Ohio Northern University Environmental & Field Biology

Ohio Northern University Environmental & Field Biology The Environmental and Field Biology major at ONU is a unique, hands-on major that allows students to pursue careers in ecology and environmental science.

Week 2:Hello everyone! My name is Jacey, and this week at The Mammoth Site, I was on Education Curriculum. This station ...
06/08/2026

Week 2:
Hello everyone! My name is Jacey, and this week at The Mammoth Site, I was on Education Curriculum. This station entailed talking to guests about the items on our rove carts. We have two active carts right now. I was primarily on the Ice Age Predators cart for this week, but we also had a cart talking about animal dung and coprolites (fossilized dung). On our Ice Age Predators cart, we had the skulls of a giant short-faced bear (Arctodus simus), an American lion (Panthera atrox), a saber-tooth cat (Smilodon spp.), a human (Homo sapiens), and a tooth from a dire wolf (Aencoyn dirus). This cart allows us to teach our guests more about the giant short-faced bear we found in the sinkhole, as well as predators in the Ice Age in general. In addition to these carts, we also were helping maintain our interactive exhibits, mainly our stream table where guests can learn about how water affects the landscape. We had to clean it and change the water this week, but it's mainly just making sure guests don't block the drain and cause it to overflow. This was also our first week teaching our daily classes! I was leading some of our Family Dig classes this week, so I was teaching families about paleontology, fossils, and how paleontologists conduct field work through one of our simulated dig beds. During this class, we also helped families make plaster tooth molds of mammoth teeth to take home with them. Stay tuned for next week's rotation, where I'll be in Collections and teaching our Atlatl class!


Week 2:Hey, it’s Riley again. This week one of the primary things we focused on was Canada Thistle. We managed this prob...
06/07/2026

Week 2:

Hey, it’s Riley again. This week one of the primary things we focused on was Canada Thistle. We managed this problematic plant either through brushhogging or herbicide application. As thistle begins to flower, it is sending most of its energy up to the flowers, which makes this time of year the best for cutting it down. This is typically done in larger patches on relatively level ground for a faster elimination. We utilized herbicide application in 2 different ways, either spot spraying individual plants, or spraying large groupings/individuals that were on uneven terrain or in places a tractor couldn’t reach. To do this we utilized either a backpack sprayer or a large tank in the back of a Kubota. We will check up on these plots in weeks to come and spray what was missed.

Other tasks we tackled this week included chainsawing dead trees at a park, and chainsawing invasives at the entrance to a park, including Multiflora Rose, European Privet, Amur Honeysuckle, Common Buckthorn, and White Mulberry. These were chipped up and disposed of at a green waste site. Additionally we checked blue bird boxes or wood duck boxes at some of the parks.


Hey it’s Camden! During my second week at RII I got to be a part of a bunch of different projects! At the start of the w...
06/06/2026

Hey it’s Camden! During my second week at RII I got to be a part of a bunch of different projects! At the start of the week I got the opportunity to help sample jet fuel for a project involving a new water oil separator. Then I traveled to Northeast Ohio to help finish an environmentally hazardous material survey at a wastewater treatment plant. Lastly, I got to learn about the process of environmental site assessments in preparation for a project this upcoming week!


Week 2: Greetings my dear friends! It is I, Enigmatic Emily, and I’ve worked at the Sandusky County Park District for tw...
06/05/2026

Week 2: Greetings my dear friends! It is I, Enigmatic Emily, and I’ve worked at the Sandusky County Park District for two weeks now! This week was brimming with various activities. At the beginning of the week, I visited Blue Heron Reserve and mercilessly demolished some Phragmites 💪 With the help of Zeus the brush hog, I also managed the trail of the fen. At the end of the week, I visited the reserve again to sample for some macroinvertebrates and perform some water testing. The park district was gifted some old-timey tools, so another task this week was taking some time to learn what these tools were and figuring out how we will display them for upcoming events. And of course, it wouldn’t be a week at the park district without some classic weed-whackage.

I also have been playing a game I like to call ‘Outsmart the Sheep 🐑 🐑 ’ where I try to sneak as many greens in their food without them noticing. I use a hedge trimmer to cut the forage and grasses, then I use a leaf mulcher to blend the plants up into smaller pieces; our sheep have no teeth, so their food must be made into “slop” - blended plant material, beet pulp, a little bit of sweet feed pellets, and a metric ton of water. Each day, I try to hide more veggies in their food, and each day, my pride grows when they successfully fall for my trap. 🪤


06/05/2026

Join our turtle team 🐢

We are looking for a Manager of Domestic Conservation & Science to lead the strategic planning and implementation of conservation programs and scientific research within TSA for the United States and Canada. This role involves overseeing and developing domestic field conservation projects, creating and managing domestic partnerships with governmental and non-governmental organizations, and helping secure funding through grants and donations. The Manager of Domestic Conservation & Science, working with the Senior Director of Conservation & Science, ensures that all conservation efforts align with TSA's mission and goals, integrating scientific research to inform and enhance program effectiveness.

Apply today: https://apply.workable.com/allora/j/0E89B6D6D3/

Pictured:
Ouachita map turtle (Graptemys ouachitensis)
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern
📸: Grover Brown

06/05/2026

Lake Erie Nature & Science Center is hiring!

We are looking for dedicated individuals who share our mission of educating and inspiring people of all ages to understand, appreciate, and take responsibility for our natural world.

Open positions:
➡️ Development Specialist (part-time)
➡️ Preschool Specialist (part-time)
➡️ Welcome Desk Specialist (part-time)

Learn more and apply at www.lensc.org/about/jobs-2/

Hey, it’s Taylor! My third week has been very busy and so much fun! We started off by putting together their new (and as...
06/05/2026

Hey, it’s Taylor! My third week has been very busy and so much fun! We started off by putting together their new (and as you can see, enormous!) Farmbot in the greenhouse, which is an agricultural robot for small farming and gardening use. It moves like a 3D printer and can perform all sorts of functions with various interchangeable tool heads. Next, I was put to work separating a truly spectacular number of redbud leaf and bud samples from the silica gel beads they have been stored in to dry out. It’s just the kind of tedious background work that will make it way easier to process and extract DNA from these samples down the line. Finally, I’ve practiced a couple of different DNA extraction methods (including the Zymo kit and a modified CTAB) by hand to get a feel for the protocol flow in preparation for figuring out how to program the Opentrons robot!


Week 3:This week involved a lot more field work! I got to help with some Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship ...
06/04/2026

Week 3:
This week involved a lot more field work! I got to help with some Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship or MAPS banding*, which is a continent-wide program used to record and study basic demographic parameters of birds. Some of my favorite species we caught in our mist nets and banded included the Northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) and Cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum). We also collected bacterial samples from the birds during this banding process for our project. Additionally, we got to see the progress on some of our bacterial cultures from last week, and we definitely had E. coli growth! On the EMBA plates we use to grow the bacteria, E. coli appears metallic green. We also ordered the supplies for my work on Salmonella culturing and antimicrobial resistance testing, so I will hopefully be able to start working on my project at the start of next week, so stay tuned for that!
I was also lucky enough to get the opportunity to help another graduate student in my lab with her work on snake fungal disease. We ended up catching a Blue racer (Coluber constrictor foxii) at the very end of our surveying, and I was able to swab the snake!
*All birds captured and handled under federal research permits



Week 2:Greetings it’s Lilly! This week consisted of major removal of invasive species. We utilized herbicide to target i...
05/31/2026

Week 2:
Greetings it’s Lilly! This week consisted of major removal of invasive species. We utilized herbicide to target invasive plants found throughout multiple parks in Geauga County. These species included Common Teasel, Canada Thistle, Bull Thistle, Multiflora Rose and others. Managing invasive species is essential for maintaining healthy ecosystems as they compete with native plants for nutrients, space and sunlight. Towards the end of the week I was able to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony highlighting the new cold water stream that was restored at Veteran’s Legacy Woods Park. This stream is home to many macroinvertebrates and salamanders with the hopes of one day introducing Brook Trout to the habitat!


Week 1:What’s up, my name is Riley. I am working at the Hancock Park District this summer as a Natural Resource Intern. ...
05/31/2026

Week 1:

What’s up, my name is Riley. I am working at the Hancock Park District this summer as a Natural Resource Intern. The primary thing I will be working on is invasive species removal from the parks. In doing this I will be able to learn the best management practices in order to preserve the environment.

This week the main focus was Dame’s Rocket. We pulled 7-8 dump truck loads of Dame’s Rocket from one of the parks. Dame’s Rocket has a biennial life cycle, where its first year growth is a rosette and then the second year growth it shoots up and flowers out. The flowers are a white or purple color. Dame’s Rocket has a massive seed output, with a single plant being able to produce up to 20,000 seeds which is one of the reasons it’s such a big problem. These large population booms allow it to outcompete native plants, reducing the biodiversity of the park.

Additionally, we sprayed herbicide on some other invasive plants at various parks, including Teasel (while it’s in its rosette stage before it takes off in its second year growth) and Canada Thistle.


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Ada, OH
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