Bats, caves, danger and exotic locales. That should catch your students’ attention! The big story here is the co-evolution of viruses and their nonhuman animal hosts, who seem to have a harmless, symbiotic relationship with viruses that cause deadly outbreaks in humans. Though this story is about Marburg virus and a fruit bat, the concepts […]
Archive for the 'Ecology' Category
Organic Detergents, Really?
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 7:58 am
Written by: Mary LeFever
I recently read The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. One of the issues Pollan calls readers’ attention to is the meaning of “organic.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture appears to have a clear sense of what it means to be organic. See their web page on which 12 links to organic farming-related documents appear. Most […]
Posted in Topics: Chemistry, Conservation, Ecology, Environment, Life Science, Science
Teaching Whooping Cranes to Migrate: Will It Save Them From Extinction?
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 7:59 am
Written by: Mary LeFever
Success stories in animal preservation are not very common. Since 1973 when the Endangered Species Act was passed, only 16 species of over 1,350 have been delisted. The whooping crane is not one of them, although its numbers have increased from 21 in 1941 to over 350 today. On February 22, 2009, the NYTimes.com published […]
Posted in Topics: Birds, Climate, Conservation, Ecology, Life Science, Science
The Science of Chocolate: Just in Time for Valentine’s Day!
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 7:51 am
Written by: Mary LeFever
What do your students know about the food of the gods, chocolate? Do they know it is extracted from a plant? Do they know where the plant occurs naturally, how it is cultivated, or processed? Do they realize the scope of the chocolate industry worldwide? What news stories relating chocolate to health are valid? Why […]
Posted in Topics: Agriculture, Ecology, Genetics, Science
Your Thanksgiving Turkey Can Be a Nuisance But Trees Compensate Well
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 8:04 am
Written by: Mary LeFever
Well, it’s almost that time again. You can almost see it, smell it, taste it—that perfectly cooked, magnificent bird! How on earth could it ever be a nuisance, and what do trees have to do with anything? After all, their time will come—next month.
Back up. Where did that bird come from? More than likely it […]
Posted in Topics: Agriculture, Birds, Ecology, Environment, Health, Life Science, Science
Seasonal Changes Are Impacted by Climate Change
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 8:11 pm
Written by: Mary LeFever
For us humans, especially in urban settings, the seasons come and go with regularity and cause relatively painless changes in our lives — longer days, shorter days, setting clocks forward or backward as we just did. But for most other animal species seasonal changes do not go unnoticed. Further, when climate change impacts patterns of […]
Posted in Topics: Climate, Earth Science, Ecology, Life Science, Science
How Does Bird Diversity Affect the Incidence of West Nile Virus in Humans?
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 9:16 pm
Written by: Mary LeFever
Now here’s a relationship not many middle school students would stop to consider: bird species diversity and West Nile virus incidence. A press release dated October 6, 2008, indicates researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have collected evidence that shows an inverse relationship between bird species diversity and West Nile virus. Thus, urban […]
Posted in Topics: Biodiversity, Birds, Ecology, Insects
Coral Reefs Faced With Extinction?
Friday, July 18th, 2008 4:04 pm
Written by: Kimberly Lightle
A third of reef-building corals around the world are threatened with extinction, according to the first-ever comprehensive global assessment to determine their conservation status. Corals produce reefs in shallow tropical and sub-tropical seas and have been shown to be highly sensitive to changes in their environment. The study findings were published July 11, 2008 by […]
Posted in Topics: Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecology, Environment, Life Science, Marine Biology, Oceans
Posted in Topics: Birds, Ecology, Evolution, Health, Life Science, Microbiology, Science
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