Parnassius phoebus Mount Evans, Colorado, United States User: antshrike
We are pleased to share a new iBook, “Wings that Make Waves”. Biological illustrator Kim Moss teamed up with Ecologist Dr. Diane Debinski and Ph.D. student Simone Durney to create the iBook “Wings that Make Waves,” which is focused on using butterflies as bioindicators. Moss and Debinski first met at Iowa State University when Debinski came to one of Moss’s biological illustration classes. Students were assigned the task of illustrating images that depicted the results of scientific research that Debinski was conducting, which led to them joining forces to apply for a grant from the Disney Conservation Foundation to do similar work on a larger scale with the Clodius Parnassian butterfly (Parnassius clodius) as a focal species. Debinski and Durney wanted to make the story of their research more accessible to the general public, park visitors, and K-12 teachers. Durney brought her “STEM Storytellers” skills (STEM= Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and Moss added her artistic, design, and video skills to the project to create this beautiful iBook.
You can download the iBook to be viewed on an iPad, Mac, or iPhone (Note that you have to hit a “buy” button, but the download is free.) Or, visit this site to download the iBook or a PDF (for those who are not Apple users), and associated learning exercises for teachers. They will be linking this information to a website in the near future. Note that there are lots of embedded videos in the iBook that are best viewed on an iPad, but the pdf will give you a general overview of the work. Feel free to share this information with others too.
Montana State University ecology professor and department head Diane Debinski, left, and research assistants Erin McCall and Logan Crees, study butterflies during a July research trip in an alpine meadow near Jackson, Wyoming. MSU photo by Kelly Gorham