Hi Everyone,
The summer has really flown by in the blink of an eye. Luckily, I feel like I was able to accomplish a lot and learn something new each day I spent at Centre for Biodiversity Genomics. This summer I had a chance to experience both the Ontario BioBlitz in the Credit River watershed, as well as the Bioblitz hosted at the rare Charitable Research Reserve in Cambridge. Continue reading “A Mite-y Experience”
Hi everyone!
As some of you may know, we here at BIO spend a great deal of our field work sampling in Canada’s beautiful National Parks. In fact, from 2012 to 2014, BIO and Parks Canada partnered up to complete a massive national barcoding project that aimed to map out the country’s arthropod biodiversity: the Canadian National Parks (CNP) Malaise Program. I spent a lot of time planning, organizing, and coordinating this project and am thrilled to finally have results! Continue reading “DNA barcoding and Malaise traps capture the remarkable diversity in Canada’s National Parks”
This has been, by far, the most eventful summer I have had at BIO. My last summer here, in 2014, I was deployed on the BIObus for our trip out west and got so see some pretty amazing things, but this year has been far more jam-packed. I have been out in the field for a variety of reasons this summer. Continue reading “A Recap”
Hello again everyone,
This will be my final blog of the season, as the summer wraps up and all the students head back to school. This past week was my final week working in BIO as a student, but luckily for me I get to come back as a full time employee! My summer at BIO was absolutely amazing, between learning how to work in the lab, and the multiple field work experiences I got to have. Continue reading “The Tans Will Fade, but the Barcodes Will Last Forever”
Hey guys!
With this year’s beautiful summer coming to a close it has once again come time to dust the backpack off and get back into school mode. I had an amazing experience working with the BIObus team these past few months and I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to share some of that experience with all of you. Since this is the my last blog of the season, I’ve decided to make this blog about one of the coolest parks I’ve come across so far (which is also conveniently the one I’m sorting through at the moment). Continue reading “Beecoming interested in the Yukon”
This training period was my first real scientific work experience and I had no idea what to expect from a Canadian laboratory. During my first day of work at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, I realized my expectations of what the lab would be like was very different from reality. I imagined a building mainly made up of white corridors and lab mates who would not necessarily speak to each other. Instead I found myself inside a beautiful modern building with large open rooms and a team that made me feel like it was a big family: everyone was very friendly with each other and I soon became one of their friends as well. I soon participated in many different tasks within the Institute. Continue reading “My Training Period in Canada”
My name is Anaïs and I’m from Montpellier, which is located in the South of France. It is a big university town and I study Biology at the University in Montpellier. I just completed my first year and now I’m in Guelph for 6 weeks (July 8th –August 19th, 2015) doing an internship with the Collections Department at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario. During the 6 weeks I am in Guelph, I am hoping to learn more about DNA barcoding and what the Barcode of Life project is. Continue reading “My Internship Experience at BIO”
Hello again readers! After my Point Pelee adventures, I have now returned to the quieter lab life, processing and sorting insects from private parks and conservation areas around Canada. So far, I have been processing a lot of different insects from ecological reserves and conservation areas in British Columbia. BC has different climates and habitats than Ontario, and there are some insects that you can find in BC, but you wouldn’t be able to find here. One example of this is the snakefly (Order Raphidioptera), which can be found in places like Alberta and BC. Continue reading “It’s a snake, it’s a fly, it’s a snakefly!”
For the past few weeks I’ve been fortunate enough to start exploring the insect biodiversity of Canada’s largest privately owned nature conservancy: Darkwoods. Owned by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), Darkwoods is a 136,000-acre tract of land located near Salmo, British Columbia in the heart of the Selkirk mountain range. Continue reading “Delving into Darkwoods”
Did you know that more than 95% of described animal’s species are invertebrates? We’re talking about 95% of the world’s animals not having a backbone! Owing to their huge numbers, invertebrates are a vital part of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Continue reading “Aquatic Invertebrate Identifications”
