Science continues during the COVID pandemic...

Aspen leaves with leaf miner pupae in an incubator. We captured insects emerging from these leaves and conducted thermal tolerance experiments on them.

Phew. It has been hard to stay positive and focused on work as the world battles with a pandemic and the U.S. struggles with its history of racism. I have been lucky to have a job with flexibility to stay home and continue work. Our field season had to be cut down and we were not able to complete all the tasks we set out for. Still, I am immensely proud of the effort, my undergrad mentees blew me away with their hard work and positive attitude, and we will learn something more about leaf miners and wasps. We raised over 300 moths and wasps pupating on aspen leaves and measured their thermal tolerance. Data will be out soon!