Crossing Boundaries

"Travel by boat with ornithologists as they catalog breathtaking bird life along the banks of one of Brazil's remote rivers. You'll discover how their work is redefining diversity in Amazonia and reshaping traditional conservation boundaries by identifying new Areas of Endemism-regions that harbor species found nowhere else in the world. Explore our interactive map to follow in the scientists' footsteps and view video journals and site notes documenting the team's experiences during their expedition. You can take a look at-and listen to-the amazing birds found at each of the three study sites and learn more fun facts about each species' habits and habitats!"

"here are 40 maps, charts, and graphs that show where our food comes from and how we eat it, with some drinking thrown in for good measure."

NOAA created this site to help educators find data resources ranging from student-friendly to raw real-time and historical data on topics ranging from hurricanes to Great Lakes science. The Visualization Laboratory has an image of the day that relates to a current meteorological event and it contains images and videos pertaining to current and historical severe weather events, disasters, hurricanes, climate, oceans, atmosphere, and remote sensing.

A New App to Discover, Use, and Share Maps on Your iOS Device

Jim found this site but is too shy to post it on Diigo. It has side-by-side imagery showing 1975, 2000, and change in vegetative cover in that time interval. Searchable by location.

"How is climate change affecting your region? What are the impacts on key sectors like health, water, and agriculture? Find out from USGCRP's Third National Climate Assessment."

"Scientists peer into the next decades of environmental change on Planet Earth." Good news stories include ongoing recovery from effects of acid rain in the Adirondacks + new pathways to a sustainable future developed through modeling, ecological forecasting, and mapping responses to environmental change.

"Multimedia resources explain little known societal benefits of biodiversity, bust myths and describe new, high-tech approaches for measuring impacts of environmental change on biodiversity"

Maps show threats from sea level rise and storm surge to all 3000+ coastal towns, cities, counties and states in the Lower 48.

What a fun article to use as a conversation starter during discussions focused on experimental design, or adaptations.

"Using data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world's vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth again as much in the absence of these. Nonetheless, current conservation efforts remain insufficient to offset the main drivers of biodiversity loss in these groups: agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive alien species. "

" overgrazing of native plants by deer that open up more growing space for invasive exotic plants that deer find unpalatable"

Includes some great species-specific migration and tracker maps, + Esri's wind map and others related to wildlife and natural resources

"A new NASA-led study seven years in the making has confirmed that natural forests in the Amazon remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than they emit, therefore reducing global warming. This finding resolves a long-standing debate about a key component of the overall carbon balance of the Amazon basin."

"For thousands of years and countless generations, migratory birds have flown the same long-distance paths between their breeding and feeding grounds. Understanding the routes these birds take, called flyways, helps conservation efforts and gives scientists better knowledge of global changes, both natural and man-made. QUEST heads out to the Pacific Flyway with California biologists to track the rhythm of migration."

Relates the flamingo populations that Marita Davison worked with in Bolivia to mining of lithium for batteries.

By Joseph Kerski at ESRI, a series of 10 short videos discussing uses of a book about the now-extinct bird species, the Great Auk. He discusses cross-disciplinary connections, use of ArcGIS Online to explore the geography of events in the book, and implications of connecting geography and language arts.

"How can we, as educators, give our students the opportunity to publish their work to a worldwide audience while staying within the limits of copyright law?"

From the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, "inspirational thoughts from scientists, thinkers, and conservationists on what biodiversity means to them"