May 27, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR LEE PELLEGRINO-GENSEY IN NJ
Congratulations on what looks like an excellent Girl Scout silver or gold
award project. You might pick "pollinators" as a theme - this would cover
insects, birds, and mammals (think bats) as valuable species for pollination
of crops and many native plants. You could use this theme to explore
habitat loss, native vs. imported species, loss of species due to introduced
predators, and economics of species preservation. Check out www.xerces.org
for the Xerces Society, which is a nonprofit
organization dedicated to the conservation of invertebrates (most people
think of the large and well-known endangered species, but someone has to
look out for the insects!). For bats, look into www.batcon.org
for Bat Conservation International. People might
be interested to know things like how chocolate production could drop if the
few species that pollinate cacao trees it are lost or reduced. This
information came across my desk recently in the form of the Cell Signaling
Technology catalog (www.cellsignal.com), and here is a quote from their
pages that might give you some ideas: "An estimated 100,000 to 300,000
animal species including bees, butterflies, moths, birds, and bats are
involved in pollination. More than 80 percent of the world's 250,000
flowering plants depend on animal pollinators, and roughly 15 to 30 percent
of the food eaten throughout the world comes from plants pollinated by these
creatures". Good luck.
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A: FROM MENTOR LAUREN BATTE IN MD
Hi Alexis! Great to hear about your opportunity to participate in
conservation training at the Bronx Zoo. Experiences like that when I
was in school definitely shaped my decision to pursue a
conservation-related career. My bio is not yet up on the web site
because I am new to the GEM-SET Program so, to give you a quick idea of
my background, a bio is posted on the web at
http://www.uncwil.edu/nurc/aquarius/2002/11_2002/Batte.htm. The site is
from back in the Fall so pardon if it's a little out of date. I am an
employee at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
in Washington DC and my background is in marine science.

I'm going to try to answer your questions in order so, here goes...

1: There are a whole host of topics that could be explored related to
conservation including some hot topics like biodiversity, ecotourism,
restoration, economic implications of conservation, conservation
biology, conservation in developing countries, etc. You can look at
whole variety of terrestrial as well as marine and aquatic environments
and how humans interact with these environments. You could focus on a
small scale or a large scale (e.g. local issues versus global issues).
I assume that since you'll be at the zoo, you might consider
conservation topics such as endangered and protected species or
protected areas (e.g. sanctuaries, parks, etc.) and how they are used
for conservation purposes. A quick search of the internet could give
you a many more ideas then this short, broad list.

2. I would be happy to arrange for myself or some of my colleagues here
at NOAA in the DC area to participate in a conservation expo. We could
provide expertise, materials, and perhaps a display for the event. I'm
in communications and have access to some exhibit materials.

3. If you decide to explore topics that relate to NOAA science, I'm
happy to answer your questions or put you in touch with scientists who
can. To learn more about NOAA, check out www.noaa.gov. The major types
of work that we do fall into three main theme areas: weather; climate;
and ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources. The National Weather
Service, National Ocean Service, and National Marine Fisheries Service
are all part of NOAA.

4. I have access to quite an assortment of NOAA publications including
science posters on topics such as space weather, ocean observing,
invasive species, the ozone hole, tsunamis, ocean exploration, and the
list goes on... I'm happy to track down NOAA materials that are
available.

Good luck with your project and after you decide what your focus will
be, let me know and I'm happy to get you what you need. Enjoy NYC!
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A: FROM MENTOR MAGGIE REINBOLD IN CA
Hi Alexis-
I'm so glad that you've decided to take an active interest in
conservation. I personally do my research on the conservation of
invertebrates, namely aqautic insects living in desert springs and
oases. I wanted to make a suggestions that you include invertebrates
in your workshop/expo as they are vital to the ecological maintenance
and cycling of the planet. They also make interesting study subjects
if you decided to have live creatures at one of your booths. In any
case, I wish you the best of luck and I think you're doing a fantastic
and important job!