I recently visited Everglades National Park, and was reminded again that it is one of the most serene places I have ever been to. The Everglades is the largest subtropical wetland ecosystem, sometimes called “The River of Grass”, channeling vital water southward, essentially a very slow-moving river. This unique habitat contains endemic plants and animals, species not found anywhere else in the world.
Read MoreI’ve become more aware of my plastic consumption after a recent trash pickup hosted by Debris Free Oceans and decided that this year’s New Year Resolution will be to be more actively conscious of the plastic that I consume. Though I’m spending the holidays in the snow in New York on the Canadian border where I grew up, living in Miami for the last few years, marine debris hits me particularly close to home.
Read MoreI have a unique graduate fellowship through the Education Department at Fairchild where I help run the Fairchild Challenge Program. The Fairchild Challenge is a multidisciplinary science competition that schools participate in across South Florida. Challenges are designed with the goal of reaching a large diversity of students. All challenges ask students to research and observe the natural world around them. We have three citizen science challenges that span all three levels and engage students in real authentic research opportunities which otherwise lack from standard classroom settings.
Read MoreAs a tropical botanist, my research and training has taken me all over the tropics. During a recent fieldwork trip to Haiti I was reminded that even seasoned researchers can be awed by the sheer scope of biodiversity that exists within our tropical rainforests, or in this case lack thereof. Upon first glance, the roadside slopes of Haiti look awfully green, but look again and you’ll notice that it’s all one shade of green: Neem.
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