SIGHTLINESUMMER 2001
SIGHTLINE EERC conducts research designed to promote real-world solutions to problems in the fields of energy, environment, technology, and economic development. . SIGHTLINE is sponsored by: Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and |
The Counting GameCampaign to Identify Smokies' Species Continues BY BECKY NICHOLS The Great Smoky Mountains National Park's All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) is now in its fourth year. The aim of this continuing project is to identify all life forms in the Park, as well as to gather associated information, such as the distribution of species throughout the Park and how these species interact. More than 150 scientists from around the world are involved in this project, and many more will likely join the effort. Discover Life in America (DLIA)-the nonprofit organization managing the project-recently awarded nearly $54,000 in "mini-grants" to 16 cooperating scientists whose projects include studies of leeches, algae, flies, and wasps. DLIA now employs a full-time fundraiser to increase the amount of grant money available to taxonomists, the scientists who classify plant and animal species. ATBI offers ample educational opportunities, which will be enhanced with a soon-to-be-established Learning Center. Located at Purchase Knob, in Haywood County, North Carolina, the science/education facility is one of only five in the National Park System and is funded by the Park Service. The Learning Center will host many integrated science and education programs; for example, one program will let students assist scientists who are conducting projects there. The U.S. Geological Survey is funding a project to inventory arthropods (invertebrates, including insects, spiders, and crustaceans). The inventory is well underway and is producing a sizeable amount of data. This project involves intensive sampling from 11 Park plots and will, for the first time, provide an estimate of the number of terrestrial invertebrate species from the Park's major habitats. One of the methods for collecting a large amount of taxa-specific information in a short period of time is to conduct a "bio-blitz." Park personnel have already completed three such studies of algae, flies, and moths/butterflies. In addition, the Park planned a four-day Beetle Blitz for late June. Many coleopterists (taxonomists who study beetles) participated, and their finds will greatly increase our knowledge of the Park's beetle populations. The tally of newly discovered species is growing almost daily. In fact, the number of new-to-science species is 115, and the number of species new to Park records is 1,183. Recently, a new genus of Copepod (a small crustacean) has been discovered, as well as possibly 30 new species of Collembola (primitive insects also known as springtails). Scientists have also discovered new spiders, earthworms, slime molds, flies, caddis flies, millipedes, snails, algae, fungi, and plants. For more information, contact Becky Nichols, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 1314 Cherokee Orchard Road, Gatlinburg, TN 37738, call 865-436-1702, or email <becky_nichols@nps.gov>. |
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