Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative’s Science Showcase Event – June 7-13, 2021
We are happy to share that the Science and Stewardship team at the Nantucket Conservation Foundation will be participating in a very exciting collaborative event next week as part of the the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative (NBI) Science Showcase Week. The NBI is hosting a full week of opportunities for the Nantucket community to enjoy. All…
Read More
Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative: Understanding Nantucket’s Unique Biodiversity
While island’s various conservation organizations each have a slightly different niche, one commonality is that they each have science-minded folks on staff with a great diversity of talents and an interest in conserving part of what makes Nantucket special – its native biodiversity. In 2002, in an effort to foster greater collaboration between scientists from…
Read More
Northern long-eared bats call Nantucket home!
The Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative (NBI) is a collaboration of scientists from local conservation organizations, government agencies, and educational institutions. One of our main goals is to support and facilitate biodiversity research on Nantucket, Tuckernuck and Muskeget Islands and surrounding waters and share results with the scientific community and the general public. Each year, the NBI…
Read More
Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative’s Citizen Science Event
Who’s your Scientist?!! Over the weekend of June 10-12th, the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative invites you to participate in our Citizen Science Weekend to learn more about the research that is being conducted on Nantucket by local scientists and how you can be involved. All of the weekend’s events are free and open to the public! Come learn…
Read More
Garlic Mustard: Friend or Foe in the Battle Against Deer Ticks?
Recently I heard a provocative statement to the effect that “garlic mustard is Mother Nature’s way of getting rid of deer ticks.” Naturally I needed to find out more. Could this actually be true? After spending hundreds of hours working with field crews managing this plant by hand-pulling in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, not to mention here on Nantucket,…
Read More
Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative and the Biennial Research Conference!
The Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative is a group built of members of all of the various conservation, research, and ecology groups on Nantucket. For such a small island, there are a lot of different groups interested in and investing in protecting and promoting biodiversity! First thing: what is biodiversity? You might think it’s a commonly used…
Read More
What’s New in Nature: Queen Anne’s Lace
Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) Flowering July-August A colonist from Europe, Queen Anne’s Lace is a familiar sight in old fields and along roadsides and can be found throughout Nantucket. Another name for this plant is “wild carrot”, because our garden carrots were bred from this species, which has tough white roots. The large flat…
Read More
Report Nantucket Bat Sightings!
GOT BATS? We want to hear of your sightings! Zara Dowling, a graduate student at UMass-Amherst, received a research grant from the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative this spring to study and document the bat species on Nantucket. Zara has been working with the Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s Science and Stewardship Staff to record the calls of bats…
Read More
Sailing into Science with NBI this Summer
This coming weekend (July 25-27th) will be a busy one for island scientists, and you can join us in our work! The Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative (NBI), which is made up of Nantucket’s conservation organizations, has scheduled a number of events this coming weekend to bring visiting scientists and the public together for a Citizen Science event.…
Read More
Big Weird Trees: Further Exploration at Squam Swamp
During the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative Conference on Nov 1-3rd, 2013, a large group of conference attendees joined me to visit some of the largest, and likely some of the oldest, trees at Squam Swamp. These exemplary trees may provide clues to Nantucket’s land use history, teaching us more about how the forest has grown and…
Read More