Field Work in 2004
May 2004 Field Trip To Park. - Surveys for aquatic oligochaetes and other macroinvertebrates were conducted 15-21 May; samples were collected from 14 aquatic sites and two terrestrial sites. Specific locality information for sites surveyed in May 2004 is provided
HERE.
October 2004 Field Trip To Park. - Our second field trip (originally scheduled for September but postponed because of elevated levels of precipitation in and adjacent to the Park from hurricanes Frances and Ivan) was conducted 18-22 October; during this visit, three spring/seep areas and 10 streams were surveyed.
Specific locality information for sites surveyed during October 2004 is provided
HERE.
Public Outreach during 2004
A highlight of our October 2004 field trip to the Park was the opportunity to work with Cherokee High School science students during both laboratory and field sessions on Monday 18 October, involving them in the collection and study of aquatic invertebrates during a class field trip to the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob. We were assisted during this field trip by class instructor Miki Powell, and NPS science education outreach personnel Susan Sachs, Jonathan Mays, and Jennifer Krell.
Presentations in 2004
1. "The Aquatic Oligochaeta (Annelida, Clitellata) of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee. Update: December 2004." Annual meeting of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory Program underwritten by Discover Life In America, Inc., Glenstone Lodge, Gatlinburg, TN, 7-10 December 2004. [presentation co-authored with M.A. Peggy Morgan].
This research adheres as closely as possible to the tenets of the ATBI Science Plan, available as a downloadable PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader is necessary to open and read this document).
Please familiarize yourself with the navigation bar a the bottom of this page; from there you can access numerous aspects of this research on aquatic oligochaetes in the Park, including site locality information and map of the Park; field and lab methodologies; progress; links to sponsors of this research; an acknowledgment page recognizing the numerous people whose collective assistance has been instrumental in the conduct of this research; publications and presentations summarizing progress on this research; a literature cited section (full citations for references in the text of webpages associated with this website); and short-and long-term goals of this project.
I especially encourage you to visit the Discover Life in America, Inc. (DLIA) website; there you will find contact information for scientists associated with the various taxonomic working groups (TWIGS), volunteers already contributing to this project, the administrative and scientific staff of DLIA, and a variety of opportunities for public involvement in research and education in the Park. Please Note: The new DLIA / ATBI website has been expanded extensively over the last year; please visit and familiarize yourself with its own 'virtual' diversity of information and resources!
page update: 12 April 2010