Update of my Activities
It has been sometime since I have done an overview of all
the things I have been doing, many of them with teachers, family and Friend, so
I have decided to add a note on my blog about my activities during this past
last year.
Catching alligators in Florida
Work
At the present moment I have been working at Education
Connection in two programs: Project Periphyton
funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adm8inistration (NOAA)
and Project CLEAR funded by the Connecticut Department Of Education under an
Inter-district Grant.
In Project Periphyton we have been working with 12 teachers
from WAMOGO (Waren, Morris and Goshen)
High School, Plymouth High School, The Sound School (New Haven), Danbury High
School, Newtown High School, New Fairfield High School and Crosby High School.
Teachers and students collect Diatoms from rocks to use them as biological
indicators to asses water quality.
Teacher workshop this summer
Project CLEAR have been running for more than 10 years and I
have been involved from the start. The objective of the project is to have five
high school districts (Danbury, New Milford, New Fairfield, Brookfield and
Bethel) involved in collecting data for the Candlewood Lake Authority. Students
and their teachers collect macroinvertebrates, core samples (mud), plankton,
periphyton, fish, aquatic Invasive plants, water samples, stream
macroinvertebrates and forestry data. The data collected is provided to a
number of institutions and researchers including the University of Connecticut,
The Agricultural Experimental Station, The Candlewood Lake Authority, Western State
University and many more.
Processional Collections
For more than 20 years I have been doing an inventory of
fresh water crustaceans in the state of Connecticut. At the moment I have
collected thousands of specimens that are located at the University of
Connecticut at their Ecology and Evolutionary Biology collections department
where I curate all the fresh water crustaceans. At the end of this fall I will
be adding 300+ new crayfish that were collected by the Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection fisheries division.
In addition I am collecting more amphipods from several lakes in the
state that will be added to the collection. I have detected several patterns compering
species and locations and two amphipod species will help me reiterate
topographic changes that have occurred since the last ice age. Rivers such as
the Farmington and the Quinnipiac, which years ago were the same river happen
to have amphipod species that appear nowhere else in Connecticut.
One Amphipod or Two?
Amateur Collections
I have always have had an interest in Botany and
Paleontology, so I keep a small collation that grows all the time of plants and
fossils.
My botany collection comes from this state and I only gather
plants that are in flower. At the moment I have collected more than 1000
specimens that are kept in order and as herbarium mounts. I plan to donate the
collection to a university in the future.
My fossil collection is becoming quiet extensive as I have
now more than 500 specimens. I buy most of my specimens at fossil shows (I like
to have fossils from all over the world) but I also have done some collecting
when I have the time and the opportunity. I try to specialize on Invertebrates
but I have some other fossils too.
Research Projects
Now and for some time I have been working on two projects: The Biological Shoreline Development at
Candlewood Lake looking at the Macroinvertebrate population and organic
deposition from core samples. Candlewood Lake is subject to annual drawdown to
diminish the growth of aquatic invasive plants. The objective of my research is
to study the consequences of such activity to the lake shoreline.
In addition I have also been now for five years studying the
effects of climate change in the same lake by looking at winter temperatures
and lake ice formation. I, with the help
of the Lake Authority, have been collecting data using electronic probes set at
several sites, under the water and on the air around the lake in early October
and collecting them in late March. I collected temperature and light
information every 3 hours for several months. Data shows that the lap of time
when the lake is completely covered with ice is shorter these days.
Candlewood Lake Temperature Probe
The Prospect Conservation Commission
For the past few years I have been involved with the
Prospect Conservation Commission for which I am now the chair person. During
the past two years we have finished the “Open Space Plan”, and started to
complete evaluation of Wetlands in town and inventories of the vernal pools. In
addition we are always busy keeping with all the development that we have in
town.
Writings
Ten years ago I published a small book called Fresh Water
Crustaceans of Connecticut. I printed the book and sold about 1500 copies and
now I have been working on a bigger and better edition of the book including
specimens and information from the entire North East. The new book will be
called Fresh Water Crustaceans of the North East of United States. The book is
half done and at the present time I am working with the Clodoceran group. These
are small little organisms that resemble mollusk but are not and are found in
lakes, rivers and ephemeral water bodies. I hope to have the book finish and
for editing and review in one year.
Reading
I should not skip the fact that I love to read books,
science, history and literature and at the present time I just finished reading
“The Historical Atlas of the Celtic World” by Dr. Ian Barnes and I just started
reading “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I recommend this book to
those that love stories from other countries.
Traveling
I have done some traveling this past year. My wife and I
with some friends visited Ireland about two months ago, for 15 days. Ireland is
a beautiful country full of pride and history. I specially loved visiting the
Neolithic Sites, some of them older that the pyramids of Egypt. I also had a
chance to collect additional fossils there. Italy will be our next European trip.
The Cliffs of Moher, Irealnd
Photography
I inherited the passion for photography from my father, who
loved to take pictures and collect cameras. I take my camera everywhere I go
and give my best work to my friend and family so that they can remember me when
they look at their walls. At the end of the summer I will be taking my two 4X5
with a friend to some areas in the shore and do some experimenting with this
large format. Large format is much more art and photography than digital
equipment.
Family, Friend and my two dogs
I will be lying if I skip my time spend with my wife visiting
art museums, my ten gran children and my two great-grand -children
visiting natural history museums, dinosaurs, the fossil shows, the shore or visiting
NY and having them at home too. Love taking my two dogs for a walk and last
Love checking out restaurants, microbreweries and festivals for good food,
wine, beer and music or having people at home for a good time.
Renoir and the dancers a the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
So this is a short synopsis of my adventures. Please email
me if you have questions about these activities and I will try to help you as
best as I can.
