Gray Seals and People, why can’t we just get along? • by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • Happy summer 2013! Currently the island is celebrating Memorial Day weekend with parades, BBQ’s, tributes to our war veterans, and cases and cases of Bud Light […]
Tag: Nature Studies
Gesundheit!
This Spring’s Pollen Festival • by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay – Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • An allergy is a heightened sensitivity to a foreign substance called an allergen that causes the body’s defense system (the immune system) to overreact when defending itself. This defense system was […]
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 […]
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 […]
Biomimicry
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station In the past year, the UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station has offered two public lectures and a summer course in Biomimicry, and we plan to include it in our regular year round and summer offerings. Biomimicry is both […]
Dangerous Beauties – Jellyfish
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station As the summer temperatures warm up our harbor and offshore waters, floating translucent creatures begin to crowd our shores and become a concern for swimmers. Unfortunately, as ocean waters warm world-wide and we continue to over-fish or endanger […]
Creatures of the Night
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station As part of the recent Nantucket Biodiversity Assessment Week program, we set up a couple of moth sheets at the field station and used two different types of lights (UV or “black lights” and mercury vapor lights) to […]