密歇根新闻广播 教市民收集鱼类数据

 

A new nonprofit is training citizen scientists to collect data on fish in the Great Lakes. They think it could be a game-changer for research in the region, and even help prevent the establishment of invasive species.

It's a perfect July day at Antrim Creek¹ Natural Area, a nature preserve on the Lake Michigan shoreline just south of Charlevoix.

Stephen Hensler is giving instructions to people gathered around a cooler.

Count the rays on the anal fin², he calls out. Or check his ID. One or the other.

The group is identifying and measuring one of the dozens of fish they caught that day, by dragging a net called a seine for 50 feet along the shore.

Hensler carries the tiny creature, a fish called a sand shiner, back into the waves.

OK, I'm gonna release it, he says.

He's the co-founder and executive director of the Cerulean Center, a non-profit dedicated³ to Great Lakes research. Its stated mission is to advance understanding of the Great Lakes ecosystem⁴.

But, more than that, the Cerulean Center aims to get the public involved in doing research.

Today, many of the people identifying, measuring, and counting fish aren't trained fish biologists. They're volunteers.

Hensler and his colleagues showed them what to do when they arrived on the beach. Now, he jokes, the operation is basically running itself.

It's a good activity to do for people of all ages, he says. I mean, it's pretty fun and it's a low barrier to entry.

Dale Treese is a retired⁵ nurse who lives just down the road, in a town called Ellsworth. She says she's loving volunteering today.

It amazes me how much these people that are teaching us know, she says. They're like, obviously fish doctors and they're so friendly and so informative⁶ and you can ask any question and they're gonna answer it for you. It's amaaazing.

She says she learned how to identify fish, and how to do it without harming them.

I see how they're counting the fins⁷, I see how they're measuring them, she says. I see what kind of sampling they're taking, and how we handled them with our wet hands and not dry hands, so I've learned an awful lot.

Seining fish today is part of a larger project for the Cerulean Center. Hensler says they are trying to get a better picture of the fish community in Grand Traverse Bay.

You can find things published about individual species or a few species at a time, but this we're trying to actually look at all the species together, he says.

He thinks knowing more about what already lives in the bay will help scientists detect any changes. So will having more private citizens on the lookout⁸.

You know we get a new non-native species here for example, we might have a chance of identifying it and reporting it before it gets a chance to become invasive, he says.

The Cerulean Center's sampling project in Grand Traverse Bay will continue through 2020.

1 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

2 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。

3 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

4 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

5 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

6 informative   

adj.提供资料的，增进知识的

参考例句：

• The adverts are not very informative.这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。
• This intriguing book is both thoughtful and informative.这本引人入胜的书既有思想性又富知识性。

7 fins   

[医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌

参考例句：

• The level of TNF-α positively correlated with BMI,FPG,HbA1C,TG,FINS and IRI,but not with SBP and DBP. TNF-α水平与BMI、FPG、HbA1C、TG、FINS和IRI呈显著正相关，与SBP、DBP无相关。 来自互联网
• Fins are a feature specific to fish. 鱼鳍是鱼类特有的特征。 来自辞典例句

8 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。