New blog formats & Top 10 Blog Posts 2021
As a frequent reader of Myrmecological News Blog, you probably know at the end of the year, we’ll take a moment to appreciate the past year. We want to use this occasion to thank all those people who help maintain and flourish the blog. Thank You to all who contributed views, reviews, interviews, news, and photoblog contributions on an amazing diversity of ant topics. Thank You to the production team working behind the scenes. And Thank You to all our readers and the amazing feedback through multiple channels! We greatly appreciate it.
A View compiled by Roberta Gibson, Patrick Krapf, Felix Oberhauser, Alice Laciny, Sheethal Veepur, Phil Hoenle, Emeline Favreau, Lina Pedraza, and James Trager
Now, before we share the Top 10 Blogs of 2021, we want to mention a few things.
You probably all heard the sad news of the passing of E.O. Wilson on December, 26th. His passing is a great loss not only to the ant community but also to science as he influenced so many scientists in numerous research fields. He was a truly inspiring person, a mentor, and a friend for many of us. He will be deeply missed, may he rest in peace.
New blog formats
The Myrmecological News Blog is online since May 2018 and you probably know our different formats (interviews with senior and junior researchers, photoblog contributions, reviews, views, and mixtures thereof). Over the years, the blog and the team working on it have grown, as have our ideas for the blog. We have thus decided to expand the scope of the Myrmecological News Blog and add two new exciting blog formats:
Experiments with all their facets
Have you ever conducted a small, large, funny, sad, failed, and/or promising experiment that was too βsmallβ to be published, but you think is still noteworthy to share? We think some of you might have, and we would like to share your work. In this exciting format, you can send us pictures and videos with captions or just explain what you tried to achieve and what happened instead. Or maybe you have some graphs you would like to share or tell us how a failed experiment led to a larger study?
Natural history notes
Have you ever observed, spotted, noticed, or photographed an interesting myrmecological or myrmecophile behaviour? We think you have, and we want to encourage you to share your observations with the ant researcher community. Send us pictures or videos with captions and explain briefly what you observed.Β
There are no restrictions regarding topics, length, etc. for both formats. We do however expect that they adhere to the basic scientific integrity of this blog. We are happy to consider everything. π Please send your ideas or contributions to myrmecologicalnewsblog[AT]gmail[DOT]com
The first posts in these formats will be posted in January, so stay tuned! If you think you have an exciting contribution to share, we would highly encourage you to do so and we are looking forward to reading them!
Top 10 Blog Posts
We now present you with the top ten blog posts as measured by total views in the year 2021 (as of 31 December 2021). We wish all our readers a Happy New Year! Stay tuned β there are exciting new contributions in the pipeline for 2022.
1. Ants of Hong Kong, SAR, China
2. Talc powder & ethanol: A simple and efficient method for preventing ants from escaping
3. How many ant species are there on Earth?
4. Meet new Subject Editors of Myrmecological News!
6. A photographic glimpse into Brazilβs ant diversity
7. Trophallaxis β exchanging social fluids
8. Personality in ant colonies
9. Chemistry in biotic interactions: The many facets of cuticular hydrocarbons
10. Christian Peeters (1956β2020)
The passing of E.O.Wilson was a great blow and a huge loss to the Myrmacological world. I had just received his latest book for christmas from my daughter, who knows he has always been my hero and the next day he died. I had the privaledge to meet him once in the US and I shall treasure that experience for ever.