Tag: nature science

Lichen
Island Science

Likin’ Lichens

• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay – Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • What can live in space and almost anywhere on the planet, is abundant on Nantucket, and was studied religiously by children’s author, Beatrix Potter? If you answered lichens, you are correct! I love lichens, they […]

Spring Peeper
Island Science

Overwintering: How do they do it?

• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • Each year in early spring, we start to see the islands’ plants and animals emerge. This past winter has been difficult, with three major storms (Sandy, Nemo, and Saturn) causing significant erosion and destruction around the […]

Island Science

I’ll be Your Huckleberry

by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station There is a wide range of fun and fulfilling things to do on Nantucket in the summertime, from surf-casting on the south shore, lounging with a good book at the beach, walking on the moors, or shopping downtown. […]

Island Science

Deer Fly, Don’t Bother Me

by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station If you happen to see me walking around the field station maniacally slapping my head, just keep walking. We have had a beautiful, sunny, extremely dry summer. The ponds and groundwater are lower and the freshwater mosquitoes have […]

Island Science

Milkweed Paradise

by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station The summer of 2012 so far has been hot and dry and that has been a real boon for many of our sun loving plants like the magnificent milkweeds dotting the landscape. Perhaps no other plant provides such […]

Island Science

Itchy & Scratchy: Poison Ivy

by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station There are so many things to love about Nantucket that I kind of hate to even bring up anything that isn’t awesome about the island. But there is one thing I do hate about the island, and that […]