I know, what a boring post title! But wait, it's better than it sounds. I have several interesting developments to share:
1) After being shut down for over a year, Indonesia recently resumed research permitting under the auspices of a new national bureau (now BRIN, R.I.P. RISTEK). Research permit applications for the canopy pollinator project were resubmitted today, and should get processed quickly (if the BRIN website's guidelines are to be believed). BRIN is still negotiating with Indonesia's immigration services, but visas should be available shortly, meaning that research will be able to begin soon! We hope to be in the field for at least part of June and July.
2) I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to continue research through the fall of 2022 and into 2023. This enables me to conduct an additional 10 months of research and includes significant funding as well.
3) Preliminary analysis of the existing phenology data from Tuanan has resulted in some interesting findings. I'll be presenting these findings on behalf of the Tuanan team at the ESA/CSEE annual conference, which is in Montreal in August. Despite highly asynchronous flowering, most trees in the peat-swamp forest will get the chance to outcross with most of their neighbors over time. This flies in the face of traditional thought on the origins of and roles of genetics in floral asynchrony.
That's all for now, stay tuned for more!