Crossing Boundaries

Update to Anna Savage's research: "Some populations of frogs are rapidly adapting to a fungal pathogen called Batrachochrytrium dendrobatridis (Bd) that has decimated many populations for close to half a century"

list of 50 education technology tools -- for leveraging social media, spicing up lessons, lesson planning and student projects, and to help teachers "stay connected, organized, and increase the ease of building multimedia lessons and learning tools." Some, like Grockit, Schoology, and OpenStudy are designed specifically for use in education.

This interactive map provides layers for population density, mortality risk, and tectonic plates lines.The quakes can be filtered by magnitude and timeline.

"Have you ever wondered what the tree population and density of the United States looks like? This amazing map shows just that. Created by Josef Kellndorfer and Wayne Walker of Woods Hole Research Center in conjunction with the U. S. Geological Survey Science Center's Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center and the US Forest Service, the map was generated based on a series of data sources including readings collected from space-based radars, satellite sensors, computer models, and simply counting trees the old-fashioned way. The map was created for NASA to help determine how the world's forests have the potential to store more carbon in the future."

By Olivia Boulder, a 15-yr-old environmental activist who became well known 5 yrs ago when she offered her bird paintings in return for donations to help birds affected by the BP oil spill. 1. Kids (or anyone for that matter) can do a LOT. 2. The planet needs our help. 3. Politicians (and the people they represent) dislike change. 4. Art creates change. 5. Birds continue to amaze me!

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.

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.

"GIS is used as an inquiry-driven, problem-solving, standards-based set of tasks that incorporates fieldwork and provides career pathways that are increasingly in demand. It helps students think critically, use real data, and connects them to their own community. It does so in informal, primary, secondary, and university settings and appeals to today's visual learners. Geotechnologies, along with biotechnologies and nanotechnologies, are the three key skills and job markets identified by the US Department of Labor for the 21st Century (Gewin 2004)."

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

Taza set up this crowd-funding site to fund satellite transmitters for better tracking of Clark's Nutcrackers than she's been able to do with the hand-held units. "Clark's nutcrackers are pivotal players in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, dispersing whitebark pine seeds and enabling the trees to reproduce and regain their population amid a decline. The whitebark pine trees are critical to the ecosystem because of their role in feeding wildlife and stabilizing the water supply. In light of the severe decline of whitebark pine trees, tracking the movement of the nutcrackers will yield crucial findings which will help managers ensure persistence of the Clark's nutcrackers, whitebark pine and the nutcrackers' important seed dispersal function. Please help support this first-ever satellite tracking of Clark's nutcrackers by giving to this project, which will cover the satellite transmitter costs for one full year. Read on for more information!"

An article and video clips about Crossing Boundaries Conservation Scientist Taza Schaming's research on Clark's Nutcrackers in the Yellowstone ecosystem.

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?

"Compare NOAA satellite imagery from before and after Hurricane Sandy and investigate damage caused by the superstorm in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Click and drag the white bar to compare historical and current imagery. You can also use the included bookmarks to explore some of the the most damaged areas. "

Jaret Daniels / University of Florida via AP file ORLANDO, Florida - After six years of searching, an entomologist has concluded that three varieties of butterflies native to south Florida have become extinct, nearly doubling the number of North American butterflies known to be gone. "These are unique butterflies to Florida.

This fun reflection prompts me to ponder the impact of Urban parks on Birds Cities may not seem like hotbeds of evolution. Tropical rain forests, maybe. The Galapagos Islands, certainly. But Central Park? Yes, even Central Park. Wherever there is life, there is evolution. Organisms reproduce, passing down their genes to their offspring. Some variants of those genes may become more common over the generations thanks to lucky rolls of the genetic dice.

A new census found this winter's population of North American monarch butterflies in Mexico was at the lowest level ever measured. Insect ecologist Orley Taylor talks to Yale Environment 360 about how the planting of genetically modified crops and the resulting use of herbicides has contributed to the monarchs' decline.

"Global, zoomable time-lapse map... View stunning phenomena such as the sprouting of Dubai's artificial Palm Islands, the retreat of Alaska's Columbia Glacier, the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon and urban growth in Las Vegas from 1984 to 2012 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. Check it out on Google's Timelapse website."

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."

Students learn about a few key migratory bird species and the USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System that conserves them, as well as the impacts of oil spills on the Gulf Coast ecosystem and its human communities. Introduces a variety of natural resource careers and the academic experience and job skills needed to be successful in these conservation positions.