Life Sciences Commons^™

Exploring Community Initiatives That Produce High Quality Volunteers: Citizen Science And Master Naturalist Programs In The United States, Travis Robbins, Alie Mayes, Julie Thomas

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Citizen science, which has contributed greatly to scientific understanding, works through partnerships between non-governmental and governmental organizations, academia, and most importantly, volunteers. In the United States, Master Naturalist training programs prepare adults as knowledgeable environmental stewards. Once certified, Master Naturalists are encouraged to log annual volunteer activity hours involving scientific research and education. Compared to untrained volunteers, individuals who have completed Master Naturalist training (or similar programs) exhibit greater project involvement and efficiency at collecting data. These traits align well with the goals of citizen science and point to a symbiotic relationship between citizen science and Master Naturalist programs. Here, …

Exploring Eight-Armed Intelligence Through Film, Tierney M. Thys

Animal Sentience

Mather (2019) provides a rich overview of the elements underlying octopus cognition and behavioral flexibility. Recently, two remarkable natural history films, My Octopus Teacher and The Octopus in My House have explored intimate human-octopus relationships with a wild (Octopus vulgaris) and a captive octopus (Octopus cyanea) respectively. Both films show rare behaviors that offer observations to test new hypotheses as well as a novel perspective on our own human relationships and place within the natural world. An interview with filmmaker Craig Foster from My Octopus Teacher reveals the profound and transformative power of forming a trusting …

Bird Dispersal As A Pre-Adaptation For Domestication In Legumes: Insights For Neo-Domestication, Hester Brǿnnvik, Eric J. Von Wettberg

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Écriture(S) De La Nature Au Québec : Un Champ À Défricher, Mariève Isabel

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Are there literary works oriented toward the questions of nature and environment in Quebec’s literature? If so, under which forms does this corpus present itself? This article will explore different types of nature writing in Quebec, including examples from travel literature, agrarian novel, natural history, regionalism, and environmental literature. After reflecting on the presence of ecocriticism in Quebec, various works will be presented in order to show that nature writing in Quebec is rich and varied, and that there is potential for a québécois ecocriticism.

Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists And Ecologists: Chrono-Biographical Sketches, Charles H. Smith, Joshua Woleben, Carubie Rodgers

DLPS Faculty Publications

Each name in the following list of naturalists is linked to a corresponding capsule "chrono-biographical" sketch of that individual prepared by the authors. Coverage extends from approximately 1950 backward in time as far as the eighteenth century; figures from all over the world are included (though there is admittedly a decided Anglo-American bias). The target subject here is biogeography, but this being a broad field there are many persons on the list who are better known as climatologists, zoologists, botanists, ecologists, oceanographers, paleontologists, etc.--in other words, who made their main reputations in cognate disciplines.

This service has been set up …

Profiles In Science For Science Librarians: "What Lives Where, And Why": Alfred Russel Wallace, And The Field Of Biogeography, Charles H. Smith

DLPS Faculty Publications

Biogeography, the study of animal and plant distribution, has a history extending back to at least the eighteenth century. But it was not until the work of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the mid-nineteenth century that it really came into its own as a science. Darwin’s importance notwithstanding, it was really Wallace who put the field on the map, and many of today’s research threads can be traced back to his influence. This article provides a summary review of Wallace’s life and work and biogeography as a field of study, including Wallace’s role in its development.

Abstracts Of Papers, 84th Annual Meeting Of The Virginia Academy Of Science

Virginia Journal of Science

Full abstracts of papers for the 84th Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 25-26, 2006, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA

Francis Harper Papers, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of the professional and personal papers of Cornell-trained naturalist Dr. Francis Harper. Materials span 1904-1972 and include field notebooks, correspondence, photographs, and audiovisual materials documenting the plant and animal life as well as human ecology of the Okefenokee Swamp area of South Georgia. The photographs within Series 1 show the flora, fauna, and people of the Okefenokee swamp. The photographs were taken by the Harpers while on their trips to the swamp. Photographs are all in black and white and range in size. The Field Journals chronicle his travels in the okefenokee, Canada, and New England. Materials …

The Ohlone And The Oak Woodlands: Cultural Adaptation In The Santa Clara Valley, Grant William Schick

Research Manuscript Series

Today, Santa Clara Valley consists of a modern industrialized environment distinguished by concrete, pavement and automobiles. These "innovations" made by modern technology began only recently. The environment and ecology of 200 years ago was extremely different from ours today. Filled with many native habitats, it thrived through the inter-dependance of all plant and animal species. In this study, I examine the characteristics of Santa Clara Valley in centuries past and today, in order to understand the vast number of resources which were available to the native inhabitants of the Santa Clara Basin. This paper has its base in cultural ecology, …

Introduction: One Hundred Years Of Natural History In Turkmenistan, Victor Fet

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

As part of the famous “Great Game” between the Russian and British Empires in Central Asia, Turkmenistan was the last colonial prize of the Russian tsars; its delineation from Afghanistan was completed only in the 1890s. The Russian Empire’s Transcaspian Region (Zakaspiiskaya Oblast) was roughly what Turkmenistan is today; its neighbors were the semi-independent emirate of Bokhara to the east and khanate of Khiva to the north, both remnants of medieval Muslim empires.

This book combines the results of basic scientific research in biogeography and ecology; its purpose is to give a fairly comprehensive account of the nature of Turkmenistan. …

Natural History In Iowa: The Early Phases, David C. Glenn-Lewin, Thomas R. Rosburg

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Natural history in Iowa prior to the 20th Century can be conveniently arranged into 4 phases: Native American, before the Louisiana Purchase, between the Louisiana Purchase and about 1850, and after 1850. Native American natural history was extensive and had a distinctly spiritual character. Natural history was a component of European exploration up to the time of the Louisiana Purchase, but was not treated as a separate endeavor; the evidence from this period comes from the journals and diaries of early exploreres, fur traders and the like. Between the Louisiana Purchase and about 1850, natural history changed from its status …