VANDA

The Lake Database, a Norwegian environmental education program

Concept

VANDA is short for VANn-DAtabase (=Water Database), and is a lake monitoring program in cooperation between the University of Bergen and upper secondary schools in Norway. Each school adopts a lake in their neighbourhood for monitoring and ecological studies. Sampling excursions are repeated during May/June and August/September each year. The investigations are coordinated from the University of Bergen, to which the participants send their collected data and samples after completing their own analyses. At the University, biological material is determined by specialists, and the water samples are sent to a laboratory for analysing. The following semester each school receive a report with results and comments on their particular lake. The results are collected in a database, together with information from the schools' own investigations. Participating schools make a report on the lake's catchment area with maps of vegetation, farms, industry and residence areas, as well as local pollution sources. Bathygraphic and macrovegetation maps are also made. The database, containing the information from all participating schools, is accessible on Internet. Information is free, and the participants can make their own analyses on data from lakes all over Norway. The database is public, and can also be used by others outside the school, for example in research or environmental management.

Intentions

The primary goal of the program is to encourage a sound concern among students about environmental problems on a scientific basis. We hope to achieve this by providing a framework for activity. Their efforts become meaningful because they contribute to a national program, and because they can assess the conditions in their lake with reference to a much larger information basis. Local environmental engagement is also promoted, since the conditions in each lake depend on the constitution of the catchment area and its use by man. Establishing a contact forum between teachers, students and specialists should further stimulate activity and engagement. Field activity and database both emphasise biological parameters. Such data are reasonably easy to collect and requires little sophisticated equipment. As teachers get feedback on each collection, they will improve their capability to identify and analyse biological samples. By focussing on the living components of the ecosystem, we aim at describing important interactions and regulatory mechanisms, and illustrate the dependency of ecosystem structure and function on local as well as regional management and pollution. Environmental problems span over many traditional diciplines, like biology, chemistry, social sciences and politics. The VANDA program provides a framework for integrating environmental issues across traditional barriers. In particular, computer classes may treat real and relevant data as the basis for modelling and analysis.

Development of the program

The program was initiated in autumn 1989, when the first schools started their monitoring. So far, 141 upper secondary schools scattered all over Norway have participated in the program. Some schools have been investigating the same lake all the time, other schools have studied two or three different lakes. The database will during 1997 be available on Internet. The database contains more than 22.300 registrations (species, chemistry and lake morphology data), and the amount of information is rapidly growing. Courses for participating teachers have been arranged, and more are being planned.

The empirical information accumulated about flora, fauna, chemistry and physical parameters in a series of Norwegian lakes may provide a basis both for generating and testing scientific hypotheses, and for environmental management. A crucial point is that all information entering the database is certified by specialists, and is also backed by preserved samples at the Museum of Zoology.

This program is financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs, and the National Center for Educational Resources, and is one of the Norwegian national programs on environmental education. It is operated by the University of Bergen.

Contact persons

Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs

Astrid Sandås,
Phone +47 222 47 634

National Center for Educational Resources

Gro Hexeberg Dahl,
Phone +47 224 76 529

University of Bergen

Petter Larsson,
Phone +47 555 82 240

VANDA

Kjersti Birkeland,
Brage Førland,
Olaug Vetti Kvam,
Phone +47 555 82 227
e-mail: Vanda@zoo.uib.no

Program address

Phone +47 55582227
Fax +47 55589673
e-mail: Vanda@zoo.uib.no

Vanda, 14 Jan. 1997

Zoologisk Institutt Universitetet i Bergen