Pupils join scientists in ‘beasties’ project

Pupils from the Western Isles and Skye are joining scientists from two universities in a national marine research project.

Data collected will help create a map of where key marine animals – knownas zooplankton – are found in west coast waters.

The initiative – called She Sees Beasties on the Seashore – aims to turn young Scots into “citizen scientists” by letting them contribute research findings to national projects.

Scientists are visiting Daliburgh School in South Uist as well as Staffin and Kilmuirprimary schools on the Isle of Skye.

They are providing children in P6 and P7 with kits to help them study marine life around the coastline.

Pupils will construct their own plankton nets to catch sea creatures and identify them using smart phone microscopes and guides supplied in each kit.

Similar kits are being supplied free to 50 primary schools across other Hebridean and west coast islands. Edinburgh University and Heriot- Watt University will use the findings to understand how vital zooplankton are to our marine systems, food chain and ecology.

“The data that is collected by these children will be added to our national research, which is really exciting,” said Laurence de Clippele, a marine science PhD student at Heriot-Watt.

Dr Sebastian Hennige, of Edinburgh University’s School of Geo Sciences, said: “This is a chance for the kids on Scotland’s islands to find out how scientists make discoveries, and actually help us find out exactly which beasties are living off the coast of each island.”