'Off-season' in the ACS Lab
When people think about conservation science, especially associated with organizations such as Raincoast, they might imagine the Central Coast of British Columbia. They imagine big trees, low hanging clouds, salty air. Water, skies, and forest brimming with wildlife.
Then they imagine the scientists. Binoculars at the ready, notepads and equipment in hand, immersed in the environment, collecting data in the sunshine (or rain, as the case may be).
While that image mostly tracks reality, for us here in the ACS lab, the field season generally takes place over the summer months. Or spring until fall if we’re lucky.
The rest of the year is about data management, coding, analysis, literature review, writing and planning for what’s next.
The ACS lab operates out of the University
of Victoria’s Geography department, in the beautiful David Turpin Building. We
are set up in a sunny, open office that we call the lab.
Right now, the lab is modest in size. We
have one volunteer, one Honours student, three MSc students, two PhD
students and me. On an average day in the lab, you would find us at our desks
near the large windows anytime between the hours of 8-5pm, usually sipping on
some kind of caffeine from our trusty espresso machine we call, ‘Brewbacca’.
It’s November, so most of our lab members are organizing their data that were collected during the field season and confronting hypotheses using statistical models.
Although we are dedicated to the job at hand, we are fortunate to have a very social lab. It feels like working with friends. Everyone puts their heads down and works hard, but no one is afraid to break the silence with questions, frustrations, or elation when a string of code finally works correctly.
Though none of this seems as romantic or
exciting as trudging through grizzly habitat in a lush rainforest, this is science.
And an essential part of the process in asking, and answering, the big
questions to later inform conservation policy.
