Research
This page is dedicated to the research projects I have photographed and filmed for organizations like Delaware Sea Grant, The University of Delaware, Delaware News Journal and Montana Technological University.
White Clay Creek Bird Banding
Delaware State University Professor, Dr. Christopher Heckscher, alongside a team of motivated graduate students took to the abandoned trails of upper White Clay Creek State Park to band Veeries, a North American Thrush species.
Milford Neck Preserve Bird Banding
Delaware State University graduate students, Aya Pickett and Amanda Crandall, spend three days out of the week during the fall and spring seasons capturing and banding migratory birds at Milford Neck Preserve in lower Delaware for graduate research. This project is mostly funded by the Delaware Sea Grant and aims to add to the growing pool of research already established to help learn more about and conserve bird species.
This video highlights how they go about safely banding the song birds, from the net capture to the banding and releasing. It also shows how their research plays into the bigger role of conserving these migratory birds through the banding process.
Pickering Beach Horseshoe Crab Flipping
Scientists from around the world make the trip down to Delaware's Pickering Beach to witness the yearly horseshoe crab spawning in person along the Delaware Bay. They got to see in person just how amazing and fascinating the creatures are that they work on in labs. Horseshoe crabs are prone to die from being flipped on their backs unable to move to find food or water, so the team combed the beach flipping over any stranded horseshoe crabs they saw.
Pea Patch Island Living Shoreline
University of Delaware graduate students alongside Dr. Jack Puelo installed a "living shoreline" along one part of Pea Patch Island's beach. This project required expertise in land management, civil/environmental engineering as well as landscape architecture. The goal of the project is to adequately analyze if living shorelines such as these will be a viable and more eco-friendly alternative to minimizing erosion along wake heavy coastal areas in the Delaware Bay.
Delaware Bay Microplastics
University of Delaware graduate students and professor Jon Cohen shipped out from the Lewes campus dock to track microplastics in the Delaware Bay via the R/V Joanne Daiber, one of the University's research vessels. They released a dozen floating sensors that will be tracked and logged using a live satellite feed. During the 10 hours out on the water, they also took water samples in mason jars to be tested later in the lab.
Montana Tech Sustainable Water Treatment Kombucha
Montana Tech Environmental Engineering student, Emily Rutledge, works in the lab on the University's on-going water treatment project. This project is motivated by the drive to have more sustainable environmentally-friendly ways to treat water out in the field. The team of researchers for the project uses the symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast that forms while brewing kombucha tea as a living water filtration membrane.
Hantavirus in Field Mice
Montana Tech Biological Sciences Professor, Amy Kuenzi, and her graduate students checked traps for field mice to aide in their hantavirus research. Lining the roughly fifty or so metal traps is peanut butter, oats, peanuts and soft cushion. The team is especially trained to safely and harmlessly draw blood from the mice when captured then released back into the field. Only about three out of the fifty traps yielded any return mouse wise.
Robin Bullock Research Class
Montana Tech's Robin Bullock had multiple groups of students conduct research throughout the year. These photos highlight both a project that involves finding small copper bits left over in mining run-off and a project looking into different algae effects on local water sources. These students also had to present a short video highlighting their works at the end of the semester.
Butte Restoration Project
Montana Tech Biological Sciences Professor, Robert Pal, works with students on a restoration project to help revitalize the Butte area. Growing plants in the greenhouse, the team will then plant them in regulated natural areas around the Butte area. Robert Pal himself is a photographer who's appreciation for the natural world is present in his work, photography and teachings.
Your Project Next!
If you have any research that you'd love to have photographed or filmed, I would love to help document it! Communicating science and research in a universal way for people to see is crucial in not only educating the public, but promoting all of your hard work. Whether you are an independent scientist, a graduate student, professor or college, please feel free to reach out to me through email at loumasephoto@gmail.com!