Beal guides student work with hands-on research on clam flats
Anyone driving over the causeway on Friday, May 3, near low tide likely would have seen more than a dozen high school students all over the clam flats, participating in a research experiment. The hands-on science work is a precursor to the Marine Studies Pathway that will launch at the high school next year and will teach a wide ranging curricula based on marine studies.
Brian Beal, professor of Marine Ecology at University of Maine at Machias, led the research effort, which was sponsored by the Marine Environmental Research Institute in Blue Hill. Beal said the overall goal of the project is to learn about how clams grow on either side of the Deer Isle Causeway.
Within that project, there are multiple other variables studied. For instance, the study asks how clams grow at different tidal heights and how they are impacted by predators, continued Beal.