Barcoding the Alaskan wild. You can help!
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Eri
Jul 29, 2013, 7:47:50 PM7/29/13
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Help Ellen Jorgensen catalog Alaska's native plants! https://www.microryza.com/projects/barcoding-alaska
One a plant has been barcoded, it opens up a whole world of possibilities where amateur scientists like school children or hikers can easily and non-destructively survey the plants in an area for ecology studies, to find invasive species, chart global warming effects, determine relatedness between species, etc. The Alaskan tundra is a particularly fragile environment and is very worthy of study.
This study will also serve as a pilot for scale-up. I have contacts within Native Alaskan communities and I can see this eventually developing into a wonderful education program teaching kids in these communities modern DNA science.
We are at 20% of our goal of $7000, with 38 days left. Every little bit helps!
https://www.microryza.com/projects/barcoding-alaska
Ellen is raising $7k on Microryza to, with the help of Brooklyn students, sample and identify different plant species in Alaska using DNA barcoding. The Alaskan environment is under strain and it's important to get this project not just completed, but soon.
If you can help the project out with $10, $20...or one million dollars (i.e., whatever you can afford), that would be phenomenal. Thank you!
Eri
PS: I'm not personally involved in the project but am posting to try to help most excellent people and a wonderful project :)
PPS: More on the project! Genspace community lab has a great project that combines ecology, citizen science and STEM education. Spearheaded by TED speaker Ellen Jorgensen, a Genspace expedition collects plant samples from fragile Alaskan environments and brings them back to Genspace community lab where they are DNA barcoded by students and citizen scientists. This is awesome hands-on lab experience for free. Barcoding is the new trend in species identification, and is crucial for environmental projects and legislation. Since most species on earth have not yet been barcoded, we will add important data to the Barcode of Life database.
One a plant has been barcoded, it opens up a whole world of possibilities where amateur scientists like school children or hikers can easily and non-destructively survey the plants in an area for ecology studies, to find invasive species, chart global warming effects, determine relatedness between species, etc. The Alaskan tundra is a particularly fragile environment and is very worthy of study.
This study will also serve as a pilot for scale-up. I have contacts within Native Alaskan communities and I can see this eventually developing into a wonderful education program teaching kids in these communities modern DNA science.
We are at 20% of our goal of $7000, with 38 days left. Every little bit helps!
https://www.microryza.com/projects/barcoding-alaska
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