DEC Program Participants Assist with Sweetclover Research Project

Berry season is fast approaching and we couldn’t be more excited! Last season, our program participants spent weeks crawling all over the tundra. Instead of gathering sweet fruit, however, they were busy collecting important data for the Melibee Project research team . Under the guidance of Denali Education Center Field Educator Margi Dashevsky, our citizen scientists participated in an investigation looking at the recent sweetclover invasion and its possible affects on the pollination of wild Alaskan bog blueberries and lowbush cranberries. Researchers are using the data to build mathematical models to predict the phenological phase of sweetclover, cranberry, and blueberry across the state of Alaska. Check out the Melibee Citizen Science Newsletter to learn more about this exciting project!    Melibee citizen science newsletter 2013