Author: Wendy St. John

Animals of Our Creeks, Rivers, and Marshes

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Had an amazing evening with some of the folks at the Sonoma Land Trust – They graciously invited me to speak as part of their 40th anniversary speaker’s series, and I gave a talk on wildlife in freshwater habitats in Sonoma County. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!

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What a great audience . . . they were engaged, and they laughed at my stupid jokes (hahaha), and then they asked me nearly an hour’s worth of questions after I finished my presentation. Really grateful for this opportunity to talk about some of the cool critters we have living in our local waters! (And I learned loads of stuff from them, as well . . . it was a wonderfully well-informed bunch of people). The SLT folks were all really wonderful, too. *hugs* SO MUCH FUN!!!!

Whoa.

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Just sent off both my final exams to be printed by the campus copy shop, and I’m totally caught up on grading (as much as I can be before a bunch of new stuff arrives on my desk next week). But as of right now, I am completely caught up. For the first time in several months. Feels good, but I’m not sure what to do with myself, really. (Except that it’s almost 3 a.m., so probably going to bed would be an A+++ plan). 😀

Sheepdogs Protect Penguins on Australian Island

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I used this story to end the semester in Conservation Biology (it seemed appropriate – I started the semester with penguins, so I thought I’d end that way, too). I’m really just posting it here, though, for the gratuitous cuteness of the dog and the baby penguin. It is a presh story, and worth reading, though.

“The Maremma sheepdog is a livestock guardian dog breed from Italy that has protected sheep from wolves for centuries. These dogs are also the devoted guardians of a colony of Little penguins, the smallest penguin species, on a small Australian island called Middle Island. Why do these penguins need guard dogs? Check out this amazing story.”

Read the entire article here: https://www.animalhearted.com/blogs/animal-blog/69457347-sheepdogs-protect-penguins-on-australian-island

Strike Averted!

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Awkward selfie; cool t-shirt

One of the most pressing issues on campus this semester was the possibilty of a teacher’s strike, in response to a lack of pay increases for faculty in recent years. “I don’t want to strike, but I will” was our motto, and I was 100% prepared to go on strike, if it had come to that.

In order to minimize the impact on my students, I’d arranged the schedule during the proposed strike week so my students could watch a movie on their own one of the missed days, and take an exam online on the other. (Since my classes were only taught two days a week, the impact on each individual class was relatively small). Either way, I thought this was a good compromise – allowing them to access their education even on the days when I’d cancelled class.

At the 11th hour, we got the word that a tentative agreement was reached, and the strike was cancelled. I’ll admit that I breathed a sigh of relief about that (I genuinely did not want to strike), and I’m also pleased with the way it all played out. We got much of what we wanted out of this agreement, through the time-honored process of collective bargaining. I’m proud to be a card-carrying member of the California Faculty Association.

 

The story below, originally posted in the Sonoma State Star, gives some additional background. (Reproduced in its entirety, as the Star doesn’t keep articles online in perpetuity): 

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Dragon Genetics Student Artwork

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Screen Shot 2017-03-22 at 12.29.59 AM.pngOne of the assignments I give my intro biology students is called “Dragon Genetics,” in which they determine the alleles (versions of genes) that a baby dragon will inherit from its parents. Then, I ask them to create an accurate image of the dragon, based on the inherited traits. Most of the students use a dollmaker (from this site). Here’s one I created as an example:

I love to see their dollmaker dragons, but occasionally, I’ll have a few students who do the artwork entirely by hand. Here are some examples from this semester:

Pretty spectacular, eh?

SAFE Western Pond Turtle Video

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I might be biased, but this is a fantastic video about western pond turtles . . . the segment starting at 5:00 features the field site where I did my thesis research. The fellow being interviewed is my advisor, Nick Geist. And that’s your’s truly measuring the turtles in preparation to release them back into the lake. SO FAMOUS! 🙂

These Crazy Cute Turtles Want their Lake Back

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Hey, these are MY turtles! (Well, not just mine, but these are Geist Lab turtles. So I guess I could call them OUR turtles).

“Boxed in by a freeway, a golf course and a neighborhood, it’s a miracle that San Francisco’s Mountain Lake even exists. But not only is the tiny lake—located on the south end of the city’s Presidio park—still there, it now provides one of the few places in San Francisco where visitors can watch California’s only native aquatic turtle bask in the sun.”

Read the rest of the article here: http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/01/26/these-crazy-cute-baby-turtles-want-their-lake-back/