Tag: Nature Studies

Boring Sponge
Island Science

Sponges, Climate Change, & Bay Scallops

• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • We pulled up a common resident of our harbors the other day while doing a dredge for our Marine Ecology class off Pocomo Point. Scattered amongst the spider crabs and scallops and loose eelgrass and algae […]

rabbits | Nantucket, MA
Island Science

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • This week’s title comes from the British tradition adopted in New England to say “rabbit” or “rabbits” several times in succession or “white rabbit” upon first waking on the first day of the month in order […]

Island Science

Orcas: Too Big to Hold

• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • I just got back from the Nantucket Film Festival’s (NFF) showing of “Blackfish”, an excellent and provocative documentary describing in excruciating detail the many issues of keeping Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in captivity. The majority of […]

Cisco Beach Erosion
Island Science

Coastal Beach Processes & Erosion

• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • There is perhaps no other topic concerning Nantucket that is more of a hot button issue than erosion. All around the island we are experiencing between 0.74 to 12.0+ feet of erosion on our beaches and […]

Portuguese Man o' War
Island Science

Bluebottle Washashore-Portuguese Man o’ War

• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • As a washashore myself, I hope I am a little more welcome than this week’s creature. Two weeks ago, two Clean Team volunteers helping out on a Madaket Beach clean-up (www.ackcleanteam.org) came upon a relatively common […]

tent catepillar
Island Science

Dang It, I am not a Gypsy Moth!

Today’s subject could easily be the star of a B horror movie from the 50’s. Several people have asked me about them lately so let’s jump in and discover which creature uses polarizing light special effects, employs biochemical weapons and advanced scent trails, lies quietly over winter, then pops out […]

Seals
Featured Articles

Gray Seal Population: Plague or Pleasure?

• by Sarah Teach • For many Americans, seals are little more than a childhood memory of a visit to the zoo. But for residents of Nantucket Island, the blubbery marine mammals are quickly becoming a topic of discussion saved only for trusted company. At the core of a growing […]