Busy weekend with my first thesis committee in Radolfzell last Friday. This meeting provided an update on my first 6 months, to see the goals achieved or missed, and prepare the program for the coming year.
I then took the road to Bourges, France, for the 14th french bat meeting of the SFEPM (French society for the study and protection of Mammals). It was an opportunity to meet a lot of colleagues, exchange and keep abreast of the latest news from the bat world. I had the opportunity to present my thesis project under the title "Group hunting in a Molossidae of Panama: what benefits for this behavior?". I hope to have the opportunity to return to Bourges in two years to present my results!
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Two weeks ago, I attented a course on visuals for science, taught by Barrett Klein. This visiting scientist at the Uni of Konstanz brought us with general knowledge on visuals and their impact on viewers. We trained on different techniques: scientific drawing, photograpy and image manipulation. We also dedicated some time to analyse and comment personal production (CVs, posters scientific graphs...) to improve them in the future.
I namely spent some time to design a logo for my lab and also worked on some old figures from my Master thesis on the phylogeny of Myotis. Both projects require more work but I hope to post news about that soon on this blog :). First step, I have bought my plane tickets to Panama, from the 2nd of April to the 30th of June. I have also found a fieldwork assistant that will help me during the month of April to catch my bat model species in Panama (Molossus molossus). I am making sure to order every missing item that I will need in the fieldwork, for example nets. And I am also finishing the permit proposal for the Panamean authorities, allowing me to catch bats in the country.
From Thurday 26/01 to Saturday 28/01, scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology were meeting in Biberach to present their work to the community. On thursday, I had the opportunity to talk about my PhD program and I had a lot of constructive feedback.
Back to Konstanz, after this first fieldwork stay in Panama and some holidays in France.
My program for the weeks to come is to work on the data I have acquired in Panama, continue to read papers on my subject, finish to write my PHD proposal and also prepare a talk. In 10 days, I will indeed present my subject study to the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, during a retreat that is organised in Biberach. This will constitute a first exchange and a training before the first meeting of my PHD advisory comitee planned one month after! _This 3-week-fieldwork stay has already come to an end!
We caught a lot of my model species, Molossus molossus, and discovered new roosts. Thanks a lot to Dina, Julia, Teague and other members of Rachel Page's lab for helping in the field! A good surprise for the last night of catching, was the discovery of a roost of Noctilio albiventris. A new family of bats for me, added to bat discoveries mentioned in my previous post. Other good surprises before leaving was to see an armadillo and an opposum! Looking forward to come back in April for more "tropical discoveries"! Meanwhile, holidays in France and back to the office for 3 months in Germany! This first PhD expedition in Panama is the opportunity for me to discover my bat model species, Molossus molossus, in its environment and to learn all the fieldwork techniques. Over the last few days, with the help of the fieldwork team, I have practiced catching, measuring, equiping bats with transponders (~ intern chip) and also radiotracking with transmitters.
Extra to my model species, we also caught 3 other bat species (Myotis and Phyllostomidae, on which I worked during my Master's research internships): Myotis nigricans/riparius, Carollia perspicillata and Uroderma bicolor. Yesterday, we catch the last one with some green fruits looking like figs. A few individuals of this same species are roosting on my housing building. Looking forward to the next species ! Next might be the frog-eating bat (Trachops cirrhosus), a model species studied in Rachel Page's batlab, nextdoor to mine ! After a long flight from Zurich (Switzerland), I finally arrived in Panama. For three weeks, I will stay in the village of Gamboa, closeby the Panama Canal and surrounded by the jungle. This is the place where I will come several times for my PhD fieldwork on Molossus molossus. Numerous colonies of the species can be found troughout the village. Furthermore, numerous facilities (housing...) are available through the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Here are a few pictures for you to discover this great place. I will keep you posted about my naturalistic observations !
The great news from last week is that I will be funded as a PhD student during 3 years through the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft = German Research Foundation)! The research proposal written previously by two of my advisors, Dina Dechmann and Kamran Safi, was accepted. Furthermore, I have completed my PhD Advisory Comitee, Lukas Keller (University of Zurich) and Iain Couzin (Princeton University) are now on board.
And the clock is still ticking, leaving to Panama this monday! Reading the book "Getting things done": checked!
I have found in this book basic but very previous advice. First, identify the "open loops", what you have to do and what you would like to do. And then, decide what is the next action to get things done and feel good about it :). Next things on my to-do-list: buying mosquito repellent and pack my bag for Panama! Leaving in 11 days for my first fieldwork session, the clock is ticking... |
AuthorLittle blog about my bat research and conservation action |