Greenversations

Each week we write about the science behind environmental protection. Previous Science Wednesdays.

About the Author: Melissa-Anley Mills is the news director for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. She joined the Agency in 1998 as a National Urban Fellow.

Usually I sit in a Dilbert-style cube-farm, a warm, calm, enveloping sea of beige, beige, and more beige. So it was a rare and truly delicious treat to be invited to tag along on a field visit. The mission was simple: help Dr. Montira Pongsiri communicate her biodiversity research examining the link between biodiversity, the abundance and composition of animals, and Lyme Disease risk. To do this, my colleague, Aaron Ferster, (who previously blogged about our trip) and I had to see the researchers in action. We wanted to bring this experience to others via the web, so we loaded up on the technologies that would help us do that, a blackberry for “microblogging” (or “tweeting” on Twitter), and still and video cameras.

This turned into an experiment for the communication crew – the first time someone had microblogged live to the EPA’s Twitter account from the field. The first challenge we encountered was, of course, technical: spotty cell phone service. Recording the time and saving tweets in draft mode until reaching cell coverage solved that. But the real challenge was keeping the tweets short and sweet. Twitter has a limit of 140 characters (including spaces!) for posts. But there was so much to say about what we were seeing: white-footed mice, voles, baby opossums, catbirds, warblers, thrushes and ticks, oh my!

So there we were in the forest, watching and learning, tapping away on the blackberry, capturing video and photos, and lending a hand to the researchers. You can see the fruit of this labor on EPA’s biodiversity web page. Here you can read the tweets, and see the slideshows. Soon we’ll post video clips, so stay tuned.

Let us know what you think, suggestions are welcomed. What you would like to see in future “Field Notes” or visits with researchers?

Hopefully, through the images you’ll get a taste of this exciting research. Maybe it will encourage you to consider an environmental career as a field researcher, maybe a science teacher could use this as a teaching module, but I hope one thing is clear to see, the passion and devotion that these researchers have to gather the scientific data necessary to protect the environment and public health

Each week we write about the science behind environmental protection. Previous Science Wednesdays.

About the author: Aaron Ferster, a science writer in EPA’s Office of Research and Development, is a regular contributor to Science Wednesday.

Last Spring, a pair of barred owls took up residence in the upper reaches of a tree just past the edge of our yard. They announced their presence during dinner one warm evening, a series of deep hoots in a pattern birders describe as “who-cooks-for-you.”

We caught a brief glimpse of one as it leaned off its perch and in a long, silent swoop faded into the shadows of the woods behind our house, disappearing like a ghost.

The owls didn’t disappear for long. The girls soon discovered a trove of owl pellets beneath the roost. By picking the pellets apart we learned what the owls were eating. Sometimes there were crayfish claws or fish scales, but the owl’s main course must have always included small mammals. Every pellet contained the tiny white vertebra and jaw bones of mice.

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	Curtis Tackett adds a handful of sunflower seeds to one of the small, humane traps the survey team sets to survey mammal diversity. After examining the small animals, the team sets them free. (Click image to enlarge.)

Could owls and other wild neighbors be good for health by reducing the relative abundance of tick-infected mice? Last week I got to tag along with a team of Yale researchers surveying mammal diversity in the forests of Connecticut, part of an EPA-funded effort to explore just such questions.

Naturally, the team is taking a much more scientific approach than sifting through a handful of owl pellets. Instead, they set out small aluminum traps to humanely capture a representative sample of the local small mammal population.

Every critter caught was identified, ear-tagged (if not previously captured, a regular occurrence), and weighed. Before they were set free, each animal was thoroughly inspected and any black-legged ticks found were collected for further analysis. After the first day, we joined forces with another team conducting a similar survey of birds, part of an ongoing population study now sharing their efforts with the Yale team.

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	Field coordinator Kim Tsao carefully examines each a white-footed mouse, counting and removing black-legged ticks for further analysis for the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. (Click image to enlarge.)

The few days I spent with the survey team is a small part of a larger, two-year study to better understand of the links between biological diversity, land use, and Lyme disease. I was happy to have the chance to escape the office for a few days in favor of the forest. It reminded me once again how fun it is to explore the woods and to learn more about our wild neighbors, some of which might prove to be important for our health.

About the author: When not wearing a big, fuzzy giant panda costume, Aaron Ferster is the science writer-editor for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. This is his first entry for Greenversations.

I knew I was in for an interesting day when my boss looked me over and asked: “How tall are you?” “Five-foot-eleven,” I replied, wondering how height might play into my next performance evaluation.

“Perfect! There’s a big box waiting for you in shipping. It’s your costume for the Pollution Prevention Week table we’re setting up outside the Metro. Dress light. I’m told it’s hot in that panda suit.” Thus began my life as Pandy Pollution, EPA’s spokes-panda. Thanks boss!

Pandy’s goal for Earth Day was to lure people over to EPA’s display table where they could help themselves to the brochures, pamphlets, coloring books, and other environmental education materials on “going green.”

The boss was right about one thing: it was hot in there. Even dressed in gym shorts and a tee-shirt, I started roasting as soon as I slipped into the panda suit. But if you want to attract attention, going out dressed as overstuffed panda character is just the ticket. Just about everyone coming off the metro came in for a closer inspection, and plenty of folks picked up educational materials. Some even stayed to chat with the coterie of EPA experts hanging around the table. Mission accomplished.

Playing panda is a great way to help spread the word about safeguarding the environment and protecting human health. Now, it seems, real giant pandas and other wild critters play an even bigger role. There is growing scientific evidence that there is a connection between the decline in the diversity of wildlife and the emergence and spread of certain diseases.

EPA scientists are working with colleagues around the globe to better understand the link between biological diversity—the variety of species of plants, animals, and other living things that make up natural ecosystems—and emerging infectious diseases such as Lyme disease and malaria. What the scientists learn will help EPA and other agencies share important information about protecting human health. Someday soon, there might even be a stack of brochures about the subject available at the EPA Earth Day display just outside the metro entrance. If you’re interested in stopping by, just look for the 5-foot-11-inch-tall giant panda—and be sure to tell Pandy I say hello.