Introduction

The 'Alien Invaders and Climate Change Indicators' project was originally devised by the Marine Biological Association in collaboration with Holbeton Primary School, Plymouth. Initially it was funded by a The Royal Society. Its aim was to teach children from local primary schools to become ‘Alien Detectives' and survey the shore for marine aliens and climate change indicator species. Since its inception in 2005, over 400 primary school children have been involved and have broadened their awareness of marine species in their local area. They have also contributed data to aid professional scientists studying distribution and abundance of alien and climate change indicator species around the UK . Each year the project expands slightly and this year we are involving secondary school students in our quest to track down Alien Invaders.

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'Alien detectives' at Hobeton Primary School in Devon.

•  To assess the prevalence of selected non-native and climate change indicator species on local shores and enter the results on the MarLIN website

•  To enable children to experience real scientific research and interact with scientists

•  To develop and inform interest in the local marine environment

•  To enable children to experience problems and solutions in collecting valid data

2005

A joint Project Between Holbeton Primary School and the MBA Funded by the Royal Society. The first year of this project involved training 50 Key Stage Two pupils from Holbeton Primary School to find and identify a selection of non-native species and those which may help scientists monitor climate change. The intensive training also involved a visit to the MBA to see real scientists at work and to become more familiar with the alien species that they would be looking for. This was followed by a visit to the shore at Mothecombe, to hunt for and record the species.

2006

A joint Project Between Holbeton Primary School and the MBA Funded by the Royal Society. The second year involved a team of Holbeton Primary School pupils, their teacher Sally Bone and MarLIN staff Jack Sewell and Judith Oakley. The team carried out initial school visits to describe the aims of the project and tell other local schools how to become involved. There was an explanation of alien species and climate indicator species during which pupils were able to observe and hold some of the marine alien species likely to be encountered on the shore. A select few pupils were then chosen to undertake further training at the MBA and carry out the survey of Jennycliff Beach.

2007

An MBA project Funded by the Countdown 2010.This year we have worked with both primary and secondary schools in the area. Six primary school visits were carried out by MarLINs Jack Sewell and Milly Hatton-Brown in order to introduce the project. The secondary school students were not given a school visit but instead were fully trained in the required ID skills during their visit to the MBA. On the shore the students from Hele's and Ridgeway secondary schools learned about adaptation and zonation as well as carrying out the survey.

Alien oyster hunt

In addition to the alien invaders survey we have developed a survey for the non-native Portuguese or Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. It all began in February 2007 when the MarLIN team went out and surveyed an area of the Yealm estuary to determine the number of non-native oysters present. Having gathered this data we decided that it would be great to involve local schools in monitoring the spread of this species in the local area.

In October 2007 Newton Ferrers Primary School were the first to trial our new survey. The children were asked to carry out two transects on different parts of the shore. They counted the number of oysters found in their quadrats at the lower, mid and upper shore.

The children were then asked to write a report on their findings, below are two examples of their work.

Ben and Erik - Alien oysters report

Aimee, Anna, Jeremy and Tom - Alien oysters report

 

 

The results from all our alien invaders and climate indicators surveys are available below. You can choose to download the complete set of data in one speradsheet or individual survey data.

Mothecombe April_ 2005 Holbeton Primary School

Jennycliff July_2006 Holbeton Primary School, Newton Ferrers Primary School, West Park Primary School, Pomphlett Primary School

Mount Batten March_2007 Ivybridge Community College

Mothecombe April_2007 Holbeton Primary School

Jennycliff May_2007 Primary Lipson Vale Primary School, Newton Ferrers Primary School, West Park Primary School

Jennycliff May_2007 Secondary Hele's Secondary School, Ridgeway School

Goodrington 04_July_2007 Torquay Community College

Goodrington 12-13_July_2007 Torquay Community College

Yealm Estuary Sept_2007 Newton Ferrers School

Jennycliff Oct_2007 Hooe Primary School

Mount Batten Oct_2007 Saltash Community College

All Survey Data

 

 The records will be added to the MarLIN database. Eventually they will feed in to the National Biodiversity Network to add to professional survey data from around Britain and Ireland (see www.marlin.ac.uk/rml and www.searchnbn.net ).

The project is concerned not only with collecting reliable data but also with sharing knowledge and involving lots of schoolchildren in a real research project.

THE FUTURE

We are hopeful that the project will continue in 2008 and beyond. However, this depends on future funding. If you are interested in helping us, or in getting involved, please contact the MarLIN team
email: marlin@mba.ac.uk
tel: 01752 633336