Aquatic Invertebrates of a Rainforest Reserve
Invertebrate animals are an important indicator of habitat quality for ecosystems all over the world. BIOSE trained eight high school “citizen scientists” to work with Tirimbina Biological Reserve in Costa Rica to sample the aquatic invertebrates and evaluate the Reserve’s effects on stream water quality. The invertebrates collected, along with the research results, became part of the Reserve’s research collection.
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Bird List for Big Bone Lick State Historic Park
BIOSE worked with Big Bone Lick State Historic Park to create a list of bird species that use the Park during the year. Through year-round monitoring, our citizen scientist cataloged the species observed in the different vegetation zones of the Park. The final list is still used by the Park for their patrons.
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Kentucky and Colorado Soil Study
Through a partnership with GEAR-UP Kentucky, BIOSE worked with a dozen high school students on a multi-year soil research study. These students compared soil samples they collected near Union Kentucky with those they collected a year later near Cherokee Park, Colorado. They presented their findings, about how soil forms differently in Kentucky and Colorado, at the Annual Meeting of the Kentucky Academy of Sciences.
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Searching for Tunnels among Buildings on the Underground Railroad
Springboro, Ohio has a rich history of activities associated with the Underground Railroad’s efforts to lead runaway slaves to Canada. While the “Railroad” was never really underground, Springboro has an oral history of tunnels that connected some of the buildings used to hide runaway slaves. BIOSE worked with the Springboro Area Historical Society to recruit local citizens and archaeologists who used ground-penetrating radar to search for these tell-tale tunnels.
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Biological Monitoring Projects
at Seip Earthworks
BIOSE was invited by Hopewell Culture National Historic Park to train a group of high school students to create ways to monitor the cavity-nesting birds and stream water quality at the Seip Earthworks, near Chillicothe, Ohio. These projects were the first-ever biodiversity monitoring projects for the Seip Earthworks. Several of the students from this project went on to careers in science.
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Using Skull Measurements to Calculate the Body Size of African Animals
Scientists can calculate the size of a human using measurements from just the skull, but these same equations do not exist for most animals. Using skulls of African animals from BIOSE’s teaching collection, high school students and faculty from the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities were able to modify mathematical equations that approximate the body size for 12 species of African mammals. These equations, along with the skulls, are now used in BIOSE’s “African Animal Algebra” program.
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Dr. Tom Sproat