The World of Discovery series is back at the Delaware Museum of Nature and Science. This spring, the museum will welcome scientists from the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment and Delaware Sea Grant to give an overview of their scientific area of interest.
David Christopher, marine education specialist with Delaware Sea Grant, will give a talk on Wednesday, May 10, giving a broad overview of ocean literacy. Ocean literacy is an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean. The Ocean covers over 70% of our planet. It provides food for much of the world’s population, helps regulate the world’s climate, and provides most of the oxygen we breathe. However, the ocean is facing numerous challenges from pollution, marine debris, climate change, and more. Understanding the Ocean and its systems is important to addressing the challenges facing the ocean today and making informed choices about the Ocean in the future. In this session, participants will be introduced to the Ocean Literacy Principles and the Fundamental Concepts and learn how Ocean Literacy is being used to expand the public’s understanding of the Ocean.
The series is free of charge, but reservations are requested.
World of Discovery – Building the Future: Climate Change Adaptation Visions
April 12
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7:00 pm
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8:30 pm
The World of Discovery series is back at the Delaware Museum of Nature and Science. This spring, the museum will welcome scientists from the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment and Delaware Sea Grant to give an overview of their scientific area of interest.
A.R. Siders, co-director of UD’s Gerard J. Mangone Climate Change Science and Policy Hub and assistant professor in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences and a core faculty member of the Disaster Research Center, will speak on Wednesday, April 12 on “Building the Future: Climate Change Adaptation Visions.”
The series is free of charge, but reservations are requested.
In the Research Headquarters, sponsored by DuPont, explore stories about scientific research and related projects from our local area and beyond.
Scientists help us better understand the world around us. They conduct research in all kinds of environments: in the field, in the laboratory, and even in the museum’s natural history collections. They observe animals and plants in the air, on the land, and in the water. They conduct experiments and collect data to test their observations. Over time, they draw conclusions based on what they find, helping us make sense of what’s happening on the planet. What we know changes as scientists gather and share new information.
Tucked into the Regional Journey Gallery, the Research Headquarters currently includes stories about the Delaware Shorebird Project and the juvenile humpback whale collected by museum scientists in 2018. Other stories currently on view also include some of the research behind DuPont’s Kalrez® technology, citizen science project Coast Snap by Delaware Sea Grant, and exploring with carnivore ecologist Rae Wynn-Grant, courtesy of the IF/THEN® Collection.
On the back end, the stories in the Research Headquarters are installed in a content management system created by digital design studio RLMG. It’s set up so new stories can be uploaded seasonally.
Stories involving museum scientists
The juvenile humpback whale skull was weighed on its way to the museum.
A tale of a whale
A juvenile humpback whale died at sea and washed ashore near Port Mahon, Delaware. The whale, one of 34 humpback whales stranded on the East Coast in 2017, presented an opportunity to tell this important story at the Delaware Museum of Nature & Science. But first, museum staff had to determine how to retrieve the 280 lbs. skull from the beach.
Shorebirds at Mispillion Harbor.
Shorebirds on the bay
Each spring millions of horseshoe crabs migrate into Delaware Bay to lay their eggs on sandy beaches. At the same time, nearly half a million shorebirds arrive to rest and refuel on their way to breed on the Arctic Tundra. Their primary food is horseshoe crab eggs. The Delaware Shorebird Project studies the birds and the importance of the bay to their survival. Learn more about the Delaware Shorebird Project.
Stories from our partners
DuPont’s Kalrez® technology
From aerospace and chemical processing to chip manufacturing and oil and gas applications, DuPont™ Kalrez® elastomers are engineered to provide more stability, more resistance, and more effective sealing. Learn more about this technology from DuPont scientists. Learn more about Kalrez®.
Coast Snap by Delaware Sea Grant
To manage coastlines, we need to understand how they behave. Delaware Sea Grant’s CoastSnap is a citizen science program harnessing smartphones and orthophotogrammetry to help scientists learn more about the shoreline. By using CoastSnap, the community becomes an integral part of the science team. Learn more about CoastSnap.
From the IF/THEN® Collection
Image by Tsalani Lassiter, courtesy of the IF/THEN® Collection
Carnivore ecologist Rae Wynn-Grant, courtesy of the IF/THEN® Collection
Rae Wynn-Grant, Ph.D. might just have the coolest job on the planet. As a carnivore ecologist working for National Geographic, she researches how endangered species are impacted by human interaction. Her work currently focuses on grizzly bears in Montana, but has previously taken her around the world — including to Tanzania and Kenya to study lions. The If/Then Collection is a digital asset library of women STEM innovators. Learn more about the If/Then® Collection.
The Research Headquarters is sponsored by DuPont
Up on the roof: How flying a kite is part of bird research
Though researchers have studied of bird migration in general, the ability to track the journey of small-bodied birds has remained a mystery for years. Motus Wildlife Tracking System is an international collaborative research network dedicated to tracking the migration of small birds. The tracking of the birds is made possible by radio telemetry towers which read tags from animals passing nearby. Motus is dedicated to involving numerous locations in tracking a wide variety of small animals locally, regionally, and even internationally, describing their research as “the ultimate hands-on community science project.”
The museum is participating in this community project with a radio telemetry tower installed in January 2021 on our roof with the help of graduate student Katie Bird, University of Delaware professor Jeff Buler, Ph.D., community scientist Steve Cotrell, and Ian Stewart of the Delaware Nature Society. The project is funded by the Delaware Audubon Society and Delaware Ornithological Society.
Katie is conducting research in Dr. Buler’s lab at the University of Delaware’s Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology focusing on Purple Martins (Progne subis), and she worked tirelessly to get her equipment ready before the Purple Martins return in April.
Dr. Jean Woods, former curator of birds, helped Katie prepare for their return through regular visits to our roof to perform system updates on our tower. The tower consists of an antenna, a receiver which records the data, and a solar panel which powers the entire thing. The tower can record the compatible tags of any birds that pass by within a range of 10 miles. The radio tags used are solar powered and tiny (0.5 grams), so they can remain on the bird for its entire life and acquire the data without having to recapture the bird. Once the data is recorded, it is automatically made available to researchers. This data is what Katie will use to study the movements of Purple Martins in the early spring as they return to their colonies.
While she awaits the return of the Purple Martins, Katie has collected data in various ways to train the receiver’s algorithm. She previously used a drone to replicate the flight of small birds, but the drone is out of commission. Katie then came up with the idea of using a kite to simulate the flight of a tagged martin. By flying a kite on our roof, Katie collected both GPS and radio data similar to the data the LifeTags will provide to the receiver.
Kite flying, algorithms, and — most importantly — patience are the main ingredients in Katie’s recipe for successful Purple Martin migration research. We will be watching closely for the return of the Purple Martins, and the data our tower collects as they fly through Delaware.
