20th Anniversary of Experimental Biological
Association
The Experimental Biological Association (EBA) is an education and research
subdivision of the Ecology Sector of the Moscow Scientific and Technical
Creativity Center for Youth. It was established in 1988 on the basis of
the Young Naturalists Group (YNG), which, in turn, started its work at
Moscow State University’s Faculty of Biology in 1979 and was officially
recognized in April 1980 within the MSU Youth Council of Nature Preservation.
YNG, like the EBA later, continued the traditions of research and nature
preservation of the Young Naturalists Group of the All-Russian Society
of Nature Preservation headed by the gifted pedagogue Pyotr Petrovich Smolin.
In 1987, the heads of this group were invited to arrange biological work
in the Moscow Scientific and Technical Creativity Center for Youth – a
school for supplementary education that was then about to open under the
aegis of the Academy of Sciences. The work started in June 1988. In addition
to the students working in the Young Naturalists Group that formed the
Association’s core, many other groups joined with their advisors. A general
agenda was drafted and adopted a few years later. The group’s aim was
to attract school children to the biological sciences and scientific research.
Close and productive ties were quickly established with the tutoring institutions
– A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Moscow
State University’s Faculty of Biology, Mozhaisky Forestry and several
other organizations. Many of these ties are still in effect. In addition
to field trips with their EBA groups, the children also participate in
the work of these institutions in various regions of the country.
The EBA studies the local flora and fauna; expands and strengthens biological
knowledge; and teaches independent research as well as theoretical and
applied conservation. The EBA sponsors theoretical, applied, and laboratory
courses; bibliographical research; contests; competitions. Field work
is also vital since no one can learn to understand and love nature at
a distance. That is why the EBA organizes weekend forest trips and longer
field expeditions during school vacations. It is during these trips that
the children meet the environment, discover the interconnections between
the elements of nature, and assist the staff of nature reserves and national
parks in studies of their local fauna and flora.
One-day trips usually mean route observations. Field observations and
investigations of the local nature – the start of any field naturalist’s
work – are done very effectively. The children learn to keep field diaries,
to describe landscapes and biotopes, to recognize plants, to identify
birds by their habitats and songs. They also learn diagnostics and photography.
Longer field trips resemble real scientific expeditions. Tight excursion
schedules, field and lab work, and daily reviews help to create an intensive
work rhythm. The main aims of the school children’s research are investigation
and education. Their projects vary depending on the time of the year.
In summer, new students work on the Extranest Activity of Hill Ants Project,
the research methods for which are well-established. Group members learn
to collect data, record observations, process data correctly, and make
deductions. In winter, they work on the Forest Biotope Trees and Bushes
without Leaves Project. The knowledge thus acquired is of great help in
many other research projects, since the children learn to evaluate biotopes
and arrange test plots. Several projects have been repeated over a number
of years, and have thus become educational ones, although the students
develop their methods themselves.
Group members who pursue their studies for more than a year are thus
able to work out study methods for various living creatures based on a
consideration of their specifics. Long-term projects include Particular
Aspects of the Biology of the Alpine Hare (Fox, Elk, Wild Boar); Insects
Inhabiting Stumps and Brushwood Project; Dendrofagous Fungi of Forest
Biotopes around the Expedition Base Project, Fauna of Freshwater Reservoir;
Flora Diary; Forest Evergreens; etc. Senior group members work on more
varied projects, determining objectives and choosing methods independently.
Their advisors do just that – they give them advice. As a rule, these
projects are more difficult and labor-intensive than the educational ones.
Research projects worked on by senior group members include Interaction
of Two Species of Dendrofagous Fungi on the Common Birch; Comparative
Nutrition and Ecological Traits of Common and Sand Lizards; Algae in Late
Fall and Aspects of their Distribution in Various Reservoirs; and Animals
Damaging Trees and Bushes Project. In their quality and detail, many of
these projects are superior to the term papers and even the theses of
university students.
Evening conferences to review the day's work help the school children
to adjust their methods, separate major and minor issues, find the best
way to process the data collected. It is here that they find out what
other expedition participants have seen and done during the day. All group
members participate in these discussions; this, in turn, helps them to
develop and improve their public speaking and debating skills.
Work in nature is a vital and labor-intensive part of what the EBA does.
The logistics are complex. This work requires knowledge of how to behave
in the field and of certain special skills. An expedition participant
should know how to chop firewood, pitch a tent, cook, and administer first
aid.
Before an expedition, all members participate in a special training session
and are assigned specific duties that will make the life of the field
team easier. The expedition is managed by an elected group of the most
experienced members. Special people responsible for food, equipment, books,
stationery, news leaflets, meteorological observations, "Expedition Diary",
and photography are elected. All expedition participants take turns doing
camp duty – cooking, guarding the camp, chopping firewood, and buying
food.
Given children's physiology and psychology, the intensive fieldwork,
duties and evening conferences exhaust them. Therefore, these activities
are alternated with recreation – action-oriented games, swimming in summer,
singing, contests and competitions.
On recent winter expeditions, the children have investigated the biology
of the greater-spotted woodpecker Dendrocopus major L. Each researcher
or group of researchers discovered the regularities of woodpeckers' feeding
behavior, types of woodpeckers' 'smith shops' (feeding spots), the number
of seeds extracted from each cone versus the number left within, average
lengths of different feeding stages (flight for cones, setting a cone
up in the 'anvil', pecking, rest etc.), as well as the sizes of home ranges
and the existence of two distinct parts – the feeding range and the night
range. Work on this project combines diverse methods of data collection
and processing. It appeals to students and helps them to master basic
analytical skills.
In addition to independent research projects, the children work on large-scale
projects together with professional ornithologists. These projects often
deal with conservation issues. They include nest registration and ringing
of nestlings, activities connected with Bird Day and Bird Watch Day, as
well as the annual spring and fall transit bird registrations.
The Moscow Ornithological Society carries out annual registrations of
waterfowl (wild ducks, etc.) wintering in Moscow. For over 15 years, group
members have participated in this work, registering birds along the whole
length of the Yauza River from its head to its estuary. They form five
to six registration teams of up to five persons each. While comparing
and analyzing the data series, it is easy to trace the population dynamics
and the distribution of groups of waterfowl over the river and adjacent
areas.
Both the individual and the team projects give students the feel of scientific
work, promote love and care towards nature, contribute to an environmental
approach and professional outlook. By the time these children graduate
from their secondary schools, many group members have published their
own papers in conference proceedings and in adult scientific journals.
The EBA has scientific cooperation agreements with several biological
institutions, high schools, and scientific and industrial enterprises.
Therefore, some of the group's projects become part of research projects
of these organizations. Some senior group members join expeditions from
these institutions during summer vacations. They help to collect and process
data and often carry out some portion of the research work.
Discovering the zope, a new fish species in Kenozerye
The data on rare species acquired by the young naturalists during their
work in the Moscow Region were used when creating the Moscow Region Red
Data Book. As a result of an expedition to Kenozersky National Park, the
list of this Park’s fish species was increased by four new species, one
of which (the common muddler) is included in the Russian Red Data Book.
Also in Kenozersky, the northernmost point of the zope’s range in Russia
was recorded. In Tunkinsky National Park, group members found sites inhabited
by fungi included in the Red Data List.
The children participate in various competitions, contests and conferences
– and often win them. During the 1999–2000 academic year, they received
more than 20 awards. The Forest Pathfinder computer program took Second
Prize at the Effective Protection for Russia's Natural Heritage All-Russian
Competition of School Projects.
During the EBA’s 20 years, there have been numerous discoveries and losses,
joys and disappointments. A huge amount of work experience has been amassed.
On the basis of this experience, 34 tutorials and recommendations on different
aspects of work with school children have been published, as well as three
books of students' works. Children working with the EBA have published
some 60 articles in various scientific editions.
Since the Young Naturalists Group (later the EBA) was created, more than
300 school children have graduated from it. Most graduates went on to
major in biology at various universities and institutes. Many of them
became members of Student Nature Guards. EBA graduates work in different
biology institutes, conservation organizations and departments. Even those
who went into professions outside biology continue to feel warmly towards
and protective of nature. Current study groups include children of some
of the group’s first members.
N. P. Kharitonov, founding director of the Young Naturalists
Group and the EBA, is a George Soros Teacher as well as a Nationally Honored
Teacher. He has received awards from the Give Heart to Children First
All-Russian Competition of Supplementary Education Teachers, the Sabin
Metal Corporation Prize, and the Center for Russian Environmental Policy.
In recent years, in addition to its traditional activities, the EBA has
developed new aspects of environmental computer modeling. This work includes
the creation of computer databases for biological purposes (e.g. databases
on birds of the Novgorod, Yaroslavl and Moscow Regions, and the Chuvash
Republic, as well as of amphibians and reptiles of Moscow and the Moscow
Region), as well as quizzes, games and educational programs such as Forest,
Biology, Hares and Carrots, Biological Puzzle, Animals, "Do You Know Birds?",
Forest Pathfinder etc. An educational web site is currently in development.
N. P. Kharitonov,
Head of the Experimental Biological Association
