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Museum
educator, Boone teacher, HD filmmaker join NOAA deep-sea expedition RALEIGH— To bring the deep sea closer to classrooms and museum
visitors, a museum educator, a Boone science teacher and a filmmaker will
squeeze into a four-man submarine August 5-16 to explore deep reefs off
the coast of North Carolina with a team of scientists. The research
expedition, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration, aims to increase knowledge of ecosystems
and sea life on the continental shelf and on the Lophelia coral banks.
The mission, dubbed “Islands in the Stream 2002: Exploring Underwater
Oases,” builds on an expedition last fall to some of the same areas.
Liz Baird,
the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ distance learning
coordinator, and Alan Felker, a math and science teacher at the K-8 Hardin
Park School, will share research data, photographs, and video with students
through a Web site. Students will be able to use the data in activities
and lessons that Felker created in conjunction with the research expedition.
Students also can e-mail questions and get responses from Felker and Baird
throughout the 12-day mission. In addition,
Art Howard, a videographer with Napro Productions, will gather footage
for a high-definition movie about deep-sea life to be shown in the Museum’s
WRAL Digital Theater. Other research
partners for the multi-disciplinary mission include Steve Ross of the
North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve, Wilmington; Ken Sulak,
fish biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Gainesville, FL; Fritz
Rohde, senior biologist for the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, Wilmington;
and Martha S. Nizinski, a NOAA zoologist based at the National Museum
of Natural History, Washington, D.C. Islands
in the Stream 2002 is a month-long just off the U.S. South Atlantic coast
that began July 27. During the expedition, other studies will investigate
the potential use of marine resources in human drugs and the role of vision
and bioluminescence in the deep sea. Felker will
work the midnight-6 a.m. and noon-6 p.m. shifts aboard ship, hauling nets,
recording fish species encountered and preserving specimens. He sees the
expedition as a rare opportunity to expand his role as science teacher
by actively participating in scientific research and collecting real-world
data. It’s also a chance show his students that science is exciting
and happening everywhere, he said. “Students
often visualize scientists as people wearing white lab coats doing research
in a laboratory, Felker said. “I want them to realize that science
and math open doors to the world. I also hope they’ll see that all
of us are surrounded daily by the wonders of the scientific world, and
that the natural areas of North Carolina need to be respected and preserved.”
The study
sites lie between Cape Fear and Cape Lookout, 20 to 50 miles off the North
Carolina coast. One study area, known as The Steeples, includes the hard-bottom
habitats on the outer continental shelf where commercial and recreational
fish breed, 80 to 200 meters below the surface. A portion of this area
has been proposed for Marine Protected Area (MPA) status, and the research
will help document the merits of protection. If granted, the MPA could
lead to fishing restrictions. Researchers
also will study the fish fauna of the North and South Lophelia banks,
about 500 meters deep. Lophelia is a species of slow-growing, deep-water
coral. No published descriptions exist describing the mix of fish species
using Lophelia banks in the Western Atlantic—information that will
help with fisheries management. “Exploring
and cataloging the Lophelia banks will be much like the challenge faced
by [William] Bartram as he tried to document what was found on land in
North Carolina,” Baird said. “I hope that people following along
with us will get a sense of the amazing biodiversity found off of our
shores.” From her
base at the Museum, Baird uses interactive videoconferencing technology
to provide real-time audio/video classes for students and teachers across
the state. She also leads field experiences for educators in North Carolina,
Maine and Belize, Central America. Baird served as the Educator at Sea
during the South Atlantic Bight portion of Islands in the Stream 2001.
Felker, a
16-year teaching veteran, teaches seventh-grade science and advanced math,
as well as a laboratory for elementary education majors at Appalachian
State University. In 1997 he was honored by being named as a Milken National
Educator in recognition for quality teaching, professional leadership
and his potential for future contributions to education. He has traveled
extensively with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, including expeditions
to Yellowstone National Park and Belize, Central America. The Exploring
Underwater Oases Web site will be accessible after Aug. 5 through the
Museum’s Web site at http://www.naturalsciences.org/.
A NOAA Web site also will chronicle the expedition at http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/.
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, in downtown Raleigh, documents and interprets the natural history of the state of North Carolina through exhibits, research, collections, publications, and educational programming. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sun., noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Visit the Museum on the web at www.naturalsciences.org. The Museum is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary.
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