STEAM Jobs in Wildlife Conservation

STEAM Jobs in Wildlife Conservation — page 3 — A scientist stares at a computer He has created a model of climate change He is tracking what will happen to seabirds if ocean levels rise Soon he will write a paper about his findings black-footed albatross STEAM Spotlight Studying Seabirds In 2015 scientists working with the United States Geological Survey the University of Hawaii and the Geological Survey the University of Hawaii and the United States Fish and Wildlife Services published a research paper in a journal called PLOS One Public Library of Science The title of their paper was How Will the Effects of Sea-Level Rise Create Ecological Traps for Pacific Island Seabirds The scientists studied what would happen to colonies of scientists studied what would happen to colonies of birds if ocean levels rose due to climate change They found birds if ocean levels rose due to climate change They found that if sea levels rise to a certain degree the places where the seabirds live would become uninhabitable to an extent The scientists suggested that their findings show that people will need to make habitats for these birds in higher places where they will be safe from rising waters 6

STEAM Jobs in Wildlife Conservation — page 4 — whooping crane A woman leans over the edge of a motor boat She lifts a thrashing water bird from the water and clips a band to its leg Her assistant weighs the bird and notes its features Then they let the bird go These people all work in the field of wildlife conservation Wildlife conservationists have various jobs But they all have a common goal to protect Earth’s plants animals and insects and educate the public about their importance STEAM Fast Fact Why Band Birds Bird banding is an important tool for wildlife biologists Scientists can use bands to track birds migration patterns Then if a flock changes its migration pattern scientists can try to figure out why The data collected from bird banding can also indicate how many birds are safe to hunt each year If researchers find through studying banded birds that a species is at risk of becoming endangered scientists can recommend ways to protect it Or if a bird species habitat has changed due to logging or construction scientists can study the effects of the change 7

STEAM Jobs in Wildlife Conservation — page 5 — steam in wildlife conservation Virtually all areas of wildlife conservation require a strong foundation in STEAM education W hat does STEAM stand for Science Technology Engineering Art Math Scien(cid:31)(cid:30) Conservationists may choose a speciﬁ c ﬁ eld of science to specialize in Or they may take a broader approach and combine several disciplines A biologist studies animals in their natural environment from tiny microbes to humans insects reptiles and mammals Conservation biologists in particular work to protect endangered species by either altering or protecting their habitat Conservation biologists also help to save or protect existing natural ecosystems 8

STEAM Jobs in Wildlife Conservation — page 6 — sea otters STEAM Spotlight Spotlight Spotlight Otters Kelp and Urchins Two scientists from the Two scientists from the University of California-Santa Cruz compared data that measured how much kelp grew in a certain part of the Pacific Ocean They also measured how many sea urchins and sea otters lived in the area The scientists found that kelp forests grew better when sea otters were present the otters ate the urchins and the urchins could not eat too much kelp Kelp helps reduce atmospheric carbon which contributes to climate change The scientists concluded that protecting otter populations could be useful for reducing climate change kelp sea urchin 9

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