Thursday 25 June 2009

ASM Day 1, bullet point style.

Day one of the conference is over - 6 more to go. I made it a point, yesterday, to meet someone new at the ASM social. Here's some new things I learnt from new people after I had a few glasses of liquid courage:

  • Sin nombre hanta virus prevalence among deer mice in Colorado is currently low.
  • Sin nombre hanta virus prevalence in CO doesn't follow a elevational gradient, either(?!?!).
  • Our niche modelling for wolf lice in AK might be trained by the distribution and abundance of lice in the lower 48.
  • ... but it might also not.
  • The army doesn't like the delta herd bison 100%, because their calving grounds are protected.
  • Bison have calving grounds! And site fidelity!
  • I found someone who studied Sitka Black Tailed Deer dispersal, but one of my co-authors aready knew about him,.
  • The name Thor is pronounced `Tor.`
  • The Army keeps staff wildlife biologists.
  • Germany has a very different university system.
  • Germany's politics are radically controlled by American politics, and American political decisions.
  • The Germans don't know why so many Germans visit Alaska.
  • We've got high hopes for the GMU 20A controlled burn.
  • Sea Otters go straight to hypothermia if they can't groom their pelt for even a short period...
  • ... or even if they can't groom an area the size of a quarter.
That's just what I remember. Today will be... well, maybe better? Maybe not. But definitely longer.

3 comments:

I want to hike said...

One of my hiking friends is giving a presentation today (Friday) at the conference ... he's from SUNY Albany & is staying with my son in Fairbanks. My son used to work at the UAF museum in the mammalogy dept (work-study job) & then at the Geophysical Institute as a sea ice technician. He's also an avid hunter, fisherman, and hiker.

Alaskan Dave Down Under said...

That list sounds, ummmmmmmmmmm, errrr, ah... very interesting! Yes, interesting. That's the word I was looking for.

At least you got fed and watered.

gpc said...

I've been thinking about the sea otters. There are a couple of women in my family like that, too, which might explain why they are warmer than I.


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