Pathways through non-linear passions

Nelson, Scott Brent

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/89923 Copy

Description

Title

Pathways through non-linear passions

Author(s)

Nelson, Scott Brent

Issue Date

2016-04

Keyword(s)

Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

Abstract

We spend our lives finding our place in the world, backing up as our interests shift yet frequently returning to places we have been before to rediscover old passions. So it is with research as well, as we uncover the questions that call to us. These robber flies (Asilidae) two voracious predators captured in an uncharacteristically intimate moment speak to how my current research connects me with my past. I photographed these creatures trekking through the tallgrass prairies of Iowa where I study the reproductive ecology of songbirds. I came to study birds by a roundabout path. Fascinated with mammals as a child, I became enthralled with single-celled organisms until I discovered ecology and threw myself into insect-plant interactions. It was a fascinating realm of intricate behavior. Eventually that urge from childhood called me again, pressing me fervently towards vertebrates. In birds I found a new world of endless diversity. Every summer morning the prairie awakens to the insistent orchestra of birds. But as the day wears on, the insects stir and create as much activity low to the ground as the birds up high, and I am reminded that we carry our past passions with us into the present.

Type of Resource

• text
• image

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89923

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2016 Scott Brent Nelson

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