Group 6 Copy 48
0

Sending Samples Downriver

Image: Dominican Mission to Mesopotamia, c. 1920. "Moussul. Un kelek en radeaux sur le Tigre."

In an earlier version of crowdfunding, during the late 19th - early 20th century, the Dominican Missionary Society of Nancy, France, sold postcards to help finance its campaign to "bring Christianity back to Iraq," (although it had never actually left). Vast quantities of cargo, including prodigious amounts of museum samples, moved downriver to the port at Basra, for shipment back to Europe. Home to early Islamic scholars such as Al-Haitham, medieval Basra was a major contributor to the invention of what we now call science. Our profound thanks to David Dodd for funding a kelek's worth of lab analyses, so the we can carry some of that science back to its home port.

0 comments

Join the conversation!Sign In

About This Project

Collapse of the marsh ecosystems of southern Iraq after 1991 forced hundreds of thousands of people into urban slums, and led to contamination of the remaining water supply. We will establish three test beds to see whether brackish water returned from oil drilling and refining can be used to construct new salt marshes. These will filter water, provide forage for livestock, create habitat for fish nurseries, and give new economic opportunities.
Blast off!

Browse Other Projects on Experiment

Related Projects

How do microplastics interact with other particles in aquatic environments?

In this research project, we will use controlled biofouling experiments to quantify the progressive colonization...

Manipulating structural complexity to bolster restoration efforts on Hawaiian coral reefs

This study investigates how altering module structures impacts coral fragment fusion, growth, and survival...

Expanding survey efforts to evaluate the status of Bioko's threatened monkeys

This study will document locations of 7 monkey species in un-surveyed areas across Bioko Island, Equatorial...

Backer Badge Funded

An ecology project funded by 43 people

Add a comment