#BestPostdocEver

My position here in South Africa is with the Centre for Biological Control within the Department of Zoology and Entomology. My title is Postdoctoral Fellow. The work I'm here to do will involve determining if invasive water weeds employ natural defenses against the insects we are using to control them. I am also interested to find out if we can inhibit these defenses so that the insects provide better control. I arrived on a Saturday and began work the following Tuesday. Again no time to waste! Two years may sound like a lot of time, but when you consider how long experiments can take it really is not very much. 

This is the sign outside one of our facilities where we keep invasive plants
and rear insects for their control.

An example of some of the beautiful art in the centre

Since my arrival the other scientists in the department have been very welcoming. As a department we have daily tea at 10:30, which is always great as it provides a short break from what you are doing and a little time to catch up on what everyone else is doing. It’s also a good opportunity to hear what people are up to outside of work and has been a good time for people to recommend different activities in the area. There is often an afterwork Friday gathering at the Rat and Parrot as well. This is the classic happy hour time to complain about work and celebrate the successes of the week.

A couple of the PhD students in the program
who have made me feel at home.

Last week I went on my first field trip. My project doesn’t have a large field component so it was nice to tag along with some students and staff to see what the situation is like outside of the very controlled laboroatory and greenhouse conditions. 

Sometimes people attempt their own management via herbicides.
While this does kill the weeds it is not as sustainable, and messes up our research

Some of the field sites are absolutely gorgeous

I have now been here one month. After reading up on the plants and insects in my system and acquiring materials I am finally starting my first experiment. It will be to determine if feeding on water hyacinth (an invasive plant) by an insect Megamelus, will increase plant defense to subsequent infestations of the same insect, and if this results in the insects laying fewer eggs. This should lead to further experiments that will teach us more about the plant physiology and insect biology. 

My first set of water hyacinth

It is a beautiful plant, and that's part of why it has invaded so many areas.
It's pretty so people buy it for their aquatic gardens,
but in the words of Dr. Malcolm, "Life will find a way".