Menu

Skip to content
  • Home|
  • About|
  • Participate|
  • Social Directory|

The Well:

MBL News from the Source

You are here: Home / Field Research, Interrupted: How the COVID-19 Crisis is Stalling Science | Mongabay

Field Research, Interrupted: How the COVID-19 Crisis is Stalling Science | Mongabay

Published on April 10, 2020
Field Research, Interrupted: How the COVID-19 Crisis is Stalling Science | Mongabay
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin

MBL Senior Scientist Edward Rastetter talks to Mongabay about the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on field research at the MBL-led Arctic Long Term Ecological Research site in Toolik Lake, Alaska.

By Liz Kimbrough

The COVID-19 pandemic is giving “cancel culture” a new meaning. Weddings, graduations, academic conferences, sports events and birthday parties are all postponed until further notice. Among the laundry list of activities placed into involuntary hibernation is something many might not have considered: scientific field research.

As scientists across the globe stay at home to help stop the spread of COVID-19, field research has come to an abrupt stop.

Autumn colors, with the Brooks Range in the background, near the Sagavanirktok River, Alaska. This area is part of the Arctic Long Term Ecological Research (ARC LTER) which is operating only the most essential research during the COVID-19 lockdown. Photo by Jim Laundre, Arctic LTER

Autumn colors, with the Brooks Range in the background, near the Sagavanirktok River, Alaska. This area is part of the Arctic Long Term Ecological Research (ARC LTER) which is operating only the most essential research during the COVID-19 lockdown. Photo by Jim Laundre, Arctic LTER.

“Collecting long-term data in projects running for more than 40 years, being able to feed live animals and water plants that are part of ongoing experiments, and operating basic systems such as seawater pumps are some of the activities that have been either disrupted or completely halted,” Oris Sanjur, associate director for science administration at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, told Mongabay.

Though research institutions and funders are doing their best to keep irreplaceable science alive during the pandemic, the ever-evolving COVID-19 situation has made it nearly impossible for scientists to do what they do best: make and execute plans.

Read more…

Source: Field research, interrupted: How the COVID-19 crisis is stalling science | Mongabay

Posted in MBL in the News | Tagged Arctic, Ecosystems, lter

Post navigation

← MBLSciShoots: Water Quality MBLSciShoots: Cape Cod Corals →

MBL in the News

  • Clever Cuttlefish Show Advanced Self-Control, Like Chimps and Crows | The Conversation
  • Scientists Reveal a Precise Structure in a Fabled Worm’s Tangled Brain | STAT
  • The Mystery of the Glowing Octopus | NECN
  • An Octopus Could Be the Next Model Organism | Scientific American
  • Microbes are Around and Within Us but Much About Them is Unknown| Harvard Gazette
  • Science Meets Magical Realism in Son of Monarchs | Scientific American
  • Mesmerizing Video Study Reveals How Octopus Arms Are So Flexible | ScienceAlert
  • A Newfound Source of Cellular Order in the Chemistry of Life| Quanta Magazine
  • Jellyfish Build Walls of Water to Swim Around the Ocean | The New York Times
  • The World’s Most Diverse Group of Bacteria Lives Inside Your Mouth | Popular Science
Archived Posts

Subscribe to the Well

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts.

Copyright © 2021 Marine Biological Laboratory