Explore The FAU Biosphere Project
The FAU Biosphere Project is a citizen science initiative that engages students, faculty, and the wider community in exploring the diverse biosphere around them to promote educational and cultural connections to the living environment.
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. -Rachel Carlson
Participants in the FAU Biosphere Project explore and document the plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and other living organisms found on FAU campuses and in the surrounding urban environment. The FAU Ecological Preserve, a small remnant of habitats found historically in the local ecosystem that included upland scrub, wet prairies, pine Flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks, is just one of the many natural areas that students study. By helping to monitor natural and urban habitats to understand how they are changing over time, participants actively support the conservation of native species and the sustainability of the local environment. Check out the observations they've made at the FAU Biosphere Project on iNaturalist.
FAU students and faculty have teamed up to develop standard protocols and forms for surveying habitats, identifying species, and mapping data. If you are interested in working on the project, contact one of the FAU faculty mentors of the FAU Biosphere Project: Dianne Owen, Jasmine Coyle, or Evelyn Frazier.