18 December 2019. Hannes and Lucas just returned from a spontaneous road trip to visit our good friends and collaborators at the University of Quebec in Rimouski (UQAR), Canada. We drove for over 10 hours (one-way) through snowstorms and icy voids to meet with Prof. Dominique Robert, who had collected sand lance samples from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and from Nova Scotia to be included in our new genomic study on the population connectivity of this species. Hannes gave a talk about our sand lance work and we saw a new institute in a new place, while frantically trying to stay warm amidst the brutal cold. Seeing the St. Lawrence in its icy, majestic beauty was a truly amazing experience.
Afterwards, we drove back through Maine and then repeated the fin-clipping of samples in Scituate at the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary office, so we now have almost all samples in hand to start the DNA extraction and sequencing.
We are excited for the next steps!
Sand lance samples to be included in the genomic study
Rimouski on the south shore of the mighty and icy St. Lawrence River on 12/13/19
Lucas and Hannes listened to Corinne Burns talking about her PhD research at UQAR on 16 Dec 2019
Hannes gave a talk about sand lance research at UConn
The icy beauty of the St. Lawrence River
Sun glistening on the ice on the banks of the St. Lawrence River on 16 Dec 2019
Snow storm on the I91 in Vermont on 15 Dec 2019
Driving back through Maine on 17 Dec 2019 ... 6h of snowstorm
Sand lance sample thawing to be fin-clipped
Hannes and Lucas fin-clipping specimens in the Stellwagen Bank NMS office in Scituate on 18 Dec 2019