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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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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Amphibian Research

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

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Chemist and Biologist Catherine Drennan

In this video produced for Teachers' Domain, learn about MIT professor Cathy Drennan's research into microorganisms that remove carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere.

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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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Ecology

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K defines ecology and ecosystems and explains how all living and non-living things in an ecosystem interact and depend on the energy of the sun.

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Electronic Gadgets

Two kids learn some surprising facts about the parts in their computer game, in this animated video from LOOP SCOOPS.

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Elk

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K describes the yearly life cycle of elk and follows them from their winter habitat to their summer habitat and back.

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Endangered Species

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K explores the many reasons why animals become endangered or become extinct.

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Energy Flow in the Coral Reef Ecosystem

This video segment, adapted from NOVA, describes the energy flow in a coral reef, including its food web.

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Ethanol Biofuel

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, learn about one scientist's idea for using biotechnology to make ethanol a more efficient alternative to gasoline.

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Fish Research

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K explains the Chinook salmon's life cycle in the Pacific Northwest and why it is an endangered species. A fisheries biologist takes students through some steps of fish research with explanations of the kinds of information biologists gather to perhaps help manage fish recovery.

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Food Web

This short video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K illustrates how a food web works.

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Forests

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K describes rain, temperate and boreal forests and some of the animals that live in them.

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Fossils

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K explains how fossils are formed, discusses the Hagerman Horse fossil found in Idaho. It describes the tools Paleontologists use and why they study fossils.

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Habitat

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K explains the 4 basic requirements of a perfect habitat and what a niche is within a habitat. You'll see videos of different animals in their habitats, such as; bear, moose, spiders and mountain goats,

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Horseshoe Crabs and Red Knots

This video from Nature describes horseshoe crabs as an essential source of nutrition for migrating birds.

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Lava Landscapes

Learn how volcanic activity affects the surrounding land in this video from Nature.

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Mitigating Climate Change in China and Ethiopia

In this video segment adapted from "Hope in a Changing Climate," learn how an environmentally devastated ecosystem has been restored, benefiting both the local economy and global efforts to fight climate change.

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Owls

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K discusses the physical adaptations of owls for hunting their prey.

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Red Tide

Learn about red tide and the danger it poses to manatees in this video from Nature.

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Salmon

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K explains the life cycle of Idaho's salmon and how this life cycle is disrupted by river dams.

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The Seasons Are Moving

In this video segment adapted from the College of Menominee Nation, tribal members share examples of how seasons are changing, and how these changes are affecting local plants.

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Sense of Smell Leads Salmon Home

This video segment adapted from Northwest Indian College reveals how Native American life and knowledge is connected to natural cycles.

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Snapshot of U.S. Energy Use

This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE looks at American energy consumption and the resulting production of greenhouse gases.

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Sustaining Healthy Coral Reefs in Micronesia

Learn about the dual impact of land pollution and climate change on coral reefs, and the steps being taken by communities in Micronesia to protect them, in these two videos adapted from the Micronesia Conservation Trust.

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Urban Solutions to Water Pollution

In this KET video segment from Louisville Life, high school students in Louisville, Kentucky describe the benefits of creating rain gardens as a solution to non-point source water pollution.

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The Value of Wetlands

This video segment adapted from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department explores the role of the wetlands in our environment, including providing habitats for wildlife, acting as natural water filters, and playing a part in the greater water cycle.

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Warming Climate and Invasive Species

In this video segment adapted from the College of Menominee Nation, learn about the emergence of invasive forest species and diseases and their possible impact on the Menominee tribal forest.

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Wildlife Management

In this video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K tag along with a wildlife biologist and 2 students as they capture, collar, weigh and release mule deer fawns.

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Zoology

In this video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K the Zoo Boise Director, Steve Burns, takes us on a tour of Spider monkeys, cockroaches, Red Panda, tigers and Aldabra tortoises, explaining the role of zoos in conservation and breeding endangered species.

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