Cemeteries are the Perfect Spot to Track our Planets Demise
by Caitlin McCrea
Summary: Cemeteries hold an important role in tracking changes in the environment because for the most part, they have been untouched green spaces for hundreds of years. Beyond that, they have been taken care of, plants carefully chosen out, and constantly monitored. Due to this, cemeteries are becoming an important spot for scientists to track changes in the environment due to climate change and also practice with planting native species. In one cemetery in Massachusetts, Mount Auburn, a team of scientists observes the cemetery and also trains citizens there on how to make observational studies about the environment. So far, they have discovered plants that are blooming late, insects that are coming out too early, and an increase in flooding. All of these observations can help scientists understand how climate change is affecting nature- even our cemeteries.
Questions:
How can citizen science be helpful to scientists?
Why is it important to observe untouched areas of nature?
Why is it troublesome for plants and insects to be changing the time of year they do their biological processes?
Link: https://www.popsci.com/climate-change-phenology-cemeteries
citizen science can be helpful by getting results faster, more point of views, and even just informing citizens about things in the process. It is important to observe untouched areas of nature because you want to know what is thriving in that area and what is not. You want to know the ecosystem for that area. If bugs and plants change there biological process that can infer that food is low in there area, climate change, lighting changed, ... and if one species dies others can die after because everything works together / thrive off each other.
ReplyDeleteSamantha Fuller
This is actually very interesting. I did not think of a cemetery as any other place than to store the dead, but since there is a low live human presence, and with decomposition, it is probably a fairly unique ecosystem. Very good point on how it can be used for enviromental studies.
ReplyDeleteNaba Yasir- I never thought that cemeteries could be used for this purpose! The citizen science project will be very helpful for scientists since they can increase their data collection and make more accurate statements and conclusions about the environment or organisms.
ReplyDelete