Acid Mine Drainage and Precipitates

In this video, environmental scientists measure the pH of water to detect acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine and then demonstrate how metals present in acid drainage fall out of solution as precipitates when a basic substance is added to the water.

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Controlling Water Run-off

This video shows how the environmentally friendly design of the Visitor Center at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville slows down water run-off and helps to control non-point-source water pollution, conserve water, and prevent soil erosion

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What is Biodiversity?

This excerpt from the KET Kentucky Life Biodiversity series, offers a brief overview of what we mean when we refer to the biodiversity of a particular area or region.

Environmental Impact of Acid Mine Drainage

This video shows how acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine has affected Wildcat Branch in Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest. Because the creek has a very acidic pH of 2.9, most organisms cannot survive there, and Wildcat Branch is essentially dead.

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Reusing Wastewater

This video demonstrates how peat filtration beds at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky purify and conserve wastewater and eliminate one cause of non-point-source water pollution.

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The Geology of Coal

In this video, a geologist describes how coal, a sedimentary rock, was formed when organic materials piled up in swamps millions of years ago. Over time, heat and pressure transformed the buried materials into forms of coal that cause acid mine drainage when exposed to oxygen.

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Recycling and Restoration

This video explains how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky used recycled cypress from pickle vats to build its visitor center and then “paid back” nature by creating a cypress-tupelo swamp at one end of a lake on the park grounds.

High-Sulfur Coal and Acidic Water

In this video, a geologist measures the pH of water after high-sulfur coal from a Kentucky coal mine has been added to it. This test demonstrates that the sulfate salts found on the coal’s surface cause the water to become much more acidic.

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Rain Gardens

This video shows how a rain garden at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky slows down the flow of water from the forest’s parking lot and helps prevent soil erosion.

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Mycoremediation

This video explores the process of mycoremediation: planting fungi such as oyster mushrooms to mitigate non-point-source water pollution caused by oil, gasoline, and other toxic substances.

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Restoring Lower Rock Creek

This brief video describes how Lower Rock Creek’s location between two National Wild and Scenic Rivers caused Kentucky environmentalists to choose the creek as a target for acid mine drainage remediation.

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Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, an environmental technologist visits an abandoned coal mine in Kentucky to talk about how a remediation system (a series of settling ponds and treatment cells) is neutralizing the acid drainage flowing from the mine and keeping it from damaging a creek downstream.

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Applying the Scientific Method

This video provides a real-life example of the scientific method: testing hypotheses about which plants will grow most successfully on a green roof in Kentucky.

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Results of Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, a biologist visits Rock Creek in Pulaski County, Kentucky to show how acid mine drainage remediation has increased the stream’s pH from acidic levels to almost neutral. Although the ecosystem has not been completely restored, many species have returned to Rock Creek.

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Stream Restoration

This video explores how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky has restored a channelized or straightened stream to its original meandering path, thereby improving the stream’s water quality and creating a better habitat for wildlife.

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Aquatic Insects

In this brief video, a biologist talks about the macroinvertebrates (typically aquatic insects) that form the basis of food webs in healthy Kentucky streams.

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Detached Wetlands

This video depicts a detached wetland, a small pool that forms beside a shallow meandering stream when it overflows its banks. These wetlands are important breeding grounds for the invertebrates that live in and beside streams

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Indicator Species: Hooded Warbler

Adapted from the Kentucky Life Biodiversity series, this video interactive offers information about the Hooded Warbler and its role as an indicator species in the Natural Bridge region of Kentucky.

Biodiverse Regions: Blood River

Adapted from the Kentucky Life Biodiversity series, this video looks at the natural significance of the Blood River region of southwestern Kentucky.

Biodiverse Regions: Black Mountain

Black Mountain in southeastern Kentucky is one of the most biodiverse regions in the state. This KET video offers a brief overview about the factors that make this area so unique.

Amphibian Research

This short video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K explains how frogs help biologists study problems in the environment.

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Amphibians

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K points out what it means to be cold-blooded. A frog's life cycle is revealed as well as why it croaks, why it hibernates, and how it catches its prey.

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An Alaska Native Community Helps Seals

This video from First Alaskans Institute spotlights the Alaska Native community of St. Paul and its hands-on commitment to care for the land and animals on which it depends.

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An Ancient Legend Teaches Climate Change Adaptation

Today’s unsustainable use of natural resources is compared to the legend of the giant Uab, in this video adapted from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

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Animal Families

How long does a baby elephant stay with her mother? What do you call a baby goat? Young children learn some interesting facts about the lives of baby animals in this original video from KET.

Backyard Birdfeeders

This video from WPSU’s series Outside suggests how to feed birds in winter, a hobby that can foster awareness, care, and respect for birds.

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Backyard Turtles

In this video from the WPSU’s series Outside, learn about backyard turtle habitats, their favorite foods, and why they don’t make good pets.

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Backyard Wildlife

Squirrels and chipmunks are just two of the animals you might see. Backyard Wildlife, an original KET video, encourages children to explore the world outside their back door.

Bats of the Southwest

This video segment from the Nevada Department of Wildlife looks at various species of bats and how they impact the environment.

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Bear Research

In this video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K tag along with two biological researchers as they conduct their research project about bear movements.

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Bears

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K shows bears' adaptations for eating.

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Bears' Lunch Counter

This Nature video segment explores how the relationship between humans and grizzly bears has changed over the course of American History, and it describes the closing of the Yellowstone National Park garbage dumps in the 1970s.

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Bears in the Schoolyard

Learn about the precautions humans must take in the face of a growing grizzly bear population in this video from Nature.

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Beavers

This video segment explores the world of the beaver, including the biology of the species and, more importantly, its ability to transform an ecosystem for its own benefit.

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Bighorn Sheep

This video segment from Outdoor Nevada explores the adaptations that help desert bighorn sheep survive in their habitat.

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Bird Migration

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K discusses the purpose of migration and shows researchers and students working together to study bird migration at the Idaho Bird Observatory.

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Birds of Prey

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K defines birds of prey and explains what characteristics they have that identify them as a raptor and help them catch their prey.

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Burrowing Owl

In this video segment from Outdoor Nevada, learn about burrowing owls, yearlong residents of open, dry grassland and desert habitats, and the only owls that nest underground and are active both day and night.

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Butterflies

This video from Vegas PBS features colorful insects known as butterflies, and looks at the coloration, species, life cycle, and migration habits within their habitat.

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Carnivorous Plants of Texas

In this video adapted from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, learn about carnivorous plants that act as both producers and consumers in an ecosystem. See sundews and blatterworts capture and digest insects.

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Carnivorous Plants of Cartwheel Bay

In this video segment from NatureScene, explore Cartwheel Bay, a wetland in South Carolina, and learn about the variety of carnivorous plants native to this unique landform.

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Challenges of Incubation

This video segment from Nature examines American Eagles along the Upper Mississippi River and their struggle to protect their eggs from predators as well as from the cold, extreme weather.

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Collapse of Sharks

This video segment from Nature shows the destructiveness of the shark fin and shark cartilage industries.

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Contaminants in the Arctic Food Chain

The levels of contaminants found in particular animals vary widely depending on where they fit into the Arctic food chain, as described in this video segment adapted from LOKE Films and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme.

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Contaminants in the Arctic Human Population

In this video segment adapted from LOKE Films and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, learn how human populations in the Arctic are affected by industrial contaminants in the food chain.

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Converting to Biodiesel

Meet a college student whose class project to turn cooking grease into diesel fuel resulted in converting bus fleets to biodiesel, in this video from Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative.

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Deep Sea Vents and Life's Origins

Deep-sea vents are home to strange, luminescent life forms that thrive through chemosynthesis. This video segment from NOVA: "Volcanoes of the Deep" hypothesizes life's beginnings in this extreme environment.

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Desert Biome

This video segment from NOVA: "A Desert Place" describes the physical characteristics and organisms that define the desert biome.

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Desert Habitat

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K defines warm and cold (high) deserts, and describes some of the plants and animals found there as well as their adaptations for living in each type of desert.

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Desert Tortoise

This video segment from Outdoor Nevada examines threats to the desert tortoise population.

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