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EE, Ocean, & Water Conservation Infographics

It’s no secret that a picture speaks a thousands words. But, when you couple words and pictures (with numbers, arrows, charts, etc.) you get quite an impact. If you’re a regular reader of the BCS blog you already know I’m fond of infographics. So I decided to pull together the ones found on BCS, as well as other places. You’ll see this list follows the general themes found on BCS: marine science, water/ocean conservation, as well as connecting with nature. I hope you enjoy browsing and a special thanks to all the organizations that have produced these powerful resources. To check out the collective visual of most of these infographics please check out my EE, Ocean, & Water Conservation Infographics Pinterest board. Please email info@beachchairscientist.com or let me know on Twitter  (@bcsanswers) if you have another one that could be added to the list.

  1. 5 reasons feeding of whale sharks should stop – Save Philippine Seas
  2. 10 ways to save water in your home – Good
  3. 10 places to see – Infographipedia
  4. 25 years of Shark Week – Leonly
  5. 50 Awesome facts about earth
  6. Acting green v. buying green – Inhabitat
  7. Anatomy of a bottom trawl – Oceana
  8. Atlantic bluefin tuna (Saving an ocean giant) – Pew Environment Group
  9. Atlantic horseshoe crab – Beach Chair Scientist
  10. Benefits of plants – Zabisco
  11. Benefits of recycling – Visual.ly
  12. Black market on bluefin tuna – Center for Public Integrity
  13. Boating accidents: The bad & the ugly – Gadling
  14. Carbon storage and coastal habitats – Ocean Health Index
  15. Challenger Deep – Visual News
  16. Children and nature – National Environmental Education Foundation
  17. Citizen science is blooming – National Environmental Education Foundation
  18. Collapsing seas – Reusethisbag.com
  19. Dangerous sharks of the Red Sea – Rian.eu
  20. Dangers of natural gas – One Block off the Grid
  21. Decline of fish populations in the last 50 years – Good
  22. Deepwater Horizon explained (video) – Visual World
  23. Do you know your seafood? – One World One Ocean
  24. Earth ages – USGS
  25. Earth Day – H&R Block
  26. Energy level threats from sea level rise – Surging Seas
  27. Energy-water collision – Union of Concerned Scientists
  28. Facts of fracking – Treehugger
  29. Global water crisis – Living Green Magazine
  30. GMOs: We have the right to know – Just Label It
  31. Great Barrier Reef – Go Green, Travel Green
  32. Green guilt – Call2Recycle
  33. Green electronics – National Resource Defense Council
  34. Highest, leaping sharks – Visual.ly
  35. How a landfill work – Reusethisbag.com
  36. How bikes can save us – Dailyinfographic.com
  37. How convenience is killing our planet by ArteIdeas
  38. How deep is the ocean? – Our Amazing Planet
  39. How does recycling work? – Transit Utopia
  40. How fresh is your seafood? – Oceana
  41. How long will it last? – Earth911.com
  42. How to choose the safest seafood – Visual.ly
  43. How much are you spending on water per gallon? – United By Blue
  44. How we are eating our way through the oceans – CFP Reform Watch
  45. Humpback whales – MauiWhaleWatchTours.com
  46. Humpback whale facts – The Daily Catch
  47. Hurricane Sandy vs. Hurricane Katrina – Huffington Post
  48. Is it really ‘green’? – Contract Services Group, Inc.
  49. Let’s explore the ocean – found on Ocean Wild Things
  50. Life of a water bottle – Visual.ly
  51. Low down on bottled water – Sustainable Energy Systems
  52. Marine debris poster – SeaGrant, et al
  53. Marine habitats – PlanetSave
  54. Ocean food shortage (Save menhaden) – Pew Environment Group
  55. Oceans: Our living resource – Humane Society of America
  56. Offshore drilling – Oceana
  57. Paper vs. plastic – Market Research
  58. Plastics Breakdown, The – One World One Ocean
  59. Polar bears in peril – Mother Nature News
  60. Pollutants entering the ocean – Living Green Magazine
  61. Pop science guide to birds – Mother Nature News
  62. Right whales – Kyle Bentle
  63. Recycling: The good, the better, the best – Reusethisbag.com
  64. Reduce your water footprint – Good
  65. Reuse, reduce, and relocate – My Move
  66. Save the Arctic – Greenpeace
  67. Seafood decision guide – National Geographic
  68. Sea turtles of the coral triangle – World Wildlife Fund
  69. Secret to a sound sea – Visual News
  70. Sharks count – Pew Environment Group
  71. Shipping noises and whales – Ocean Initiative
  72. STEM & our planet – National Environmental Education Foundation
  73. Suffocating the world with plastics – Living Green Magazine
  74. Tar Sands Standoff – Huffington Post
  75. Test your water IQ – Whole Living Daily
  76. Threats to wildlife – Ocean Conservancy
  77. Tips for a green home and yard – A Simply Good Life
  78. Trash and recycling trends – Round2, An Avnet Company
  79. Truth about water – Evergreen AES
  80. Truth about plastic – Reusethisbag.com
  81. Total water – Soulja Portfolio
  82. Toxicity of surfing – Adventure Journal
  83. Ugly journey of our trash – Project Aware
  84. Understanding carbon offsets – Good
  85. US of the Environment – Mother Nature News
  86. Water: Cooperation or competition – Visual.ly
  87. Water footprint of Americans – Nature Conservancy
  88. Whale shark – One World One Ocean
  89. Whaling is a big issue – Human Society International
  90. What is oceanography? – Sea Blog
  91. What is shark finning? – Wildaid
  92. What to eat this summer? – Good
  93. What we recycle – Live Science
  94. When sea levels attack – from Creative Data
  95. Where do plastic bottles end up? – United By Blue
  96. Who are the deepest divers in the sea? – Live Science
  97. Who’s been dumping in my ocean? – Marisys
  98. Why a four degree Celsius warmer world must be avoided – The Moral Mindfield
  99. Why don’t Americans recycle? – Good
  100. Why protect Antarctica’s ocean? – Antarctic Ocean Alliance
  101. Why the ocean? (video) – One World One Ocean
  102. Why you should care about water conservation – Mother Nature News
  103. Worldwide plastic bag ban – Reusethisbag.com
  104. World wetland destruction – So Fresh and So Green

Limulus Love

One common topic on this blog is the Atlantic horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus. Most certainly this is a product of where I grew up. As a person from Cape May County, NJ, I came to appreciate the horseshoe crab in all its humility and glory. There is also a story that will be told for decades of how I ended up having to bring my dear mother on a late night horseshoe crab survey of which the data sheet blew away in the wind when we completed our task (… always have a rubber band around the clip board!).

Here is a listing of the horseshoe crab posts found on BCS:

  1. The short and sweet of horseshoe crab spawning
  2. 99 reasons I’m in Limulus Love
  3. The world’s horseshoe crab research finally finds a home
  4. Do all horseshoe crabs molt?
  5. What happens if the tide leaves the horseshoe crab stranded?
  6. How to track a horseshoe crab
  7. Witness the horseshoe crab molting process
  8. Why is the blood of horseshoe crabs blue?
  9. How have horseshoe crabs been able to remain unchanged for centuries?
  10. Atlantic horseshoe crab infographic
  11. “The Timeless Traveler” a new documentary by River Bank Studio
  12. What do you spy with a horseshoe crab eye?
  13. Scientists discover new living fossil. What is a living fossil?
  14. 13 apps for your day at the beach
  15. 30 reasons to be grateful for the ocean
  16. “Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” P.J. O’Rourke
  17. It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: X for Xiphosura
  18. It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: H for Horseshoe Crab
  19. Where have all the horseshoe crabs gone?
  20. Just Flip ‘Em
  21. Why are horseshoe crabs essential to biotechnology?
  22. Are horseshoe crabs dangerous?
  23. More reasons why I love the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab…
  24. The First Beach Chair Scientist post is about my favorite animal – The Atlantic Horseshoe Crab

limuluslove_beachchairscientistweb

Horseshoe crab resources:

  1. Ecological Research & Development Group
  2. Fish and Wildlife Service
  3. Maryland Department of Natural Resources
  4. University of Delaware: Sea Grant
  5. The Assateague Naturalist

Please feel free to email if there is anything you would like covered on this topic or any great resources you’d like to share (info@beachchairscientist.com).

Also, here are some of my horseshoe crab pictures from the excursion with my mom.

Check out more pictures here!

“The Timeless Traveler” a new documentary by River Bank Studios

September 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment

According to Jason Peters from Filmmakers for Conservation, “The film Timeless Traveler – The Horseshoe Crab is a film about what some consider to be the world’s most spectacular scientific breakthrough that could rewrite the pages of medical history. It is an appeal for the conservation of a unique species and aims to achieve a widespread public awareness and appreciation of Horseshoe Crabs throughout India and the world.”

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Filed Under: Arthropods, Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, People, Places Tagged With: , ,

Scientists discover new living fossil. What is a living fossil?

August 22, 2011 by 2 Comments

A living fossil is not Russell Johnson (the professor from Gilligan’s Island) or dear Zsa Zsa Gabor (God bless you for holding on!).

I’ll chop it down to say that a living fossil is an organism that more closely resembles a fossil than anything living. For instance, the Atlantic horseshoe crab resembles the fossil record of trilobites more so than anything living. You can also think of living fossils as animals that have gone unchanged after millions of years therefore resembling the fossil record of their ancestors very closely. For instance, alligators and crocodiles haven’t evolved much in the past 230 million years. Horseshoe crabs have gone unchanged in the past 450 million years.

Most recently, a team led by Smithsonian scientists discovered a new living fossil, a primitive eel (Protoanguilla palau), from 10 specimens gathered from a cave in Palau. Palau is an island located in the Pacific 500 miles east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles south of Tokyo. What the scientists noticed was unique to this species (setting it apart from the 800 species of living eels) was the presence of a second upper jaw bone, fewer than the standard 90 vertebrae, and a full set of bony toothed gill rakers. Also, according to the press release from the Smithsonian, “The team’s analyses of total mitochondrial DNA indicate that P. palau represents an ancient, independent lineage with an evolutionary history comparable to that of the entire order of living and fossil eel species.”

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Filed Under: Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, Fish, Ocean Tagged With: , , ,

13 apps for your day at the beach

August 17, 2011 by 2 Comments

It’s time to get the most out of that last trip to the beach!

Whether you’re ready for a day out on the boat, lounging, beachcombing, catching some waves, or preparing a feast there is an app to get you more involved in your marine environment. Apps are not only a great way to learn something new on the fly but can be a useful tool for engaging one another in settings where you may not have common ground. (OK, at the very least apps settle many ‘discussions’.)

Here is a list of useful and rather attractive apps that can connect you to your inner marine biologist.

AUDUBON FIELD GUIDES: Audubon Fishes of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico and Audubon Fishes – A Guide to North American Fishes include photos, geographic ranges, and concise yet detailed descriptions of appearances. Coming soon is the field guide for the Mid-Atlantic shoreline. ($9.99)

OCEANOGRAPHY STUDY GUIDE: If you are into fun oceanography trivia and want to learn more about the geography of the sea than download this app. It isn’t an endless list of “did you know?” facts but rather a large range of topics with well written articles for the serious beach chair scientist. ($4.99)

OFFICIAL APP OF ISSF: The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) was founded in 2008 when leaders of industry, scientists and environmental champions voiced concern over the future of tuna fisheries. This app provides a glossary of terms, videos, and a list of the status of stocks. (Free)

SEA TURTLE APP: This app was created by the Sea Turtle Conservancy and allows you to follow read the latest on sea turtle news but much more exciting you can track the global migration of different sea turtles with interactive satellite tracking maps! (Free)

Enough sitting around – it’s time to get out there and do something:

MOBILE APP FOR IGFA: The International Game Fishing Association created an app for weigh station locations, angler rules and regulations, customizable quests, and advice for trip planning. What more does a sport fisherman need?

MARINE DEBRIS TRACKER APP: This collaboration is brought to you by the Southeast Atlantic Marine Debris Initiative. The reporting of where you find marine debris can help to focus and prioritize federal efforts. The app uses GPS and allows you minimal work of sorting through lists of common marine debris. (Free)

CRAB APP: This app is an offshoot from the marine wild lab and allows you to collect horseshoe crab species data that will be used in scientific research. Horseshoe crabs are of enormous importance to 1) the drug industry due to their blood, 2) to fisheries for bait, and 3) to migratory shorebirds for its eggs.  (Free)

TIDE GRAPH: I found out that there are many, many apps out there to help you monitor the tides. Tide Graph will work for both coasts in the US and provides graphs to help you see how the tide changes over the day and the month. ($1.99)

If you are preparing a feast or gorging on some dockside seafood:

SEAFOOD WATCH: For years the Monterey Bay Aquarium has produced adorable pocket-sized regional cheat sheets so you can get a quick overview of what species are considered over fished or not in your neck of the woods. They continue to produce this application for your iPhone and use GPS tracking to discover where you are so you can get the most relevant information. (Free)

PROJECT FISHMAP: Monterey Bay Aquarium also gets you more involved by asking you to submit information when you find a restaurant or market that advocates sustainable seafood. As the map grows you can see what spots you’ve not uncovered in your neighborhood. (Free)

FISHPHONE APP: With one quick text (example: “fish salmon”) to 30644 Blue Ocean Institute will fed you intel on your species of choice. For instance, they’ll rank the sustainability and toxicity levels and send an overview of its conservation status. (Free)

SAFE SEAFOOD: This app takes information from ten different seafood rankings (including Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Environmental Defense Fund) to create its list. The app outlines choices in an easy to review “best to worst” list. I particularly like that fish with multiple different market names are listed by each of common name too. ($0.99, but 10% of the proceeds go to EDF)

I am certain I missed many wonderful apps. Please do not hesitate to email at info@beachchairscientist.com to share!

Added October 27, 2011: An app for water quality and to get the most up-to-date grade for your beach presented by Heal the Bay in California.

Filed Under: Fish, Ocean, People, Places, Random Fun!, Sea Turtles, Test Your Knowledge Tagged With: , , , , , ,

30 reasons to be grateful for the ocean

June 30, 2011 by 4 Comments

It’s the end of another National Oceans Month. And, on this most lovely of lovely days I’d like to Speak Up For Blue and name 30 reasons to be grateful for the ocean! (OK, and it just so happens to be this Beach Chair Scientist’s birthday)

In no particular order, here are some reasons to appreciate the ocean (and all its glorious ecosystems):

Estuaries (Although the course may change sometimes, rivers always reach the sea. – Led Zeppelin)

  • Nursery grounds for many of the commercially important fish that live in the sea.
  • Make up the public infrastructure that are the harbors and ports used for shipping, transportation, and industry.
  • Serve as a filter for sediments, nutrients, and other pollutants that come from upstream.
  • Coastal areas are home to over half the U.S. population.
  • Mangroves and other estuarine ecosystems are amazing playgrounds and feeding grounds for many wading birds.
  • The smell of low tide!

Intertidal Zone (including littoral zone)

  • Home to the tides going in and out. Where else can we appreciate the ebb and flow of life?
  • This is home to many bivalve species that love to burrow under the muck.
  • We can investigate the wrack line and find many treasures that have washed ashore.
  • Place where my favorite animal, the Atlantic horseshoe crab, likes to come to mate during the full and new moons in May and June.
  • A perfect spot to jump waves with little ones!
  • Home to the lovely and rhythmic sound of waves lapping.

Coral Reefs (Pollution, overfishing, and overuse have put many of our unique reefs at risk. Their disappearance would destroy the habitat of countless species. It would unravel the web of marine life that holds the potential for new chemicals, new medicines, unlocking new mysteries. It would have a devastating effect on the coastal communities from Cairns to Key West, Florida — communities whose livelihood depends upon the reefs. – Former President Bill Clinton.)

  • Support a great diversity of species.
  • Yield compounds that are very important in the medical field (have been used in the treatment of cancer, HIV, cardiovascular diseases, ulcers, and other ailments).
  • Protect shorelines erosion.
  • Center of many country’s tourism income.
  • Home to a myriad of colors and patterns!

Pelagic Zone, Euphotic Zone (Open ocean)

  • The only place large enough for the big blue whale to swim and play.
  • The only place large enough for a blue fin tuna to pick up enough speed.
  • Home to a lot of phytoplankton that helps support oxygen production.
  • Home to the Sargasso Sea the only place special enough for the American eel to breed.
  • Home to peace and solitude.
  • A perfect spot to become humble.

Mesopelagic Zone, Twilight Zone (Open ocean bathyal zone)

  • Home to the many creature with the beautiful twinklings of bioluminescence.
  • Only place deep enough for sperm whales to dive down and grab some food.
  • Home to many elusive squid species.

Deep Sea (Abyssal)

Polar Regions

  • Home to the polar bear (did you know their fur isn’t white? It is actually clear but appears white since it is reflected in the sunlight).
  • Important breeding and mating areas for many migratory species (including the red knot).

And, without it we’d be nothing. Oceans cover about 70% of the earth’s surface, and we rely on it economically, environmentally, and scientifically.

Obviously this is a very personal list and it could go on and on forever. I am looking forward to hearing your reasons to be grateful to the ocean and hope we can get to 100 by the end of the year!

Filed Under: Algae (Seaweeds), Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, Ocean Tagged With: , ,

“Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” P.J. O’Rourke

May 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Today Ira Flatow discussed summer science reads on Science Friday, my favorite radio program. So, I got to thinking about two very special books that I always wander back to when I want to reconnect with the ocean. Henry Beston’s, The Outermost House, and Jennifer Ackerman’s, Notes from the Shore, are two books written in the spirit and tradition of Thoreau’s, Walden. Beston and Ackerman are alone with their thoughts in a remote marine environment (Beston is on Cape Cod while Ackerman is on Delaware’s Cape Henelope) for an extended period of time. They both contemplate how the ocean can be a metaphor for our existence.

After his return from World War I, Beston built a writer’s cabin on Cape Cod. He called the home Fo’castle and there he wrote The Outermost House published in 1928. This book was an inspiration to Rachel Carson as she wrote The Sea Around Us. Fo’castle was unfortunately destroyed by high tides in 1978.

Here is an excerpt from The Outermost House that I come back to often (especially when I am coveting the latest smartphone): “Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places. For the gifts of life are the earth’s and they are given to all, and they are the songs of birds at daybreak, Orion and the Bear, and the dawn seen over the ocean from the beach. ”

Let’s face it. Beston is not for everyone. Jennifer Ackerman is a bit most contemporary in her text and prose. After all, Notes from the Shore was published in 1995. Her outlook on man altering nature is spot-on, “It’s in our nature to see order and when we don’t see it, to try to impose it. We have to put things through our minds to make sense of them, and our minds crave pattern and order. So maybe what we glimpse is only what we desire.” A statement that reminds me sometimes we should just allow nature to take its course and see what happens.

Another reason I gravitate to Notes from the Shore is that she spends a considerable amount of time writing about my favorite animal, Limulus polyphemus. She even reviews her experience counting horseshoe crabs during the late nights in May and June, an activity this Beach Chair Scientist did quite often during undergraduate internships. With that I will leave off with Ackerman’s description on the incredible nature of the horseshoe crab‘s ability to remain so steadfast and unchanged, “These creatures so durable that they antedate most other life-forms, so adaptable that their survival as a species may, for all we know, approach eternity.”

Image (c) goodreads.com

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Filed Under: Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, Beach, Fish, Ocean, Random Fun! Tagged With: , , , ,

It’s as Easy as A, B, Sea: A Review

February 28, 2011 by 1 Comment

We did it! Here is the Beach Chair Scientist’s 2011 version of the A, B, Seas.

A is for Agnatha

B for Baffin Bay

C for Chitin

D for Diaz, Bartholomeu

E for Epipelagic

F for Fulmar

G for Gorgonians

H for Horseshoe Crab

I for Irish Moss

J for JOIDES

K for Knot

L for Limpet

M for Monsoon

N for Nematocysts

O for Operculum

P for Portolan

Q for Queen Conch

R for Remora

S for Sturgeon

T for Trilobite

U for Upwelling

V for Veliger

W for Weddell Sea

X for Xiphosura

Y for Yellowfin Tuna

Z is for Zooxanthellae

Filed Under: Random Fun! Tagged With:

It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: X for Xiphosura

February 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Xiphosura is the order of the Atlantic horseshoe crab and its three closest living related species.

Filed Under: Atlantic Horseshoe Crab

What children have to say about marine debris

January 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I just think this review of what children from New York City have to say about beach pollution aka marine debris is too “right on” not to share. These quotes come directly from an article on the Ocean Conservancy’s website. Check out the entire article for some wonderful crayola images the kids did too!

Fourth-graders in New York City conducted cleanups at a local beach and tallied every item they found on Ocean Conservancy’s data card, an experience shared by hundreds of thousands of people around the world every year during Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup.

The young citizen scientists learned about the myriad ways marine debris threatens ocean health, and created graphs to show the sources of these man-made items.

They shared their findings with us, and we’d like to share them with you. Here are just a few of their observations, presented just as they’ve written them:

Filed Under: Beach, People Tagged With: