Conservation Science

Anyone driving over the causeway on Friday, May 3, near low tide likely would have seen more than a dozen high school students all over the clam flats, participating in a research experiment. The hands-on science work is a precursor to the Marine Studies Pathway that will launch at the high school next year and will teach a wide ranging curricula based on marine studies.

Legal & Policy Pathways for Energy InnovationApril 24-25, 2013University of Minnesota Watch the video

Deborah Jensen has been President and CEO of the 92-acre Woodland Park Zoo since 2002. She’s responsible for its animal inhabitants, as well as education, research and conservation programs. Jensen is a conservation biologist by training, and it’s clear from her reading list, past and present, that animals and the natural world are her lifelong vocation. Read the full list

Of interest to everyone, but especially to those who attended the West Coast spring retreat: FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A California agency on Thursday unanimously adopted a broad, long-range plan to manage the ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. After several hours of public comments and protests by opponents, the Delta Stewardship Council voted 7-0 to approve the final version of the Delta Plan, a blueprint for restoring the delta's ecosystem and improving water supply reliability.

The Freeport Town Council will fund a study of the town’s depleting shellfish stocks – a historic first in Maine marine research and a potential life preserver for the struggling clamming community. ... The town is believed to be the only Maine municipality to be spearheading such an effort, and the project has been hailed by Brian Beal, a biologist and professor at the University of Maine at Machias, who specializes in shellfish research, as groundbreaking. Beal will be a consultant on the project.

Editor's Note: The following profile appeared on The Working Waterfront website, where you can read the original article and see the accompanying photos. Story and photos by Sharon Mack

Although it's known that construction of homes in suburban areas can have negative impacts on native plants and animals, a recent study led by University of Massachusetts Amherst ecologist Susannah Lerman suggests that well- managed residential development such as provided by homeowners associations (HOA) can in fact support native wildlife.

Drop that spreader! Dolphins are dying at an alarming rate in Florida's Indian River Lagoon, and nitrogen pollution, caused by over-fertilization, has been identified as a contributing cause. To combat this problem, Dr. Rob Moir, Executive Director of the Ocean River Institute, has launched a campaign to educate the public on effective dolphin-saving practices and his efforts have caused quite a splash! Dr. Moir is currently petitioning for fertilizer regulation ordinances that will reduce nitrogen loading into the estuary.

Under the wide green umbrella of the Panamanian rainforest, the only signs of human intrusion are yellow, orange and blue marks painted around some of the tree trunks. Those marks help measure the plants’ water efficiency, as trees are believed to steady the flow of rivers. “We are trying to understand the services provided by forests,” says Jefferson Hall, a Yale-educated forest ecologist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.