Oliveira, Cristina

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Repositório da Universidade Nova de Lisboa

     EVOLUTION MEGALAB NEWSLETTER:   ISSUE 15 SEPTEMBER 2009  Thank you to everyone who submitted news for this issue. If you have any news that you would like to be included in a future issue, please email it to Jenny at j.p.worthington@open.ac.uk by the 20th of the month   NUMBER OF RECORDS ADDED  As of the 6th October we have had 6937 records added to the website.   Please see the attached web stats for further information.  ANALYSIS OF THE DATA  As decided at the Evolution MegaLab workshop last year one collaborative paper will be published with all participants being co-authors. The paper will address the two main questions we have asked: impact of changes in climate and predation on the polymorphism in Cepaea populations. It is envisaged this paper will be published in a high profile journal like Nature or Science.   After the initial collaborative paper has been published the dataset will be made freely available to all collaborators to use as is seen fit.   THRUSH INFORMATION  One of the questions the Evolution MegaLab asks is:  ‘Have shell colours and bands changed where there are fewer thrushes?’  Do you have any data for your country on thrush populations over the last 50 years? Would this data be available at the regional level or only at the national level?   WORKSHOP  We are beginning to think about the possibility of holding another workshop next year to discuss the outcomes of the Evolution MegaLab in terms of both the scientific and citizen science outcomes.  We will need to find funding in order to run the workshop. Would it be possible if funding could be found by each country to cover the travel costs of each participant attending from that country?    © Peter Skelton  NEWS FROM THE NETHERLANDS  The Evolution Megalab has been integrated into a new educational programme for primary schools, called ‘Beagle Special’. This has been developed especially around the big multimedia project in the Darwin Year: Beagle.   The Dutch broadcasting company VPRO is re-sailing the famous Beagle voyage of Charles Darwin, with scientists and artists on board. The trip can be followed both on television and on internet 24/7: http://beagle.vpro.nl.                          The educational programme is one of the multimedia elements. Last week, the Evolution Megalab lessons could be seen on School TV: http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=10086327 starting at 10:10 until 13:00 minutes.  On 21st October, the official closing of the Evolution Megalab in The Netherlands will be ‘celebrated’ with a presentation of the preliminary results by Menno Schilthuizen. This is part of the Dutch ‘October Knowledge Month’ programme. Megalab is the ‘OK Experiment’ which means it is the key experiment for a large audience this year.   NEWS FROM PORTUGAL  Ciência Viva (www.cienciaviva.pt) is the agency responsible in helping to promote the Evolution MegaLab in Portugal.   The Office for Science Communication of the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMC.INEB), from Oporto, implemented the project in the City gardens during the summer holidays. IBMC.INEB also provided scientific support for other institutions interested (eg schools or science museums), which also organized field trips in their regions. Nearby Oporto, Vila do Conde Science Center and Gaia Biological Park also participated actively in exploring their city gardens with the citizens. The activities had been developed in July, August and September, involving 270 citizens in field trips, observing, counting and registering on-line data from Cepaea nemoralis. An increasing amount of data has been registered, as a great number of citizens embrace the project. In a country where there is a weak naturalist tradition, the accomplishment of these activities allows us to reaffirm that even “to the rhythm of the snail” science can be made by all.          © Cristina Oliveira                 

News from Portugal

https://run.unl.pt/bitstream/10362/110187/1/MegalabNewsletterSept2009.pdf

News from Portugal

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Repositório da Universidade Nova de Lisboa