Welcome to Field Trip Earth!
by Mark MacAllister
: Exploring Field Trip Earth
Field Trip Earth focuses on field-based wildlife
conservation research projects ongoing around the world.
Some of the projects are "live," meaning that
research activities, and one or more research scientists,
are currently active in the field. These projects are
featured prominently on the site. Projects that are not
"live" are archived so that students can continue
to access the relevant articles, photos, videos, and other
materials. All of the projects, though, are similar in that
they provide classrooms and others around the world the
opportunity to interact meaningfully with wildlife
researchers and other conservation experts. Students and
other users can read researchers’ field diary entries,
direct questions to the researchers (and read their
responses), listen to recorded satellite telephone calls and
other communications, see video taken in the field, and
discuss conservation issues with them. In a sense, students
can use the interactive resources of Field Trip Earth
to become part of the research team itself.
Resources on the site are divided into two broad
categories. Site-wide resources are not connected to a
particular species or research project. Rather, they focus
on conservation issues generally, and in doing so address
concerns that span several species and/or regions. Access to
the site-wide resources is via a menu found on the left-hand
margin of the Field Trip Earth homepage, and nearly
every other page on the site.
Species-specific resources, on the other-hand, focus with
significant detail on a particular species inhabiting a
particular region: red wolves in northeastern North
Carolina, for example, or savannah and forest elephants in
Cameroon, Africa. Access to each "field
trip"—that is, to each research project—is
via each field trip's homepage. Go to the Field Trips list
for a list of research projects monitored on the site.
Field Trip Earth users interested in learning about
larger conservation perspectives should explore site-wide
resources, while users wishing to learn more about a
particular species, a particular research project, or
conservation in a particular part of the world should look
to specific field trips first. However, each type of user
will find valuable information throughout the entire site.
: Site-Wide Resources
Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
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