freshwater invertebrate samples from the river. We put on wellies and used nets and buckets to collect samples from the river. I liked being out in nature and experiencing everything that we had spoken about the day before. We then took these samples back to the lab and studied them under the microscope. It made me feel like a proper scientist, since we were wearing lab coats and latex gloves. The whole week was just a great experience, and I hope next year’s TYs enjoy it as much as I did.”
by Elisa Terry
“As someone who has always been fascinated by the animals and ecosystem of the natural world, this past week at the zoology week at TCD has been such an eye opening experience. We covered many different topics and carried out experiments that definitely deepened my knowledge of the workings of animals. We even got the opportunity to extract real parasites like liver fluke from fish through dissection. Identifying invertebrates under a microscope was one of my favourite activities of the week, as we got to collect them from the Dodder. It made me realise how little I knew about my local rivers and insects. Having the professors there to answer our questions, help us understand and share their experiences on the different topics has only deepened my interest and passion for zoology.”
by Éadaoin Cullen
Thank you again to everyone involved in this year’s Transition Year Zoology Experience. It was greatly appreciated by the students, as you can see from the above excerpts. If you would like to be a part of next year’s TY week applications are open until the 1st December 2023!
There’s a common perception among environmentalists that farmers are pretty fast and loose when it comes to environmental regulations. Farmers have to follow endless rules on when they can cut the hedges, where can’t they spread slurry and how to apply pesticides. If farmers are drowning in red tape, surely they can’t be following all these rules all of the time?
There’s a particularly large burden of rules when it comes to pesticides. This makes a lot of sense as pesticides are potent chemicals, specifically engineered to be toxic to some kind of life form. When mis-used, pesticides can contaminate food chains, water courses and even cause serious illness in humans. So, if farmers aren’t following the rules on pesticide applications this could have some pretty disastrous consequences for their own health, as well as for biodiversity. We set out to answer this question by surveying Irish farmers and simply asking them if they follow the rules.
The surprising answer we found is that the majority of farmers are following the rules most of the time. When we scored farmers on how well they followed the legally required steps for pesticide applications, the average score was 81 out of 100, which is pretty good! A key question that worried me as a pesticide scientist was whether farmers were spraying their pesticides at the right concentrations, which 96% of respondents said they were. Farmers also reported being very good at disposing of their leftover pesticides i.e., not pouring them down the drain, which is something that worries aquatic ecologists given watercourse pollution is a serious threat to river species.
In fact, in most of the questions we asked, the majority of farmers were following the rules. So, the perception of the average farmer being a rule-breaker and doing whatever they like with pesticides is a myth! That said though, we did see some areas where a sizable chunk of farmers weren’t following the rules properly.
Prior to applying farm pesticides, there’s a mandatory two-day training course covering the basics of how to use the kit and how to stay safe. We found that 1 in 6 farmers who use pesticides professionally admitted to not having taken this course, which both illegal and worrisome.
Beyond training, another key tool in protecting farmers from pesticides is personal protective equipment. Things like gloves, masks and overalls. This is sadly the worst area for compliance with the rules, as around half the farmers in our survey were bad at wearing protective equipment while spraying. This means they are potentially exposing themselves to dangerously high levels of pesticide. Gloves, which are the easiest piece of protective equipment to source and wear were worn by most farmers, but still 1 in 4 ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ wear gloves while mixing and applying pesticides.
Beyond these sizable minorities putting their own health at risk, we also had the odd instance where one or two respondents admitted to some behaviours which could be really bad for the environment. These included reports of dumping of leftover pesticides in ways which would contaminate rivers, or even admitting to buying banned substances like neonicotinoids.
So while the overall picture is that most farmers follow the rules most of the time, there is still some work to be done. Principally in supporting farmers in wearing their protective kit and reaching and educating those few farmers who aren’t following the rules properly.
It’s worth briefly contextualising these results internationally, as the situation in the developing world is very very different. In China, Africa and the middle east, the scale of rule breaking in an order of magnitude greater than among Irish farmers. There are very frequent reports of pesticide overapplication, dumping of pesticides into waterways and little protective equipment being worn. This shows the successes of European and Irish efforts to develop agriculture and to regulate pesticides stringently.
Now having said all that, the obvious response is ‘are you sure the farmers weren’t lying?’. And we can’t directly test this, but there’s actually a wealth of sociology literature which says that if you give people anonymity and a non-judgemental questionnaire, they’ll be surprisingly honest. Among scientists even, if you use a well-designed survey, around 2% will readily admit to making up data (rather scary!). We used an online survey because it allowed us to afford our respondents total anonymity. While our survey is likely to have encouraged honesty, the best evidence for honesty comes from the number of farmers who admitted to breaking some form of rule. If our farmers were all lying through their teeth about not overapplying pesticides or breaking other serious rules, why would they admit to breaking the rules on wearing personal protective equipment?
To conclude, despite popular belief, farmers are good at following pesticide rules. While there are a few rule breakers among them, broadly speaking farmers are using pesticides properly. The main area they struggle in is protecting themselves. Governments should support farmers more in education on why following the rules is important, and should continue to pursue high standards in how they are used.
If you want to read these results in full, see our free to read paper “Self-reported assessment of compliance with pesticide rules” at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.114692. It was as published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, in April 2023.
After another year, the wait for the 2023 Postgraduate Symposium was finally over and this one most definitely lived up to its expectations! As always, these two days provided us with fascinating insight into the PhD projects across Botany and Zoology. The range of captivating topics really drove home how we are a school of explorers; with projects working on the microscopic scale right up to climate systems, from the colonisation of land to novel taxonomic discoveries and everything in between. It was a pleasure to sit back and enjoy the amazing work being done by our PhDs.
The symposium kicked off with a bang, or rather a talk on the explosion of plant diversity in the Devonian, from our first plenary speaker, Dr. Sandy Hetherington. Visiting from the University of Edinburgh, Sandy is an evolutionary palaeobotanist. His research team, the Molecular Palaeobotany and Evolution Group, is taking an interdisciplinary approach to characterising the origin and evolution of key land plant innovations.
Our first plenary speaker, Dr. Sandy Hetherington, kicks off the 2023 Postgraduate Symposium with his talk about plant evolution and recent advancements in the palaeobotanical world.
Dr. Hetherington gave us insight into the prehistoric botanical world, providing an overview of the colonisation of land and dynamic radiation of plants. He also describes the recent work by his team that looked at primitive rooting systems in the Rhynie chert, a sedimentary deposit that preserved Devonian plants in extraordinary detail. Using successive cross-sectional slides of the rhizoids of Asteroxylon mackiei, his team were able to produce a 3D model of the subterranean axes of this plant, providing an accurate visualisation of an early rooting system.
I was thoroughly impressed with the level of detail and the presenting skills of the cohort, but four talks in particular stood out above the rest:
Charlotte Morgan grabbed the prize for the best five minute presentation. Her talk on herbicide resistance in critical grass species was succinct and well organised. It was clear that Charlotte had hit the ground running, having generated and processed a wealth of data despite having started her PhD in Teagasc a mere six months ago. Charlotte’s work focuses on determining the genetic and biochemical basis of herbicide resistance, in particular for black-grass, through a range of resistance surveys as well as greenhouse and laboratory analyses with the aim of designing robust weed management strategies to combat herbicide resistance in Irish agriculture. Definitely one to watch out for in years to come!
Charlotte Morgan’s presentation on herbicide resistance in grasslands.
Clinton Haarlem was voted by the audience for the best presentation for his engaging and interesting talk on variation in visual temporal processing. Clinton is investigating how and if people experience the world differently as a result of variation in visual perception speed. Using staff and students as his study group, the data from this research has already produced interesting and surprising results. Clinton is still accepting applicants if you would like to get involved in this study!
Clinton Haarlem’s talk on the differences in visual perception speed among people.
Aedín McAdams took home the prize for the best 10 minute talk for her excellent presentation of habitat rehabilitation for the introduction of Vertigo geyeri. Proficiently organised and delivered, Aedín showed us that she knew this project inside out. Her research documents a hydrologically sensitive relic snail species that is under threat due to human impact. The project looks at the efficacy of the mitigation measure that has been put in place by Uisce Éireann to restore the fen habitat in Lough Talt, Co. Sligo.
Aedín McAdams presenting her research on the the rehabilitation of Lough Talt for Vertigo geyeri.
Last but not least, the prize for the best overall presentation went to the first year PhD student, Ian Clancy. An outstanding and informative talk, one of the only complaints Ian received was his timing, technically going overtime by about 40 minutes as a consequence of both technical issues and an ensuing fire alarm! Ian’s research investigates the carbon and GHG dynamics of organic soils under grassland management and its impact on CO2 and CH4 emissions. This work aims to help understand the drivers of carbon losses, their relative impacts and will quantify how rewetting changes in water table and management can reduce carbon losses. Despite the obstacles facing him, Ian delivered a phenomenal presentation that deserved to take home the top prize.
Ian Clancy getting started on his presentation after an array of technical difficulties and fire alarms.
The symposium drew to a close with our final plenary speaker, Dr. Aidan O’Hanlon, a curator of the Natural History Museum of Ireland. Aidan is an entomologist that is currently performing a taxonomic investigation of Ireland’s endemic subspecies, mapping the distribution of multiple insect groups and working towards IUCN Red Lists and risk assessments for economically and medically important insects. His talk gave us a fascinating insight into the inner workings of the Natural History Museum, the rich scientific heritage of Ireland and the collection that can be found there.
Our final plenary speaker, Dr. Aidan O’Hanlon’s presenting his talk on the collections at the Natural History Museum.
This Postgraduate Symposium was undeniably a huge success, and I learned so much over the course of the two days. It also gave us the opportunity to catch up with (nearly) everyone in Botany and Zoology, which so rarely happens with how busy we all are! The future is definitely bright for this group, with such interesting projects being driven by clearly passionate and engaging researchers. The confidence that everyone showed was impressive, as we all know how nerve-wracking but rewarding it can be to give a talk on your project.
On that note, we would like to give our thanks and congratulations to all of the presenters and also to our wonderful plenary speakers that made this year’s Postgraduate Symposium truly special. I for one, cannot wait to see what the future holds for these projects. Last, but most certainly not least we would like to give a massive thank you to the organising committee who, despite a host of technical difficulties and fire alarms, did an excellent job of provided us with an amazing Symposium.
The committee that did an great job of organising this year’s Postgraduate Symposium. Pictured from left to right; Bea Jackson, (Plenary speakers Dr. Sandy Hetherington & Dr. Aidan O’Hanlon), Grace Morris, Whitney Parker, Jie Huang, Thibault Durieux & Frank Spellman.
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