“Speaking truth to power and to the people”: Scientist bloggers of color as public intellectuals

This dissertation is a virtual ethnography of the lived racialized and gendered experiences of scientist bloggers of color. It looks to extend and complicate the literature in the fields of higher education, science communication, and science education by examining how scientists of color use blogs to speak the truth to power and to the people. The goal of my study was to learn how scientists of color use blogs to share their work; disrupt or promote normalized views of what a scientist should be; advocate for change or maintain the status quo within the scientific community; and encourage other people of color to participate in science. I conducted semi-structured interviews with five scientist bloggers of color (4 women, 1 man) three times over a 6-month time period. Using the theoretical anchors of critical race theory (CRT), intersectionality, and science identity, I engaged in inductive coding of transcripts and a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of participant blog posts. This unveiled six themes (with 27 sub-themes): (1) Starting and Staying in Science; (2) General Costs and Benefits of Blogging; (3) Nuts and Bolts of the Work; (4) Negotiating Being “Conspicuously Invisible” Online; (5) Putting “Expertise and Networks to Serve”; and (6) Multiple, Intentional Forms of Engagement Can Reaffirm Identity. This study is significant because of the lack of critical attention paid to scientists of color in college/university settings who engage with the public. Despite their dedication and contributions to science knowledge production and public engagement, scientists of color are often (in)visible to the scientific community. This work highlights the experiences of scientists of color and interrogates who has the power and privilege to be a public science knower/public intellectual in an online environment.</p

A global database of nitrogen and phosphorus excretion rates of aquatic animals

International audienceAnimals can be important in modulating ecosystem-level nutrient cycling, although their importance varies greatly among species and ecosystems. Nutrient cycling rates of individual animals represent valuable data for testing the predictions of important frameworks such as the Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) and ecological stoichiometry (ES). They also represent an important set of functional traits that may reflect both environmental and phylogenetic influences. Over the past two decades, studies of animal-mediated nutrient cycling have increased dramatically, especially in aquatic ecosystems. Here we present a global compilation of aquatic animal nutrient excretion rates. The dataset includes 10,534 observations from freshwater and marine animals of N and/or P excretion rates. These observations represent 491 species, including most aquatic phyla. Coverage varies greatly among phyla and other taxonomic levels. The dataset includes information on animal body size, ambient temperature, taxonomic affiliations, and animal body N:P. This data set was used to test predictions of MTE and ES, as described in Vanni and McIntyre (2016; Ecology; DOI : 10.1002/ecy.1582

A global database of nitrogen and phosphorous excretion rates of aquatic animals

Animals can be important in modulating ecosystem-level nutrient cycling, although their importance varies greatly among species and ecosystems. Nutrient cycling rates of individual animals represent valuable data for testing the predictions of important frameworks such as the Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) and ecological stoichiometry (ES). They also represent an important set of functional traits that may reflect both environmental and phylogenetic influences. Over the past two decades, studies of animal-mediated nutrient cycling have increased dramatically, especially in aquatic ecosystems. Here we present a global compilation of aquatic animal nutrient excretion rates. The dataset includes 10,534 observations from freshwater and marine animals of N and/or P excretion rates. These observations represent 491 species, including most aquatic phyla. Coverage varies greatly among phyla and other taxonomic levels. The dataset includes information on animal body size, ambient temperature, taxonomic affiliations, and animal body N:P. This data set was used to test predictions of MTE and ES, as described in Vanni and McIntyre (2016; Ecology DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1582). © 2017 Ecological Society of Americ