{"id":3490,"date":"2013-04-01T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhp-to-study-wetlands-on-mars\/"},"modified":"2021-06-09T14:19:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T14:19:05","slug":"cnhp-to-study-wetlands-on-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/2013\/04\/01\/cnhp-to-study-wetlands-on-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"CNHP to study wetlands on Mars!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\nBy Jeremy Sueltenfuss, CNHP Wetland Mapping Specialist<\/p>\n<p>Where there is water, there are wetlands. &nbsp;We all know (and if you don\u2019t please become comfortable with) the fact that wetlands not only provide invaluable functions and services to ecosystems and humanity, but are also completely awesome! Wetlands filter water, provide habitat, and cycle nutrients in ways other ecosystems can\u2019t. &nbsp;It is for this reason wetlands are acknowledged to be important features across the nation, and the world. &nbsp;While the Colorado Natural Heritage Program has historically focused its efforts on the wetlands within Colorado, we are looking to push the boundaries of wetland ecology to places where no ecologist has gone before. <\/p>\n<p>Recent findings by NASA\u2019s Opportunity Rover on Mars have triggered the scientific curiosity of the CNHP Wetland Ecology Team. &nbsp;Because of the images sent back by Opportunity, showing imprints of water loving microbes on Martian rocks, it has become clear that Mars used to be quite the place to be! &nbsp;Forget the search for general life on Mars, CNHP is now studying the wetlands that obviously used to exist on Mars! <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMake it so,\u201d replied Joanna Lemly, the lead Wetland Ecologist replied when presented with the research idea. &nbsp;CNHP&#8217;s Wetland Mapppers, Gabrielle and Jeremy, are hard at work trying to get some halfway decent aerial imagery for the Martian surface. \u201cI\u2019m not quite sure what is so hard about obtaining these images, it\u2019s not like we\u2019re asking for photos of the bottom of the ocean!\u201d lamented Jeremy, CNHP\u2019s wetland mapping specialist. <\/p>\n<table align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6159\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/Mars2.png\" width=\"400\" height=\"299\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/Mars2.png 400w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2018\/11\/Mars2-300x224.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center\">Field work on Mars! (Background image of Mars&nbsp;\u00a9NASA)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>\nThough field excursions can often be difficult, Laurie Gilligan, CNHP\u2019s wetland field ecologist is up to the challenge. &nbsp;When asked whether she thought she could handle interplanetary travel in the pursuit of wetland science she replied, \u201cBeam me up Scotty!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While research deadlines remain loose, everyone is excited about the potential of this new research endeavor. &nbsp;\u201cThis gives us entirely new possibilities of assessing biodiversity on a whole new planet! &nbsp;The conservation possibilities are literally endless!\u201d exclaimed Dave Anderson, a very excited CNHP director. <\/p>\n<p>\nApril Fools!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jeremy Sueltenfuss, CNHP Wetland Mapping Specialist Where there is water, there are wetlands. &nbsp;We all know (and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ecology","category-wetlands","entry","override"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}