• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • Spring is vernal pond season. All over the island, creatures who have adapted to the unusual conditions that are inherent in a vernal pond are hatching and going through a variety of stages as they progress to […]
Island Science
Students Study Island Bees
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay • Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station Bees are in the news and on the minds of people all over America as we evaluate how we fertilize and protect our crops and gardens and ensure food ends up on our tables. Both the […]
Coastal Erosion Experts Offer Nantucket a Global View
LECTURE HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO THE SPRING STORM ON NANTUCKET. WATCH FOR NEW DATE AND TIME. The Nantucket Coastal Conservancy and the UMass Boston School For The Environment will host a free lecture with coastal erosion experts Cornelia Dean and Dr. Robert Young on Tuesday, March 25 at 5 […]
Winter Weather
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • I am writing this article on an unseasonably warm Sunday in November. According to Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com ) which is usually my go-to source for weather data the maximum temperature was 57 degrees Fahrenheit on Nantucket […]
Denizens of the Night
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • Last June I wrote about moths here on Nantucket in preparation for a “moth party” and a public education effort to teach people more about moths and get folks excited about photographing them. Since then I […]
The Amazing Leatherback Sea Turtle
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • Long considered an amazing boon to sailors when found at sea on long voyages, the sea turtle today enjoys protected status in all the oceans. Right now a massive (6-8 foot long) deceased leatherback sea turtle […]
What Lies Beneath
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • Mapping the Ocean Floor The UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station has the use of a new toy, and boy what a toy it is! In late August, Dr. Mark Borelli of the Provincetown Center for Coastal […]
Folger’s Marsh Birds
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • We are blessed to have the 17 acre Folger’s marsh as the centerpiece of the Nantucket Field Station. It is populated by an enormous menagerie of egrets, herons, and cormorants among other marsh birds. I usually […]
The Magical Island of Tuckernuck
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • For the past two summers I have been fortunate to visit the Tuckernuck Land Trust’s (or TLT, website can be accessed at http://www.tuckernucklandtrust.org/) field station and do some basic biological collection (bees and mosquitoes) and give […]
Flying Dragons
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • What is strong, a skilled hunter, ephemeral, eats mosquitoes and feeds a wide variety of birds, fish, and frogs? Give up? It is the beautiful dragonfly, currently gracing Nantucket ponds and wetlands this summer. Some of […]