Crossing Boundaries

"The interactive crop map displays the native origins and primary regions of diversity for selected major agricultural crops."

migration maps

"A good essential question Is open-ended; that is, it typically will not have a single, final, and correct answer. Is thought-provoking and intellectually engaging, often sparking discussion and debate. Calls for higher-order thinking, such as analysis, inference, evaluation, prediction. It cannot be effectively answered by recall alone. Points toward important, transferable ideas within (and sometimes across) disciplines. Raises additional questions and sparks further inquiry. Requires support and justification, not just an answer. Recurs over time; that is, the question can and should be revisited again and again."

With an old computer and 30 dollars worth of off-the-shelf components, you can gear up with cutting edge avian monitoring technology and help save the birds. For years, birdwatchers counted by sight during the daytime. The night - when most migratory birds travel - was literally hidden to them. But that's changing. Anyone can attach a microphone to a computer running birdcall-identifying software and track birds passing overhead in the darkness.

High-resolution earth imagery has provided ecologists and conservationists with a dynamic new tool that is enabling everything from more accurate counting of wildlife populations to rapid detection of deforestation, illegal mining, and other changes in the landscape.

social networking by NSTA

Google Chrome recently introduced Land Lines, a delightful new way to explore the gorgeous satellite images from Google Earth. Landlines invites users to discover new satellite images in two ways: Draw and Drag. With the Draw feature, visitors simply create a small doodle on their monitor or personal device. Next, Landlines, with the aid of machine learning, presents visitors with a satellite picture that contains this line or shape in some form: perhaps as a gridded street, the shape of a mountain range, or the curve of a lake. A caption in the bottom left hand side of the browser alerts readers as to what they are looking at and allows visitors to explore each area in more detail via Google Maps. With Drag, users can "create an infinite line of connective rivers, highways, and coastlines." Both modes of exploration offer innovative and highly enjoyable ways to see the world from one's own computer.

How do you effectively prioritize conservation decisions for migratory species? Is it better to target species when breeding, wintering, migrating or some mix? How do you build forecast changes in climate and land use when making these decisions?

satellite tracking of migratory birds

The State of the Nation's Ecosystems 2008

Live webcams at Mpala Research Center in Kenya, and lessons for grades 3-8

biodiversity, who cares

Google Earth tour and video showing scientists tracking migration routes of Arctic Terns between Greenland and the Antarctic

The EPA released its "Report on the Environment," a comprehensive set of indicators that track environmental changes over time. The website has interactive graphs and maps.

"It's a simple question: how many trees are there on Earth? The answer required 421,529 measurements from fifty countries on six continents. Now this new data has been combined to produce a stunning visualisation of our planet as you've never seen it before."

Kenyan girls who grow up in traditionally nomadic, pastoral communities often roam the arid plains of the country with their families in search of grazing grounds for their goats, cows, and camels. But the journey is usually at the expense of an education-moving around so often, and especially to remote areas, makes it difficult for many to attend school on a regular basis.

Google's global, zoomable time-lapse map illustrates land use change phenomena such as the sprouting of Dubai's artificial Palm Islands, the retreat of Alaska's Columbia Glacier, deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon, and urban growth in Las Vegas. "Using Google Earth Engine technology, we sifted through 2,068,467 images-a total of 909 terabytes of data-to find the highest-quality pixels (e.g., those without clouds), for every year since 1984 and for every spot on Earth. We then compiled these into enormous planetary images, 1.78 terapixels each, one for each year. As the final step, we worked with the CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, recipients of a Google Focused Research Award, to convert these annual Earth images into a seamless, browsable HTML5 animation."