Flirting with my dream job

A couple of weeks ago The Daily Planet was at Trent University filming a segment of "Science in the City" with Alan Nursall for an upcoming episode. It was announced through a university news portal and on the morning of I went through extra preparations (and got up extra early): nice outfit, extra makeup, straightened my hair... I caught the bus and showed up in Gzowski (where they were filming). The photo above was taken by a Trent University publicist and was included in all their news items about the filming and subsequent broadcast of the segment.

There was a group already filming the experiment (which was putting together powerless MP3 player speakers), so I sat down and watched. The atmosphere was humming with energy, and I really hoped they would film it more than once. In fact, they did! After they took the mics off the group filming, a guy with a clip board approached us and asked if we wanted to be next - we said of course! After signing away all of our rights, we were given mics and the sound guy let us listen to each other talking in a big set of headphones.

Then we crowded around the table and started the experiment. If you said something particularly witty or well explained, they would ask you to repeat it. Overall, the experience was very exciting! I'm just mad at myself for not sticking around to chat with Allan about his transition from science to journalism. Being a science broadcaster on the Discovery Channel is definitely my dream job!

The anticipation of the last three weeks, waiting to see if I made the cut, was almost unbearable... It aired last night, and I made it!!! I've posted the link here - I'm the girl with the blonde hair (you'll recognize me from my display pic) and he calls me by my name, Andrea. Enjoy!

My Project (the dry stuff)

First things first, what do I research?

I'm looking at two species of flying squirrels (Glaucomys) in Ontario. Southern flying squirrels (G. volans) are moving north with climate change, and that could have impacts on the populations of northern flying squirrels (G. sabrinus) that live further north.

What are my objectives?

I'm interested in the possibility that these two species could be competing for nest trees (cavities) when they live in the same area. As well, southern flying squirrels could be passing a parasite to northern flying squirrels that northerns are not adapted to. Both of these interactions could put negative pressure on northern flying squirrels.

How will I test my objectives?

Nest cavities would be most critical in winter, when temperatures are low. I will record tree cavity temperatures during that time, and model which cavities are warmest using measurements from inside the cavities.

I want to know if southern flying squirrels are nesting in the warmest cavities, so I will also measure known flying squirrels nest cavities to see where they fit in the model. I think that in sites where they are only one species, both northerns and southerns would use the warmest cavities. In areas where there are both species, I think that southerns would use the warmest cavities (they have been shown to be more aggresive than northerns in defending nest boxes).

I will also test both species for the parasite Strongyloides robustus. It lives in the intestine and has no measureable effect on southerns, but causes harm to northerns. To test for the parasite, I will collect scat samples on a north-south gradient in Ontario, to see if it is moving north with southerns.

So that's the gist of it - my Coles Notes version :) Now onto the interesting part, field work - the good, the bad, and the ugly... stay tuned