Credit: Photo by Mike Prince, made available through Wikimedia Commons
CORVALLIS, Ore. - One of birdwatching s most commonly held and colorfully named beliefs, the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect, is more a fun myth than a true phenomenon, Oregon State University research suggests.
Owing its moniker to an Arizona rest area, the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect, often shortened to PPTE, has for decades been cited as a key driver of behavior, and rare-species-finding success, among participants in the multibillion-dollar recreational birding business - an industry that has gotten even stronger during a pandemic that s shut down so many other activities.
But a study led by an OSU College of Science graduate student shows that the PPTE - which says that after a rare bird is spotted somewhere, birders flock to the area and then find additional rare species at an accelerated rate - is not borne out by the data.
RV Roger Revelle sent back to sea after extensive refit
Research vessel Roger Revelle, one of the largest ships in the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, is back to sea after a $60 million refit involving upgrades from top to bottom, bow to stern. The refit will extend the service life by 15 to 20 years with improvements to systems crucial to the vessel’s operations, scientific capabilities, habitability and environmental footprint, according to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
The ship is owned by the Office of Naval Research and has been operated by Scripps Oceanography since 1996. The vessel is considered important to U.S. oceanographic research due to its range, payload, duration and ability to safely conduct scientific operations in remote areas around the globe.