BY MATH & SCIENCE CONCEPTS

Below, you will find a table of all the current Data Nuggets available. Click on the Title to open a page displaying the Data Nugget, teacher guide, student activities, grading rubric, and associated resources. The table can be sorted using the arrows located next to each column header. It can also be searched by keyword using the search bar, located to the top right of the table.

If you are looking for additional data to use with your students, search “full dataset available” to find Data Nuggets where the scientists have provided the full datasets behind the research in the activity. Email datanuggetsK16@gmail.com to get a copy of these data!

To help introduce these science and math concepts to your students, check out this set of resources.

TitleContent LevelScience Concepts / KeywordsQuantitative Concepts / StatisticsGraph Type(s)Variable Type(s)Data Type(s)
Dangerously bold1animals, animal behavior, tradeoff, fish, predation, biological significancepercent, standard error (SE), predictionsbarcategoricalsummarized, Digital Data Nugget
Coral bleaching and climate change1climate change, coral reef, marine, mutualism, temperature, animals, algae, adaptation, evolutionratiobarcategoricalsummarized
Won’t you be my urchin?1coral reef, herbivory, marine, sea urchin, water, animals, competition, food webmean, models, standard error (SE), standard deviation (SD)barcategoricalraw
Springing forward1 & 3climate change, phenology, plants, temperaturemean, standard error (SE), Julian datebarcategoricalsummarized, full dataset available, Digital Data Nugget
Do insects prefer local or foreign foods?2herbivory, invasive species, plants, insects, enemy release, ecologymean, variance, standard deviation (SD), standard error (SE), confidence intervals (CI), predictionsbarcategoricalsummarized, full dataset available, Digital Data Nugget
Spiders under the influence2animals, invertebrates, habitat, chemical pollution, aquatic, streams, scientist profilemean, multiple variablesmultiple barcategoricalfull dataset, students summarize
Do invasive species escape their enemies?2herbivory, invasive species, plants, insects, enemy release, ecologymean, percentbarcategoricalsummarized
Lake Superior Rhythms2amplitude, aquatic, atmosphere, environmental, physics, student research, wave period, wavescycle, sine wave, amplitude, change over timesine wavecontinuoussummarized, full dataset available
All washed up? The effect of floods on cutthroat trout2animals, disturbance, ecology, fish, water, stream, floods, alternative hypotheses, limnologyregression, ratio, rate, graph choice, unnecessary variables, long-term datascattercontinuousraw, Digital Data Nugget
Float down the Kalamazoo River2Kalamazoo River, water, suspended solids, dam, reservoir, limnologymean, ratio, rate, standard deviation (SD), standard error (SE), Julian date, unnecessary variablesbar, linecategorical, continuoussummarized, Digital Data Nugget
Finding a foothold2animals, ecology, marine, substrate, waterfrequency, proportionbarcategoricalsummarized
Is chocolate for the birds?2experimental design, agriculture, animals, birds, biodiversity, rainforest, succession, disturbance, transect, habitataddition, unnecessary variablesbarcategoricalraw, full dataset available
Fish fights2animal behavior, animals, fish, matingmean, proportion, regressionscattercontinuoussummarized, Digital Data Nugget
Marvelous mud2ecology, environmental, fertilization, mud, phosphorus, substrate, water, wetland, limnologypercent, regression, graph choicescattercontinuoussummarized
Which guy should she choose?2animal behavior, animals, fish, matingfrequency, regression, correlation vs. causationscattercontinuousraw, summarized
Sexy smells2adaptation, animal behavior, animals, birds, matingpercent, regression, correlation vs. causationscattercontinuousraw, Digital Data Nugget
Shooting the poop2adaptation, animal behavior, animals, insects, predation, alternative hypothesesmean, standard error (SE)barcategoricalraw
Invasive reeds in the salt marsh2disturbance, invasive species, plants, wetland, limnology, transectmean, percentbarcategoricalraw, summarized
A tail of two scorpions2animal behavior, animals, predationaddition, proportion, ratio, graph choicebar, stacked bar, pie chartcategoricalraw, Digital Data Nugget
Green crabs: invaders in the Great Marsh2animals, invasive species, substrate, wetland, erosion, limnologyaddition, range, mapmapcategorical, spatialraw, summarized
The birds of Hubbard Brook, Part I2animals, biodiversity, birds, climate change, succession, disturbance, ecologycount, long-term dataline, scattercontinuousraw, full dataset available, Digital Data Nugget
Beetle battles2adaptation, animals, behavior, competition, evolution, insects, matingstandard error (SE)barcategoricalsummarized
How do brain chemicals influence who wins a fight?2animals, behavior, competition, insects, aggression, brain chemistry, physiologymeanbarcategoricalraw, summarized
Deadly windows2animals, animal behavior, birds, environmental, urban, alternative hypothesesaddition, proportionbarcategoricalsummarized
Which would a woodlouse prefer?2experimental design, animals, behavior, ecology, predationcount, Chi-square test, replication, sample sizebarcategoricalraw, Digital Data Nugget
Tree-killing beetles2animals, biodiversity, disturbance, ecology, environmental, insects, plantsmean, percent, proportion, regressionscattercontinuoussummarized
Alien life on Mars – caught in crystals?2astrobiology, salt, solution, Mars, extraterrestrial life, chemistry, physical sciencemean, time series linecontinuoussummarized, visual, full dataset available
Beetle, it’s cold outside!2animals, climate change, ectotherm, insects, temperaturemean, standard error (SE), modelslinecontinuoussummarized
Can a salt marsh recover after restoration?2disturbance, salinity, transect, invasive species, plants, wetland, restoration, limnologymean, percent, frequencybar, linecontinuoussummarized
Fast weeds in farmer’s fields2evolution, adaptation, agriculture, plants, fitness, heredity, geneticsfrequency, percent, mean, replication, sample size, unnecessary variablesbar, scattercontinuous, categoricalsummarized
The carbon stored in mangrove soils2carbon, climate change, disturbance, ecology, environmental, nutrients, greenhouse gasses, plants, transectproportion, mean, unnecessary variablesbarcontinuous, categoricalsummarized
Where to find the hungry, hungry herbivores2herbivory, plants, insects, ecology, latitude, longituderegression, standard deviation (SD), standard error (SE)scattercontinuoussummarized
A window into a tree’s world2climate change, dendrochronology, ecology, plants, temperaturemean, relative growth, graph choice, regression, correlation vs. causation, trend line, line, scattercontinuous, categoricalsummarized
Corals in a strange place2adaptation, coral reef, mangrove, morphology, structure and functionvisual data, countbar, stacked bar, pie chartcontinuoussummarized, full dataset available
Mangroves on the move2climate change, disturbance, ecology, environmental, fertilization, nitrogen, nutrients, phosphorus, plantsmean, standard error (SE)barcategorical, continuoussummarized
Getting to the roots of serpentine soil2soil, plasticity, limiting factors, plants, ecology, scientist profilemean, range, standard deviationbarcontinuous, categoricalsummarized
Blinking out?2agriculture, insects, population, ecology, biodiversity, fireflies, scientist profilemoving window, long-term data, standardize, sampling effort, division, count, unnecessary variablesline, scattercontinuous, categoricalsummarized, full dataset available, Digital Data Nugget
Buried seeds, buried treasure2germination, plants, seed bank, seed viability, scientist profilelong-term data, trendscattercontinuousraw
Mowing for monarchs, Part I2community science, citizen science, animals, behavior, biodiversity, community science, disturbance, ecology, plants, insects, alternative hypothesesaverage, time, rate, fractionbarcategoricalsummarized, full dataset available
A difficult drought2agriculture, biofuels, climate change, plants, carbon, fermentation, ethanol, chemistrymean, range, variability, replication, sample sizebarcontinuous, categoricalsummarized, full dataset available
Mowing for monarchs, Part II2community science, citizen science, animals, behavior, biodiversity, community science, disturbance, ecology, plants, insects, predation, alternative hypothesesaverage, time, rate, fractionbarcategoricalsummarized, full dataset available
Does more rain make healthy bison babies?2animals, ecology, keystone species, plants, prairie, precipitationmean, time, regression, long-term data, unnecessary variablesline, scattercontinuoussummarized, full dataset available
Benthic buddies2adaptation, animals, arctic, biodiversity, ecology, environmental, invertebrates, lagoons, marinemeanbarcategoricalsummarized
Are plants more toxic in the tropics?3herbivory, diversity, plants, insects, ecology, adaptation, chemistrystandard deviation (SD), standard error (SE), index, formulabarcategoricalsummarized
Does a partner in crime make it easier to invade?3legume, plants, mutualism, rhizobia, invasive species, soil, scientist profilemeanbarcategoricalsummarized
Fair traders or freeloaders?3evolution, legume, plants, mutualism, rhizobia, nitrogen, fertilizationmean, standard error (SE)barcategoricalsummarized
Fertilizing biofuels may cause release of greenhouse gasses3agriculture, biofuels, climate change, fertilization, greenhouse gases, nitrogen, plantsregressionscattercontinuoussummarized, full dataset available, Digital Data Nugget
The ground has gas!3climate change, temperature, greenouse gases, nitrogen, plantsregressionscattercontinuousraw, summarized, full dataset available
Growing energy: comparing biofuel crop biomass3agriculture, biofuels, climate change, fertilization, plants, carbonmean, standard error (SE)barcategoricalsummarized
How the cricket lost its song, Part I3adaptation, animal behavior, animals, rapid evolution, mating, parasitism, scientist profilepercentbarcategoricalraw, summarized
The mystery of Plum Island Marsh3fertilization, fish, food web, marine, mollusk, water, wetland, limnologymeanbarcategoricalraw
Invasion meltdown3climate change, ecology, invasive species, plants, temperaturemean, range, replication, sample sizebarcategoricalsummarized, full dataset available
Is your salt marsh in the zone?3climate change, ecology, plants, sea level rise, substrate, wetland, limnologymeanbarcategoricalraw
Lizards, iguanas, and snakes! Oh my!3animals, biodiversity, disturbance, restoration, urban, transectcount, additionbarcategoricalraw
What do trees know about rain?3climate change, dendrochronology, ecology, plants, precipitation, temperature, watermean, formula, equation, addition, multiplicationlinecontinuousraw, full dataset available
CSI: Crime Solving Insects3animals, insects, parasitismweighted meanbarcategoricalraw
Does sea level rise harm saltmarsh sparrows?3animals, birds, sea level rise, climate change, disturbance, ecology, wetland, limnologymean, standard deviation (SD)linecontinuoussummarized
Keeping up with the sea level3climate change, disturbance, ecology, sea level rise, plants, substrate, wetland, limnologyformula, equation, rateline, scattercontinuous, categoricalraw
The birds of Hubbard Brook, Part II3animals, biodiversity, birds, climate change, succession, disturbance, habitat, ecologycount, long-term dataline, scattercontinuous, categoricalraw, full dataset available, Digital Data Nugget
How the cricket lost its song, Part II3adaptation, animal behavior, animals, rapid evolution, mating, parasitism, scientist profilemeanbarcategoricalraw, summarized
Feral chickens fly the coop3adaptation, animals, behavior, birds, ecology, evolution, invasive species, mating, heredity, geneticsproportion, percentbarcategoricalraw, summarized
Raising Nemo: Parental care in the clown anemonefish3animals, behavior, coral reef, ecology, fish, marine, mating, tradeoff, plasticity, scientist profilemean, standard error (SE)barcategoricalraw
When a species can’t stand the heat3animals, climate change, disturbance, ecology, environmental, mating, temperature, sex ratioaddition, percent, ratio, regressionscattercontinuousraw, full dataset available, Digital Data Nugget
Are you my species?3adaptation, animals, behavior, biodiversity, competition, evolution, fish, matingformula, equation, addition, subtraction, division, regressionscattercontinuousraw
Marsh makeover3bodiversity, disturbance, ecology, greenhouse gases, mud, plants, restoration, wetland, limnologystandard error (SE)bar, linecategoricalraw, summarized
To bee or not to bee aggressive3animals, behavior, genes, insects, tradeoff, plasticity, aggressionmean, effect size, percent change, rangebarcategoricalsummarized, full dataset available, Digital Data Nugget
Why are butterfly wings colorful?3adaptation, animals, insects, models, predation, alternative hypothesesfraction, proportion, probabilitybarcategoricalsummarized
City parks: wildlife islands in a sea of cement3animals, biodiversity, ecology, urban, island biogeography, parks, camera trapShannon Wiener Index, formula, equation, sum, proportion, regressionscattercontinuoussummarized, full dataset available
Is it better to be bigger?3adaptation, animals, evolution, predation, natural selectionmean, percent, rate, regressionscattercontinuoussummarized, Digital Data Nugget
Is it dangerous to be a showoff?3adaptation, animals, evolution, predation, tradeoff, natural selectionpercent, rate, regressionscattercontinuous, categoricalsummarized
What big teeth you have! Sexual selection in rhesus macaques3adaptation, animals, evolution, sexual selection, sexual dimorphism, scientist profilemean, standard deviation (SD)barcontinuous, categoricalraw, Digital Data Nugget
Bringing back the Trumpeter Swan3animals, biodiversity, birds, ecology, environmental, restorationmean, long-term data, countlinecontinuous, categoricalraw, full dataset available, Digital Data Nugget
Are forests helping in the fight against climate change?3climate change, carbon, ecology, greenhouse gasses, photosynthesis, plants, decomposition, respirationregression, long-term datascattercontinuousraw
Can biochar improve crop yields?3agriculture, environmental, fertilization, plants, soil, water, biochar, carbonpercent, mean, standard deviation (SD), yield, replication, sample size, randomizationbarcontinuous, categoricalsummarized
Hold on for your life! Part I3adaptation, animals, disturbance, evolution, natural selection, genetic drift, hurricane, biological significance, alternative hypothesesargumentation, mean, standard error (SE)barcontinuous, categoricalsummarized
Hold on for your life! Part II3adaptation, animals, disturbance, evolution, natural selection, genetic drift, hurricaneargumentation, visual datavisualraw, photo, video
Testing the tolerance of invasive plants3ecology, herbivory, invasive species, plants, tolerancestatistical interaction, mean, standard error (SE)barcategoricalsummarized, full dataset available
Picky eaters: Dissecting poo to examine moose diets3animal behavior, animals, ecology, foraging, herbivory, parks, predator-prey1:1 line, proportion, mean, unnecessary variablesscattercontinuous, categoricalsummarized, full dataset available
Candid camera: capturing the secret lives of carnivores3animals, biodiversity, carnivores, ecology, island biogeography, richness, camera trap, parksregressionmap, scattercontinuoussummarized
Crunchy or squishy? How El Niño events change zooplankton3algae, animals, marine, El Niñooutlier, correlation vs. causation, unnecessary variablesline, scattercontinuousraw
Streams as sensors: Arctic watersheds as indicators of change3climate change, ecology, environmental, carbon, nitrogen, permafrost, limnologyunnecessary variables, regression, long-term datascattercontinuoussummarized
The end of winter as we’ve known it?3climate change, ice coverJulian date, mean, regression, messiness, variabilityscattercontinuoussummarized, full dataset available
Working to reduce the plastics problem3plastics, synthetic materials, chemistry, biodegradable, elastomer, polymer, monomer, stress, strain, physical sciencepercent, ratiolinecontinuoussummarized
Limit by limit: Nutrients control algal growth in Arctic streams3nitrogen, nutrients, phosphorus, nutrient limitation, law of the minimum, Arctic, limnologyresponse ratio, graph choice, standard deviation (SD)barcategoricalsummarized
To reflect, or not to reflect, that is the question3albedo, arctic, climate change, environmental, ice, temperature, waterequation, unnecessary variables, regressionline, scattercontinuoussummarized
How milkweed plants defend against monarch butterflies3herbivory, evolution, coevolution, plants, insects, ecology, scientist profilemean, regression, best fit line, trend line, multiple dependent variables, messiness, outlierline, scattercontinuoussummarized
Purring crickets: The evolution of a new cricket song3adaptation, animal behavior, animals, rapid evolution, mating, parasitism, scientist profilemean, percent, Chi-square testbarcategoricalraw, Digital Data Nugget
Round goby, skinny goby3local adaptation, animals, biodiversity, rapid evolution, fish, Great Lakes, habitat, invasive species, Kalamazoo Rivermean, standard error, replication, sample sizebarcategoricalsummarized, full dataset available
David vs. Goliath3aggression, animals, behavior, brain chemistry, competition, insects, physiology, biological significancefrequency, proportion, percent, unnecessary variablesbarcategoricalraw, summarized
Size matters - and so does how you carry it!3adaptation, animals, evolution, insects, sexual selection, tradeoffsresiduals, trend, multiple graphs, standardizescatter, linecontinuousraw, summarized, full dataset available
Ant wars!3aggression, animals, behavior, competition, insectsdensity, ratio, percent, regression, countbar, line, scattercontinuousraw, summarized
Salty sediments? What bacteria have to say about chloride pollution3bacteria, chemistry, disturbance, environmental, microbes, pollution, salt, urban, water, habitat, time, toxicitymean, concentrationbarcategoricalsummarized
Going underground to investigate carbon locked in soils 3climate change, ecology, environmental, greenhouse gasses, soil carbon, microbes, chemistrymean, standard deviation (SD), regression, best fit line, trend line, correlation vs. causationline, scattercontinuoussummarized
Nitrate: Good for plants, bad for drinking water3agriculture, environmental, fertilization, nitrogen, soil, water, plants, human health mean, time, date, Julian date, concentrationline, scattercontinuous, categoricalsummarized, full dataset available
Trees and the city3biodiversity, ecology, environmental justice, social demographics, urbanspatial data analysis, percent, binned data, average, median, histogrammultiple scatter, spatial mapcontinuousspatial, summarized, full dataset available
Collaborative cropping: Can plants help each other grow?3agriculture, environmental, plants, cropsreplicates, correlation vs. causation, regression, trendmultiple scattercontinuousraw
The sound of seagrass3acoustics, sound, photosynthesis, marine, productivity, decibels, physicsaverage, mean, standard deviation, trend, timemultiple scatter, linecontinuoussummarized
Which tundra plants will win the climate change race?3climate change, nutrients, long-term data, competition, plants, ecologymean, trend, time, series, control, long-term datalinecontinuoussummarized
The prairie burns with desire3ecology, prairie, plants, fire ecology, human impact, reproduction, land managementtrend, time, multiple plots, multiple variables, long-term data, proportion, averagescatter, linecontinuoussummarized, full dataset available
Cheaters in nature – when is a mutualism not a mutualism?4evolution, legume, plants, mutualism, parasitism, rhizobia, nitrogen, fertilizationmean, standard error (SE)barcategoricalsummarized
Dangerous aquatic prey: can predators adapt to toxic algae?4adaptation, algae, evolution, marine, predationmeanbarcategoricalsummarized
Salmon in hot water4adaptation, animals, climate change, evolution, fish, genes, genome, temperature, DNA, heredity, genetics, QTLmeanlinecontinuoussummarized
Urbanization and estuary eutrophication4algae, eutrophication, fertilization, marine, nitrogen, phosphorus, wetland, urban, photosynthesis, respiration, limnologymean, standard error (SE), subtraction, modelbarcategoricalraw
How to escape a predator4adaptation, animal behavior, animals, predation, physiologymean, standard error (SE)barcategoricalraw, summarized
The flight of the stalk-eyed fly4physics, moment of intertia, adaptation, animals, flight, physiologymean, standard error (SE), formula, equation, multiplicationcontinuoussummarized
Make way for mummichogs4animals, biodiversity, disturbance, fish, restoration, wetland, limnologymeanbar, linecontinuousraw, summarized
The Arctic is melting – so what?4climate change, marine, temperature, water, weather, ice, Arctic, albedopercent, modelsdiagramcategorical, modeled datasummarized
Gene expression in stem cells4gene expression, genes, stem cells, DNA, genetics, human healthmeanbarcategoricalsummarized
Bon Appétit! Why do male crickets feed females during courtship?4adaptation, animals, behavior, competition, insects, mating, feeding, alternative hypotheses, scientist profilecount, proportion, regression, multiple regression, unnecessary variablesscattercontinuousraw
Winter is coming! Can you handle the freeze?4ecology, evolution, genes, plants, local adaptation, QTLpercent, standard deviation (SD), standard error (SE)bar, linecategoricalraw, summarized
Finding Mr. Right4animals, animal behavior, biodiversity, birds, evolution, genes, mating, local adaptationmeanbarcategoricalraw
Why so blue? The determinants of color pattern in killifish, Part I4adaptation, animals, biodiversity, evolution, fish, genes, mating, heredity, genetics, close reading activitymean, standard deviation (SD), standarad error (SE)barcategoricalraw, summarized
Why so blue? The determinants of color pattern in killifish, Part II4adaptation, animals, biodiversity, evolution, fish, genes, mating, heredity, geneticsmean, standard deviation (SD), standarad error (SE)barcategoricalraw, summarized
Sticky situations: big and small animals with sticky feet4adaptation, animals, biomimicry, chemistry, physics, scalemean, ratio, multiplication, formula, equation, surface area, mass, volumescatter - logarithmic axescontinuoussummarized
When whale I sea you again?4climate change, marine, temperature, water, whales, DNA, PCR, sex ratiofraction, percent, ratioline, stacked barcontinuous, categoricalraw, Digital Data Nugget
The case of the collapsing soil4climate change, carbon, ecology, plants, phosphorus, sea level rise, respiration, substrate, wetland, limnologyregression, concentrationscattercontinuousraw, Digital Data Nugget
Clique wars: social conflict in daffodil cichlids4animal behavior, animals, competition, fishcount, standard deviation (SD), standarad error (SE)barcategoricalsummarized
Fishy origins4community science, citizen science, DNA, evolution, fish, PCR, marine, microsatellitespercent, proportion, addition, divisionbar, stacked barcontinuous, categoricalraw
Fertilizer and fire change microbes in prairie soil4biodiversity, diversity, grassland, microbes, plants, prairie, soilunnecessary variables, Shannon Wiener Index, meanbarcontinuous, categoricalsummarized
Breathing in, Part I4photosynthesis, carbon accumulation, carbon sequestration, climate change, forest, habitatmean, confidence, global databasebarcontinuous, categoricalsummarized, full dataset available
Breathing in, Part 24climate change, photosynthesis, respiration, carbon, climate modelprecision, percent, model prediction, mean, calculation, equationbarcontinuous, categoricalsummarized, full dataset available
Stop that oxidation! What fruit flies teach us about human health4insects, model species, cell biology, genetics, cellular processes, oxidation, genetics, scientist profilemeanbarcontinuous, categoricalraw, summarized
Love that dirty water4environmental, urban, water, GIS, landscapes, impervious surfaces, ecosystem services, land acknowledgement, human healthmodel, web-tool, simulation, percent change, calculation, mapbar, line, mapcategorical, continuoussummarized
Trees and bushes, home sweet home for warblers4animals, biodiversity, disturbance, ecology, birds, succession, transect, habitatregression, best fit line, trend line, percentscattercontinuoussummarized
Changing climates in the Rocky Mountains4citizen science, climate change, community science, ecology, environmental, plants, precipitation, temperaturemean, trend, timeline, double y-axiscontinuous, categoricalsummarized, photo
Surviving the flood4disturbance, urban, stream, floods, photosynthesis, respiration, stormwaterreference line, percent, negative values, additional variables, difference, unnecessary variables, outlierscatter, linecontinuousraw, summarized