Santas got a brand new probe.



Mike D, Dave and Scott trying out the Chlorophyll a attachment

Christmas came early for Scott this week with the arrival of an extremely fancy new dissolved oxygen probe.

How to organise the thoughts of an academic.

The product of Pete's first project planning meeting
back in October 2012

Part of the reason why scientific research is an ongoing process is that our understanding of the natural environment is constantly changing as old theories are proved incorrect, known as the 'halflife of facts' (the time it takes for someone to prove our existing theories wrong).  This often means that we are revisiting old questions and applying new techniques, applying existing techniques to new situations or simply looking at the environment from a completely new angle.




The long grind

 

 

 

Back during my undergraduate days my good friend Ed worked at a well known coffee chain (no endorsements on this site).  He would often come home at the end of a day with an air of disappointment after his boss had been complaining that he wasn't making the required quota of 40 SPH (Sandwiches Per Hour), only averaging around 34. One day he came bounding in

The sediment core and the noisy geese



Sediment core collection from large naturally vegetated pond near Ellington, Northumberland.

Having spent much time up at Druridge Bay over the past few years I have come to view the region with peaceful tranquility, looking forward to escaping the busy streets of Newcastle for a days sampling. As you visit a place on a regular basis it is the little seasonal changes you notice, most prominently for me the sounds. Spring is filled with the bleating of lambs, late summer with the ceaseless engines of combined harvesters, but more often than not an eerie silence fills the air.

 

An ecologist, an environmental geochemists, an environmental biogeochemist, a molecular geochemist, a palynologist, a GIS specialist, an environmental systems scientist, a reclamation specialist and two PhD students walk into a bar....

From left: Ulrich Salzmann, Mike Deary, Dave Cooke, Scott Taylor, Mike Jeffries, Paul Mann, Pete Gilbert, Mike Poremba. Abscent from photo: Geoff Abbott, Bruce Carlisle, Peter Glaves

Little over three years ago I was faced with the challenge of choosing a topic for my MSc dissertation, a truly difficult task to produce something original, interesting, meaningful and of environmental significance. Mike J. has been studying the bio-disparity of a region of ponds and wetlands along Druridge Bay, Northumberland, since the early 1990s (http://pondstimeandplace.blogspot.co.uk/) yet it appeared their true significance was being overlooked.