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2004 Winning Essays

Twelve winning essays from the 2004 contest year of the Young Naturalist Awards by students from grade 7 - 12. Winning essays ranged from the an investigation of the divergence of marine iguana species in the Galapagos archipelago, to life in a Vernal pool, to a comparison of copper ore deposits in two Arizona copper mines.

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The Growth Patterns of Aspens

Is an aspen's diameter affected by its distance from the center of the grove? The search for the answer to this question sent this 8th-grader from Colorado on a two-year-plus expedition.

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Morphologic Variation in the Common Periwinkle

The common periwinkle, now one of the most abundant marine gastropods on the North Atlantic coast, was introduced accidentally to Nova Scotia around 1857. Investigate it with an 11th-grader from Maine.

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The Mysterious Peregrine Falcon

On a hiking trip, this 12th-grader from New Brunswick spied a peregrine falcon. A second trip brought the discovery of another falcon—a rare breeding pair. But then the mystery began ...