Stone Lab's Dirty Job

Check out Stone Lab's resident researcher, Kristin Stanford, on the Discovery Channel's popular "Dirty Jobs" program in its season premiere on Tuesday, November 28th (tonight!) at 9:00 p.m.

The show will center around Kristin's research on protecting the Lake Erie Water Snake, a group of biters who spray musk and feces at researchers who pick them up. She catches the snakes, weighs them, and induces their vomit so she can check up on their diet (fun, huh?).

Kristin hopes the show will spotlight Stone Lab's REU, or Research Experience for Undergraduates, Program. The program at Ohio State allows students from all over the country to work on supervised, independent research projects in a variety of disciplines like herpetology, limnology, and fisheries. Students gain valuable skills in data collection and analysis, scientific reading and writing, as well as practice in oral presentation. This professional-level experience is an excellent preparation for graduate studies or professional life.

check out the REU Page

And make sure you watch the show tonight!

Stone Lab Backpacks!

Greetings bloggers (and whomever else is out there in the Blogosphere)!

I know most of the bloggers have heard by now, but the Stone Lab Backpacks are officially in and ready for the taking! As a reward for all those hard-working bloggers, these drawstring backpacks are free to those who spent the summer documenting their course work at Stone Lab.

As you can see, the backpacks come in blue, red, or black and for those of you who are interested, and this includes the bloggers' family members, we are preparing to sell the backpacks for 6 dollars each. All checks can be made out toThe Ohio State University. If you have any questions, contact Nancy at cruickshank.3@osu.edu.

Also, look out for our Student Feature article in the next issue of Twine Line, we're spotlighting fellow blogger Jennifer Yi!

Hope the beginning of the school year has found everyone doing well, happy blogging!

Blog in the news . . . AGAIN!

The Spring issue of Twine Line, Ohio Sea Grant's quarterly newsletter on research and events around Lake Erie has a special feature in it about the Stone Lab blogs! Written by yours truly, you can access "Frogs and Blogs" right here!

There's also an excerpt in the magazine from Amy's blog, that's definitely worth checking out. We also just got news from onCampus, the alumni newsletter that there will be a mini-feature in there about the blogs as well! I'll post that when we get it.

Keep an eye out for an article on Justin's REU experience at the lab in the next issue of Twine Line.

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Winding Down

Well, it's the last week of the term. We're busy getting our labels made for our collections and cramming more scientific names into our heads. I feel like I am never making enough flash cards!

To add to Daniella's post about tips, I'm going to add another of my own:

If you're in a class that has anything to do with water (which is all of them I think), bring a disposable underwater camera and print and scan them to your blog when you get home. That way, you won't be like me and filing a claim on your poor drowned digital camera. Mine got sucker punched by Lake Erie. Not a good thing when you've become addicted to taking pictures of EVERYTHING! On a positive note, maybe I can get an even better, waterproof one for next year? We shall see!

See you in a week!

More Tips

Tip #1: I decided to take the Miller Ferry because I’d heard that it was a lot less expensive. I guess the Jet Express is a little bit nicer, and definitely faster, but it costs twice as much and you have to pay for parking. By taking the Miller Ferry, you pay less money for the ticket, and the parking is free! The only disadvantage is that you dock further from the lab, but that’s nothing a cab ride can’t fix.

To find out what else was helpful on my trip, check out my blog!

The sunset off of Gibraltar Island can be beautiful, like the sunset Thursday night. Rattlesnake Island is in the background.

Blog's in the news

Thought this was pretty interesting (and of course I wrote it)! The article is also on our homepage (www.ohioseagrant.osu.edu) and appeared in the Toledo Blade last month. Just a little incentive for you bloggers to keep up the good work!

I've also been working on an article that will appear in the next issue of Twine Line, the magazine that we run on research and news around the Great Lakes area. The magazine can also be acessed from our home page. Enjoy!

Stone Laboratory Students Offer Personal Accounts of Coursework Via Blogs

Students and educators interested in Ohio State University's Lake Erie campus at Stone Laboratory can now view first-hand accounts of students' experiences on line. Lauren Makeyenko of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is the first of many Stone Lab students who has been busy blogging this past week.

"Everyone was able to participate in the water sampling this morning. Techniques used were the Rosette Sampler (conductivity, temperature, chlorophyll, and dissolved oxygen), Box Core Sampler, Ponar Grab, and Plankton Net," writes Lauren on the first day of her blog."

Shipboard and Shoreline Science on Lake Erie is Lauren's daily journal of her experiences while taking the course Natural Resources 611: Great Lakes Education Workshop. Throughout her blog, Lauren quotes her classmates, uploads pictures of her activities, and documents her experience aboard the U.S. EPA's R/V Lake Guardian.

"Lauren Makeyenko did a great job of capturing not only what was happening with the science but also with the environments we encountered," says Dr. Rosanne Fortner, director of COSEE Great Lakes. "The storms, the mayflies and the canoes all contributed to that experiential aspect that is the most memorable way to learn. I think you can see from the photos how involved and enthusiastic the participants were."

As part of a new Ohio Sea Grant Communications project, Lauren's blog is just one of many student blogs now available on the web. One student from each of the 30 science courses offered at Stone Laboratory has been selected to write a detailed account of their experiences while at the Lab this summer. Courses with blogs now include Sports Fishing, Geology, and Marine and Aquatic Education.

These blogs will serve as a visual and written record of student experiences to use in the following years for promotion. Future students will be able to click and see what they would be doing in class from another student's perspective. From important items to bring to Lake Erie, to how to catch bigger walleye, anyone can see that these blogs are meant to prepare and intrigue future students.

To see Lauren's blog about her experience with COSEE Great Lakes' Lake Guardian course, visit www.coseegreatlakes.blogspot.com. To read about other students' adventures while at Stone Laboratory, visit the Stone Lab Students blog at www.stonelaboratory.blogspot.com.

Stone Laboratory is Ohio State University's Island Campus on Lake Erieand the research facility for the Ohio Sea Grant College Program. Teachers, high school students, and college students take college credit courses at Stone Lab, the nation's oldest freshwater biological field station, every year. More than 5,500 students grades 4 through adults take aquatic science workshops/fieldtrips at Stone Lab annually.

Fun times

This past weekend was “Christmas in July” at Put-in-Bay, an annual event celebrated every late July on the island. Friday night a large Santa made a short visit to Gibraltar Island. Santa was pulled by a large yacht decorated with Christmas lights and playing Christmas music. Saturday evening a few of us took a break from our busy schedule to partake in the festivities in town. Good times were had by all!

2nd Term at the Lab

The second term is here! Congrats to those students who have already completed their course work for the summer and good luck to those who have only just begun! There's a whole slew of new bloggers ready to start bloggin' . . . including Justin who is working on a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). And we'd like to welcome OSU Nature Gal back as she contiues to blog about Aquatic and Wetland Flora (among other things!)

There's more??

Yep! I just got done with my Local Flora for Teachers course at Stone Lab. I have lots of stuff to post so keep checking back. I have some preview pictures posted now. Also, being the busy wee student that I am, I'll be back up there in justa few days for the Aquatic and Wetland Flora class so you'll be hearing a lot more from me.

In the mean time here's a picture of my Local Flora class:



See you soon!
OSU Nature Gal

Field Ecology - EEOB 513

So my week in Field Ecology in June was great! And I'm looking forward to Stream Ecology starting this weekend. Here's the link to the Field Ecology course: http://alicemstone.blogspot.com/

It's nice to be a teacher and have time during the summer to do this kind of stuff!

I loved seeing all the water snakes on the islands... these two were sunning themselves on Kelley's Island.

Next up: EEOB 694!

Hey there, it's me, OSU Nature Gal again! I'm gearing up for my next class, Local Flora for Teachers at Stone Lab. I'm really looking forward to it since plants are my guilty pleasure and I hope to be able to continue focusing on them throughout my education. Keep checking in and I'll let you know how it's going!

Birding 101

Always wanted to know where the Cedar Waxwings and Tree Swallow nests can be found?? Stop on over to Lynsdey's Ornithology blog and check out her tips on how to be a better birder!

What to bring when travelling to the lab . . .

Curious as to what to bring to your class this summer? Worried about overpacking? Or worse yet, underpacking? Well, now you have a list of important items to bring with you on your travels, thanks to OSU Nature Gal!

So Great they got a "Thanks!"

"We are so thankful to the Captain and Crew of the Lake Guardian. They are all the absolute best and we could not have had this amazing journey without them!" -- Shipboard and Shoreline Science on Lake Erie

Find out why this deserving crew got their own personal thank you by reading Jessica's blog Nat Res 611 and click on the link to the right!

Hi peeps!

I will be posting from Stone Labs in a couple of weeks on my Aquatic Biology course! My blog is called aquabio.

I checked out some of the other blogs, and they look great! I'm looking foreward to this journalism experience (a first for me). :-)

Who wants to go fishing?!

Hey, it's me, OSU Nature Gal! Come check out my blog as I tell you about my week of fishing at Stone Lab. If you see the picture that Daniella posted, you can see me with my monster walleye (29 inches! That's almost half as long as I am tall!) kneeling in the front row on the far right. I just posted some helpful hints on coming to Stone Lab and I will be posting pictures soon!

Go Bucks!

Hands-on Real Science!

"Everyone was able to participate in the water sampling this morning. Techniques used were the Rosette Sampler (conductivity, temperature, chlorphyll, and dissolved oxygen), Box Core Sampler, Ponar Grab, and Plankton Net." -- Shipboard and Shoreline Science on Lake Erie

Wanna know what we're talking about?? Click here! to find out what's new in Natural Resources 611: Great Lakes Education Workshop

A Good Week for Sports Fishing!

Who would have thought you could get college credit for fishing on Lake Erie? Read about Amy, a student in EDU PAES 140.07: Lake Erie Sport Fishing right here! And see why everyone in the class was able to catch a fish!

College Credit for a Cruise?

Ever wonder what it would be like to take classes on a cruise ship?? Well now you'll have a better idea. Lauren, a student in Natural Resources 611: Great Lakes Education Workshop, is taking a cruise ship all along Lake Erie on the R/V Lake Guardian. This week long course will involve teachers and informal educators in interdisciplinary learning opportunities for Great Lakes and ocean systems research. Read all about Lauren's adventures here!

Natural Resources 614

We already have a blog up and running! Read about Jessica's adventures in her course Natural Resources 614: Marine and Aquatic Education. Click on the link to the right to read about her first 4 days at Stone Lab . . .

About the Blog

This year Stone Lab has decided to do something new and different to promote classes over the summer. Meet our new blog! Students that are taking courses at the lab RIGHT NOW are keeping logs of their experiences and reporting back right here. Read about the exciting adventures these students are experiencing as they conduct research on the nation's oldest biological field station . . .