Talking Urban Ecology at the USA Science Festival By Nadine Lymn, ESA Director of Public Affairs
Families with young children, teenagers, older adults, teachers, and even a pair of young Army soldiers visited ESA's booth over the weekend of April 28 and 29 at the USA Science & Engineering Festival and learned about the ecology of Washington, DC and its nearby suburbs. Some were drawn immediately to the terrarium which housed mysterious creatures. Never mind that they weren't colorful or furry--children and adults alike wanted to know what was inside and some even accepted our invitation to move around the stones and moss to discover what might be hiding underneath. Others strode up to ESA's urban ecology game poster and wanted to know what the creature with the enormous eyes was (a jumping spider) or announced that they knew that image number four was a "roly-poly." Some immediately knew that the old painting depicted on our game poster was the White House but were perplexed by the creek and marsh birds they also saw in the painting. ESA President Steward Pickett of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, George Middendorf of Howard University and two of his students and several ESA staff worked the ESA booth this past Saturday and Sunday, highlighting various aspects of the ecology taking place in urban environments. For example, they explained that the stream flowing by the White House in the 1820s was Tiber Creek and that it is one of three streams that were buried to develop the land above and provide sewer channels below. Read more on ESA's blog EcoTone: http://www.esa.org/esablog/ecologist-2/ecology-education/talking-urban-ecology-at-the-usa-science-festival/
