How Many Marine Mammologists...

Does it take to change the world?

That is the question the approximately 1900 of us are trying to answer here at the 19th biennial Conference for the Biology of Marine Mammals.

The theme this year asks us to consider the cumulative effects of multiple stressors on marine mammals.

Bascially, it's not enough that we are polluting the habitat that we haven't destroyed, but we are also invading their space with boat traffic, spilling oil into their backyards... oh, and the climate is changing.

So how does all this effect the research that we are doing?

I'm not going to answer that here, because really, you need a week long conference with over 600 presenters to answer that. Oh wait...

What I am going to do, because this is a teaching blog, is just go through the general day by day of the conference and my own personal feelings for each day.

So Day One - Monday


Feeling of the day - Excitement

The day was spent listening to people present work that exemplified the cumulative effects theme, and was presented to everyone at the conference. It was a good introductory day, and gave you a good taste of what to expect for the next four days. Also we got a first view at all the posters on display, and a chance to mingle a little bit with other people at the conference.

Advice: just take it all in, but be ready to start planning. With something like 300 posters, you want to try and select the ones that sound the most interesting to you, write them (and their location) down and try to hit them up first, like on the Monday and Tuesday. Or at least as many of them as you can/want. That way, as the week progresses and you steadily lose your mind, if you skip out on the poster viewing you're not missing out on the chance to meet and talk with people with particular similar interests.

Also, people that you might be spending time with at the conference might want to skip bits and pieces. This in not the time to be a sheep! If you are in my shoes, where you have no particular project, and you need to at least pretend to be well versed in lots of marine mammal-related topics, you have to listen to the presentations. So let them sleep in or go for a late meal. You should not skip out on learning experiences.

Okay, that's day one! On to day two...

Speak Loud!