I took classes and training at a diving school to get certified as an Open Water Diver by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). I did it for both science and fun and I still enjoy doing it for both reasons.

Yes, I am examining microscope slides of aquatic organisms from the museum's collections that were collected in 1890 and 1891 from Yellowstone National Park, and Flathead Lake in Western Montana. They were collected by a famous scientist of that time, Stephen A. Forbes, who conducted the first major study of Western lakes. I hope to look at those same lakes today and see how they have changed over the last 115 years.

Climate has changed a lot in Minnesota over the millenia, and for many reasons. The earth's crust has moved such that 65 million years ago Minnesota was closer to the equator and under a tropical sea during the end of the dinosaur era. During the last two million years we have gone through a series of ice ages with periods when Minnesota was covered by very thick ice sheets, but also with times that were warm in between. My studies show that we have gone through cycles of dry and wet, cool and warm even during the last 10,000 years. Those changes were created by natural cycles and a series of natural events. However, we are currently in a rapid period of global warming which the vast majority of scientists believe is caused by man's addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

I have a dual Bachelor of Science Degree in Fisheries Biology and Limnology (like oceanography except in freshwater), and a Master of Science Degree in Aquatic Ecology. I took several dozen courses in specific scientific areas (chemistry, aquatic biology etc.) in addition to the regular classes required for the degrees. Additionally, for the Masters Degree, I had to complete a detailed research study and write a thesis describing my work and results. I also had to defend my thesis before my thesis committee and make oral presentations.

There several different reasons why climate changes. We know that climate does vary in natural cycles and it is difficult to separate the exact contribution of several factors when they are all happening at once. However, humankind's addition of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, is certainly one factor that is impacting climate change and causing some portion of global warming. If we are in a natural warming cycle to begin with, the addition of man-made global warming will make it all that worse. It's not good in any case!

Knowing SCUBA is certainly handy for the type of research that I do, but there are several other skills that have come in equally as handy. Being creative and coming up with solutions to problems in the field has been handy (duct tape has saved many a research trip). Having some mechanical and electrical knowledge has allowed me to fix or fabricate equipment in remote locations. Artistic skills have helped me map out locations and draw plants and animals that I needed to describe or identify later. Patience and the ability to communicate are good skills to have as well.

Thirty years! I graduated from college in December 1975 and got my first scientific position in 1976. However, I have been interested in science and nature since I was a very little boy. I think I was doing science then too!

We have scientists studying paleontology (primarily dinosaurs and fossil crocodiles) in places as close as the Dakotas and as far away as Madagascar. You can see their work on the exhibit floor in the Dinosaur and Fossils Gallery. We also have different scientists studying archaeology (ancient cultures) and ethnology (current cultures), the distribution of plants and animals in Minnesota, habitat restoration, environmental history, mercury contamination, pollution of lakes and rivers, and many other things.

Meeting all the wonderful and knowledgeable scientists that I am fortunate to know and work with, and learning about the world through them and their work. I also like taking the time to wonder about the world and how things work. Of course, we can all do that!

Big topic! The effects of contamination depend on the type of contamination and the types of life that are in the water. Some types of contamination are just plain poisonous and cause death in short order. Scientists call these "acute" or lethal effects. Others cause lingering effects like loss of reproduction or slow growth which means that there may not be a next generation. These are called chronic or sub-lethal effects. Some organisms are very tollerant of certain pollutants and others are very sensitive. Entire books have been written on the impacts of contamination in aqautic environments.

I didn't see the movie, but from what I know of it they were more than a little over dramatic. However, scientists have more recently found evidence that indicates that climate change can probably happen in a matter of decades or hundreds of years rather than the thousands that were originally proposed (However, that doesn't mean glaciers would form that fast). While far from overnight, like in the movies, it is quite alarming for scientists to think that global temperature change can happen in such a short time period as a lifetime or less. We should be concerned because cities like New York are quite low to the ocean and, for example, if the huge ice cap covering Greenland were to melt or, even more dramtically, slide into the oceans the added ice and water would raise the oceans to a level that could flood much of that city and others around the world. There is good scientific evidence that the ocean shore lines have varied greatly over the millenia.

There are many, but one of the best is cattail. The large starchy roots supply lots of carbs. The pollen can be gathered and mixed with floor to make breads and other things.

We live in an interesting part of the world where the border between the prairie (warm and dry), the leafy deciduous forest or "big woods" (warm and moist), and northern boreal/pine forest (cool and moist) change over just a matter of tens of miles. All you need to do is drive from here to Duluth and watch how the vegetation changes to pine and spruce forest. This has been referred to as the plant "tension zone". As a result we are at the southern-most extent of many northern species and the northern extent of many southern species. As climate warms the northern species will eventually die out giving way to the southern species and the tension zone will move north. Because some plants are living at their southern extreme they are probably already stressed and exist here in small micro-climate zones. For example, paper birch is a typically northern plant and when you find it growing this far south it is usually on the cool northern side of hills or slopes. It needs cooler soils. Nurserymen and landscapers know that you should mulch or shade the root area of birch to keep it cool and moist if you want them to grow and thrive here. However, temperature is not the only factor that will cause change as the climate changes. Warmer and dryer climate may allow new plant diseases or insect pests to invade and destroy certain plants and make the plants less able to resist pests or disease. This already occurs when we have droughts.

Yes! Even if it doesn't impact this generation to any great extent (although I think that it will), we are stewards for the next generations. I believe that we have an obligation to leave the best possible environment for all future generations. Our existence is but a tiny, tiny link along a very long chain of inheritance. I doubt if any parent would want anything less than the "best of all possible worlds" for their children and grandchildren.

The most important thing to do is reduce or eliminate things that are under our control that cause global warming. Most notably, this means reducing the production of greenhouse gases that are a result of burning fossil fuels (gas, coal, oil), with the most important greenhouse gas being carbon dioxide. What often gets lost in the discussion is the fact that even if there are natural causes in play that are causing the Earth to warm , we are just adding to that issue and making it much worse for ourselves. We also need to trust our best science and scientists, not wait to take action at the last minute when things are broken, and set policy accordingly.

There are to many potential effects to mention them all, and there are probably many effects that we simply can't understand at this point of our research. However, most scientists would include the following: the extinction of species, increased droughts and fires, more radical shifts in weather patterns, major changes in ocean currents, thawing of the tundra, melting of continental ice masses (like Greenland) with major increses in ocean levels which will flood low lying coastal cities, shifts in plant and animal distribution (including diseases and pests), shifts of crop growing regions to the north which means changes in regional economies, and changes in economic/political power to mention but a few. The list is long and mostly preventable.

This is a big question with no good short answer! However, when we had the last major continental glaciers, ending about 10,000 years ago, there was so much of the Earth's water trapped in the ice on land that ocean levels went down over 200 feet. (A little fun fact is that the miles thick ice were so heavy that they depressed the land which is still slowly rebounding today). The lower qcean levels created land bridges which allowed plants and animals (including humans) to migrate between continents (Asia to North America and visa versa). Addtionally, as the continental glaciers moved south plants and animals "retreated" to refuges much further south. For example, northern pine and spruce forests could be found in the southern U.S. as evidenced by their pollen in the sediments of southern lakes at that time. As the ice sheet retreated north the plants and animals dispersed north again as well. The pattern of this dispersal and what it tells us of the climate shift is well documented in many studies. Different plants moved back at different rates depending on conditions and their specific biology. Also, huge, multi-state sized glacial lakes that once existed (Glacial Lake Boniville) in the western U.S. mostly dried up leaving remnant basins like Great Salt Lake and fish like the cutthroat trout that are now relegated to live in the mountain rivers and streams that once fed the lake. Understanding these climate changes tells us much about the current distribution of plants and animals and what might happen if the climate drastically changes again.

Scientists calculate that if you melted all the ice that is on land (Antarctica, Greenland, etc.) that the oceans would rise over twenty feet. The ice that is already in the ocean doesn't count because it has already displaced all the water that it can, even if it melted. While a twenty foot rise in sea level wouldn't flood a great deal of the Earth's total current landmass, it would flood areas where there are many hundreds of millions of people living. You can find good maps of these flood projections on the web. Low lying coastal cities like New York, and as we already know, New Orleans would have major flooding problems. There are even entire countries, like Bangladesh, which would be largely flooded. It would not be good in any case!

Plants and animals can not adapt to that quickly of an evironmental change. Evolutionary change and adaptation may take tens of thousands or even millions of years. During the last ice age some plants and animals "migrated" to suitable habitats (refugia) further south as the climate got colder. Some undoubtably went extinct since they couldn't react or adapt fast enough to change that occurred even over thousands of years. They slowly returned when the ice melted but the landscape looked very different. Many large animals went extinct at the end of the last ice age due, at least in part, to the rapid change in climate and environmental conditions. They include things like mammoths, mastodonts, dire wolves, shortfaced bears, ground sloths, giant beavers, among many others. Yet, some very small plants and animals (land snails for example) have survived warming and the retreat of the glaciers at the mouths of "ice caves" in the unglaciated area of southeastern Minnesota. However , these are very small and very special places. Some animals, like the white tailed deer, are very adapable and can weather a lot of change. The most likely senario will be that the warmer and drier prairie like habitats will move north and east as the climate changes, with trees giving way to grasslands and brush. Of course, we may not see much of that natural change either, but rather agriculture and development moving north as the climate becomes more amenible to those activities. In any case, it could look very different in the long run.

We now have evidence that some climate changes that occurred during the ice age happen much faster that many suspected. At any rate, scientists have direct evidence that the Earth is warming today and that we are in a period of global warming. For example, we know that the oceans have warmed a degree or more on average over the last few decades. That is a lot of stored heat! Some of the warmest summers and winters have been recorded these last couple of decades as well. Scientists generally agree that the Earth has been warming. Some people have questioned whether or not it is due to mans activities. Most scientists believe that human activity, such as producing greenhouse gases, by burning fossil fuels, has ben a major contributor to that warming. Evidence like the fact that the rate of warming has matched the rate of increase in greenhouse gases is hard to ignore.

Science is not about proving something without a doubt. In fact, there is a thing in science called the uncertainty principle which basically says that it impossible to know everything about anything. The process of science adds new knowledge to old so that we can form theories about how things work and then use those to make predictions or models to guide future activity. It is the best of our collective and tested knowledge. So, no, I can not say without a doubt that there is global warming. However, We can say that we know that the Earth is warmer than it was just a couple of decades ago and we pretty much know that we are at least in part responsible for that warming. Based on study of the past, we also have some idea what that warming might do to the environment, and none of it is very pleasant.

Please read my answer to the question right before yours. My favorite freshwater animal is the fairy shrimp with the freshwater jellyfish as a very close second. However, your question was about an under-sea animal and that means from the ocean. That's a tough one because I haven't studied the ocean as much, but I would probably have to say the giant squid is a favorite. The giant squid is the worlds largest invertebrate (without a backbone) animal and we know so very little about it. In fact, scientists from Japan just took the first photographs of a live giant squid more than 2,700 feet below the surface in the fall of 2004 and just published their findings this fall.