Living Labs

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Experience Innovative Science in Action

We're learning about nature and testing innovative ideas in natural laboratories.

University of Maine graduate student Stephen Fernandes and researcher Kevin Lachapelle, photograph and measure a sturgeon prior to release. They are working with the Maine chapter of The Nature Conservancy in a study of the abundance, distribution and movements of the Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhynchus) and shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum), in Maine's Penobscot River. The data gathering project involves temporary netting of sturgeon, recording sex, size, weight and tagging the fish before releasing it back into the Penobscot river. © Bridget Besaw

What is a Living Lab, anyway?

Wikipedia will tell you it’s “a user-centered, open-innovation ecosystem.”

Translation: “a really cool place to study and test out really cool ideas.”

What does a healthy ocean really look like? And when we find it, what lessons can we take to bring back other, more degraded oceans? We don’t want to stop development, but how can we make sure it happens in concert with conservation? And as our world population eventually reaches nine billion, how can we use nature sustainably – now and well into the future?

That’s what we’re trying to find out. Here, follow in the footsteps of Conservancy scientists as they work to address these challenges.

If you like what you see, keep nature going. Click “donate now” to join us in protecting nature and preserving life.

Features

Schools of convict tangs, a colorful reef fish. Photo © Kydd Pollock

Palmyra Atoll

Ever seen a "fish tornado" before? Kydd Pollock, marine biologist for The Nature Conservancy in Hawai‘i, shares what a healthy ocean really looks like. View video

Development by design © The Nature Conservancy

Mongolia

Nature Conservancy scientist Joe Kiesecker shares his images of and experiences in Mongolia, discussing its one-of-a-kind landscapes and the issues the country faces as it develops. View video