As many people know, climate change has had a large effect on our world. From rising temperatures, to the melting of the ice caps we have all noticed these changes. The same goes for the plant and animal world. Many behaviors and life changes in various organisms is triggered by the climate. Phenology is how scientists study the cyclical events in an organism’s life; such events can be triggered by rainfall, temperature, and/or photoperiod. Environmental cues, such as changing temperature, are how plants and other organisms know it is time to bloom, to migrate, or to breed. When climate changes and temperatures start to warm or cool too early or too late in a season, it can through off an entire ecosystem. For example a flower may bloom at the same time as a pollinator migrates to an area. If the plant blooms early due to warmer temperatures, it may die or no longer be in bloom when the pollinator arrives at the normal time of bloom. This phenomena is called ecological mismatch and can have long-lasting effects on ecosystems. Looking back on previously recorded data could help ecologists understand and predict cycles of warming that could lead to ecological mismatch. Marcel E Visser and Christiaan Both say that scientists need to have a yardstick of sorts to measure climate change. They argue it will help interpret shifts in climate and predict new patterns. 

                         (Photo credit: publicdomainpictures)

One common phenology cycle that many people are familiar with is that of the cicada. Found in the Eastern-half of the United States, broods of cicadas follow thirteen or seventeen year cycles in which they are dormant underground and then emerge for around a month. In 2017 scientists noticed that along with the thirteen year cycle broods, the seventeen year cycle broods had also emerged. The mass occurrence of cicadas in 2017, according to the article written by Knvul Sheikh, experts say could be linked to climate change. Cicadas don’t emerge from the ground until the reach their adult state. Experts say that the possible early emergence is due to the climate warming; they believe that having a few more warmer weeks could give the cicadas more time to grow to adulthood, therefore triggering them to emerge from underground earlier than normal. What is so unusual about the early emergence of cicadas is that it is not the entire brood emerging early, only a number of individuals from said brood. Cicada expert Keith Clay says “cicada nymphs may be growing to a threshold size so quickly that their internal biological clock is miscalculating when it is time to emerge”. Which could explain why some of the brood are emerging early. By continuing to study these broods of cicadas in the future Chris Simon believes scientists could gain insight as to if these cicadas could survive and produce a new successful brood.

This week in lab we investigated a similar occurrence with temperature changes, blooming time of flowers, and flight time in bees. Specifically we looked at the spider orchid, or Ophrys sphegodes, the orchid that mimics a female bee in both appearance and production of sex pheromones. Male bees are attracted to the pheromones put out by Ophrys sphegodes and then attempt to mate with the flower. While doing so pollen from the orchid is picked up by the male bee and then carried to the other flowers the bee visits. These flowers and male bees both have very short times in which they are at peak fertility. Ophrys sphegodes are only fertile for around a month, and the male bees are only sexually mature for a few weeks before dying. This is why it is crucial that both of these organisms reach peak fertility at the same time. If one misses the other, the orchid may not get pollinated. We looked at data of flowering time in the orchids from 1848-2006 and at data of bee flight time from 1893-2004. By studying the data we were able to see patterns in flowering time and bee flights.

As you can see from the graphs above, at the beginning of the century the bees peak flight times and the orchids flowering time occurred around 75 days after March 1st. By the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century, the average time for both was just above 60 days after March 1st. Why the change in average flowering and flight times? Historically during the same time period, we also saw a warming of the Earth. Since 1659 we see a steady increase in temperature average annual temperature, which would explain why the bees and flowers bloom and fly earlier and would explain that the months after March are warmer than usual.

Despite the fact that there are many more cases and research done to link climate change to problems with both humans and other organisms, a large amount of Americans still don’t see climate change as a problem. According to the study done by Pew Research Center, only about half of Americans agree that climate change is caused by humans. As a science student and someone who tries to keep up with the current events in the news, I have seen people dealing with warmer summers and less cold winters as a result of climate change. Almost everyday on the news you see a report on how temperatures are “record high” for a particular time of year. Each year the Earth is getting hotter and many scientists believe climate change is the cause. Many people (family and friends of mine included) seem to have a hard time believing that climate change is a real issue. A large factor I feel contributes to the general public’s reluctance to “believe” in climate change lies within the current political administration in the United States. President Donald Trump has appointed several people who deny climate change, pulled out of the Paris Agreement, and has gone as far as to call global warming a “hoax”. I can see how someone would believe him; if someone in a position of power denies something that scientists are claiming to be true, some may feel inclined to side with him. I think a way to move past that obstacle would be to have scientists in more higher up positions in government and to have more politicians back scientists doing unbiased research about climate change.

 

 

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Scientific communication means different things to different people. One argument stated in the video “What is Science Communication? – The EU Guide to Science Communication”, is that researchers are confused as to what scientific communication means. Alan Alda, actor and science enthusiast, believes that scientific communication is something that must be taught to scientists- that they must learn to deliver information in a relaxed manner. No matter the personal opinion on scientific communication, the general consensus seems to be that scientific communication is essential for effective scientific research to take place. Whether communicating between scientists or a broader audience, being able to clearly get information across is vital.

(Photo Credit: BioLogos)

To the general public, or at least those that do not often find themselves engaged or understanding with scientific topics, being able to understand what scientists are reporting and researching can be a very important factor in their interest in the subject. Many research projects are funded by tax payers. Some feel because of that, scientists have an obligation to report their research with those who technically fund it. In order to successfully report their findings they must be able to put their findings into terms everyone can understand. In an interview, Alda emphasized that any group of people will develop little quirks or jargon in their language. For example, terms that women in sororities use such as “big/little”, “rushing”, or “PNM” make perfect sense to those women in Greek organizations; however, someone who hasn’t been exposed to Greek life may be lost as to what those terms actually mean. The same goes for people in the scientific community. Scientists may be used to certain terms or way of speak that someone not in scientific field may struggle to understand. Alda states, “Everyone is too ignorant about science. That is what science is about: Science is about satisfying the ignorance we all naturally possess.” I believe that what he means by this statement is that many people are ignorant and it is the duty of scientists to educate the ignorant- putting research into easily understandable.

It is important to understand the difference between how scientists communicate between themselves on a daily basis and how they communicate to other audiences. Scientists use dissemination to portray information to colleagues and to those who will use the results or information of a scientist’s research. It is often used in production of things that will be peer-reviewed. Scientific communication is used when a scientist wishes to deliver their research to a broader audience. A scientist should also consider his or her audience when publishing or sharing research. Monica Feliu-Mojer emphasized knowing your audience is key for understanding when to use dissemination or scientific communication. At times, writing for too broad an audience or not with a particular audience in mind at all can muddle your information and make it more difficult to understand. This is why effective scientific communication is crucial for any scientist- especially in this day and age. Information is more and more accessible to anyone who wants to search for it. If someone comes across information they can not understand they may not keep interest in a subject, or worse, they misinterpret the information presented. It can be challenging to know your audience or to present information in a different way than you are used to. A personal challenge I face as a science student is learning how to communicate as a scientist at the same time as I learn how to have good scientific communication. In order to be successful in the scientific field I will have to master both ways of communication. I expect some of that to come with time, and some of it to come with practice. This semester I expect this blog with a great tool to practice my scientific communication skills.

In my life I have found that it is easier to get people to understand and listen when you can make a personal connection with them. A personal connection can be difficult through a computer screen, so I hope to be able to add a bit of myself in each post. Whether that be through an anecdote, picture, or a joke sprinkled here and there. I know that is the way I engage with people whom I do not directly see face to face, so I hope me doing the same with scientific writing and research will help engage my audience.

To help develop my own blog style I took a look at another science blog, Your Wild Life. I think a big strength of this blog is that they have input from scientists, students, and people who are just interested in science. I think that many perspectives can be a real asset to their blog because there are people in all levels of science contributing to the content, therefore they can really make sure that a broad audience will be able to understand their writing. While scrolling through their blog posts some titles that stood out to me were “Take the New Cat Personality Test” and “Sourdough Stories“. These two stood out to me the most because I love cats and baking. The sourdough blog was about the study of sourdough starters and connections people have with those recipes to their families. Unlike Your Wild Life, I will not have the multiple and professional perspectives . However, I will have my perspective as a student and because of me being a student I hopefully can still retain my view as from someone who is unknowledgeable about science.