Watershed Moments is moving

I'm in the process of moving this blog over to the new Watershed Moments over on Wordpress. Change your bookmarks, come on over and let me know what you think of the new design and topic focus.

There are still links back to this page, but I'm slowly going through everything to make sure the content is completely migrated to the new site.

Things are going well so far - lots of Twitter discussion about the new posts, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

See you at Wordpress!

F is for Facts

Fact (n): any observation that has been repeatedly confirmed and accepted as true; any scientific observation that has not been refuted


Scientists love their facts. Or should I say: as a scientist I love my facts. Facts make up the skeleton of science, the bone structure that we flesh out with hypotheses and ultimately theories. Facts mark the measured progression of science - from experiments to publication, to replication of experiments and new publications, until everyone is (mostly) satisfied that the result can be reproduced and can now become a fact.

E is for Ecohydrology

Studies of ecohydrology - also called hydroecology - started in the 80s, but weren't necessarily labelled as such until the 90s. The Versita journal Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology started in 2000, while the Wiley journal Ecohydrology started in 2008 - neither has a shortage of submissions. But what exactly does ecohydrology mean?

I used to think that it was mainly about how plants use water - things like sapflow, evapotranspiration, and nutrient movement. But I've come to realize that ecohydrology not only applies to my work, but it applies to a whole host of other research topics my colleagues are working on.

D is for Disturbance

In my research I use the word 'post-disturbance' a lot. 'Post-disturbance hydrology', or 'post-disturbance snow accumulation and melt', or 'post-disturbance forest structure'. It's one of those hyphenated words that sounds good in a journal article, but what does it actually mean when we take it out of the academic realm and into the real world?

C is for Communication

Science communication is all the rage these days. Science Online 2012 was held in North Carolina State U in January, and planning is already in progress for SciO13. There are science communication blogs, academic programs, and workshops like the popular one in Banff. Articles in Nature News and The Chronicle champion science communication as an alternate career path for grad students uninspired by the academic path. But how do we define science communication, and how is it used?