Education about Invasive Species at the Belle Isle Aquarium & Wayne State University

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1 Education about Invasive Species at the Belle Isle Aquarium & Wayne State University Jeffrey Ram Belle Isle Aquarium Director of Science and Education & Professor, Wayne State University

2 Recent funding has enabled significant new educational programs about invasive species 1) 2011 GLRI project, subcontract to Lake Erie Waterkeepers (continuing) 2) 2013, Great Lakes Protection Fund cobranding : videos, exhibits, and stories about solutions (Belle Isle Aquarium and elsewhere, current) 3) 2014 GLRI project, subcontract from Friends of the Detroit River for outreach, education, and new edna exhibit at the Belle Isle Aquarium (in process) 4) Wayne State internal funding: Aquatic Molecular Ecology course

3 Lake Erie Waterkeepers 1) Website 2) Outreach talks 3) Planned: trifold brochure

4 A place to go in Detroit on a Saturday where it s warm, entertaining, and you might even learn something.

5 Answer: What is the Belle Isle Aquarium? March, 1994 Belle Isle Aquarium field trip, led by Belle Isle Curator, Doug Sweet

6 The Belle Isle Aquarium the nation s oldest Inspired by the Stazione Zoologica, Naples, Italy 45-tanks, 10,000 ft 2 gallery Designed by Albert Kahn, with a beautiful green tile arched ceiling to evoke an underwater feeling Opened 1904; closed temporarily in 2005

7 The Belle Isle Aquarium Again! Saved by volunteers, reopened with only volunteer staff in 2012 A place to go on a Saturday where its warm, entertaining, and educational Now, as part of the Belle Isle Conservancy, the Aquarium has begun Hiring staff Raising funds Rebuilding collections and exhibits Re-developing its education and research activities

8 BIA has fish, both common and exotic Everyone remembers the ELECTRIC EEL It s back! Special talk and display, April 5. OBSERVE many other aquatic species

9 New invasive species exhibits So far, 6 New invasive species exhibits have been created: Live exotics: white perch, round gobies, zebra mussels, quagga mussels. Coming: sea lamprey! tubenose gobies! And others Non-native models: From MI- DEQ, models of silver carp. New grant will fund snakehead, spiny waterflea, ruffe, etc.

10 New invasive species exhibits 6 New invasive species exhibits. Informative 9 x 4 poster: where invasives come from; the 15 least wanted list ; & what you can do about it (e.g., how to properly dispose of unwanted pet fish).

11 New invasive species exhibits 6 New invasive species exhibits. Animated video of the past spread of 7 exotics. Alewife

12 Dr. Ballast (aka Dr. Jeffrey Ram) RamLab ballast water analysis project

13 RamLab ballast water analysis project 6 New invasive species exhibits. AFIDD: Automated Fluorescence Intensity Detection Device)

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16 Time (s) Total Number of people: 33 RamLab: Aquarium exhibit analysis project Time spent at various exhibits A A A A B B B C C D D D E E E F F F G G H H I I J J K K L L Perch 9X4 Display Animated Map Asian Carp Display

17 Belle Isle Aquarium Science Saturday talks First Saturday of every month Three 20 min talks (repeated), and sometimes an after hours scientific presentation November 2 was: Lindsay Chadderton, Asian Carp Next after hours talk: April 5. Jason Gallant, Electric Fish, Next invasive species talk: May 3. Sam Lovall, GLRI AIS projects on Belle Isle

18 Learning activities about invasive species are planned Invasive species easily demonstrate key RELATIONSHIPS between history, geography, cultural and industrial development, politics, and biology, and Field trips for Dreissenid mussels are easy to arrange. Educational EXPERIMENTS on invertebrates such as zebra mussels can teach about nutrition, growth and reproduction, and Wayne State University BioSci 5180 Molecular Aquatic Ecology college course is planned at the Aquarium for this summer

19 Visits to the Aquarium The Belle Isle Aquarium is open to the public every Saturday, 10 am 3 pm. Entrance to the Aquarium is FREE.* But that s not all!

20 Visits to the Aquarium Special programs can be set up after hours. Shiver on the River, New Year s Day, fund-raising events, and the opening of new exhibits have been celebrated with special talks and tours. Now that we have a full-time curator, off hours visits of adult groups (teachers and others) can be arranged.

21 K-12 visits K-12 class visits can be arranged; however, in order to achieve maximum educational value, we submitted an NSF ITEST grant application, so that the Aquarium can hire full-time educational staff for effective K-12 educational outreach.

22 Educational activities Field trips on Belle Isle? Muskrat middens, finding zebra mussels, benthic invertebrates, fish in island lagoons and the Detroit River, to be planned when staff and volunteers allow Everyone can be a star at the Belle Isle Aquarium!

23 Belle Isle Aquarium Director of Science and Education Jeffrey Ram Curator, Belle Isle Aquarium Richard Kik IV Belle Isle Conservancy Aquarium Committee co-chairs Vance Patrick and Jennifer Boardman Contacts Belle Isle Conservancy Michele Hodges, President

24 Educational activities Educational exhibits Classification and natural history information with each organism Science Saturday talks First Saturday of every month, 20 min talk, at 11 am, 12 noon, and 1 pm (see for topic College level Molecular Ecology course A Wayne State University course at the Aquarium and focusing on Belle Isle organisms planned for June, 2014 K-12 visits Ad hoc visits by special arrangement, limited by volunteer staff availability Hands-on educational activities Ad hoc activities by Aquarium volunteers (usually teachers): various artwork and other activities