Tag Archives: biodiversity

Lines on a map. Dots on a map.

Posted on July 11, 2015 by terry wheeler

I’m crossing some lines in the Yukon. I’m searching for dots. Several lines drawn on maps define the Yukon for me. There’s a straight line across the bottom of the Territory that marks 60° north latitude. To many Canadians, “north” … Continue reading →

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Why the Yukon? My love of northern entomology

Posted on June 28, 2015 by terry wheeler

I’m north of 60° again. Back in Whitehorse, Yukon for the fourth time in five years, and getting ready to head north. Beyond Dawson City, beyond the trees, up the Dempster Highway to the tundra. I’m going to collect insects. … Continue reading →

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Remembrance of things past: footprints in a log

Posted on August 17, 2014 by terry wheeler

I spent last week at the annual Ecological Society of America conference in Sacramento, California. It’s a huge gathering of ecologists, and it’s amazingly diverse. Ecology is as big as the planet, and the range of presentations and conversations at … Continue reading →

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A fruit fly is not a mammal, and other revelations from the museum

Posted on April 18, 2014 by terry wheeler

There’s been a lot of discussion in the past day about a new paper published in Science. The paper is an opinion piece about an argument that’s played out many times in the past, namely: should scientists kill specimens to … Continue reading →

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Look up, way up: beetles and flies in the tree tops

Posted on February 2, 2014 by terry wheeler

Most insect collectors and other insect fans tend to walk through a forest with their eyes focused on the ground at their feet, or low undergrowth, or sunny spots above the path ahead. That’s where a lot of the insects … Continue reading →

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Many ways forward: towards a Biota of Canada

Posted on March 23, 2013 by terry wheeler

In my last post I looked back at the history of an idea — documenting the biota of Canada. If we are going to embark on such an undertaking, a logical first step is to figure out how to get there, … Continue reading →

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Count all the things: towards a Biota of Canada

Posted on March 9, 2013 by terry wheeler

As the second anniversary of this blog approaches, I’ve been reading back through some of my older posts. In 2011, I talked about the fact that we don’t know how many species live here (“we” meaning “Canadians”; “here” meaning “in … Continue reading →

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Summarizing your research, with a catch

Posted on February 25, 2013 by terry wheeler

It’s important for scientists to be able to explain what we do to a broad audience, not just other scientists. After all, depending on the research we do and how we do it, those non-scientists are the people who pay … Continue reading →

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Urban biodiversity and backyard discoveries

Posted on August 28, 2012 by terry wheeler

Not all new discoveries in biodiversity happen in the wild places. In this guest post from Stéphanie Boucher, Curator of the Lyman Museum, we meet two little surprises from an urban backyard garden in the middle of Montreal. Phytomyza petoei … Continue reading →

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Setting priorities – so many questions, so little time

Posted on March 3, 2012 by terry wheeler

My post a few days ago about my project on arctic flies generated an interesting question from my colleague Brian Brown. With so many possible projects, and so many unknown species, how do I prioritize? Brian and I specialize on … Continue reading →

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