Category: Biology

Tracking the Wild Horseshoe Crabs of New York

By Lisa Gardiner, Aug 23, 2011

On June 1, 2011 at 11:51 PM, a group of people assembled on the beach in Northpoint, New York. There was no moon shining that night, not even a sliver. The people carried flashlights or wore headlamps. They held clipboards and paper. Their mission: to report where horseshoe crabs were spotted along the beach. This was just one of several places along New York’s shoreline where people collect data about horseshoe crabs. Volunteers also amassed on dark beaches in Stony Brook, Staten Island, Brooklyn and Westhampton. In all, volunteers monitored the comings and goings of horseshoe crabs at ten New York beaches that night. They are a part of the New York Horseshoe Crab Monitoring Network, a group of citizen scientists who are documenting where horseshoe crabs emerge from the water to lay eggs along beaches in New York State. On specific dates through the spring and early summer, participants collect data about the number of horseshoe crabs and identify their size and sex. They attach tags to the horseshoe crabs bulky exoskeleton and look for tags from prior years. … Read more

Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Ocean & Water

Whales and Glaciers: A Citizen Science Adventure

By Kate Atkins, Aug 17, 2011

Guest post by Kate Atkins If your first thoughts when you hear the word “cruise” are fruity drinks with paper umbrellas, jet skis, and late nights in the hot tub: think again. Replace the hot tub with Mendenhall Glacier, the fruity drink with test tubes of fresh stream water, and the jet ski with a … Read more “Whales and Glaciers: A Citizen Science Adventure”

Categories: Animals, Biology, Birds, Chemistry, Citizen Science, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water

What’s in your water heater? NASA wants to know!

By John Ohab, Aug 12, 2011

Researchers at Penn State University need your help to study the distribution of microorganisms in household hot water heaters. Turns out your everyday hot water heater can double as a model hot spring, one of Earth’s extreme environments where important clues about microbial life in the Solar System might be found. First, researchers want to … Read more “What’s in your water heater? NASA wants to know!”

Categories: Astronomy & Space, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Health, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water

Divers Help Quell the Roar of Invasive Lionfish

By Lisa Gardiner, Aug 07, 2011

It seems strange to mark the location of a fish, doesn’t it? They can swim and move away from the marker, right? I wonder while standing on a dock waiting for the boat that will take about ten of us out to a reef. There, we will scuba dive for fun and also mark the locations of lionfish, an invasive species in the Caribbean. Volunteer divers on the Dutch island of Bonaire are helping Bonaire National Marine Park eliminate invasive lionfish from its coral reefs by marking the locations where the fish are found. A diver who spots a lionfish is instructed to attach a small flag, provided by the park, to a rock near the fish. The answers to my questions about marking fish locations become clear once I splash into the water and see the fish and flag markers for myself. Swimming along sections of reef, I saw dozens of flags that had been placed there by divers and each had one or more lionfish hovering nearby. It turns out that lionfish don’t stray far from their particular nook of reef. They stay near the markers. It’s illegal to hunt or in any way harm marine life in the waters surrounding Bonaire. Except, that is, for lionfish. They are beautiful fish, placidly fluttering their glitzy ruffle of fins, and hovering next to their flags. Yet, a voracious appetite for reef fish combined with a high rate of reproduction and no known predators in the Caribbean make lionfish a threat to biodiversity. Native to the Pacific, the lionfish is an invasive species in the Caribbean. … Read more

Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Ocean & Water

Changing Currents turns students into environmental scientists

By Elizabeth Walter, Jul 18, 2011

Changing Currents, a project originating in Toronto, Canada, familiarizes middle- and high-school students with local watersheds and teaches them how to conduct water quality analyses. This is a great way for students to become environmental scientists for a day! After heading out to a local stream and donning hip waders, students collect water samples and analyze … Read more “Changing Currents turns students into environmental scientists”

Categories: Biology, Chemistry, Citizen Science, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water

Citizen Science in Puerto Rico

By John Ohab, Jul 12, 2011

Citizen science is taking off in Puerto Rico! According to a story at Ciencia PR, citizen scientists are playing an important role in the conservation efforts for the Hacienca La Esperanza Reserve, which houses the only coastal forest in Northern Puerto Rico. Through the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust’s Citizen Science Program, volunteers have the opportunity to explore and observe the … Read more “Citizen Science in Puerto Rico”

Categories: Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, In the News, Science Education Standards

Studying Dragonfly Swarms with Citizen Science

By John Ohab, Jul 11, 2011

In July of 2009, a friend and I arrived at a lake to collect water samples for work. We had worked at the lake many times, but something was different that day: several hundred dragonflies were flying over the grass. We often saw dragonflies, but there were 50 times the usual number and they weren’t … Read more “Studying Dragonfly Swarms with Citizen Science”

Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Guest Contributor, In the News, Insects, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water

Spotting Fireflies for Science

By Lisa Gardiner, Jul 06, 2011

Ever seen little points of light buzzing around outside on summer nights? Those lights - fireflies – are beetles that create light through a chemical reaction. By controlling the reaction, fireflies can turn on and off their lights. They flash light to communicate and find a mate. Fireflies may be disappearing from some areas where they have been found in the past, so researchers are looking to citizen scientists for help understanding more about what is affecting fireflies. Changes in the way we use land might be taking a toll on fireflies. For example, as natural landscapes are turned into lawns, fertilizers, pesticides and mowers may jeopardize fireflies, which spend daytime hours on the ground. Fireflies might also be affected by outdoor lights such as streetlights and the amount of water in the environment. The Firefly Watch project gets the public involved collecting data about where fireflies are found. If you live east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and have ten minutes a week to look for fireflies in the evening, consider signing up as a volunteer. … Read more

Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Insects, Nature & Outdoors

Start spotting sharks for science!

By Elizabeth Walter, Jun 29, 2011

Da-dum … da-dum … Don’t look now, but there are  researchers hoping you’ll hop in shark-infested waters in the name of science! Members of ECOCEAN want your help photographing whale sharks on your next ocean outing. Your pictures will be uploaded to the ECOCEAN Whale Shark Photo-identification Library, a photographic database of whale shark (Rhincodon … Read more “Start spotting sharks for science!”

Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water

Help keep the crawdads from taking over!

By Elizabeth Walter, Jun 20, 2011

Some of you may have fond memories of summers spent kneeling by nearby streams, peering intently for crayfish to play with (or cook up for dinner!). These tiny, lobster-like creatures are a staple of freshwater ecosystems, southern menus, and even neuroscience classes. (No kidding — I learned about action potentials from a wonderful college professor … Read more “Help keep the crawdads from taking over!”

Categories: Animals, Biology, Citizen Science, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoors, Ocean & Water