Search Results for: lter

11.3.15

Lizards, iguanas, and snakes! Oh my!

The Common Side-blotched Lizard

The activities are as follows:

Throughout history people have settled mainly along rivers and streams. Easy access to water provides resources to support many people living in one area. In the United States today, people have settled along 70% of rivers.

Today, rivers are very different from what they were like before people settled near them. The land surrounding these rivers, called riparian habitats, has been transformed into land for farming, businesses, or housing for people. This urbanization has caused the loss of green spaces that provide valuable services, such as water filtration, species diversity, and a connection to nature for people living in cities. Today, people are trying to restore green spaces along the river to bring back these services. Restoration of disturbed riparian habitats will hopefully bring back native species and all the other benefits these habitats provide.

Scientist Mélanie searching for reptiles in the Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER.

Scientists Heather and Mélanie are researchers with the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project. They want to know how restoration will affect animals living near rivers. They are particularly interested in reptiles, such as lizards. Reptiles play important roles in riparian habitats. Reptiles help energy flow and nutrient cycling. This means that if reptiles live in restored riparian habitats, they could increase the long-term health of those habitats. Reptiles can also offer clues about the condition of an ecosystem. Areas where reptiles are found are usually in better condition than areas where reptiles do not live.

Heather and Mélanie wanted to look at how disturbances in riparian habitats affected reptiles. They wanted to know if reptile abundance (number of individuals) and diversity (number of species) would be different in areas that were more developed. Some reptile species may be sensitive to urbanization, but if these habitats are restored their diversity and abundance might increase or return to pre-urbanization levels. The scientists collected data along the Salt River in Arizona. They had three sites: 1) a non-urban site, 2) an urban disturbed site, and 3) an urban rehabilitated site. They counted reptiles that they saw during a survey. At each site, they searched 21 plots that were 10 meters wide and 20 meters long. The sites were located along 7 transects, or paths measured out to collect data. Transects were laid out along the riparian habitat of the stream and there were 3 plots per transect. Each plot was surveyed 5 times. They searched for animals on the ground, under rocks, and in trees and shrubs.

Featured scientists: Heather Bateman and Mélanie Banville from Arizona State University. Written by Monica Elser from Arizona State University.

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 9.8

Check out this video of Heather and her lab out in the field collecting lizards:

Virtual field trip to the Salt River biodiversity project:

Additional resources related to this Data Nugget:

For more background on the importance of biodiversity, students can eat this article in The Guardian – What is biodiversity and why does it matter to us?

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10.21.15

Is your salt marsh in the zone?

Scientist James collecting plants in a Massachusetts marsh, part of the Plum Island Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research site

The activities are as follows:

Tides are the rise and fall of ocean water levels, and happen every day like clockwork. Gravity from the moon and sun drive the tides. There is a high tide and a low tide, and the average height of the tide is called the mean sea level. The mean sea level changes seasonally due to the warming and cooling of the ocean throughout the year. It also changes annually due to a long-term trend of ocean warming and the melting of glaciers. Scientific evidence shows that climate change is causing the sea level to rise faster now than it has in the past. As the climate continues to warm, it is predicted that the sea level will continue to rise.

Salt marshes are wetlands with plains of grass that grow along much of the ocean’s coast worldwide. These marshes are important habitats for many plants and animals, and protect our shores from erosion during storms. They grow between mean sea level and the level of high tide. Marshes flood during high tide and are exposed to the air during low tide. The health of a salt marsh is determined by where it sits relative to the tide (the “zone”). A healthy marsh is flooded only part of the time. Too much flooding and too little flooding are unhealthy. Because they are so important, scientists want to know if salt marshes will keep up with sea level rise caused by climate change.

A picture of James’ “marsh organ” which holds plants at different elevations relative to mean sea level. He gave it that name because it resembles organ pipes!

In the 1980s, scientist James began measuring the growth of marsh grasses. He was surprised to find that there was a long-term trend of increasing grass growth over the years. James wanted to know if grasses could continue to keep up with rising sea levels. If he could experimentally manipulate the height of the grasses, relative to mean sea level, he might be able to figure out how grasses will do when sea levels are higher. To test this, James invented a way to experimentally grow a marsh at different elevations relative to mean sea level. He built a device he called the “marsh organ”. This device is made of tubes that stand at different elevations and are filled with marsh mud and planted with marsh grasses. He measured the growth of the grass in each of the pipes. If grasses will continue to grow taller in the future with higher water levels, then plants growing in pipes at lower elevations should grow more than plants growing in pipes with higher elevations.

Featured scientist: James Morris from the University of South Carolina

Additional teacher resource related to this Data Nugget: Jim has created an interactive salt marsh model called the “marsh equilibrium model”. This online tool allows you to plug in different marsh levels to explore potential impacts to the salt marsh. To explore this tool click here.

To read more about Jim’s research on “tipping points” beyond which sediment accumulation fails to keep up with rising sea level and the marshes drown, click here.

There are two publications related to the data included in this activity:

Morris, J.T., Sundberg, K., and Hopkinson, C.S. 2013. Salt marsh primary production and its responses to relative sea level and nutrients in estuaries at Plum Island, Massachusetts, and North Inlet, South Carolina, USA. Oceanography 26:78-84.
Morris, J.T., P.V. Sundareshwar, C.T. Nietch, B. Kjerfve, D.R. Cahoon. 2002. Responses of coastal wetlands to rising sea level. Ecology 83:2869-2877.

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10.19.15

Green crabs: invaders in the Great Marsh

Scientist Alyssa holding a non-native green crab, introduced from Europe to the American Atlantic Coast. This crab causes many problems in its new range, including the loss of native eelgrass.

The activities are as follows:

Marshes, areas along the coast that flood with each tide, are incredibly important habitats. They act as homes to large number of species, protect the coast from erosion during storms, and act as a filter for nutrients and pollution. Many species are unique to these habitats and provide crucial support to the marsh. For example, native eelgrass, a type of plant, minimizes erosion by holding sediments in place with their roots.

In an effort to help protect and restore marshes, we must understand current-day issues that are affecting their health. The introduction of non-native species, species that are not originally from this ecosystem, into a marsh may disrupt the marsh ecosystem and threaten the survival of native species. One species that has recently caused a lot of trouble is the European green crab. This crab species was accidentally carried to the Atlantic coast back in the early 1800s from Europe. Since then, they have become extremely invasive and their numbers have exploded! Compared to native crabs, the green crab digs a lot when it searches for food and shelter. This digging uproots eelgrass and causes its population numbers to fall. In many spots where green crabs have been introduced, marshes are now bare and no more grass can grow.

Non-native green crabs caught in trap that has been underwater for 25 hours

The Great Marsh is one of the coastal habitats affected by invasive green crabs. Located on the North Shore of Massachusetts, the Great Marsh is known for being the longest continuous stretch of salt marsh in all of New England. Alyssa is a restoration ecologist who is very concerned with the conservation of the Great Marsh and other important coastal ecosystems. She and other scientists are trying to maintain native species while also reducing the effects of non-native species.

A major goal for Alyssa is to restore populations of a native eelgrass. Eelgrass does more than just prevent erosion. It also improves water quality, provides food and habitat for native animal species, and acts as an indicator of marsh health. If green crabs are responsible for the loss of eelgrass from the marsh, then restorations where eelgrass is planted back into the marsh should be more successful where green crab numbers are low. Alyssa has been measuring green crab populations in different areas by laying out green crab traps for 24 hours. Alyssa has set these traps around Essex Bay, an area within the Great Marsh. She recorded the total number of green crabs caught at each location (as well as their body size and sex).

Native eelgrass growing in Essex Bay, an area within the Great Marsh

Featured scientist: Alyssa Novak, Center for Coastal Studies/Boston University. Written by: Hanna Morgensen

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 8.8

8.24.15

Urbanization and estuary eutrophication

Charles Hopkinson out taking dissolved O2 measurements.

The activities are as follows:

An estuary is a habitat formed where a freshwater river or stream meets a saltwater ocean. Many estuaries can be found along the Atlantic coast of North America. Reeds and grasses are the dominant type of plant in estuaries because they are able to tolerate and grow in the salty water. Where these reeds and grasses grow they form a special habitat called a salt marsh. Salt marshes are important because they filter polluted water and buffer the land from storms. Salt marshes are the habitat for many different kinds of plants, fish, shellfish, and birds.

Hap Garritt removing an oxygen logger from Middle Road Bridge in winter.

Scientists are worried because some salt marshes are in trouble! Runoff from rain washes nutrients, usually from lawn fertilizers and agriculture, from land and carries them to estuaries. When excess nutrients, such as nitrogen or phosphorus, enter an ecosystem the natural balance is disrupted. The ecosystem becomes more productive, called eutrophication. Eutrophication can cause major problems for estuaries and other habitats.

With more nutrients in the ecosystem, the growth of plants and algae explodes. During the day, algae photosynthesize and release O₂ as a byproduct. However, excess nutrients cause these same algae grow densely near the surface of the water, decreasing the light available to plants growing below the water on the soil surface. Without light, the plants die and are broken down by decomposers. Decomposers, such as bacteria, use a lot of O₂because they respire as they break down plant material. Because there is so much dead plant material for decomposers, they use up most of the O₂ dissolved in the water. Eventually there is not enough O₂for aquatic animals, such as fish and shellfish, and they begin to die-off as well.

Two features can be used to identify whether eutrophication is occurring. The first feature is low levels of dissolved O₂ in the water. The second feature is when there are large changes in the amount of dissolved O₂ from dawn to dusk. Remember, during the day when it’s sunny, photosynthesis converts CO₂, water, and light into glucose and O₂. Decomposition reverses the process, using glucose and O₂ and producing CO₂ and water. This means that when the sun is down at night, O₂ is not being added to the water from photosynthesis. However, O₂ is still being used for decomposition and respiration by animals and plants at night.

The scientists focused on two locations in the Plum Island Estuary and measured dissolved O₂ levels, or the amount of O₂in the water. They looked at how the levels of O₂ changed throughout the day and night. They predicted that the upper part of the estuary would show the two features of eutrophication because it is located near an urban area. They also predicted the lower part of the estuary would not be affected by eutrophication because it was farther from urban areas.

A view of the Plum Island estuary

Featured scientists: Charles Hopkinson from University of Georgia and Hap Garritt from the Marine Biological Laboratory Ecosystems Center

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 9.6

5.6.15

Invasive reeds in the salt marsh

Culverts run under roads and allow water from the ocean to enter a marsh. Phragmites can be seen growing in the background.

The activities are as follows:

Phragmites australis is an invasive reed, a type of grass that grows in water. Phragmites is taking over saltwater marshes in New England, or wetland habitats near the Atlantic Ocean coast. Phragmites does so well it crowds out native plants that once served as food and homes for marsh animals. Once Phragmites has invaded, it is sometimes the only plant species left! Phragmites does best where humans have disturbed a marsh, and scientists were curious why that might be. They thought that perhaps when a marsh is disturbed, the salinity, or amount of salt in the water, changes. Phragmites might be able to survive after disturbances that cause the amount of salt in the water to drop, but becomes stressed when salinity is high.

Students collecting data on the plant species present in the marsh using transects. Every 1m along the tape, students observe which plants are present. Phragmites is the tall grass that can be seen growing behind the students.

Fresh water in a marsh flows from the upstream source to downstream. Saltwater marshes end at the ocean, where freshwater mixes with salty ocean water. One type of disturbance is when a road is cut through a marsh. Upstream of the road, the marsh is cut off from the salt waters from the ocean, so only fresh water will enter and salinity will drop. Downstream of the road, the marsh is still connected to the ocean and salinity should be unaffected by the disturbance. Often, a culvert (a pipe that runs under the road) is placed to allow salt water to pass from the ocean into the marsh. The amount of ocean water flowing into the marsh is dependent on the diameter of the culvert.

Students at Ipswich High School worked with scientists from the Mass Audubon, a conservation organization, to look at the Phragmites in the marsh. They looked at an area where the salinity in the marsh changed after a road was built. They wanted to know if this change would affect the amount of Phragmites in that marsh. In 1996, permanent posts were placed 25 meters apart in the marsh. That way, scientists could collect data from the same points each year. At these posts, students used transects, a straight line measured from a point to mark where data is collected. Then they collected data on all the plants that were found every meter along the transects. Data has been collected at these same points since 1996. In 2005, an old 30cm diameter culvert was replaced with two 122cm culverts. These wider culverts allow much more salty ocean water to flow under the road and into the marsh. Students predicted that after the culverts were widened, more ocean water would enter the marsh. This would make salinity go up, making it harder for Phragmites to grow, and it would decline in numbers. Students continued to survey the plants found along transects at each permanent post and documented their findings.

Featured scientists: Lori LaFrance from Ipswich High School, Massachusetts and Liz Duff from Mass Audubon. This study was part of the PIE-LTER funded by the NSF.

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 9.0

To access the original data presented in this activity, and collected by students, access Mass Audubon’s Vegetation Data, available online. To access the salinity data related to this activity, and collected by students, access Mass Audubon’s Salinity Data, available online. Scroll down to “Ipswich, MA, Town Farm Road” for data from the site discussed here.

View of the two new culverts.

The old pipe that was removed, and the new culvert.

Arial view of the upstream and downstream research sites.

4.23.15

Growing energy: comparing biofuel crop biomass

The activities are as follows:

Éste Data Nugget también está disponible en Español:

Most of us use fossil fuels every day to power our cars, heat and cool our homes, and make many of the products we buy. Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas come from plants and animals that lived and died hundreds of millions of years ago – this is why they’re called “fossil” fuels! These ancient energy sources have many uses, but they also have a major problem. When we use them, fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As a greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide traps heat and warms the planet. To avoid the serious problems that come with a warmer climate, we need to transition away from fossil fuels and think of new, cleaner ways to power our world.

Biofuels are one of these alternatives. Biofuels are made out of the leaves and stems (called biomass) of plants that are alive and growing today. When harvested, the biomass can be converted into fuel. Plants take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow. It’s part of the process of photosynthesis. In that way, biofuels can create a balance between the carbon dioxide taken in by plants and what is released when burning fuels.

At the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, scientists and engineers work together to study how to grow plants that take in as much carbon as possible while also producing useful biofuels. Gregg is one of these scientists and he wants to find out how much biomass can be harvested from different plants like corn, grasses, trees, and even weeds. Usually, the bigger and faster a plant grows, the more biomass they make. When more biomass is grown, more biofuels can be produced. Gregg is interested in learning how to produce the most biomass while not harming the environment.

While biofuels may sound like a great solution, Gregg is concerned with how growing them may affect the environment. Biofuels plants come with tradeoffs. Some, like corn, are great at quickly growing to huge heights – but to do this, they often need a lot of fertilizer and pesticides. These can harm the environment, cost farmers money, and may even release more of the greenhouse gasses we are trying to reduce. Other plants might not grow so fast or so big, but also don’t require as many chemicals to grow, and can benefit the environment in other ways, such as by providing habitat for animals. Many of those plants are perennials, meaning that they can grow back year after year without replanting (unlike corn). Common biofuel perennials like switchgrass, Miscanthus grass, prairie grasses, and poplar trees require fewer fertilizers and pesticides to grow, and less fossil fuel-powered equipment to grow and harvest them. Because of this, perennials might be a smart alternative to corn as a source of biofuels.

Gregg out in the WI experimental farm.

Believing in the power of perennials, Gregg thought that it might even be possible to get the same amount of biomass from perennials as is normally harvested from corn, but without using all of the extra chemicals and using less energy. To investigate his ideas, Gregg worked together with a team to design a very big experiment. The team grew many plots of biofuel plants on farms in Wisconsin and Michigan, knowing that the soils at the site in Wisconsin were more nutrient-rich and better for the plants they were studying than at the Michigan site. At each farm, they grew plots of corn, as well as five types of perennial plots: switchgrass, Miscanthus grass, a mix of prairie plant species, young poplar trees, and weeds. For five years, the scientists harvested, dried, and weighed the biomass from each plot every fall. Then, they did the math to find the average amount of biomass produced every year by each plot type at the Wisconsin and Michigan sites.

Featured scientist: Dr. Gregg Sanford from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Written with Marina Kerekes.

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 8.9

This Data Nugget was adapted from a data analysis activity developed by the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC). For a more detailed version of this lesson plan, including a supplemental reading, biomass harvest video and extension activities, click here.

This lesson can be paired with The Science of Farming research story to learn a bit more about the process of designing large-scale agricultural experiments that need to account for lots of variables.

For a classroom reading, click here to download an article written for the public on these research findings. Click here for the scientific publication. For more bioenergy lesson plans by the GLBRC, check out their education page.

Aerial view of GLBRC KBS LTER cellulosic biofuels research experiment; Photo Credit: KBS LTER, Michigan State University

For more photos of the GLBRC site in Michigan, click here.

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3.20.15

Springing forward

Scientist Shaun collecting phenology data in the climate change experiment. He is recording the date that the first flowers emerge for dame’s rocket.

Sean Mooney, a high school researcher, collecting phenology data in the climate change experiment. He is recording the date that the first flowers emerge for dame’s rocket.

The Reading Level 1 activities are as follows:

The Reading Level 3 activities are as follows:

Éste Data Nugget también está disponible en Español:

Every day we add more greenhouse gases to our air when we burn fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas. Greenhouse gasses trap the sun’s heat, so as we add more the Earth is heating up! What does climate change mean for the species on our planet? The timing of life cycle events for plants and animals, like flowering and migration, is largely determined by cues organisms take from the environment. The timing of these events is called phenology. Scientists studying phenology are interested in how climate change will influence different species. For example, with warming temperatures and more unpredictable transitions between seasons, what can we expect to happen to the migration timings of birds, mating seasons for animals, or flowering times of plants?

Scientists collecting phenology data in the climate change experiment.

Plants are the foundation for almost all life on Earth. Through photosynthesis, plants produce the oxygen (O₂) that we breathe, food for their own growth and development, food for animals and microbes, and crops that provide food and materials for human society. Because plants are so important to life, we need to find out how climate change could affect them. One good place to start is by looking at flowering plants, guided by the question, how will increased temperatures affect the phenology of flowering? One possible answer to this question is that the date that flowers first emerge for a species is driven by temperature. If this relationship is real, we would expect flowers to emerge earlier each year as temperatures increase due to climate change. But if flowers come out earlier and earlier each year, this could greatly impact plant reproduction and could cause problems for pollinators who count on plants flowering at the same time the pollinators need the pollen for food.

Shaun, Mark, Elizabeth, and Jen are scientists in Michigan who wanted to know if higher temperatures would lead to earlier flowering dates for plants. They chose to look at flowers of dame’s rocket, a leafy plant that is related to the plants we use to make mustard! Mark planted dame’s rocket in eight plots of land. Plots were randomly assigned to one of two treatments. Half of the plots were left to experience normal temperatures (normal), while the other four received a heating treatment to simulate climate change (heated). Air temperatures in heated plots increased by 3°C, which mimics climate change projections for what Michigan will experience by the end of the century. Mark, Elizabeth, and Jen measured the date that each plant produced its first flower, and the survival of each plant. The scientists predicted that dame’s rocket growing in the heated plots would flower earlier than those in the normal plots.

Featured scientists: Shaun Davis from Thornapple Kellogg Middle School and Mark Hammond, Elizabeth Schultheis, and Jen Lau from Michigan State University

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = The Reading Level 3 activity has a score of 9.2; the Level 1 has a 6.4.

Flowers of Hesperis matronalis (dame’s rocket), a species of mustard that was introduced to the U.S. from Eurasia.

Additional teacher resources related to this Data Nugget include:

If you would like your students to interact with the raw data, we have attached the original data here. The file also includes weather data over the course of the experiment if students want to ask and explore independent questions.

For a lesson plan that uses citizen science phenology datasets to examine changes in phenology over 30+ year timespans, and address the scientific question, “Do we see evidence for climate change in the phenology of plants and animals?”, click here.
Many phenology datasets are freely available online (many collected by citizen scientists). These datasets are extremely useful because scientists (and your students!) can examine average trends in timing shifts over periods of decades and often in different regions. Phenology datasets available online:
- Lilac flowering phenology dataset
- Ice cover duration for two Michigan lakes
- Nature’s Notebook: A national plant and animal phenology observation program, where students can contribute their phenology data
- ebird: A global bird observation program through Cornell University, students can become citizen scientists and enter data on local bird counts
- hummingbird.net: A place to learn about attracting, watching, feeding, and studying the hummingbirds that breed in North America
NY Times article on research showing what happens when climate change shifts phenology – “5 Plants and Animals Utterly Confused by Climate Change“
Webinar, hosted by Data Nuggets and DataClassroom, exploring the research and data behind this activity.
Webinar exploring how plants respond to climate change, featuring this Data Nugget and LTER scientists!

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10.24.14

Shooting the poop

The activities are as follows:

Imagine walking through a forest in the middle of summer. You can hear birds chirping, a slight breeze rustling the leaves, and a faint pinging noise like rain. However, what you hear is not rain – it is the sound of millions of forest insects pooping!

If we look closer to see who is making all this frass (insect poop) you’ll notice there are tons of caterpillars amongst the leaves. You might see caterpillars eating plants and hiding from predators. Some caterpillars might camouflage themselves, while others build shelters from leaves to avoid being seen. Others are brightly colored to warn predators that they have chemicals that make them taste awful.

The silver-spotted skipper is a caterpillar that lives in the forest. They have a variety of defense strategies against enemies, including building leaf shelters for protection. For these insects, the sight and smell of poop might alert predators that there is a tasty meal nearby. Usually caterpillars keep moving and leave their frass behind, but this species builds shelters and isn’t able to keep moving because they need their shelters for protection.

Martha is a behavioral biologist who studies these insects. While raising silver-spotted skipper caterpillars in the lab, Martha noticed that they were making a pinging noise in their containers. Upon further observation, she discovered that they “shoot their poop”, sometimes launching their frass over 1.5m! Martha wanted to figure out why these caterpillars might have this very strange behavior. Perhaps launching their frass is a way to avoid being found by predators.

To evaluate whether the smell of frass helps predators find and locate silver-spotted skippers, Martha conducted an experiment with a wasp predator that eats these caterpillars. She allowed two silver-spotted skippers to build shelters on a leaf and then carefully removed the caterpillars. She then inserted 6 frass pellets into one of the shelters, and 6 beads designed to look like frass but with no smell (control treatment) into the other shelter. She placed the leaf with the two shelters in a cage containing an actively foraging wasp colony (n = 10 wasps). She recorded how many times the wasps visited each shelter (control beads or frass) and how much time the wasps spent exploring each shelter. She expected wasps would spend more time exploring the shelters with the frass than they would the control shelters.

Featured scientist: Martha Weiss from Georgetown University. Written by Kylee Grenis.

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 9.6

Additional teacher resources related to this Data Nugget include:

The paper published using this data and testing alternative hypotheses: Weiss, M. R. (2003) Good housekeeping: why do shelter-dwelling caterpillars fling their frass? Ecology Letters 6(4): 361–370

YouTube videos of the silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus) “shooting its poop” (aka. ballistic defecation). These videos would be great to show in class after students have read the Research Background section to help engage them with the system.

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VIEW IN SEARCHABLE TABLE

Below, you will find a table of all the Data Nugget activities. Click on the Title to open a page displaying the 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 content area using the search bar, located to the top right of the table.

Title	Keywords	Summary	Content Level	Study Location
Won’t you be my urchin?	coral reef, herbivory, marine, sea urchin, water, animals, competition	Corals are the most important reef animals since they build the reef for all of the other animals to live in. But corals only like to live in certain places. In particular they hate living near algae because the algae and coral compete for the space they both need to grow. Perhaps if there are more vegetarians, like urchins, eating algae on the reef then corals would have less competition and more space to grow.	1	Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, Texas
Do urchins flip out in hot water?	animals, climate change, marine, heatwaves, urchins, behavior, invertebrates, environmental change	Periods of unusual warming in the ocean are called marine heatwaves. During marine heatwaves, water gets 2-3 degrees hotter than normal. That might not sound like much, but for an urchin, it is a lot. The research team decided to test whether marine heat waves could be stressing urchins by looking at a simple behavior that they could easily measure - how long it takes urchins to flip back over.	1 & 3	University of California - Santa Barbara
Coral bleaching and climate change	climate change, coral reef, marine, mutualism, temperature, animals, algae, adaptation, evolution	Corals are animals that build coral reefs. They look brown and green because they have small plants, called algae, that live inside them. The coral animal and the algae work together to produce food so that corals can grow big. When the water gets too warm, sometimes the coral and algae can no longer work together. The algae leave and the corals turn white, called coral bleaching. Scientists want to study coral bleaching so they can protect corals and the reefs that provide a home for so many different species.	1	Florida Keys, Florida
Corals in a strange place	adaptation, coral reef, mangrove, morphology	When you picture coral, you might imagine beautiful reef structures with clear water and colorful corals and fishes. But, there are actually corals that live in other habitats as well! Does the same species of coral look different depending on where it lives?	2	Belize
Raising Nemo: Parental care in the clown anemonefish	animals, behavior, coral reef, ecology, fish, marine, mating, tradeoff, plasticity	Offspring in many animal species rely on parental care; the more time and energy parents invest in their young, the more likely it is that their offspring will survive. However, parental care is costly for the parents. The more time spent on care, the less time they have to find food or care for themselves. In the clown anemonefish, the amount of food available may impact parental care behaviors. When there is food freely available in the environment, are parents able to spend more time caring for their young?	3	Boston University, Massachusetts
Buried seeds, buried treasure	germination, long-term, plants, seed bank, seed viability, agriculture	Over 100 years ago, a scientist named William J. Beal had a question: how long do seeds survive underground? He started an experiment by filling 20 bottles with seeds from 50 plant species, buried them on campus, and creating a map to find them in the future. This map have been passed down from scientist generation to generation. The most recent bottle was dug up in 2021, and scientists tested how many seeds were still able to germinate after 142 years underground.	2	Michigan State University
Getting to the roots of serpentine soil	soil, plasticity, limiting factors, plants, ecology	When an organism grows in different environments, some traits change to fit the conditions. Serpentine soils have high amounts of toxic heavy metals, do not hold water well, and have low nutrient levels. Low levels of water and nutrients found in serpentine soils limit plant growth. Because serpentine soils have fewer plant nutrients and are drier than non-serpentine soils, Alexandria thought that plants growing in serpentine soils may not invest as much into large root systems.	2	University of Miami, Florida
The prairie burns with desire	ecology, prairie, plants, fire ecology, human impact, reproduction, land management	Fire plays a crucial role for prairie habitats across North America. Stuart became interested in learning more about how fire affects the reproduction of native prairie plants. He knew that Echinacea plants grow in many places, but they have a hard time making seeds. He looked at a long-term dataset to see whether fire might help Echinacea by getting plants on the same schedule to make flowers at the same time, bringing neighbors closer to each other and making it easier to be pollinated.	3	Staffanson Prairie Preserve, Minnesota
Fertilizer and fire change microbes in prairie soil	biodiversity, diversity, grassland, microbes, plants, prairie, soil, agriculture	Prairies grow where three environmental conditions come together – a variable climate, frequent fires, and large herbivores roaming the landscape. However, prairies are experiencing many changes. For example, people now work to prevent fires, which allows forest species take over. In addition, land previously covered in prairie is now being used for agriculture. How do these changes affect the plants, animals, and microbial communities that inhabit prairies?	4	Konza Prairie Biological Station, Kansas
Does more rain make healthy bison babies?	animals, ecology, keystone species, plants, prairie, precipitation, agriculture	The North American Bison is an important species for the prairie ecosystem. Bison affect the health of the prairie in many ways, and are also affected by the prairie as well. Each year when calves are born, scientists go out and determine their health by weighing them. This long-term dataset can be used to figure out whether environmental conditions from the previous year affect the health of the calves born in the current year.	2	Konza Prairie Biological Station, Kansas
City parks: wildlife islands in a sea of cement	animals, biodiversity, ecology, urban, island biogeography, parks	It's tempting to think that wild places are only somewhere "out there", far away from humans and cities. However, as more and more people move into cities, they are quickly becoming the main place where many people experience nature and interact with wildlife. A camera-trapping project in the Cleveland Metroparks reveals a vast urban wilderness that is home to countless wild creatures living among us.	3	Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio
Candid camera: capturing the secret lives of carnivores	animals, biodiversity, carnivores, ecology, island biogeography	Carnivores captivate people’s interest for many reasons – they are charismatic, stealthy, and can be dangerous. Not only are they fascinating, they’re also ecologically important. Carnivores help keep prey populations in balance. While they are important, they are also difficult to monitor.	3	Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin
Picky eaters: dissecting poo to examine moose diets	animal behavior, animals, ecology, foraging, herbivory, national park, predator-prey	Since wolves have disappeared from Isle Royale, moose populations have exploded. Moose are important herbivores, and with so many on the island they are having strong impacts on the island's plant communities. Do moose just eat any plant they find, or do they have a preference for certain types?	3	Isle Royale National Park, Michigan
Deadly windows	animals, behavior, birds, environmental, urban	Glass makes for a great windowpane because you can see right through it. However, this makes windows very dangerous for birds. Many birds die from window collisions in urban areas. In North America window collisions kill up to 1 billion birds every year! Perhaps local urban birds are able to learn the locations of windows and avoid collisions. By comparing window collisions by local birds to those of migrant birds just passing through, we can determine if local birds have learned to deal with this challenge.	2	Virginia Zoological Park, Virginia
Bringing back the Trumpeter Swan	animals, biodiversity, birds, ecology, environmental, restoration	Trumpeter swans are the biggest native waterfowl species in North America. At one time they were found across North America, but by 1935 there were only 69 known individuals in the continental U.S.! In the 1980s, many biologists came together to create a Trumpeter Swan reintroduction plan. Since then the North American Trumpeter Swan survey has been conducted to measure swan populations and determine whether this species is recovering.	3	Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, Michigan
The birds of Hubbard Brook, Part I	animals, biodiversity, birds, climate change, succession, disturbance, ecology	Avian ecologists at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest have been monitoring bird populations for over 50 years. The data collected during this time is one of the longest bird studies ever conducted! What can we learn from this long-term data set? Are bird populations remaining stable over time?	2	Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire
The birds of Hubbard Brook, Part II	animals, biodiversity, birds, climate change, succession, disturbance, ecology, habitat	Hubbard Brook was heavily logged and disturbed in the early 1900s. When logging ended in 1915, trees began to grow back. The forest then went through secondary succession, which refers to the naturally occurring changes in forest structure that happen as a forest ages after it has been cut or otherwise disturbed. Can these changes in habitat availability, due to succession, explain why the number of birds are declining at Hubbard Brook? Are all bird species responding succession in the same way?	3	Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire
Trees and bushes, home sweet home for warblers	animals, biodiversity, birds, disturbance, ecology, environmental, habitat	Andrews Forest is a long-term ecological research site where there have been manipulations of timber harvest and forest re-growth. This history has large impacts on the bird habitats found in an area. Each year since 2009, scientists have gone out and measured bird populations and habitat types. Two species of warbler with very different habitat preferences can give insight into how birds are responding to these disturbances.	4	HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon
Is chocolate for the birds?	agriculture, animals, birds, biodiversity, ecology, rainforest, succession, habitat	Humans invented agriculture 9,000 years ago, and today it covers 40% of Earth’s land surface. To grow our crops, native plants are often removed, causing the loss of animals that relied on these native plants for habitat. However, sometimes animals can use crop species for food and shelter. For example, the cacao tree may provide habitat for bird species in the rainforests of Costa Rica. Will the abundance and types of birds differ in cacao plantations, compared to native rainforests?	2	Limón Province, Costa Rica
Feral chickens fly the coop	adaptation, animals, behavior, birds, ecology, evolution, invasive species, mating, heredity, genetics	Sometimes domesticated animals escape captivity and interbreed with closely related wild relatives. Their hybrid offspring have some traits from the wild parent, and some from the domestic parent. Traits that help hybrids survive and reproduce will be favored by natural selection. On the island of Kauai, domestic chickens escaped and recently interbred with wild Red Junglefowl to produce a hybrid population. Over time, will the hybrids on Kauai evolve to be more like chickens, or more like Red Junglefowl?	3	Kauai, Hawaii
Sexy smells	adaptation, animal behavior, animals, birds, mating, evolution, sexual selection	Animals collect information about each other and the rest of the world using multiple senses, including sight, sound, and smell. They use this information to decide what to eat, where to live, and who to pick as a mate. Many male birds have brightly colored feathers and ornaments that are attractive to females. Visual signals like these ornaments have been studied a lot in birds, but birds may be able to determine the quality of a potential mate using other senses as well, such as their smell!	2	Mountain Lake Biological Station, Virginia
Finding Mr. Right	adaptation, animals, behavior, biodiversity, birds, evolution, genes, mating, local adaptation	Mountain chickadees are small birds that live in the mountains. To deal with living in a harsh environment during the winter, mountain chickadees store large amounts of food throughout the forest. Compared to populations at lower elevations, birds from higher elevations are smarter and have better spatial memory, helping them better find stored food. Smarter females from high elevations may be contributing to local adaptation by preferring to breed with males from their own population.	4	University of Nevada Reno & Sagehen Experimental Forest
Spiders under the influence	animals, invertebrates, habitat, chemical pollution, aquatic, streams	People use pharmaceutical drugs, personal care products, and other chemicals on a daily basis. Often, they get washed down our drains and end up in local waterways. Chris knew that many types of spiders live near streams and are exposed to toxins through the prey they eat. Chris wanted to compare effects of the chemicals on spiders in rural and urban environments. By comparing spider webs in these two habitats, they could see how different the webs are and infer how many chemicals are in the waterways.	2	Baltimore Ecosystem Study LTER
Trees and the city	biodiversity, ecology, environmental justice, social demographics, urban	Trees provide important benefits, such as beauty and shade. The number and types of tree species that are planted in a neighborhood can increase the benefits received from trees in urban areas. Based on her own observations, Adrienne started conversations with her colleagues about differences in urban landscapes. They conducted a study to see how social demographics of neighborhoods may be related to tree species richness and tree cover.	3	Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota
Salty sediments? What bacteria have to say about chloride pollution	bacteria, chemistry, disturbance, environmental, microbes, pollution, salt, urban, water	In snowy climates, salt is applied to roads to help keep them safe during the winter. When the snow melts, salt makes its way into local rivers. Halophiles, or bacteria that thrive in salty conditions, might be a good indicator of how much salt is in a particular waterway, telling scientists when certain areas have become too polluted with salt.	3	Southeastern Wisconsin
A tail of two scorpions	animal behavior, animals, predation	Species rely on a variety of methods to defend against predators, including camouflage, speedy escape, or retreating to the safety of a shelter. Other animals, such as scorpions, have painful venomous stings. Scientists wanted to know whether the pain of a scorpion sting was enough to deter predators, like the grasshopper mouse.	2	Santa Rita Mountains, Arizona
Why are butterfly wings colorful?	adaptation, animals, insects, models, predation	Big wings allow butterflies to fly everywhere with ease. But you may wonder, why are the wings of some species so brightly colored? The red postman butterfly lives in rainforests in Mexico, Central America, and South America. The color pattern on its wing is usually a mix of red, yellow, and black. These bright colors may warn birds and other predators that they would not make a tasty meal. Another potential reason for butterflies to have bright colors and dramatic patterns is to attract mates.	3	La Selva Tropical Biological Station, Sarapiquí, Costa Rica
To bee or not to bee aggressive	animals, behavior, genes, insects, tradeoff, plasticity, aggression	Honey bees turn nectar from flowers into honey, and honey serves as an energy-rich food source for the colony. Honey also makes hives a target for break ins by animals that want to steal it. Bees need to aggressively defend their honey when the hive is threatened. They also need to ensure that they do not waste energy on unnecessary aggressive behaviors when the threat level is low. One way bees might match their aggressiveness to the threat level in the environment is learning from adults when they are young.	3	University of Kentucky, Kentucky
Ant wars!	aggression, animals, behavior, competition, insects	Neighboring colonies of pavement ants often compete for food, leading to tension. If an ant finds a non-nestmate, it organizes a large war against the nearby colony. This results in huge sidewalk battles that can include thousands of ants fighting for up to 12 hours! Scientists wanted to know, what are the factors that lead to war?	3	University of Colorado-Denver and University of South Dakota
CSI: Crime Solving Insects	animals, insects, parasitism	You might think maggots (blow fly larvae) are gross, but without their help in decomposition we would all trip over dead bodies every time we went outside! Forensic entomologists also use these amazing insects to help solve crimes. Blow flies oviposit on dead bodies; the age of the maggots helps scientists determine how long ago a body died. Scientists noticed parasitic wasps were also present at some bodies. Might these wasps delay blow fly oviposition and interfere with scientists' estimates of time of death?	3	Pierce Cedar Creek Institute, Michigan & Valparaiso University, Indiana
Shooting the poop	adaptation, animal behavior, animals, insects, predation	Caterpillars are a great source of food for many species. The silver-spotted skipper caterpillar has a variety of defense strategies against predators, including building leaf shelters for protection. This caterpillar was also discovered to “shoot its poop”, sometimes launching it over 1.5m! Might this very strange behavior serve as some sort of defense against predators?	2	Georgetown University, Washington DC
How the cricket lost its song, Part I	adaptation, animal behavior, animals, evolution, mating, parasitism, rapid evolution	Pacific field crickets live on several Hawaiian Islands, including Kauai. Male field crickets make a loud, long-distance song to help females find them, and then switch to a quiet courtship song once a female comes in close. One summer scientists noticed that the crickets on the island were unusually quiet. Back in the lab they saw males that had lost their specialized wing structures used to produce song! Why did these males lose their wing structures?	3	Kauai Agricultural Research Center - Kapaa, Hawaii
How the cricket lost its song, Part II	adaptation, animal behavior, animals, evolution, mating, parasitism, rapid evolution	Without their song, how are flatwing crickets able to attract females? In some other animals species, males use an alternative to singing, called satellite behavior. Satellite males hang out near a singing male and attempt to mate with females who have been attracted by the song. Perhaps the satellite behavior gives flatwing males the opportunity to mate with females who were attracted to the few singing males left on Kauai.	3	Kauai Agricultural Research Center - Kapaa, Hawaii
Purring crickets: The evolution of a new cricket song	adaptation, animal behavior, animals, evolution, mating, parasitism, rapid evolution	About twenty years ago, scientists discovered male Pacific field crickets in several spots in Hawaii had stopped making songs due to selection from a parasitoid fly that uses the songs to locate their hosts. One summer, scientists heard what sounded like a purring cat, but there was no cat in sight. This sound was coming from crickets, and was unlike anything ever observed before. Could it be the beginning of evolution of a novel mating signal?	3	Kauai Agricultural Research Center - Kapaa, Hawaii
Beetle battles	adaptation, animals, behavior, competition, evolution, insects, mating	Male animals spend a lot of time and energy trying to attract females. They may fight with other males or court females directly. Is there one trait that is both good for fighting males and attracting females? In the horned dung beetle, males have to fight with other males for space in underground tunnels where females mate and lay their eggs. Males also attract females by tapping on their backs. Males that are stronger may potentially be better at both defending tunnels and at attracting females by tapping.	2	Perth, Australia
Tree-killing beetles	animals, biodiversity, disturbance, ecology, environmental, insects, plants	A beetle the size of a grain of rice seems insignificant compared to a vast forest. However, during outbreaks the number of mountain pine beetles can skyrocket, leading to the death of many trees. Recent outbreaks of mountain pine beetles killed millions of acres of lodgepole pine trees across western North America. Widespread tree death caused by mountain pine beetles can impact human safety, wildfires, nearby streamflow, and habitat for wildlife.	2	Colorado State University, Colorado
Mowing for monarchs, Part I	animals, behavior, biodiversity, disturbance, ecology, plants, insects	During the spring and summer months, monarch butterflies lay their eggs on milkweed plants. Milkweed plays an important role in the monarch butterfly’s life cycle. When milkweed is cut at certain times of the year new shoots grow, which are softer and easier for caterpillars to eat. Scientists set out to see if mowing milkweed plants could help boost struggling monarch populations.	2	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
Mowing for monarchs, Part II	animals, behavior, biodiversity, disturbance, ecology, plants, insects, predation	When the scientists mowed down milkweed plants for their experiment, they changed more than the age of the milkweed plants. They also removed other plant species in the background community. Perhaps the patterns they were seeing were driven not by milkweed age, but by eliminating predators from the patches they mowed.	2	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
How milkweed plants defend against monarch butterflies	herbivory, evolution, coevolution, plants, insects, ecology	For millions of years, monarch butterflies have been antagonizing milkweed plants. Although adult monarchs drink nectar from flowers, their caterpillars only eat milkweed leaves, which harms the plants. The only food for monarchs is milkweed leaves, meaning they have evolved to be highly specialized, picky eaters. But their food is not a passive victim. Like most other plants, milkweeds fight back with defenses against herbivory. Which defensive traits are helping in the fight against herbivory?	3	Cornell University
Where to find the hungry, hungry herbivores	herbivory, plants, insects, ecology	When travelling to warm, tropical places you are exposed to greater risk of diseases. The same pattern of risk is true for other species like plants grown for food; crops in warm places have more problems with pests than those in colder areas. Does this pattern hold for plants in the wild as well?	2	Michigan State University
Are plants more toxic in the tropics?	herbivory, diversity, plants, insects, ecology, adaptation	Long before chemists learned how to make medicines in the laboratory, people found their medicines in plants. To this day, people still extract some medicinal drugs from plants. But, why do plants make these chemicals that are often so useful to people? Many of these chemicals are to reduce herbivory. Carina thought that this might differ by latitude, or distance from the Equator. Are tropical plants more toxic?	3	Michigan State University
Do insects prefer local or foreign foods?	herbivory, invasive species, plants, insects, enemy release, ecology	Insects that feed on plants, called herbivores, can have big effects on how plants grow. A plant with leaves eaten by herbivores will likely do worse than a plant that is not eaten. Herbivores may even determine how well an exotic plant does in its new habitat and whether it becomes invasive. Understanding what makes a species become invasive could help control invasions already underway, and prevent new ones in the future.	2	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
Do invasive species escape their enemies?	herbivory, invasive species, plants, insects, enemy release, ecology	Invasive species have been introduced by humans to a new area and negatively impact places they invade. Many things change for an invasive species when it is moved from one area to another. For example, a plant that is moved across oceans may not bring its enemies along for the ride. Now that the plant is in a new area with nothing to eat or infect it, the plant could potentially do very well and become invasive.	2	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
Testing the tolerance of invasive plants	ecology, herbivory, invasive species, plants, tolerance	People move species around the globe, and some of these species cause problems where they are introduced. What is it about these invasive species that makes them able to invade? Perhaps certain traits cause invasive species to be more troublesome than others. By studying trait differences between native and invasive populations of the same species, we can learn something about the causes of invasions.	3	McLaughlin Natural Reserve, California
Invasion meltdown	climate change, ecology, invasive species, plants, temperature	Humans are changing the earth in many ways, including adding greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere, which contributes to climate change, and introducing species around the globe, which can lead to invasive species. Scientists wanted to know, could climate change actually help invasive species? Because invasive species have already survived transport from one habitat to another, they may be species that are better able to handle change, such as temperature changes.	3	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
Springing forward	climate change, phenology, plants, temperature	What does climate change mean for flowering plants that rely on temperature cues to determine when it is time to flower? Scientists who study phenology, or the timing if life-history events in plants and animals, predict that with warming temperatures, plants will produce their flowers earlier and earlier each year.	1 & 3	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
The sound of seagrass	acoustics, sound, photosynthesis, marine, productivity, decibels, physics	Underwater seagrass meadows have high plant productivity, or growth, which could help offset the effects of climate change. Megan and Kevin are working with biologists to determine the value of applying sound-based methods to monitor photosynthesis in seagrass meadows. They wanted to see whether ambient sound levels were noticeably different during peak photosynthesis times.	3	Gulf of Mexico, Texas
Seagrass survival in a super salty lagoon	climate change, ecology, environmental, long-term, marine, plants, salinity	Unfortunately, seagrasses are disappearing worldwide. Seagrasses are sensitive to changes in their environment because they have particular conditions that they prefer. Kyle started working with Ken during graduate school and wanted to understand more about what environmental conditions, such as salinity, temperature, and light levels may have caused the decline they saw in manatee grass in Laguna Madre.	3	Laguna Madre, Gulf of Mexico, Texas
Lake Superior Rhythms	amplitude, aquatic, atmosphere, environmental, physics, student research, wave period, waves	In high school, Gena and Ali set out to learn about the geophysical forces acting on Lake Superior. They wanted to investigate why they would sometimes see such dramatic fluctuations in Lake Superior water levels. They learned that large lakes exhibit a phenomenon called a seiche (pronounced saysh) and they decided to investigate how often the water switched directions and how much the water level changed because of the seiche.	2	Bayfield, Wisconsin
The end of winter as we’ve known it?	climate change, ice cover	Lake Superior plays a vital role in the lives of people who live and work on its shores, and therefore all sorts of data are recorded to help understand and take care of it. Forrest, a high school student, used data from archives to figure out if the ice season was getting shorter each winter in his home town. The length of the ice season is important because it frees the island residents from working around a ferry schedule, allowing them to drive on the ice to get to the mainland.	3	Madeline Island, Wisconsin
When a species can’t stand the heat	animals, climate change, disturbance, ecology, environmental, mating, temperature	Tuatara are a unique species of reptile found only in New Zealand. In this species, the temperature of the nest during egg development determines the sex of offspring. Warm nests lead to more males, and cool nests lead to more females. With warming temperatures due to climate change, scientists expect the sex ratio to become more and more unbalanced over time, with males making up more of the population. This could leave tuatara populations with too few females to sustain their numbers.	3	North Brother Island, New Zealand
What do trees know about rain?	climate change, dendrochronology, ecology, plants, precipitation, temperature, water	The typical climate of arid northwest Australia consists of long drought periods with a few very wet years sprinkled in. Scientists predict that climate change will cause these cycles to become more extreme – droughts will become longer and periods of rain will become wetter. When variability is the norm, how can scientists tell if the climate is changing and droughts and rain events today are more intense than what we've seen in the past? The answer to this challenge comes from trees!	3	Pilbara region, northwest Australia
Changing climates in the Rocky Mountains	citizen science, climate change, community science, ecology, environmental, plants	As the climate warms and precipitation changes, plants may have to move to survive. To figure out if species are moving, we need to know where they’ve lived in the past, and if climates are changing. One way that we can study both things is to use the Global Vegetation Project. The goal of this project is to curate a global database of plant photos that can be used by educators and students around the world.	4	Rocky Mountains, Wyoming
A window into a tree’s world	climate change, dendrochronology, ecology, plants, temperature	Scientists are very interested in learning how trees respond to rapidly warming temperatures. Luckily, trees offer us a window into their lives through their growth rings. Growth rings are found within the trunk, beneath the bark. These rings provide a long historical record, which can be used to study how trees respond to climate change.	2	Harvard Forest LTER, Massachusetts
Breathing in, Part I	climate change, photosynthesis, respiration, carbon	Photosynthesis is the process by which trees and other plants trap the sun’s energy within the molecular bonds of glucose. Tree growth pulls carbon out of the atmosphere and trees hold on to it for long periods of time. This process is known as carbon sequestration or carbon accumulation. Kristina and Susan decided they needed to work together to learn more about how carbon accumulation rates and how they differ across various types of forests found around the world.	4	Global
Breathing in, Part II	climate change, photosynthesis, respiration, carbon, climate model, precision	Like many other scientists, Susan and Kristina are concerned about global warming. Global warming is the well-documented rise of the temperature of Earth’s surface, oceans, and atmosphere. They wanted to make sure that those creating climate change policy have the most precise data available. They compared their ForC model, which predicts carbon accumulation based on forest regrowth across the glove, to a similar model the IPCC was using.	4	Global
Beetle, it’s cold outside!	animals, climate change, ectotherm, insects, temperature, snow	Many species rely on the snow for protection from the winter’s cold. The snow acts as an insulating blanket, covering the soil and keeping it from getting too cold. If temperatures get too hot in the winter, snow melts and leaves the soil uncovered for longer periods of time. This leads to the shocking pattern that warmer temperatures actually means the soil gets colder! How will species that rely on the snow, like lady beetles, respond to warmer temperatures due to climate change?	2	University of California, Berkeley
Benthic buddies	adaptation, animals, arctic, biodiversity, ecology, environmental, invertebrates, lagoons, marine	Arctic lagoons support a surprisingly wide range of marine organisms! Marine worms, snails, and clams live in the muddy sediment of these lagoons. Having a rich variety of benthic animals in these habitats supports fish, which migrate along the shoreline and eat these animals once the ice has left. Ken, Danny, and Kaylie are interested in learning more about how the extreme seasons of the High Arctic affect the marine life that lives there.	2	Beaufort Lagoon LTER site, Alaska
To reflect, or not to reflect, that is the question	albedo, Arctic, climate change, environmental, ice, temperature, water	Long-term observations of sea ice extent at the North Pole show it is declining, and fast! Why is this important? Sea ice has a higher albedo than sea water, meaning it reflects back more of the sun's energy. If Arctic albedo decreases, this might create a feedback and lead to even more warming.	3	University of Colorado, Boulder
The Arctic is melting – so what?	climate change, marine, models, temperature, water, weather, snow, albedo, Arctic	Think of the North Pole as one big ice cube – a vast sheet of ice, only a few meters thick, floating over the Arctic Ocean. With global warming, more sea ice is melting than ever before. If more ice melts in the summer than is formed in the winter, the Arctic Ocean will become ice-free. Scientists ran a climate model to determine whether this loss of sea ice could affect extreme weather in the northern hemisphere.	4	Arctic Ocean, North Pole
Eavesdropping on the ocean	acoustic ecology, physics, whales technology, mammals, marine biology, renewable energy, population, human impact	Winds that blow over the ocean are more consistent than on land, making offshore wind energy a potentially reliable renewable energy source. The construction of offshore windmills could impact whales. Scientists want to see whether it is possible to identify the best time of year for construction with the least disturbance to marine mammals. Acoustic ecology is a way to learn more about whales their presence in the proposed wind energy areas through sound.	4	Offshore by Morro Bay, California
When whale I sea you again?	climate change, marine, temperature, water, whales	People have hunted whales for over 5,000 years for their meat, oil, and blubber. Today, as populations are struggling to recover from whaling, humpback whales are faced with additional challenges due to climate change. Their main food source is krill, which are small crustaceans that live under sea ice. As sea ice disappears, the number of krill is getting lower and lower. Humpback whale population recovery may be limited because their main food source is threatened by ongoing ocean warming.	4	Western Antarctic Peninsula, Palmer Station LTER
Can biochar improve crop yields?	agriculture, environmental, fertilization, plants, soil, water	Biochar is a pretty unique material. It is created when things burn without oxygen. Most biochar has lots of tiny spaces, or pores, that cause it to act like a hard sponge when it is in the soil. Due to these pores, the biochar can hold more water and nutrients than the soil can by itself. Adding biochar to the soil may help farmers grow more crops, especially in areas prone to drought where water is limited.	3	Colorado State University Agricultural Research and Development Center
A plant breeder’s quest to improve perennial grain	agriculture, genetics, artificial selection, DNA, phenotype, genotype, nucleotides, sequencing, Kernza®	Kernza® is a new grain crop that is similar to wheat. Kernza® breeders are working on improving the same traits that have already been improved in annual wheat, including larger seed size. Hannah wanted to see whether different genetic makeups (genotypes) lead to differences in seed size (phenotypes) so selecting individuals to breed becomes easier and costs are reduced.	4	University of Minnesota
Nitrate: Good for plants, bad for drinking water	agriculture, environmental, fertilization, nitrogen, soil, water, plants, human health, crops, Kernza®	Nitrate dissolves well in water. This helps make it an easy form of nitrogen for plants to use, but it can also end up in rivers and groundwater where it becomes harmful to human health. Most of the crops we grow are annual plants with shallow roots, but perhaps planting perennial crops can help take more nitrate from the soil before it reaches our groundwater.	3	University of Minnesota
Collaborative cropping: Can plants help each other grow?	agriculture, environmental, plants, crops, Kernza®	Most of the crops grown on farms in the United States are annual plants, like corn, soybeans, and wheat. However, there may be potential benefits of perennial plants that could increase sustainability. One strategy to improve field conditions for perennial crops and to increase yield could be to plant legumes alongside them.	3	University of Minnesota
A difficult drought	fermentation, ethanol, agriculture, biofuels, climate change, plants, carbon	Biofuels are made from plants that are growing today, and are being considered as an alternative to fossil fuels. To become biofuels, plants need to go through a series of chemical and physical processes that transform the sugars into ethanol. Scientists are interested in seeing how yeast’s ability to transform sugar into fuel is affected by environmental conditions in fields, such as droughts.	2	University Wisconsin-Madison, GLBRC, Kellogg Biological Station &
Growing energy: comparing biofuel crop biomass	agriculture, biofuels, climate change, fertilization, plants	Corn is one of the best crops for producing biomass for fossil fuels, however it is an annual and needs very fertile soil. To grow corn, farmers add a lot of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to their fields. Other crops, like switchgrass, prairie, poplar trees, and Miscanthus grass are perennials and require fewer fertilizers and pesticides to grow. If perennials can produce high levels of biomass with low inputs, perhaps they could produce more biomass than corn under certain low nutrient conditions.	3	GLBRC, Kellogg Biological Station & University Wisconsin-Madison
Fertilizing biofuels may cause release of greenhouse gasses	agriculture, biofuels, climate change, fertilization, greenhouse gasses, nitrogen, plants	One way to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we release into the atmosphere could be to grow our fuel instead of drilling for it. Unlike fossil fuels that can only release CO2, biofuels remove CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow and photosynthesize, potentially balancing the CO2 released when they are burned for fuel. However, the plants we grow for biofuels don’t necessarily absorb all greenhouse gas that is released during the process of growing them on farms and converting them into fuels.	3	GLBRC, Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
The ground has gas!	agriculture, climate change, temperature, greenhouse gasses, nitrogen, plants	Nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide are responsible for much of the warming of the global average temperature that is causing climate change. Sometimes soils give off, or emit, these greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere, adding to climate change. Currently scientists figuring out what causes differences in how much of each type of greenhouse gas soils emit.	3	GLBRC, Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
Are forests helping in the fight against climate change?	climate change, ecology, environmental, greenhouse gasses, photosynthesis, plants	In the 1990s, scientists began to wonder what role forests were having in the exchange of carbon in and out of the atmosphere. Were forests overall storing carbon (carbon sink), or releasing it (carbon source)? To test this, they built large metal towers that stand taller than the forest trees around them and use sensors to measure the speed, direction, and CO2 concentration of each puff of air that passes by. These long term measurements can tell us whether forests help in the fight against climate change.	3	Harvard Forest LTER, Massachusetts
Sink or source? How grazing geese impact the carbon cycle	carbon cycle, Arctic, wetlands, primary production, photosynthesis, respiration, climate change, birds, ecology	When geese graze on wetland plants, they remove plant matter, potentially decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, that is released during photosynthesis. This is important because it could change whether this ecosystem is a carbon sink or a carbon source. We want ecosystems to be carbon sinks because then they keep CO2 out of the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming.	3	Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska
Poop, poop, goose!	wetlands, Arctic, carbon cycle, climate change, disturbance, ecology, environmental, greenhouse gasses, birds	Each spring, millions of birds return to the Y-K Delta to breed. With all these geese coming together in one area, they create quite a mess – they drop tons of poop onto the soil. So much poop in fact, that scientists wonder whether poop from this area in Alaska could have a global impact!	3	Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska
Going underground to investigate carbon locked in soils	climate change, ecology, environmental, greenhouse gasses, soil carbon, microbes, chemistry, agriculture	Soil is an important part of the carbon cycle because it traps carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere and locked underground. Carbon enters the soil when plants and animals die, and their organic matter is decomposed by soil bacteria and fungi. Climate affects rates of decomposition, and therefore may affect how much carbon becomes stable and attached to minerals in the soil, feeding back to affect climate change.	3	Indiana University
The carbon stored in mangrove soils	carbon, climate change, disturbance, ecology, nutrients, greenhouse gasses, mangrove, plants	Mangroves are globally important for many reasons. They form dense forested wetlands that protect the coast from erosion and provide critical habitat for many animals. Mangrove forests also help in the fight against climate change by storing carbon in their soils. The balance between how much carbon is added to the soils and how much is released might be dependent on a variety of factors, including tree size and amount of disturbance to the site.	2	Biscayne National Park, Florida Everglades
Mangroves on the move	climate change, ecology, environmental, fertilization, nitrogen, nutrients, phosphorus, plants, mangrove	One day out in the saltmarsh, scientists noticed something strange. A mangrove shrub was growing in a place they had not been seen before! Are the fertilizers washing into the saltmarsh from nearby urban areas responsible for this shocking discovery?	2	Guana-Tolomato-Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, Florida
Which tundra plants will win the climate change race?	climate change, nutrients, long-term data, competition, plants, ecology	While you might think of the arctic tundra as a blanket of snow and polar bears, this vast landscape supports a diversity of unique plant and animal species. Climate change is altering the arctic environment. With warmer seasons and fewer days with snow covering the ground, soils are thawing more deeply and becoming more nutrient-rich. With more nutrients available, will some plant species be able to outcompete other species by growing taller and making more leaves than other plant species?	3	Toolik Field Station, Alaska
Streams as sensors: Arctic watersheds as indicators of change	climate change, ecology, environmental, carbon, nitrogen, permafrost	As the world warms from climate change, the Alaskan Arctic is heating up. This is causing permafrost, or the frozen underground layer of rock and ice, to melt. When permafrost melts, plant material that has been stored for thousands of years begins to decay, releasing carbon and nitrogen from the system. Ecologists can act like “ecosystem accountants” measuring the balance of material that goes into and out of these systems.	3	Toolik Field Station, Alaska
Limit by limit: Nutrients control algal growth in Arctic streams	climate change, ecology, environmental, nitrogen, nutrients, phosphorus	Aquatic algae, a type of microbe that live in the water, need to take in nutrients from their surroundings for growth. Two important nutrients for algal growth are nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P). Climate change may be altering which nutrients are limiting to algae, changing food webs in the ecosystem.	3	Toolik Field Station, Alaska
Cheaters in nature – when is a mutualism not a mutualism?	evolution, legume, plants, mutualism, parasitism, rhizobia, nitrogen, fertilization, agriculture	Mutualisms are a special type of relationship in nature where two species work together and both benefit. This cooperation should lead to each partner species doing better when the other is around – without their mutualist partner, the species will have a harder time acquiring resources. But what happens when one partner cheats and takes more than it gives?	4	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
Fair traders or freeloaders?	evolution, legume, plants, mutualism, rhizobia, nitrogen, fertilization, agriculture	One example of a mutualism is the relationship between a type of bacteria, rhizobia, and plants like peas, beans, soybeans, and clover. Rhizobia live in bumps on the plant roots, where they trade their nitrogen for sugar from the plants. Rhizobia turn nitrogen from the air into a form that plants can use. Under some conditions, this mutualism could break down, for example, if one of the traded resources is very abundant in the environment.	3	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
Does a partner in crime make it easier to invade?	legume, plants, mutualism, rhizobia, invasive species, soil	Invasive plants are species that have been transported by humans from one location to another, and grow and spread quickly compared to other plants. Mutualisms can affect what happens when a plant species is moved somewhere it hasn’t been before. For invasive legumes with rhizobia mutualists, there is a chance that the rhizobia will not be transported with it and the plant will have to form new relationships with rhizobia in the new location.	3	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
Fast weeds in farmer’s fields	adaptation, agriculture, evolution, plants, heredity, genetics	Weeds in agricultural fields cost farmers $28 billion per year in just the United States alone. One of the world’s worst weeds is weedy radish, which evolved from native radish not very long ago. While weedy radish is able to take over agricultural fields, native radish cannot. What causes this difference? Perhaps it could be due to the weedy radish’s ability to flower quickly and make seeds before crops are harvested.	2	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
What big teeth you have! Sexual selection in rhesus macaques	animals, evolution, sexual selection, sexual dimorphism	In Cayo Santiago there is one of the oldest free-ranging rhesus macaque colonies in the world. Scientists have gathered data on these monkeys and their habitat for over 70 years. The program monitors individual monkeys over their entire lives, and when they die their bodies are recovered and skeletal specimens are stored in a museum. These skeletal specimens can be used by scientists today to ask new and exciting questions, for example, what traits are under sexual selection in this population?	3	Laboratory of Primate Morphology, University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus
Is it better to be bigger?	adaptation, animals, evolution, predation	Brown anoles are very small when they hatch out of the egg. Because of their small size, these anole hatchlings are eaten by many different animals, including birds, crabs, other species of anole lizards, and even adult brown anoles! Predators could be a significant force of natural selection on brown anole hatchlings. Juvenile anoles that get eaten by predators will not survive to reproduce.	3	Matanzas River, Florida
Is it dangerous to be a showoff?	adaptation, animals, evolution, predation, tradeoff, sexual dimorphism	Brown anoles are small lizards that are abundant in Florida. They have an extendable red and yellow flap of skin on their throat, called a dewlap. To communicate with other brown anoles, they extend their dewlap and move their head and body. Males have particularly large dewlaps, which they often display to defend territory or attract females. Females also have dewlaps but use them less often. How might natural selection on this trait differ between males and females?	3	Matanzas River, Florida
Hold on for your life! Part I	adaptation, animals, disturbance, evolution, natural selection, genetic drift, hurricane	In the fall of 2017, a team of scientists from Harvard University and the Paris Natural History Museum visited Pine Cay and Water Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands. They were there to collect data on a small local lizard, the Turks and Caicos anole, as part of a larger environmental conservation project. Unbeknownst to them, a storm was brewing to the south of the islands, and it was about to change the entire trajectory of their research.	3	Turks and Caicos, Caribbean
Hold on for your life! Part II	adaptation, animals, disturbance, evolution, natural selection, genetic drift, hurricane	The scientists needed to find out how lizards behave in hurricane-force winds. Obviously, they couldn’t stick around to watch lizards ride out a storm, so they designed a safe experiment that would simulate hurricane force winds. They bought the strongest leaf blower they could find, set it up in their hotel room on Pine Cay, and videotaped 40 lizards as they clung to a perch while slowly ramping up the leaf blower until the lizards were blown (unharmed) into a safety net.	3	Turks and Caicos, Caribbean
Sticky situations: big and small animals with sticky feet	adaptation, animals, chemistry, physics, scale, surface area	Sticky, or adhesive, toe pads have evolved in many different kinds of animals, including insects, arachnids, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. The heavier the animal, the more adhesion they will need to stick and support their mass. For tiny species like mites and flies, tiny toes can do the job. Each fly toe only has to be able to support a small amount of weight. But when looking at larger animals like geckos, their increased weight means they need much larger toe pads to support them.	4	BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action
Lizards, iguanas, and snakes! Oh my!	animals, biodiversity, disturbance restoration, urban	People have dramatically changed the natural riparian habitat found along rivers and streams. In many urban areas today, these riparian habitats are being rehabilitated with the hope of bringing back native species, such as reptiles. Reptiles, including snakes and lizards, are extremely important to monitor as they play important roles in ecosystems. Are rehabilitation efforts in Phoenix successful at restoring reptile diversity and abundance?	3	Salt River, Phoenix, Arizona
Blinking out?	agriculture, insects, population, biodiversity, ecology	Many people have fond memories of watching fireflies blink across open fields and collecting them in jars as children. This is one of the reasons why fireflies are a beloved insect species. However, there is concern that their populations are in decline. Scientists turned to the longest-running study of fireflies known to science to see if this is the case!	2	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
Urbanization and estuary eutrophication	algae, eutrophication, fertilization, marine, nitrogen, phosphorus, wetland, urban	Estuaries are very productive habitats found where freshwater rivers meet the ocean. They are important natural filters for water and protect the coast during storms. A high diversity of plants, fish, shellfish and birds call estuaries home. Estuaries are threatened by eutrophication, or the process by which an ecosystem becomes more productive when excess nutrients are added to the system. Parts of the Plum Island Estuary in MA may be more at risk from eutrophication due to their proximity to urban areas.	4	Plum Island Estuary, Massachusetts
Love that dirty water	environmental, urban, water, GIS, landscapes, impervious surfaces, ecosystem services	As green spaces are lost to make room for homes and businesses, there are fewer forests and wetlands to filter our drinking water. A team of scientists used the New England Landscapes Future Explorer to study this challenge for the Merrimack River, an important river for the people of New England.	4	New England
Green Crabs: Invaders in the Great Marsh	animals, invasive species, substrate, wetland, erosion	The introduction of invasive species, such as the European Green Crab, poses a great threat to marshes. Digging behaviors of the Green Crab disturb sediments on the marsh floor and may have lead to the destruction of native eelgrass populations, which are sensitive to disturbance. Scientists aimed to identify locations where crab numbers are low and eelgrass can be restored.	2	Essex Bay, Massachusetts
The mystery of Plum Island Marsh	fertilization, fish, marine, mollusk, water, wetland	Salt marshes are among the most productive coastal ecosystems, and support a diversity of plants and animals. Algae and marsh plants feed many invertebrates, like snails and crabs, which are then eaten by larger fish and birds. In Plum Island, scientists have been fertilizing and studying salt marsh creeks to see how added nutrients affect the system. They noticed that fish populations seemed to be crashing in the fertilized creeks, while the mudflats were covered in mudsnails. Could there be a link?	3	Plum Island Estuary, Massachusetts
Does sea level rise harm saltmarsh sparrows?	animals, birds, sea level rise, climate change, disturbance, ecology, wetland	For the last 100 years, sea levels around the globe have increased dramatically. Salt marshes grow right at sea level and are therefore very sensitive to sea level rise. Saltmarsh sparrows rely completely on salt marshes for feeding and nesting, and therefore their numbers are expected to decline as sea levels rise and they lose nesting sites. Will this threatened bird species decline over time as sea levels rise?	3	Plum Island Estuary, Massachusetts
Keeping up with the sea level	climate change, disturbance, ecology, sea level rise, plants, substrate, wetland	Salt marshes are very important habitats for many species and protect the coast from erosion. Unfortunately, rising sea levels due to climate change are threatening these important ecosystems. As sea levels rise, the elevation of the marsh soil must rise as well so the plants have ground high enough to keep them above sea level. Basically, it is like a race between the marsh floor and sea level to see who can stay on top!	3	Plum Island Estuary, Massachusetts
Is your salt marsh in the zone?	climate change, ecology, plants, sea level rise, substrate, wetland	Beginning in the 1980s, scientist James began measuring the growth of marsh grasses. He discovered that their growth was higher in some years and lower in others and that there was a long-term trend of growth going up over time. Marsh grasses grow around mean sea level, or the average elevation between high and low tides. Are the grasses responding to mean sea level changing year-to-year, and increasing as our oceans warm and water levels rise due to climate change?	3	Plum Island Estuary, Massachusetts
The case of the collapsing soil	climate change, carbon, ecology, plants, phosphorus, sea level rise, respiration, substrate, wetland	The Everglades are a unique and vital ecosystem threatened by rising sea levels due to climate change. Recently scientists have observed in some areas of the wetland the soils are collapsing. What is causing this strange phenomena? Sea level rise might be stressing microbes, causing carbon to be lost to the atmosphere through increased respiration.	4	Everglades, Florida
Marvelous mud	ecology, environmental, fertilization, mud, phosphorus, substrate, water, wetland	Because mud is wet most of the time, it tends to have different properties than soil. Dead organic matter (partially decomposed plants) is an important part of mud and tends to build up in wetlands because it is decomposed more slowly under water where microbes do not have all the oxygen they need to break it down quickly. The amounts of organic matter may determine the levels of phosphorus and other nutrients held in wetland muds.	2	Fort Custer Recreation Area, Michigan
Marsh makeover	biodiversity, disturbance, ecology, greenhouse gasses, mud, plants, restoration, wetland	The muddy soils in salt marshes store a lot of carbon, compared to terrestrial dry soils. This is because they are low in oxygen needed for decomposition. For this reason they play a key role in the carbon cycle and climate change. If humans disturb marshes, reducing plant diversity and biomass, are they also disturbing the marsh's ability to sequester carbon? If a marsh is restored, can the carbon holding capacity also be brought back to previous levels?	3	Oak Island and Neponset Marsh, Boston, Massachusetts
Dangerously bold	animal behavior, animals, tradeoff, fish, predation	There are two main habitats that young bluegill sunfish can use to find food to eat – open water and cover. There is lots of food in the open water, but this habitat also has very few plants for bluegill to hide from predators, like the largemouth bass, so it’s not safe when bluegill are small! The cover habitat has less food, but it has lots of plants that make it hard for predators to see the bluegill. This sets up a situation where there are costs and benefits to using either habitat, called a tradeoff.	1	Pond Lab, Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
Which guy should she choose?	animal behavior, animals, fish, mating	Mating behavior is intriguing to study because in many animal species, males use a lot of energy to attract a female. Yet some males are able to attract zero females and other males attract many females. What accounts for this difference? What about the way a male looks, moves, or smells attracts the female? A female could benefit from identifying “high quality” males that would serve as a good father to her offspring or that would make offspring that are attractive to females in the next generation.	2	Michigan State University lab and British Columbia, Canada
Fish fights	animal behavior, animals, fish, mating	Male stickleback fish fight each other to gain territories along the bottom of the shallow areas of a lake. In these territories, males build a nest out of sand, aquatic plants, and glue they produce from their kidneys. Males then attract females to their territories with courtship dances. If a female likes a male, she will deposit her eggs in his nest. Then the male will care for those eggs and the offspring that hatch. Perhaps more aggressive males are better at defending their territory and nests.	2	Michigan State University lab and British Columbia, Canada
Clique wars: social conflict in daffodil cichlids	animal behavior, animals, competition, fish	Daffodil cichlids live in social groups of several small fish and one breeding pair. The breeding male and female are the largest fist in the group, and the smaller fish help defend territory against predators and help care for newly hatched baby fish. About 200 social groups together make up a colony. Behavior within a social group may be influenced by the presence of other groups in the colony. For example, neighboring groups can be a threat because they may try to take away territory or resources.	4	The Ohio State University, Ohio
Fishy origins	citizen science, DNA, evolution, fish, PCR, marine	The population of striped bass in New Jersey is a mixed stock, meaning fish come together from different spawning grounds. Scientists want to understand where these fish come from in order to better manage their population. For their study, they needed DNA from many fish, so they turned to fishermen to help collect fin clip samples. They used these samples to identify the stocks migrating to New Jersey, and to determine if they was changing over time.	4	Monmouth University
Salmon in hot water	adaptation, animals, climate change, evolution, fish, genes, temperature, heredity, genetics	Salmon are important members of freshwater and ocean food webs. Climate change threatens salmon by warming the waters of rivers where they reproduce. To maintain healthy populations, salmon rely on cold, freshwater habitats and may go extinct as temperatures rise. However, some salmon individuals have higher thermal tolerance and are able to survive when water temperatures rise. Scientists want to know whether there is a genetic basis for the variation observed in salmon’s thermal tolerance.	4	University of Washington Hatchery, Seattle, Washington
Are you my species?	adaptation, animals, behavior, biodiversity, competition, evolution, fish, mating	How do animals know who to choose as a mate and who is a member of their own species? One way is through communication. Animals collect information about each other and the rest of the world using multiple senses, including sight, sound, and smell. Darters are a group of over 200 colorful fish species that live in lakes and rivers across the US. The bright color patterns on males may signal to females during mating who is a member of the same species and who would make a good mate.	3	University of Maryland, Baltimore
Why so blue? The determinants of color pattern in killifish, Part I	adaptation, animals, biodiversity, evolution, fish, genes, mating, heredity, genetics	In nature, animals can be found in a dazzling display of different colors and patterns. Even within one species there can be variation in color. For example, male bluefin killifish can have fins that are bright blue, red, or yellow. Becky, a scientist studying this species noticed an interesting pattern - males found in springs with crystal clear water have mostly red or yellow fins, while males found in swamps have bright blue fins. Becky wants to know, what is the driving mechanism behind this interesting pattern?	4	University of Illinois, Illinois
Why so blue? The determinants of color pattern in killifish, Part II	adaptation, animals, biodiversity, evolution, fish, genes, mating, heredity, genetics	To take a closer look at her data, Becky added information on paternal fin color into her analysis.	4	University of Illinois, Illinois
Bon Appétit! Why do male crickets feed females during courtship?	adaptation, animals, behavior, competition, insects, mating	In many species of insects and spiders, males provide females with gifts of food during courtship and mating. This is called nuptial feeding. These offerings are eaten by the female and can take many forms, including prey items the male captured, substances produced by the male, or parts from the male’s body. These gifts can cost the male a lot, so why do they give them? They may increase the male's chances of mating with a female, or they may help the female have more and healthier offspring.	4	Cornell University, New York
Stop that oxidation! What fruit flies teach us about human health	insects, model species, cell biology, genetics, cellular processes, oxidation	Each of our cells is home to mitochondria, tiny factories whose job is to turn the food we eat into the energy we need to live. But during this process oxidative damage can cause harm to everything in the cell. There are two ways that bodies can prevent oxidative damage: antioxidants and more efficient metabolic pathways. Biz looked at fruit flies with varying genetics for these two strategies and wanted to test whether the level of oxidative damage in eggs and sperm would influence how many offspring a female had.	4	Technische Universität Dresden
How to escape a predator	adaptation, animal behavior, animals, predation, physiology	Stalk-eyed flies have their eyes at the tip of eyestalks on the sides of their heads. Males with longer eyestalks are better at attracting mates – females find them sexy! However, long eyestalks may come at a cost. Males with long eyestalks may not be able to move easily and quickly, and could be easy targets for predators. Males also use a variety of behaviors to defend themselves against predators. Are these behaviors enough to compensate for long eyestalks?	4	Washington State University and University of Colorado, Denver
The flight of the stalk-eyed fly	physics, moment of inertia, adaptation, animals, flight, physiology	Moment of inertia (I) is an object’s tendency to resist rotation – in other words how difficult it is to make something turn. Stalk-eyed flies have eyes located on the ends of long projections on the sides of their head, called eyestalks. Because moment of inertia goes up with the square of the distance from the axis, we might expect that as the length of the flies’ eyestalks goes up, the harder and harder it will be for the fly to maneuver during flight.	4	Tel-Aviv University, Israel and University of Colorado, Denver
How do brain chemicals influence who wins a fight?	animals, behavior, competition, insects, aggression, brain chemistry, physiology	Animals compete for resources, including space, food, and mates. What are the factors that determine who wins in a fight? Within the same species, larger individuals tend to win fights. However, if two opponents are the same size, other factors can influence outcomes. Serotonin is a chemical compound found in the brains of all animals, including stalk-eyed flies. Even a small amount of this chemical can make a big impact on aggressive behavior, and perhaps the outcome of competition.	2	University of Colorado, Denver and University of South Dakota
David vs. Goliath	animals, behavior, competition, insects, aggression, brain chemistry, physiology	Animals in nature often compete for limited resources, like food, territory, and mates. Who wins a battle depends on lots of factors, such as size, aggression, and brain chemistry. In stalk-eyed flies, is a change in brain chemistry enough to tip the balance for smaller males to win in battle?	3	University of Colorado, Denver and University of South Dakota
Size matters - and so does how you carry it!	adaptation, animals, evolution, insects, sexual selection, tradeoffs	Some animals have evolved special traits that advertise their fitness to potential mates. Scientists have long predicted that these traits come with both benefits and costs, but John and Jerry have not found costs to the long eye stalks of stalk-eyed flies. Could there be a different answer? In this activity, the team looks at how wing size could play a role.	3	University of Colorado, Denver and University of St. Thomas
Which would a woodlouse prefer?	animals, behavior, ecology, predation	Woodlice are small crustaceans that live on land. They look like bugs, but are actually more closely related to crabs and lobsters. To escape predators they hide in dark places. They spend most of their time underground and have very poor eyesight. If they can't see very well, how do they decide where to live?	2	Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan
Crunchy or squishy? How El Niño events change zooplankton	algae, animals, marine, El Niño	El Niño events happen every 5 to 10, and in California they cause the ocean to be much warmer than usual. Warm ocean waters during El Niño events have lower nutrient levels, so fewer phytoplankton grow leading to less food available for zooplankton. This may cause a change balance between the two main groups of zooplankton, “crunchy” crustaceans and “squishy” gelatinous animals. These changes could have cascading effects up the food chain.	3	San Diego, California
Dangerous aquatic prey: can predators adapt to toxic algae?	adaptation, algae, evolution, marine, predation	Phytoplankton are microscopic algae that form the base of all aquatic food chains. Some phytoplankton produce toxins, and when these algae reach high population levels it is known as toxic algal blooms. Can predators feeding on toxic prey for many generations evolve resistance, by natural selection, to the toxic prey?	4	Maine and New Jersey
Finding a foothold	animals, ecology, marine, substrate, water	The ground at the beach is made of rocks of many different sizes, called substrates. These can range from large boulders down to fine grains of sand, with many size variations in between. Just like there are different types of substrates, there are different types of organisms that can live there. How can we determine which types of organisms prefer which types of substrates?	2	Puget Sound, Washington
Invasive reeds in the salt marsh	disturbance, invasive species, plants, wetland	Phragmites australis is an invasive reed that is taking over saltwater marshes of New England, outcompeting other plants that serve as food and homes for marsh animals. Once Phragmites has invaded, it is sometimes the only plant species left, called a monoculture. Phragmites does best where humans have disturbed a marsh, and scientists were curious why that might be. They thought that perhaps it was caused by changing salinity, or amount of salt in the water, after a marsh is disturbed.	2	Ipswich High School, Massachusetts
Can a salt marsh recover after restoration?	disturbance, ecology, invasive species, plants, wetland, salinity, restoration	Before restoration began, it was clear the Saratoga Creek salt marsh was in trouble. Invasive Phragmites plants covered large areas of the marsh, crowding out native plants and animals. Human activity was thought to be the culprit – storm drains were dumping freshwater into the marsh, lowering salinity. In 1999 a restoration took place to divert freshwater away from the marsh in an attempt to reduce Phragmites numbers. Did it work?	2	Saratoga Creek Salt Marsh, Rockport, Massachusetts
Make way for mummichogs	animals, biodiversity, disturbance, fish, restoration, wetland	Mummichogs are small fish that live in tidal marshes all along the US Atlantic coast. Because they are so widespread and can be found in most streams, they are a valuable tool for scientists looking to compare the health of different marshes. The absence of mummichogs in a salt marsh is a sign that it is highly damaged. Students collected data on mummichog numbers before and after a marsh restoration. Did the restoration successfully bring back mummichogs to the marsh?	4	Gloucester, Massachusetts
Surviving the flood	disturbance, urban, stream, floods, photosynthesis, respiration, stormwater	Streams are found everywhere, including cities. Urban streams are surrounded by buildings, roads, and parking lots, which can make rain from storms flow through the system very quickly. But how do these rapid flooding events affect the organisms that live there? Andrew and Dave used photosynthesis and respiration from algae to take a closer look!	4	Mill Creek, Ohio
All washed up? The effect of floods on cutthroat trout	animals, disturbance, ecology, fish, water, stream, floods	Floods are very common disturbances in streams. If floods happen right after fish breed and eggs hatch, young fish that cannot swim strongly may not survive. Although floods can be dangerous for fish, they are also very important for creating new habitat. Cutthroat trout are a species of fish living in Mack Creek, which experiences occasional floods. Trout breed in the early spring, right at the peak of flooding, so scientists are collecting long-term data on this species. Will floods hurt trout populations or help?	2	Mack Creek, HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon
Float down the Kalamazoo River	river, water, suspended solids, dam, reservoir	There is a lot more in river water than you might think! As the river flows, it picks up bits of dead plants, algae, and other living and non-living particles from the bottom of the river. These suspended solids are important for the river food web, but can be influenced by human activities, such as the construction of dams.	2	Kalamazoo River, Michigan
Round goby, skinny goby	local adaptation, rapid evolution, animals, biodiversity, fish, Great Lakes, habitat, invasive species, river	When invasive species are moved to new habitats, they often have traits that aren’t matched to their new conditions. However, invasive species may be able to adapt in just a few generations. The round goby is a small invasive fish species that arrived in the Great Lakes around 1990, and is now invading rivers as well. Is there evidence that this species has evolved in response to the different conditions found in rivers and lakes?	3	Kalamazoo River and Great Lakes, Michigan
Winter is coming! Can you handle the freeze?	local adaptation, ecology, evolution, genes, plants	Depending on where they live, plant populations each face their own challenges. For example, in Arabidopsis thaliana there are some populations of this species growing in very cold habitats, and some populations growing in very warm habitats. The idea that populations of the same species have evolved as a result of certain aspects of their environment is called local adaptation.	4	Michigan State University, Michigan
Gene expression in stem cells	gene expression, stem cells, genetics	Every cell in your body contains the same DNA. Genetically identical skin, brain, and muscle cells can look very different and perform very different functions by turning particular genes on and off. But once they differentiate, their role in the body is fixed. Unlike these cells, stem cells have the ability to turn into any other type of cell in the body. Can we uncover the genes expressed in stem cells that give them that ability?	4	Colorado State University, Colorado
Alien life on Mars – caught in crystals?	astrobiology, salt, solution, Mars, extraterrestrial life, chemistry	Is there life on other planets besides Earth? This question is not just for science fiction. Scientists are actively exploring the possibility of life on Mars. Mars is cold, dry, and has a very thin atmosphere. However, there might still be places on Mars where life could exist, despite its extreme conditions. While there is no liquid water on the surface of Mars anymore, it once had a saltwater ocean covering much of its surface. Certain solutions of salt may trap liquid water in pockets as it evaporates, preserving conditions for life.	2	UK Centre for Astrobiology, University of Edinburgh, Great Britain
Working to reduce the plastics problem	plastics, synthetic materials, chemistry, biodegradable, elastomer, polymer, monomer, stress, strain	Plastics can be shaped easily and are used for many functions, making them extremely popular across the world. However, most plastics negatively impact the environment and some can take thousands of years or longer to break down. Scientists are testing new ways to make plastics that are biodegradable so they can be decomposed and won’t last as long in the environment. How can researchers use knowledge about the chemical properties of different monomers to make alternatives for synthetic plastics?	3	Northland College, Wisconsin

8.13.14

Dangerous Aquatic Prey: Can Predators Adapt to Toxic Algae?

Figure 1: Scientist Finiguerra collecting copepods at the New Jersey experimental site.

The activities are as follows:

Phytoplankton are microscopic algae that form the base of all aquatic food chains. While organisms can safely eat most phytoplankton, some produce toxins. When these toxic algae reach high population levels it is known as a toxic algal bloom. These blooms are occurring more and more often across the globe – a worrisome trend! Toxic algae poison animals that eat them, and in turn, humans that eat these animals. For example, clams and other shellfish filter out large quantities of the toxic algae, and the toxic cells accumulate in their tissues. If humans then eat these contaminated shellfish they can become very sick, and even die.

One reason the algae produce toxins is to reduce predation. However, if predators feed on toxic prey for many generations, the predator population may evolve resistance, by natural selection, to the toxic prey. In other words, the predators may adapt and would be able to eat lots of toxic prey without being poisoned. Copepods, small crustaceans and the most abundant animals in the world, are main consumers of toxic algae. Along the northeast coast of the US, there is a toxic phytoplankton species, Alexandrium fundyense, which produces very toxic blooms. Blooms of Alexandrium occur often in Maine, but are never found in New Jersey. Scientists wondered if populations of copepods that live Maine were better at coping with this toxic prey compared to copepods from New Jersey.

Figure 2: A photograph of a copepod (left) and the toxic alga Alexandrium sp. (right).

Scientists tested whether copepod populations that have a long history of exposure to toxic Alexandrium are adapted to this toxic prey. To do this, they raised copepods from Maine (long history of exposure to toxic Alexandrium) and New Jersey (no exposure to toxic Alexandrium) in the laboratory. They raised all the copepods under the same conditions. The copepods reproduced and several generations were born in the lab (a copepod generation is only about a month). This experimental design eliminated differences in environmental influences (temperature, salinity, etc.) from where the populations were originally from.

The scientists then measured how fast the copepods were able to produce eggs, also called their egg production rate. Egg production rate is an estimate of growth and indicates how well the copepods can perform in their environment. The copepods were given either a diet of toxic Alexandrium or another diet that was non-toxic. If the copepods from Maine produced more eggs while eating Alexandrium, this would be evidence that copepods have adapted to eating the toxic algae. The non-toxic diet was a control to make sure the copepods from Maine and New Jersey produced similar amounts of eggs while eating a good food source. For example, if the copepods from New Jersey always lay fewer eggs, regardless of good or bad food, then the control would show that. Without the control, it would be impossible to tell if a difference in egg production between copepod populations was due to the toxic food or something else.

Featured scientists: Michael Finiguerra and Hans Dam from University of Connecticut-Avery Point, and David Avery from the Maine Maritime Academy

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 10.6

There are three scientific papers associated with the data in this Data Nugget. The citations and PDFs of the papers are below.

Colin, SP and HG Dam (2002) Latitudinal differentiation in the effects of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium spp. on the feeding and reproduction of populations of the copepod Acartia hudsonica. Harmful Algae 1:113-125

Colin, SP and HG Dam (2004) Testing for resistance of pelagic marine copepods to a toxic dinoflagellate. Evolutionary Ecology 18:355-377

Colin, SP and HG Dam (2007) Comparison of the functional and numerical responses of resistant versus non-resistant populations of the copepod Acartia hudsonica fed the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense. Harmful Algae 6:875-882