Do too much fieldwork and a scientific debate can build up without you noticing. I’m wrapping up a summer in the Rockies and have begun to notice the growing interest and controversy over hypervolumes concepts in ecology. The debate has involved my own work, and it is exciting to trace the threads of its origin…

Summer in Gothic has been hot and dry, paralleling warming trends seen globally. Strong winds have been blowing dust onto every surface, and the biting flies remain. For two weeks we had no rain at all. Until a few days ago, when the monsoon returned, bringing moisture from the Pacific Ocean, and clouds to the…

I spend a few days each week sitting in a meadow waiting for flies to bite me. Not by choice. The reason we are in the meadow is to measure plant thermoregulation with an infrared camera. But the camera, once we set it up, requires very little attention. Every few hours we change the battery,…

Summer is a risky season in the alpine. Plants can grow only in the limited time after the snow melts, and often die back as soon as the soil becomes too dry or the autumn snows begin again. The timing of snow melt is very unpredictable too. The amount of snow a mountain receives is…