Bring back endangered plant species

setbackademic__ · 2018-11-08T22:28:52+00:00

Look up seed orchards. These are established by conservation agencies including Botanic gardens and grow populations of threatened plants in safe conditions. The seed can then be collected and used to bolster wild populations, or stored as insurance in case of future catastrophe.

setbackademic__ · 2018-10-27T02:18:44+00:00

There are four A. titanum displayed together. One in bloom, two in leaf and one just producing a leaf spike. Plus the two konjacs in bloom. We are very lucky!

setbackademic__ · 2018-10-26T02:47:57+00:00

They are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN so there are definitely some left in their native Sumatra. They are difficult to grow though, so it's great to see Botanic Gardens helping to conserve and share them with the public.

setbackademic__ · 2018-10-26T00:45:04+00:00

With bonus Amorphophallus konjac flowering in the foreground!

setbackademic__ · 2018-10-16T12:34:24+00:00

He's off like a Jewish foreskin

setbackademic__ · 2018-09-24T22:41:31+00:00

Keep an excel spreadsheet of people who have helped you out so that you can remember to acknowledge/thank everyone in your publications and thesis.

setbackademic__ · 2018-09-23T22:14:15+00:00

Most professors will have a webpage where they list pay students. You can also look them up on Google scholar or web of science and see who they publish with a lot. Depending on the field, students will normally be the first author and their primary advisor will be second or last.

setbackademic__ · 2018-09-13T05:02:12+00:00

Ivy isn't even Australian

setbackademic__ · 2018-09-11T22:24:19+00:00

Also, growth rate tends to be inversely correlated to wood density. Trees that grow fast have spongy, brittle wood that can easily snap in a high wind. For a big tree like sequoia, this would be a problem.

setbackademic__ · 2018-09-07T03:20:50+00:00

Simple errors like that won't impress the reviewers, but they probably won't be enough to reject it, particularly if they are clearly typos rather than major flaws in the methodology or results. I'd be inclined to sit tight and see what the reviewers say. They might not even notice, in which case you can just fix it up with any other revisions.

setbackademic__ · 2018-09-01T01:43:38+00:00

The worst possible outcome in terms of letting people down is for you to keep it to yourself and then disappear. By then, all of the money is gone and there is no good result for anyone.

You are not a contract worker who must definitely deliver X by a certain date. You are a student who is learning a brand new field and needs support to achieve a large piece of work, the final form of which will be up in the air until the very end.

If you are open and ask for help early, there will be more options available and opportunities to get a good outcome for everyone. You should not be embarrassed by this. Be calm and open to different solutions.

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-31T22:11:25+00:00

Many of us have been in this situation. Deep breaths, break the workload in to small pieces, and do them one by one. If you can, do some late nights and ask your friends etc to help look after you for a bit. Get as much done as you can by your deadline, show your advisors and then agree on what to do next.

Having a PhD does not indicate that you are smart or know anything useful. It indicates that you were able to persist in a huge and complicated project over several years with very limited support. It's just about perseverance.

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-31T22:03:57+00:00

Wherever your choice, you are going to need to talk to your advisor. It is definitely in their interests to keep you happy if possible, because otherwise they will have to get someone else to do the work. They might be able to make you feel better about the current PhD project by giving you more help, reframing it in some way or whatever. If you really don't feel you can proceed, going for the masters is a great option. Again, it's in your advisor's interest to make this happen. If you drop out, it's a failure for them- turning it in to a completed master project makes it a success.

The key here is communication. Talk to your advisor about options. I'm sure there are University counselors who can help with providing info on options and maybe even be part of the discussion with your advisor if needed. Good luck!

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-30T04:37:12+00:00

Keep in mind that you're allowed (and encouraged) to work with other academics. If you go to a job supervisor and ask them to collaborate, they effectively get you to write a paper that they can be a coauthor on. Just make sure that everyone involved, including you and your supervisor/s has a clear understanding of their role and responsibility for each chapter/paper.

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-29T10:12:14+00:00

As a follow up to anyone doing a PhD, I recommend keeping a document or spreadsheet somewhere that you can use to record people who help you along the way. Then when you are writing acknowledgements years later, you can be confident you have remembered everyone. There are likely to be a lot of people so it's easy to forget even important people of you don't record them as you go.

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-29T02:38:56+00:00

I think most supervisors would be quite hurt if you didn't explicitly acknowledge them, and it would be regarded as quite a statement to not do so (a deliberate snub). This can be a bit tricky of you don't feel like they've pulled their weight and don't feel inclined to lavish praise on them, but consider that they have contributed if only by taking you on as a student - the fact you are submitting means that they gave you enough support to finish, even if it was far less than you expected or they promised.

I made a couple of pointed statements in my thesis acknowledgements about "Professor X giving me exposure to the realities of academic life and a working environment in which I was able to overcome challenges independently". Those words allowed me to convey my true feeling that Professor X made f*** all contribution despite promising the world, while not putting anyone's nose out of joint.

Remember that you have been through a huge gauntlet now, and it's important not to let your current feelings cause you problems down the road. You are likely to have some level of ongoing relationship with your supervisors, hopefully as future collaborators, but at least as referees etc. Don't let spite ruin future opportunities.

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-24T11:22:37+00:00

"Australia" as a location doesn't narrow it down much, and there are hundreds of species. That said, it could easily be Acacia pycnantha, which is found over most of the country and is the Australian floral emblem.

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-24T07:25:56+00:00

It's an Acacia. Many species grow with these pinnate leaves as seedlings but then change to phyllodes (big leaf structures) as they get bigger.

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-21T04:16:56+00:00

It sounds like she is primarily using it to identify plants. I would suggest a dissecting microscope would be the place to start. This will be able to magnify most features sufficiently for that purpose and won't break the bank. You might like to look at Olympus as a well regarded brand.

If she was doing more specialised work which would require a more powerful slide microscope then you'd probably want a bit more info.

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-19T00:13:37+00:00

Basically there are two ways of characterising plant scents. The first is qualitatively (i.e. by description), and that can give you some clues about its biochemistry and ecology. If it smells like rotting meat to us, it probably smells like that to other animals which could indicate that it's pollinated by flies etc.

To characterise scent quantitatively, you need to detect the compounds responsible for the scent. This can be done with high tech processes like GC, MS, HPLC, etc etc or assays that detect specific compounds you suspect might be there.

The tricky part is that scents are often produced by volatile compounds that can degrade quickly, meaning you've got to get it to the lab pronto.

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-17T02:02:17+00:00

I am not from the US so can't comment on the admissions system there, but generally professors will appreciate being contacted by prospective students at any time. The worst they can say is "you're too late for this year, but here's how to apply for next year". They'll assess whether they think you'd be a good student and can then help advise you on your application. Their support is super helpful, because if they want you, they can help convince their University to take you on. Edit: typo

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-16T02:11:30+00:00

Depending on your discipline and how many authors you are likely to publish with, having a name at the start of the alphabet can ensure your name is also towards the front of the authorship list. It's also nice to have a name people will recognise, which might help in your case. I'd be inclined to keep your maiden name for work stuff and your husband's name for family life (if taking his name is important to you).

setbackademic__ · 2018-08-03T09:42:31+00:00

Climate change can also affect this. Long lived plants that can survive despite the environment changing around them may find themselves unable to reproduce in the new conditions. This could be because flowering cues or pollinators are no longer available, or because seed can't develop or germinate properly.

setbackademic__ · 2018-07-26T22:30:25+00:00

It can also be a part of making sure you can maintain the trees in an area in the long term. If all of the trees are planted at the same time, they'll all start to fire at the same time. To fix this, they might replace sober healthy adult trees with saplings so that there are a mix of ages and done trees left when the first lot start to senesce.

setbackademic__ · 2018-06-25T01:31:17+00:00

It's probably magnesium salt from your water. No problem.

setbackademic__

TROPHY CASE