Ecology labs and autumn colours

I have been incredibly busy this school semester demonstrating labs for the ecology course, grading lab reports, as well as preparing for my PhD comprehensive examination.  I tried to take some pictures whenever I am outside, otherwise I am indoors working away.

The ecology course consists of two field labs - first on the effects of abiotic factors in the stream on benthic macroinvertebrate biodiversity and second on tree diversity in different successional stages - both of which take place at Gatineau Park.

Last month (September 12th), the teaching assistants and lab demonstrator went out to familiarize ourselves with the study area.

Old Chelsea Stream (upstream)

Old Chelsea stream (downstream)

Forested area

Students collecting data from the downstream site on September 24th.

Some of the macroinvertenbrates they found, including one large leech.

Dragonfly larva

This year, I have been too busy to go outside and really enjoy the fall colours (unlike last year in Algonquin).  The only time I really saw the beautiful fall colours was last week while teaching the tree lab.

So golden!

This will be only post on fall colours this year.  Hopefully, I will not be as busy next year and able to travel to different places (e.g., Quebec) to enjoy the changing season.

On another note, I will be traveling back to BC for reading week on Saturday for a 10-day trip.