Are you a scientist?

Me explaining the components of soil to students at a local event

Every once in a while a student will ask  question that I have no idea how to answer.

Specifically, they ask "Are you a scientist?"

I struggle with how to answer that question.  What exactly does the word scientist mean?  When I look online for a definition of the word I get lots of different answers.

Merriam-Webster defines the word as "a person learned in science and especially natural science :  a scientific investigator".

Dictionary.com says that a scientist is "an expert in science, especially one of the physical or natural sciences".

The Oxford Dictionary defines scientist as "a person who is studying or has expert knowledge of one or more of the natural or physical sciences".

As adults we tend to think that scientist is a job; that scientists are paid for their work.  While this is often true, there is nothing in any of those definitions that says a scientist is someone who is paid for doing science.  

Heather Shaw (a biologist) collects data during a wildlife study

For most of history, scientist was not a paid job.  Science was something that people did during their spare time as a hobby.  Many people still do science as a hobby - today we use the term citizen scientist to differentiate them from professional scientists who are paid for their work.  Citizen scientists include people who collect data on weather, bird watchers, butterfly counters, etc.. Professional scientists often use the data collected by citizen scientists to piece together larger ideas.

Citizen scientists collect data on native plants at the CWC's Hall's Lake Natural Area

I am not a professional paid scientist.  I don't really consider myself a citizen scientist - I am not systematically collecting long term data on a single subject or site.  A friend who works as a biologist (a professional scientist) once referred to me as a "well versed naturalist".  

According to the Oxford Dictionary a naturalist is "an expert in or student of natural history".  Dictionary.com defines a naturalist as "a person who studies or is an expert in natural history, especially a zoologist or botanist".  Merriam-Webster says that a naturalist is "a student of natural history; especially :  a field biologist".

Like the word scientist, naturalist has been turned into an occupation.  I know several people that work as naturalists at nature centers or parks, paid to interpret nature to the public.  I don't really consider myself a naturalist.

Me explaining the zones of a wetland to 6th grade students.

Kids tend to think in different terms.  To them anyone that knows a lot about science or studies science is a scientist.  Their idea of a scientist is close to the dictionary definitions of the word.  So the next time a student asks if I am a scientist, I am going to say "Yes, I am a scientist".  

But, here is the big secret: the kids are scientists too.  

You don't need a lot of fancy equipment to be a scientist.  You just have to be able to use your senses to observe the natural world.

Student scientists measure a forest canopy

You need to be able to ask questions about what you observe.

Students observing aquatic macroinvertebrates that they collected from a local pond

You need to be able to conduct experiments to answer the questions that you come up with through observation.  An experiment is often just a more careful observation focused on answering your questions.

Biting a lump of clay?  Nope, that student is conducting an experiment.

Some people are paid to be scientists.  Some do it out of love for learning about the world.  The truth is that we are all scientists if we follow our natural curiosity about the world. People only stop being a scientist when they chose to ignore that part of themselves that wants to learn more.  Get out there and be a scientist!

Astronaut John Glenn (1921-2016)

Former Astronaut John Glenn has died.

Born 20 July 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio, John Herschel Glenn, Jr. was a true American hero.  He served in the United States Marine Corps as a fighter pilot during both World War II and the Korean War.  After the Korean War, he remained in the service as a test pilot.  In 1959, we was named as one of the first seven American astronauts (the Mercury Seven).

On 20 February 1962, Astronaut John Herschel Glenn, Jr. became the first American to orbit the Earth in the "Friendship 7" spacecraft.  Two Soviet cosmonauts had previously orbited the earth in Vostok spacecraft.  The first human in space, Yuri Gagarin made one orbit in the Vostok 1 and Gherman Titov made 17 orbits in the Vostok 2.

Glenn was the third American to be launched into space as part of NASA's Project Mercury - flights by Alan Shepherd (Freedom 7) and Virgil "Gus" Grissom (Liberty Bell 7) each lasted approximately 15 minutes. 

When John Glenn safely landed he instantly became a national hero.  His flight was commemorated by dozens (probably hundreds) of different souvenir items.  The buttons in the photograph above are from my wife's collection of space memorobilia.

In 1964, Glenn resigned from NASA to run for the United States Senate.  He withdrew from the race due to symptoms of a concussion that did not allow him to campaign.  After losing a second senate campaign in 1970, he was finally elected to the office in 1974.  Glenn would go on to serve in the Senate until 1999.

While serving in the Senate, Glenn returned to space one more time aboard the the Space Shuttle Discovery.  As a trained engineer, Glenn's role during STS-95 (29 October - 07 November 1998) was to participate in experiments that tested the effects of weightlessness on the elderly.  It also allowed NASA the opportunity to study the effects of space flight on an individual at points in life more than three decades apart.

With this flight, John Glenn added another milestone to space travel.  In addition to being the first American to orbit the Earth, he is also the oldest person to travel into space.

John Glenn passed away today in Columbus, Ohio at the age of ninety-five.  He was an inspiration to millions and is already missed.

Bobcat Population Tracking

Yesterday I got to ride along in a truck with my friend and colleague Heather Shaw for a few hours.  Heather is the wildlife biologist for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and she is currently working on a survey of Bobcat (Lynx rufus) populations in Isabella County.  A graduate of Central Michigan University, Heather has previously worked as a wildlife technician for the the Wyoming Department of Fish and Game and as a biologist for Ducks Unlimited in both Michigan and North Dakota.  In addition to working for the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, she is also completing work on her masters thesis at CMU (expected defense coming up this fall).

Heather Shaw, wildlife biologist for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, fills out a bobcat survey data sheet

Why monitor bobcat populations?

Bobcats are notoriously secretive and often have widely dispersed territories.  I have seen several road-killed Bobcats, but have never seen a live one in the wild.  Even wildlife biologists rarely see them except by chance.  It is very difficult to know exactly how many bobcat can be found living in a given area.

So how do you monitor a population like that?

Heather is using a series of scent stations situated along roadside transects in likely bobcat habitat.  What this means, is that along a selected path (a transect) she was setting up a bed of sand to record footprints and baiting it with a scent tablet to attract bobcat (and other predators).  When an animal investigated the scent tablet, their footprints would recorded in the sand, enabling Heather to build a picture of the locations where bobcats can be found.
 

This map shows the location of the bobcat survey transects in Isabella County (and penciled in near the corner, the location of an Amish bakery - biologists love baked goods)

The locations of these transects has been chosen by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) based on models that predict possible bobcat habitat.  Each transect is three miles long and has a scent station located every 1/3 mile along the transect.  This is the second year that Heather has been conducting this survey in Isabella County - she also has one transect located in Midland County (the next county to the east).

One of ten scent stations located along Rolland Road

Why is this monitoring effort important?

Heather is not the only person setting up these stations and recording data.  Other biologists around the state are recording the same type of information.  This information is used by the Michigan DNR to set seasons and bag limits for bobcat hunting and trapping.  Bobcat hunting and trapping are currently allowed in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula, with Isabella County included in the the hunting/trapping zone.  Isabella County is one of the most southern Michigan counties where bobcat hunting and trapping are allowed.

What did we find?

We followed two of the transects that Heather had set up earlier in the week.  Both of these transects were located in the southwest corner of Isabella County.  The first transect was located on a gravel road that sees very little traffic.  The second transect was located on a relatively busy paved road.  These transects are set up along roadsides so they are easy to check.  In addition, many animals including bobcats will use roads as travel corridors, to these stations were likely to be found by any bobcat traveling through the vicinity.

This station along Gilmore Road had several tracks, but none belonged to a bobcat

Many of the scent stations that we visited were completely undisturbed, but we did find tracks from domestic dogs, house cats, raccoon, coyote, fox (possible), white-tailed deer, and birds.  At a station established where Rolland Road crosses the Pine River, we found a set of bobcat tracks.

This station along Rolland Road finally yielded a bobcat track

At each station, Heather measured and recorded any bobcat tracks and recorded all of the other tracks that we discovered.  Then, if necessary, she "reset" the station by smoothing out the sand and replacing the scent tablet if needed.

Heather photographing a bobcat track

Heather measures a bobcat track

Heather "resets" a scent station by smoothing the surface

This survey is almost done for the year.  In addition to the scent stations, Heather set up several trail cameras along the transects.  Her next step will be to sort through all of the trail cam photos - she expects a lot of car pictures.  I can't wait to see if any bobcats were "captured".