A list of resources and tools I have used in the name of research.
For Publications & Work Productivity
Mendeley - Great for organizing all those pdf with obscure file names. Does all the work for you and they have a really good app. So you can feed your urge to read articles anytime.
Google Scholar Alerts - Get email alerts to see the newest research published based on my search terms.
Trello - Brainstorming and listing topics to include in each section of my manuscript and also for listing key citations.
Microsoft Word & Powerpoint - Word for writing the paper and importing citation from Mendeley. Powerpoint for exporting high quality, publication ready .tif files of schematics and data figures.
For Research & Data Analysis
R - Great for people who have a lot of love for codes or just want to use the Rcmdr package.
SAS - More intuitive, easy, and fast...but not free.
JMP Pro - Also not free, but it's an easy point-and-click program and doesn't require typing code like R and SAS.
ArcGIS - Make cool maps. Also comes with good statistical packages.
QGIS - Best free and easy to use mapping program I've found that's most similar to ArcGIS.
Primer v7 - Great for performing PERMANOVA and multivariate statistics.
Microsoft Excel - Mainly use for data management and creating graphs.
Physiology Web - Various calculators for conversions and preparing solutions.
Identification Guides
Field Guide to Freshwater Mussels of the Midwest
An Illustrated Guide to the Mountain Stream Insects of Colorado
An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America
Other Cool Books
Freshwater Mussel Ecology: A Multifactor Approach to Distribution and Abundance (2008)
Ecotoxicology: A Comprehensive Treatment (2007)
Sediment in streams (1995)
The Ecology Of Aquatic Insects (1984)
The Philosophy of Ecology: from Science to Synthesis (2000) - Currently Reading
