Trinity College Dublin, Ecology and Evolution
This post by Maureen and Marcin is based on their paper in the November 2019 issue of Science of The Total Environment, “Thermal effluents from power plants boost performance of the invasive clam Corbicula fluminea in Ireland’s largest river”. (Penk & Williams, 2019) The River Shannon is Ireland’s largest river, with a storied biological and …
Island biologists often work in beautiful and interesting places. It seems only fitting that when they meet up to discuss their work, they do it somewhere like Réunion, a volcanic oceanic island in the Indian Ocean, administered as a French department and the site of the 2019 Island Biology conference. Armed with my Junior Cert …
Continue reading “A Happy Réunion at the Island Biology Conference 2019”
Space: the final frontier. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission; the first time we had ever stepped foot on the moon. As Neil Armstrong boldly declared “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”, we perhaps reached a new peak of human achievement. A peak …
Continue reading “Moon Landing Anniversary – Don’t look to the stars when the ground is burning”
I recently took part in the 3rd year Terrestrial Ecology field course in Glendalough. Though I already had some experience teaching both lab work and fieldwork, this was my first time being “staff” on a trip I had previously been on as a student. It was a wonderful experience. This field course is a venerable …
Almost as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a Zoologist. Growing up on a steady diet of Attenborough documentaries, I dreamed of exploring new lands, discovering weird and wonderful species. I wanted to be the next Darwin. The next Wallace. In a lot of ways, my PhD research has been the fulfilment …
Continue reading “PhD Retrospective: Finding new bird species in Sulawesi”
Zoology TY week is a programme of events put on for 24 transition year (4th year) students per year, drawn from schools across Ireland. Gaining a place is a competitive process, with 90 or so applications in each year so far. The winners get to experience what it’s like to be a zoology undergraduate, participating …
Continue reading “How to be a zoologist – Transition Year Week 2019”
Final-year undergraduate students summarise their undergrad thesis projects in TCD Zoology and Botany.
From my time exploring New Zealand and Australia last year, seeing Dingoes on K’Gari was definitely the most goosebump-inducing experience! K’Gari, also known by the colonial name of Fraser Island, is the largest sand island in the world. K’Gari is a word from the local Aboriginal people’s language that means “paradise”.
PhD student Jenny Bortoluzzi is inspired by an icon of Marine Biology, Eugenie Clark aka “The Shark Lady”.
Fishermen and politicians have been calling on the Irish government to initiate a seal cull. Fionn Ó Marcaigh examines the evidence.