We are in great need of an integrative framework that allows ecologists to predict life history strategies (i.e. the different ways in which individuals trade-off resource investment into survival or reproduction) from functional traits: traits of individuals that inform on the performance of a population of plants or animals as a whole. To contribute towards…
Author: Isabel Smallegange
I am an associate professor of population biology at the University of Amsterdam, at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics.
Selfish supervisors
Supervisors of PhD students and Post Docs are there to provide input and discussion on the research project that their group members undertake. Crucial, also, is that supervisors provide mentoring to their PhD students and Post Docs, which is critical to their career development and advancement. Most supervisors mentor their group members well, but in…
All men are the same – or not? Discovery of a third male type in the bulb mite
If you have read some about bulb mites (Rhizoglyphus robini), you might know that adult males show one of two distinct morphs: fighters, which have these thickened legs with sharp ends that they can use to kill other mites, and scramblers (see photo on the right). These two types of males occur in single populations…
Individuals differ: does it matter? A special issue on individual heterogeneity in Oikos (May 2018)
Individuals, be they plants or animals, are rarely equal. Does it matter that individuals differ? More specifically, what are the consequences for the dynamics of populations of such differences between individuals, also referred to as individual heterogeneity? And how does individual heterogeneity affect the evolution of traits? The scientific journal Oikos has just published a…
Who cares?
I care. I look after my son, together with my partner. But our son needs very predictable schedules, cannot deal well with novel situations, and only feels safest with me, which means I do a lot of the day-to-day care. He is a lovely little boy, and we have all found our way in our…
Women-in-science networks
I have been asked a few times whether I have joined a women in science network. I have never done so. The first time I came across such a network was at the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) where I did my PhD research. At the time, this NIOZ women-in-science network consisted of only…
Women in academia: on the balancing act
I often chat to my students about career choices and these conversations often also cover the topic of gender balance in academia, which typically gets more male biased as you climb the academic ranks. To give you some numbers, I’ve calculated the proportion of fte that are filled by women, from PhD candidate to professor,…
Mind the gap(s): Some tips on how to deal with interruptions in your CV
The other day I sat on a committee in charge of deciding which promising post docs would be granted a personal fellowship. I read quite a few CVs that had interruptions such as parental leave, illness, time devoted to changing research field, part time research activities, or unemployment. However, in all cases, these interruptions were…
From the back benches
In the Netherlands, the PhD defense is more of a ceremony than an examination. A few times now I have sat on a PhD committee (‘promotiecommissie’) to evaluate a PhD thesis and ask questions during the PhD defense. PhD defense committees need to comprise several, if not a majority of professors. Since about 18% of all professors…
