Museum of Biological Diversity Open House

Ohio State University’s Museum of Biological Diversity hosted their annual Open House this Saturday, April 6. The theme this year was “Magnified” – which was great for us at the Aquatic Ecology Lab! We demonstrated the numerous microscopic aquatic organisms and parts of aquatic organisms we study such as phytoplankton, zooplankton, larval fish, and fish otoliths. My dissertation project is focused on early life stages of walleye, so I was excited to demonstrate how fish start as larvae smaller than 1 cm, and can grow to be half a meter (or multiple feet) in length. Studying fish when they’re that tiny can be really difficult, but it’s a very important part of their life that may set up the trajectory of the rest of their life.

Below are some pictures from the day. The Museum had so many great activities, including an inset petting zoo!

 

Lyndsie explains algae blooms to one of our young visitors.

 

Can you see the stick bugs below?

 

Maybe now?

You can see this one hanging down a bit doing an amazing imitation of some dead leaves hanging down

There were a lot of insects at the insect petting zoo, including these Madagascar cockroaches.

 

It was exciting to see all these amazing insects (plus tarantulas, scorpions, and so many more) close up.

 

I wish I’d had time to see everything else at the whole event!

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