EcoEvo@TCD, Author at EcoEvo@TCD

20/03/202016/04/2020

Celebrating 35 years of Professor John Rochford

Esteemed and valued colleague, educator and mentor to so many, Professor John Rochford, retired in September 2019 after 34 years of service. His retirement was very fittingly marked on January 10^th by a symposium which celebrated the influence of John’s teaching and mentorship and the far-reaching impact he has had on his research area of wildlife biology. The symposium was organized by Prof. Celia Holland and Fiona Moloney who put together a fantastic variety of contributions. The speakers were all John’s former students who have gone on to make their mark in academia, journalism, public education and as professional ecologists and wildlife rangers.

06/03/202005/03/2020

The 2020 Postgraduate Symposium: putting the broad range of research in the School of Natural Sciences under the limelight

What started as a good excuse to take a break from thesis writing (while still being productive), ended up being two of the best days I’ve ever had in college – the 2020 Zoology/Botany Postgrad Symposium.

The audience settles in for the second day of presentations.

For two days we were treated to the most incredible talks on a wide range of topics, covering theoretical, lab-based, and field work. It was incredible to see the wide range of research being done in the department. It’s difficult to keep up with everything that’s going on, but these talks gave a great insight into some of the incredible work being done.

24/01/202026/01/2020

The 2019 EcoEvo Hall of Fame

Every year, contributors to the blog look back on their favourite papers of the previous year and tell us what it was about these publications that stuck in their mind so much. With a range of different topics and reasons, it’s always great to see what each of us thinks makes for a great paper! Find out what we elected as our favourite papers in 2018 and 2017, and read on for this year’s entries:

Perrot-Minnot, M. J., Guyonnet, E., Bollache, L., & Lagrue, C. (2019). Differential patterns of definitive host use by two fish acanthocephalans occurring in sympatry: Pomphorhynchus laevis and Pomphorhynchus tereticollis. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, 8, 135-144.

Chosen by Paula Tierney

Read the full International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife paper here

https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S2213224418300671-fx1_lrg.jpg — Graphical abstract from paper

Sometimes a paper doesn’t have to make huge waves in the broader ecology world to be a great paper and sometimes a paper comes along at just the right time to answer the questions you need answering. Perrot-Minnot et al. 2019 did both for me this year. Since the taxonomic revision of the acanthocephalan parasite Pomphorhychus laevis by Špakulová et al in 2011 resurrected the closely-related species Pomphorhynchus tereticollis, the systematics of the genus in Europe has been something of a taxonomic dumpster fire. It also left one of my PhD chapters with a bit of an identity crisis since,

08/11/201908/11/2019

EcoEvo Blog Photo competition winner announcement!

Once again, the time has come for the annual Eco Evo photo competition! The third instalment of the competition saw some wonderful submissions from across the School of Natural Sciences, and the top spot was fiercely contested. Due to their desire to participate, the editors stepped away from the judging process and the shortlisting was conducted by an unbiased third-party and the photos were anonymised. Finally, the vote for the winning photo was put to the Trinity School of Natural Science, again the photos were anonymised.

Read on to see the full gallery of submissions and to find out which photo was chosen as the winner.

A Green turtle swims away with its trusty remora after feeding on seagrass in the Bahamas. Remoras and turtles enjoy a symbiotic relationship as the fish removes parasites and keeps the shell clean while receiving benefits in the form of food, transport and protection.

18/10/201925/10/2019

Meet the new editorial team for 2019/20!

Time flies and it’s time for yet another academic year! We’re a bit late for our introduction, students are already heading into reading week but we were too busy getting over the shock that first years were born in 2001… Do you feel old too?

And with that, we wave goodbye to our fantastic 2018-19 editor, Fionn Ó Marcaigh. Thank you for your hard work and enthusiasm for sharing people’s stories! We have big shoes to fill… We say “we” because this year, you get two editors for the price of one! Let us introduce ourselves:

12/02/201912/02/2019

The 2018 EcoEvo Hall of Fame

As we launch into another year of research, we thought it would be interesting to look back on some of the work that came out in 2018, so we asked the School of Natural Sciences what papers they would like to induct into our second annual Hall of Fame. Read on for the papers we thought were fascinating, notable, or just cool. When you’re finished, you can check out 2017’s Hall of Fame here.

09/11/201809/11/2018

Eco Evo’s 2nd Annual Photography Competition

Photos have been submitted, votes have been cast, and we are now ready to announce the winner of the Eco Evo Photo Competition! Read on to view the whole gallery of entered photos, with the winner at the end. It was brilliant to receive so many great entries, on such varied subjects. This gallery is a testament to the diverse array of interesting things the people of our Zoology and Botany Departments are involved in.

Continue reading “Eco Evo’s 2nd Annual Photography Competition”

05/10/201813/11/2018

From Worms to Wildfire: Natural Sciences at PROBE 2018

On the evening of Friday the 28^th of September, the event known as PROBE took place in Front Square. Part of European Researchers’ Night, PROBE was described by organisers as “a free public pop-up festival showcasing the diverse range of academic research taking place in Dublin”. No event on Dublin research would be complete without representatives from Zoology and Botany, so Eco Evo spoke to some of the researchers bringing parasitology, fire ecology, and pollinators to the people of Dublin. Continue reading “From Worms to Wildfire: Natural Sciences at PROBE 2018”

25/03/2018

Outfoxing the fox: an urban/wild conflict

Featured post by Adam Fowler, Connected Nature Intern at Trinity College Dublin.

An outlaw, a scoundrel, a trickster… the cunning fox. From Roald Dahl’s depiction of Mr. Fox, the tricky, shrewd thief in Fantastic Mr. Fox, to Jason Bateman’s voicing of the ‘shifty and untrustworthy’ Nick Wilde in the 2016 movie Zootopia, foxes are often portrayed as a scourge to human living. Is it a warranted portrayal, or should we be more open to them?

No matter how they are depicted in the literature, some do view the urban red fox (vulpes vulpes) as a welcome visitor to their gardens. Young foxes look appealing, they are playful and almost majestic. Some people even offer food to try and encourage repeat visits. Continue reading “Outfoxing the fox: an urban/wild conflict”

14/03/201825/03/2018

Research White Day Greetings

Inspired by the sciency Valentines from Twisted Doodles and E/V Nautilus the researchers at Trinity College decided to spread a little research love this Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, we missed the boat on Valentines Day so a month later we are celebrating the romantic holiday of White Day, celebrated across Asia! White day is a chance for those who received valentines gifts to return the favour, but since milk or dark chocolate is usually given on valentines, white chocolate is given on white day to show that the gifts are not simply being recycled from the previous month.

So, with our undying love for our research at the front of our minds, we put together this collection of our most eye-wateringly romantic scientific sentiments, perfect to send to your loved one this White Day.

“Acanth live without you” – Paula Tierney

“If I had the whole zoo, I would still choose you!” – Andrew Mooney Continue reading “Research White Day Greetings”