Avatar as a prologue to war.

One of my thoughts at the end of the film: has he set it for a sequel? Given the penchant Holywood has for franchises, well, that might be too obvious, and given how well it is doing.

One of the core motivators of the plot is the 'New Gold', with its Underzo style name, is so incredibly rare and expensive. Is the big corporation going to let it go at that? The home team, relying on the native fauna as their killer weapon, managed to kick a small battle group/ colony defenders off world. Surely the, I assume, big mining companies are not going to let it go at that...

I decided to write this in response to a post on one of Jennifer Jacquet's science blogs, guilty planet, where she equated the movie to a conservationists dream. Maybe it is, but like too many conservation dreams there is are big question left unanswered. Biggest of all What happens when demand for unobtanium grows? The land has already proven hostile; are any new operations going to bother with a fair agreements, or respect the choices of the rightful owners of the Pandora jungle people.

To get it out of the way: It was fun, and the graphics were amazing. Was it worth the price tag, looks like it.

Refugees and rescue

Persecution has pushed them to the edge now it is time for the comeback. Or at least that might be the goal, eventually. The goodied family has through a series of unfortunate events had to turn to the refuges offered by ornamental aquarists in order to survive. They have to rely now on their benefactors such those benevolent humans from http://www.goodeids.com/, and large aquaria around the world.

My research is being supported and hosted by the St Andrews Aquarium, where they have two species of Goodied breeding successfully.

Introducing the Good guys

I will be developing my research project soon. Nothing finalised yet, but I will probably be working on the behavioural of at least two related species of fish from Mexico. All round nice guys, you can tell from their family name: Goodieds. Like all members of the family the species I will be working on are beset by problems. End of world type problems, the kind maybe we can relate with. Many of them them are already extinct in the wild. They survive as refugees, living on handouts, in aquaria around the world. Will these underdogs of the fish world ever recover from their many perils, and will they survive persecution by one of their greatest enemies?

If all things go well, I will be developing and conducting short behavioural research program asking the question: are juvenile goodieds influenced by invasive alien species, the enemy. Diminutive and pretty, the guppy is nothing less than devastating, they are a legion and their weapon is aggressive sexual behaviour.

I intend to update the blog with updates as per the progress of the research and maybe reveal some of the fascinating, yes fascinating dammit, drama in the lives of the goodeid family as it struggles for existence in an increasingly hostile world.

Should provide some creative release for all the papers I will have to read...