Though controversial, responsibly feeding sharks has created a win-win where livelihoods are generated from dive tourism while the reef and its predators including bull sharks, lemon sharks, trevally and groupers return to healthy abundancesContinue reading
For many years, ecology focused on how competition for space and resources determined communities in nature (bottom-up controls). The field was revolutionized with growing understanding of how keystone predators effect ecosystems from the top-down. ArguablyContinue reading
Picture yourself exploring the largest Muslim country on Earth. Does your mind wander through scenes of sand dunes and camels, or crowded markets with burqa and tunic clad people? Can you almost hear the Imams calling theContinue reading
A land of sea, sky and sand. Harsh deserts filled with tenacious botanical oddities emerge from a nutrient-rich sea pulsing with life. Thin strips of mangroves form the boundary layer between these two worlds withContinue reading
Arriving at dawn flanked by frigates and war canoes to Banda island, it struck me that, were we calling into port in the 16th century, we would be more than likely to have a hail of cannonfire or spears being lobbed at us by way of greeting. The “Spice Islands,” however, have mellowed considerably with age.
It seems each blog I write these days comes from a new job. I suppose it comes with the territory when you’ve developed an acute allergy to sitting at desks and no one place on Earth feels like home.
Diving in the Kelp forest mostly brings me a tranquility I find hard to come by elsewhere. Yet in my past three months working at the Hopkin’s Marine Station of Stanford University first as the teaching assistant in a kelp forest Ecology course and then as a diving technician, I have observed strange stirrings and shifts in the kelp forest that give me anxiety.
Harbor seals once had all but disappeared from Monterey Bay. Fur trappers had eliminated sea otters, urchin populations exploded, and the kelp forests were decimated.
What a ride! It has been an incredibly intense month with the last two days of fieldwork clocking in at 12 hours and 11.5 hours respectively. Nonetheless I can tell you that my stint asContinue reading
If you were stranded on a desert island, what two things would you most want with you? I had heard this clichéd question previously during awkward ice breakers and forced small talk but never been able toContinue reading
