The month of August was fantastic. Mike and I reworked the isotope manuscript. I found some wonderfully cool ants at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station. And I made headway on my massive experiment for my dissertation. All in all, a good month.
September is now here and I think it may be the best of the year. Here is a list of the exciting things taking place.
- Submitted a Pheidole paper on their distribution in Oklahoma with Diane
- Submitted a paper with Mike as the lead author on sodium in prairie food webs
- Collected final data for ant behavior/isotope experiment
- Attending the Entomological Collectors Network conference
- Presenting at the Entomological Society of America/International Congress of Entomology conference in Florida
Given this rather hectic schedule I am going to call off the book choice for this month and instead focus on a really exciting and relevant special issue in Soil Biology and Biochemistry headed up by Mark Bradford. Should be a good read.
Going forward, and in addition to the monthly updates, I think I will start to set goals for myself for research and writing. I plan to graduate in 2 years and everyone tells me that I am ahead of the game but I do not feel that way, so maybe this will keep me sane. So major goals for the month of September:
- Submit Isotope manuscript (it is going to happen!)
- Acquire permit for some Pogonomyrmex projects with Diane (more on this later)
- Weigh ant samples and send them off for isotope analysis
- Work on hypotheses for body size paper
- 1st Sampling period for my 3rd dissertation chapter
Until the next update, hopefully a paper acceptance but I can settle for October Musings.
Roeder Lab 