GVSU stream research project connects high school students to larger 谢德水族馆研究

A Grand Valley researcher is teaming up with a teacher and students from a Muskegon County high school to conduct tests monitoring the health of a beloved creek that flows nearby.

最近的检测是检测是否有 behavior of suckers in Crockery Creek, which is a tributary for the Grand River as it nears the end of its journey to Lake Michigan. That sucker monitoring is also part of a larger study with ties to John Ball Zoo and the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, said Amanda Buday, 社会学副教授.

Buday, a rural sociologist, got involved with studying Crockery Creek after conducting a community survey in 2022 for the Ottawa Conservation District regarding the Crockery Creek watershed.

“在我们交谈时，其中一件事很突出 landowners is that a lot of people expressed memories of fishing in the creek, and it was a really valued local trout stream," Buday说. “但是大河有一种感觉 gotten a lot of focus as far as water-quality efforts but that Crockery Creek had not been up until the Ottawa Conservation 区格兰特.

Buday说，进一步的研究表明 陶罐溪相对来说不太稳定. 当她调查的时候 ways to help fill that gap, Buday was connected with Melanie Block, a teacher at Ravenna High School who leads that school's FFA Rural 技术课程. 

Block's students, primarily from that group, have been taking part in stream monitoring in conjunction with Buday. 其他 testing has included monitoring for such things as E. 杆菌.

"This helps draw a connection for why they should care about the water quality in the community and how they affect ”布洛克说.

The project's goal is to collect community-owned stream science data that over a long period of time will help keep a pulse on what is happening with this creek that has been significant to generations of residents, especially recreationally.

The Ravenna High School contingent and Buday recently started the sucker monitoring by using equipment in a branch of 穿过帕特森公园的陶罐溪. 学生们有 started their morning meeting with experts at John Ball Zoo on 培训和监测方案.

This study of suckers is one of the first projects on the east side of Lake Michigan for the Shedd Aquarium experts, who are also researching sucker migration in Illinois and Wisconsin, Buday说.

根据这些专家的说法，吸盘最多 五大湖有大量的洄游鱼类. 它们是一种食物 source for many species while fertilizing creeks with their 产卵迁徙期间的营养物. 监控很重要 because the timing of their migration is based on environmental cues, which may be activated earlier than usual in the spring due to 专家们说，气候在变化.

Buday说 a hallmark of this entire stream-monitoring project is the number of GVSU experts who have helped with field training, water research techniques, statistics and more. 她说 they are constantly working to innovate ways to bring the research to the public and to upgrade equipment and techniques.

The support from the local community, including local conservation organizations, has also been crucial, from financial help to providing audiences for students to present their research, Buday说.

“通过那些值得信赖的当地人工作的力量 organizations is really why we are doing this," Buday说. "It's why we're working with the FFA program specifically, to connect the community to science, and to do it through organizations 他们信任和重视的东西."

流监控等体验来的更多 deeply understand natural resources has led to numerous students showing an interest in going into those types of fields as a career, 块说. But she noted the knowledge her students are acquiring will have a lifelong impact no matter the professional path they take.

“我们正在努力提高知情的消费者是否 他们是否在这个行业工作，”布洛克说.