The Art of Birds

 Art, Nature, Photography  No Responses »
Apr 262011
 

Today is the birthday of one of the most influential natural science artists; John James Audubon (1785-1851). Known for his illustrations of North American birds in natural settings as well as natural history notes for each, Audubon influenced many generations of naturalists, including Charles Darwin. My grandparents hung two large reproductions of plates from his Birds of America series in our family cottage, and they are some of my earliest memories regarding art.

As an homage to John James Audubon, I thought I’d share a photo of the American Kestrel.

American Kestrel in tree with red brick background

American Kestrel - Falco sparverius

 

Audubon included this species in his account, and it’s one of my favourite images.

The American Sparrow Hawk - John James Audubon

 

Thanks to John James Audubon there are a lot more people interested in the natural world. If you’ve been inspired by his work, why not make a donation to the National Audubon Society as a birthday present!

Must click – Google’s tribute to Audubon

Tuesday Tunes – The 17-Year Cicada – Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

 Fun Stuff, Insects, Tuesday Tunes  No Responses »
Apr 262011
 

Ryan FleacrestThe internet and the Midwest are all a tizzy over the pending emergence of this year’s 13-year cicada brood (brood XIX if you’re interested). These periodical cicadas go more than a decade living underground feeding on the sap of tree roots, only to emerge en mass to partake in a massive jam session/rave/orgy. Different years feature different broods emerging in different areas and composed of at least 1 of the 4 different 13-year cicada species (leading to some interesting questions regarding what’s a brood and what’s a species when there is hypothetically little gene transfer between broods). On top of the 13-year cicadas, there are 3 species of 17-year cicada, of which brood I is expected to emerge next year.

These insects with prime emergences serve as the undivisible subjects of a song which some might consider a little odd.

 

 

This song was actually the inspiration for the Tuesday Tunes feature and was the first song I added to my playlist. Someday I hope to witness and photograph a magicicada emergence first hand, but for now I’ll have to count on those near the epicentres to share this emergence!

 

This song is available on iTunes – The 17-Year Cicada – Of Natural History

Tuesday Tunes – The Bug Song – Stompin’ Tom Connors

 Fun Stuff, Insects, Pop Culture, Tongue in Cheek, Tuesday Tunes  1 Response »
Apr 192011
 

Ryan FleacrestIt’s been brought to my attention that I’ve missed a Canadian musical icon: the sweet dulcet tones of  Stompin’ Tom Connors! Most may know him for his Hockey Song, but when he’s not singing about sports or condiments, he’s paying an homage to those pesky bugs.

 

 

Stompin’ Tom really is one of the great lyricists, with some truly fantastic songs. The Bug Song is right up there, and bound to buzz around your head for another day or two at least, despite the rather negative tone towards our six-legged friends!

 

This song is available on iTunes – The Bug Song – Stompin’ Tom Connors and the Moon Man N****e

The End is Near…

 Entomology, Life as a Grad Student, Taxonomy, Tongue in Cheek  10 Responses »
Apr 132011
 

My MSc Defense Poster

 

The Quest for the Master’s Degree is nearing it’s conclusion! If you’ll be in the Guelph area on Monday, I invite you to stop in and see what I’ve been up to for the past 3.5 years. I can promise plenty of taxonomic discussion (hopefully well defended by yours truly), plenty of pictures and diagrams, and the world premiere of 3 species new to science! There will be Timbits and coffee for those who require further encouragement/bribes.

The last month has been all over the place, with periods of extremely long days full of final revisions and paperwork, and an eerie academic Limbo without needing to work on my thesis for the first time in years. There’s always work to be done however, and I’ve been preparing the chapters for peer-reviewed publication. Once everything is said and done, I’ll be doing a series of posts reflecting back on my first graduate degree; the highs, the lows, and some tips for those considering doing graduate work in taxonomy. Until then, have a good weekend, and I’ll see you on the other side!

Tuesday Tunes – Butterfly – Mariah Carey

 Fun Stuff, Insects, Pop Culture, Tuesday Tunes  No Responses »
Apr 122011
 

Ryan FleacrestAlright, it’s time for another fluffy pop song in the Tuesday Tunes line up. I’ve managed to hold back the swarm of honeydew producing artists since Valentine’s Day, but there are a lot of entomological songs coming out of the pop industry, so they’re going to creep in once in awhile!

Butterfly was the second single off of Mariah Carey’s 1997 album of the same name. This album also featured the hit track Honey, which disappointingly doesn’t feature bees or anything else entomological.

 

 

I hear Mariah Carey is currently gravid; I wonder what host plant this butterfly is looking to deposit on? Fleacrest, out!

 

This song is available on iTunes – Butterfly – Butterfly

The Fly Tree of Life – Big Science, Big Results?

 Cool Science, Entomology, Publication, Review, Taxonomy  8 Responses »
Apr 112011
 

This post is going to be longer and a little more technical than normal; feel free to jump in and out, or just check out some of the photos on your way to the conclusions. Although I may come across as critical and occasionally cynical at times, I’m not picking on anyone just to be a thorn, but rather to promote scientific discussion; I fully encourage you to join the discussion in the comments section. Finally, in the spirit of full disclosure, a portion of my graduate research was funded via the NSF Tree of Life grant behind this paper (although neither myself nor my research contributed to this project in any manner that I’m aware of), and one of my academic advisors is a co-author on the paper.

Asilidae with Prey - Ecuador

Robber Fly with Prey - Asilidae - Ecuador

Despite my best efforts here at Biodiversity in Focus, research on flies very rarely makes the mainstream media (besides mosquitoes, malaria and Drosophila of course), so when one of the most important papers on fly evolution was released and started making the science blog circuit, I was excited to see people taking an interest in Dipterology! There was one problem however, which is not limited to the blogosphere and this paper, but has been an increasingly common trend in insect systematics: the blind acceptance and assumption that a new phylogeny is the definitive answer because the researchers used an ever increasing number of genes. One influential blogger, who’s also an evolutionary entomologist, summarized the results of the Diptera tree of life as such:

But they’re solid results, since they’re based on lots of molecular data and the branch positions are well supported.   — Jerry A. Coyne, Ph.D

Similarly, the research team who published the tree are encouraging the idea that their results are infallible by labeling their work the “New Periodic Table of Flies”. A bold statement, and one that many taxonomists might be hesitant to make as it implies that they don’t expect future studies to return different relationships, much as the periodic table of chemical elements is not about to change. An analogy like this requires a strong body of evidence to support it, so let’s take a look at what they did and how the Diptera family tree looks!

Continue reading »

Tuesday Tunes – Moth’s Wings – Passion Pit

 Fun Stuff, Insects, Pop Culture, Tuesday Tunes  4 Responses »
Apr 052011
 

Ryan FleacrestIt’s that time of the week again, and I’m keeping it short and sweet as I work on a couple of other posts (I promise, they’ll be out soon… seriously this time). Today’s piece has seen some love in pop culture, being featured on the TV shows such as Gossip Girl and Big Love, and on the big screen during Life As We Know It. Of course they’ve hit the real big time with a feature here on Tuesday Tunes!

 

 

Alright, they also win points for one of the most random videos featured, and that’s saying quite a bit… How come I never find tomatoes or carrots suspended from trees while I’m collecting in the summer? Wrong neck of the woods I suppose. Well, that’s it for this week, but join me next week as we continue to explore the musical landscape in search of sweet insect songs! Fleacrest, out!

 

This song is available on iTunes – Moth’s Wings – Manners (Bonus Track Version)