Today's Voices of Conservation Science
Today's Voices of Conservation Science
Lauren Gedlinske — From Grandmother's Garden to Studying Pollinators
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Lauren Gedlinske, a graduate student in the Department of Ecology at Montana State University, discusses her career trajectory and her research on floral scents and pollinators in Montana.
Welcome to the podcast. Today's Voices of Conservation Science, and I'm Chris Guy, your host for today's podcast. This podcast focuses on people doing science that's then used to conserve natural resources. Today I'm here with Lauren Gadlinsky, and she is a graduate student in the Department of Ecology at Montana State University. Lauren, welcome to the podcast. And how are you doing today?
SPEAKER_00Hey, thank you. I'm doing pretty darn good. How are you doing?
SPEAKER_01I'm doing well. Um, beautiful day out there. It's really like a Montana. Really chilly. Um, Lauren, we'd like to start out with giving the listeners a bit of information about yourself, for example, where you grew up, went to school, maybe some of your um your jobs before you started graduate school at Montana State University.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I grew up in the South Metro of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. And there I went to a high school called the School of Environmental Studies. Um, because it was located, well, is located on Minnesota Zoo property, it's affectionately called the Zoo School. And then from there I went to the University of Oregon to get my Bachelors of Science in Environmental Studies and chose environmental studies specifically to avoid environmental science and all of the chemistry requirements. So, and now I'm doing uh chemical ecology work. So it's funny how that stuff works out. Um and then yeah, after graduating, I graduated in 2013. And since then I've been doing various field jobs. Uh I've worked for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management. I've worked for uh the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and uh Michigan State University doing some research in a lab there.
SPEAKER_01The lesser MSU.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, for sure, for sure.
SPEAKER_01I had to get that in there. I have a lot of colleagues at Michigan State, and so I always sneak that in. Um I I'm really curious about this high school um that was the School of the Environmental Studies. Did I get that right?
SPEAKER_00School of Environmental Studies, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So that's a that's a high school.
SPEAKER_00It's a high school, and it's um students have to like elect to go to this school, and so it's smaller, a smaller class size than most of the the high schools in my neck of the woods. Um, and it focuses on environmental studies. And and what's great, I think, about this school is they try to incorporate all of your core curriculum into this single unit called house. So all of our writings were based on the environmental science that we were learning or uh public health and other environmental issues. Um, it was, I think, pretty pivotal to getting me to where I am today.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's really cool. I'm I'm very interested in that and and think that that has a a place in a lot of locations. I could see something like that in Montana, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. I mean, it definitely um I think teaches high school students how to do more than just rote memorization, so a lot of critical thinking, but then also spending time getting to establish like place-based knowledge. And uh we spent a lot of time doing, you know, wilderness survival and uh learning local ecology and flora and fauna.
SPEAKER_01So and so that's a great, you know, segue into my next question. I think it's kind of obvious what compelled you to pursue a career in conservation. I mean, if you were, you know, interested in that and you went to a school of environmental studies as a high school, I think um we know the answer to that, but does it start even earlier than that, I guess, is is maybe the way to think about that question in terms of what pursued, what caused you to pursue a career in conservation?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um I think I have a hard time answering this question without maybe coming off as too cynical. Uh I'm a millennial, and so from the time I started school uh as, you know, at kindergartner, it was hammered hammered into our minds that we needed to recycle, we needed to save the rainforest. And like acid rain was a huge problem that was gonna kill us all. Um, so I think there's always been this urgency surrounding environmental work that I've has, you know, has been present in my life. Um and so I don't think that that uh I mean, it definitely started when I was very young. And I think there's been a lot of points in my life that I've been like reinforced as far as my interests in conservation. Um, so I think you know, it never really felt like it was an option, more so like it was my inherent human duty to do something to make this place better than how it was when it's when I got here.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, that's an um that's an amazing um way to think at that young of an age, right? I mean, I just and and maybe it does have to do with um, you know, being a millennial and and being exposed to all these things and you know, having that idea of that, you know, we need to make this place a better place. Wow, that's just that's amazing. And I'm glad that we have folks of your generation that are thinking like that, right?
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, and I think that you know, like the Gen Zers are even more quote unquote woke on all of this stuff. I mean, we see what Greta Thunberg is doing, and like I wish that I was that powerful at 16. I was too busy, probably like doodling in the margins of my notebook instead of actually taking quality notes.
SPEAKER_01So there had to be something. I mean, you you you you talk about hearing about these these environmental problems and doing something about that. But was there something even further than that, like being in the outdoors, or were did you do things like that that that then when you heard something about the environment that was bad, it it triggered you to want to do something because uh you did something outside and you enjoyed wildlife or nature and things like that. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think like a lot of my peers, I was a kid who grew up playing in the dirt. I remember catching toads and insects and trying to make homemade terrariums. I'm pretty sure I did not feed a lot of organisms the required uh their their dietary, meet their dietary requirements, excuse me. Um and yeah, I also spent a lot of time in my mother's or my grandmother's garden um helping her grow vegetables, but then also tending to the wildflowers that she had. And I spent a lot of time trying to catch monarchs and watching bees. And I think that really led me to my passion now, which is studying pollination ecology. So looking at those insects and the plants that they're eating. And I also think that um, you know, growing up in the 90s in Minnesota, there were always, I remember, tons of monarchs and lots of lightning bugs or fireflies. Um, and I noticed even as I was getting into high school, seeing less of those every summer. And I think that um like further enforced this urgency that I am seeing things that used to be so commonplace in my childhood slowly start to like blink out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's again quite the observation for somebody at that age, and it's just um, I think very noble, I guess, if you will, or or amazing that you had that insight, and you know, then that translated into going to that high school and now where you are um today, which we'll talk about here in a in a little bit, but just having that the the observation of all that. Um so you're in a great place right now. Um, Bozeman, Montana, Montana State University. I like to think of it as kind of the golden ticket, right? It's a great place to do graduate research. I think it's a wonderful place to live. Um and you know, it's not an easy road to get to where you're at. And we've, you know, we all have hurdles, if you will, to overcome to get where we we are. Would you be willing to share with the the listeners some hurdles that you've had to deal with to get to this position that you're in right now?
SPEAKER_00I've been really fortunate to not have uh very many like professional obstacles. I know that that can be really problematic for much more marginalized groups than where I fall. Um, but most of my struggles, I would say, have been related to mental health. And it's something that's super common in academics and in environmental research. We deal with some pretty grim things sometimes. Um and I think that there's not really enough open discourse around anxiety and depression that are so prevalent and widespread in this field. And I think thankfully this is becoming a bit more normalized. Um, as I I feel there's sort of more of a push towards trying to make a better work-life balance in academics. Maybe you disagree. Um, I mean, in in Bozeman, it's really hard not to have a little playtime. It's so beautiful. But um I also think that, like many of my peers, especially I I've talked with many of my female peers, and I know that it's pretty common amongst us to have imposter syndrome. So feeling like we don't belong in the field that we're in because of any number of reasons. We're not smart enough or experienced enough, or like sometimes we don't see um our gender reflected in, you know, our who our mentors. Um and I think when I get kind of bogged down by that, it I need to remember that I can't compare my journey to my peers or those who've come before me. And I need to also remember that um if someone higher up didn't believe in me, I wouldn't have gotten the job. They wouldn't have hired me if they didn't think I could do it. So, same with same with coming into grad school. Um, I don't think that Dr. Burkle would have given me a position if she didn't think that I could be here and and handle it. So I think those are really important things to remember to not compare yourself to other people and um yeah, to remember that you're there because you're supposed to be there.
SPEAKER_01So exactly. And you know, I have to be a little careful here, and I've said this on numerous podcasts because I'm a white male, um, and I and I know I've had privileges that other groups do not. There's there's no doubt about it. I will tell you though, there's been times throughout my career, and probably even at this age, that I still have imposter syndrome sometimes, you know. You're like, you know, did you know, do I really know this? You know, do I am I really the expert in this? And you you kind of question yourself and things like that. So that's just that's normal. I'm just gonna tell you that. That's normal to always have some um, you know, feel like you're you're you you have some shortcomings or some doubt about what you're doing. And to me, as I think about it, as I'm saying it, that's a bit healthy because it's you're checking yourself, right? You're and I think and I think that's good to always check yourself and you know, question what you're doing and how well you're doing it. And I think that's part of part of that um um, you know, just the the development and I guess always kind of thinking about what you're doing and and are you doing it the best you can.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think the other thing is like recognizing that these are hurdles that may be an everyday challenge um that we you know have to re-en re-encounter every and single day and overcome them. Um but yeah, I I'm not super excited at the prospect of knowing that imposter syndrome just doesn't ever go away. Yeah, or but I guess at least everybody's going through it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and maybe it's less. So maybe that's it, or less, you know, or you you have that little bit of feel of imposter syndrome, and then you can easily brush it off the further along in your career. But you know, you do have that a little bit. Um, the other thing is, you know, I think it's uh you brought up work-life balance, and that's really important because my philosophy has always been if you're not happy when you're not at work, then you can't be happy at work. And so um, I think understanding how to to juggle that and making sure you have a life outside of work and that that is a healthy, productive life makes you a much better person when you are at work and more productive. So having those breaks and um being able to recharge and do something else besides just work is very healthy. Um, that's my my two cents on that. You're listening to today's Voices of Conservation Science, and I'm here with Lauren Gedlinsky, and she is a graduate student in the Department of Ecology. Lauren, this is where we switch gears into your research. And so can you tell me a little bit about your research at Montana State University? Maybe it's on dogs, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right now it's what we call the witching hour. So the dogs are a little excited. Hopefully, they don't pick up too much in the audio.
SPEAKER_01Um that's okay. That's part of doing these interviews in on Zoom. That's the world we live in right now.
SPEAKER_00So uh well, right now I am working with Drs. Laura Burkle and Justin Runyon of the Forest Service. And I'm working on a National Science Foundation grant um project and trying to understand the role that floral scent, or I may call them volatile organic compounds or VOCs, um, trying to understand what how these floral scents influence pollinator attraction and then therefore influence a plant's reproductive success in the form of increased seed output.
SPEAKER_01And so if I could just stop you for a second. So when you talk about floral scent, I think I get that. That is the smell and volatile organic compounds, that must be the technical term for that smell. So if I have a bouquet of flowers in my house on the table and I'm smelling those, I'm smelling that's the floral scent, and that is those volatile organic compounds that I'm smelling. And I'm guessing you're talking about pollinators are attracted to that scent, and then they pollinate the plant, and then that turns into seeds as reproductive success.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01And yes. And do those volatile organic compounds, maybe you're going to tell us about this, but those volatile organic compounds that I smell, um, are there volatile organic compounds that I can't smell that pollinators can smell?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I've said this before. Um, I'm new to chemical ecology. Um, so we're learning, learning all of this together. Um, but yeah, these insects definitely can perceive things that we can't. So they're smelling, I think they're picking up on cues that we don't necessarily. Um, and yeah, these volatile organic compounds are essentially chemicals that you know are like so light and break up so easily. That's why they get called volatile. Um, and that's what allows us to smell them.
SPEAKER_01And so then how do you how do you go out and measure these volatile organic compounds? I'm curious.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um I have this really hinky, goofy setup. Um, I do really high-tech science that I don't entirely understand yet, with you know what is essentially a slushy cup. Um, I take slushy cups out into the field with me. So like a clear cup with a clear dome lid. And I will invert that, put a steak in the ground, tape that cup to the stake so that it's over a flower. Um, and then at the now top of the cup, but what would be the bottom of the cup if it was upright? Um, I put in a trap that's maybe a couple inches long. It's like a glass straw almost, and it has powder in it with super high surface area. And that's what's used to catch those volatile organic compounds, those floral smells. And from that, I have some tubing that leads then to a pump that sucks this air in. And so I'm out there in the field, I'll have my my slushy cup set up. Um, I'm sure it looks so weird. And I collect those floral scents then for about an hour. And then when I'm ready to take them back into the lab to process them, I'm running other chemicals through these little straws to turn it from uh, you know, like a gas into a liquid that I then can run through this super expensive machinery um called a GCMS or a gas chromatogram mass spectrometer. Um and so what like I don't entirely understand how all of this works, but basically it's like shooting those chemicals through this long copper wire. And uh based on how long it takes, like based on how long it takes for a chemical to like reach the sensor, that's how we know how heavy this. So that's where the mass spectrometer part comes in, how heavy that gas is um or that chemical is. And from there, that's how we determine what the chemical is.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, that's very, very interesting. And and so you have these volatile, so then you have a measure of these volatile organic compounds or the smell of the flower. And you must also be counting like the pollinators that come visit the flower, right? So you can then say these compounds, the smell that I have is linked to these pollinators. So you just sit there and count the the bees that come to the flower.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So um, yeah, I will watch the same individual flower that I took that volatile from, took or took the volatiles from, and try to basically do a count and an identification of um the insects that are visiting it. And then theoretically, those plants have been pollinated. So then at that point, I come back and visit those same plants and uh collect their seeds and try to then make this sort of connection between how a specific flower smells and what that then potentially means for the number of seeds that it produces.
SPEAKER_01Um we're down to our last question. Um, and we're gonna give you a softball here on what is your favorite animal plant, or you can pick both. And uh I know these tend to vary from day to day, but it's always kind of a fun question to see what people come up with.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that this is inherently an unfair question to ask an ecologist because we, you know, are so drawn into this science because of the interactions, not just the players in the game, but the game itself. Um, so I really struggle to answer this question. And like you said, it changes on a day-to-day basis. Um, I think like lately I have been really interested in like cordyceps, so the zombie fungus that like basically makes insects do their biting. Um, like that's such a crazy system. And I don't know, like it's terrifying, but also how did it get here? You know, like it's just like so remarkable. Um, I also really love turtle ants. They have this like shield-like head that they use to plug the holes. They live in hollow, like hollow stems of plants, and they plug the holes with that giant shield-like head. And then the crazier thing is that there's a spider mimic that looks so much like that turtle ant, but it's a spider. I'm not sure if it's trying to look like a spider or like a turtle ant so that it can infiltrate.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Or I don't know, but there's so many cool relationships.
SPEAKER_01That was a tough question for you. You're really excited about all these different organisms, and that's that's awesome. And that's why, right, you got in goes back to our very first question why you got into this profession. You're out there in the garden, goofing around and collecting different things and putting them in terrariums and you know, observing them, and you're like, I want to do that for a living.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I I get paid to do stuff that I've loved doing as a kid. It's pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, Lauren, thanks for visiting today and sharing your life experiences and research on floral scent and pollinators. And I wish you the best in your studies at Montana State University.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01If you enjoy the podcast, we'd like to hear from you, and please share a review on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Google Podcast. You can also provide a comment at today'svoices at montana.edu. Thanks for listening to today's Voices of Conservation Science, and please spread the word about this podcast.