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Science
Friday > Archives
> 1998
> January
> January 2, 1998:
Hour Two: Annual Bird Count / Science in 1898
Each year for the past 98 years, the Audubon Society has sponsored
an event known as the Christmas Bird Count. For a ten-day period before
and after December 25th, bird watchers across the nation fan out to
take an annual census of the early winter bird populations in their
area. Last year, over forty-five thousand birdwatchers took part - and
tallied up over fifty-four million birds.
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Once the counts are in, the Audubon Society
analyzes the data and compares it to years past.
They're not just looking for raw numbers or unusual
species - they're using the bird count data to help
identify trends. A decrease in the number of
predator birds, for example, might reflect a
decrease in the population of the species' prey.
Bird populations can reflect changes in crop
production, temperature, insect population, and
other factors, making the annual bird count an
important scientific tool. Over a period of years
the Audubon count has shown losses and recoveries
of many species, and has helped scientists figure
out how these species relate to one another.
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On this segment of Science Friday, we'll talk to one
of the organizers of this year's count, find out how it
works, and find out what you can do to take part.
Then...
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Synthetic chemistry was just getting started, bringing new dyes
for textiles and signalling the beginnings of the pharmaceutical
industry. Bacteriology was making its debut in England and Germany
in the form of early work on microbial infections and disease.
The Curies were continuing their investigations into radioactivity.
Ernest Rutherford had just discovered that there were at least
two types of radioactive particles, alpha and beta.
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In 1898, science in America was looked down upon by its European counterparts.
Aspiring scientists were typically told to go to Europe to get their doctorate
degrees - the first graduate program in science, at Johns Hopkins, was
under twenty years old. However, science was being carried out by researchers
doing development for industrial purposes, by inventors and tinkerers,
and in agricultural field stations, by people like George Washington Carver,
peanut researcher extraordinaire. Philadelphia had highly developed medical
science - including a medical school for women, one of the few places
women could do research of any kind.
Guests:
Geoff LeBaron
Christmas Bird Count Editor
National Audubon Society
New York, NY
Keith Benson
Professor of the History
of Science
University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Related Links:
The Christmas
Bird Count
Winter Finch Survey
Bird Monitoring in
North America
Patuxent-Migratory Bird Research Center
Birding
on the Web
WWW Virtual
Library - History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The History
of Science Society
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