![a bare light bulb with the words \"Member Highlight\" over top the image](\"https:\/\/esa.org\/communication-engagement-preprod\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2019\/04\/20190404_ESA_CE_member_highlight_icon-300x300.png\"){kind=icon}
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New Web Articles on National Parks in the History of Science Examples from ecology include the discovery of thermophilic bacteria (and subsequent development of PCR technology) at Yellowstone National Park; niche partitioning by foraging warblers at Acadia National Park; long-term predator-prey studies on Isle Royale National Park; and the first evidence for plant succession at what later became Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.<\/p>\n Through a project initially conceived by Tim Watkins (NPS) and Jill Baron (USGS and CO State University), the National Park Service has begun collaborating with ecologists and others to find and tell these stories. The first products are 8 web articles written by graduate students recently enrolled in Katia Engelhardt\u2019s \u201cClassic Readings in Ecology\u201d course at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.<\/p>\n
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\nNational parks in the United States have hosted some of the most significant and influential research projects in ecology and other fields. Many of those studies have launched new lines of inquiry, revealed new taxa, informed foundational ideas in a variety of disciplines, provided \u201creal-world\u201d complements to laboratory studies, and even launched new technologies. By playing important roles in the history of science, US national parks have contributed uniquely to our global intellectual heritage.<\/p>\n