Monday, April 11, 2011

Spring Has Sprung In A Deciduous Forest Biome

At the edge of the field I heard a lawn mower and some leaves rustling in the wind. I felt the wind blowing calmly and the sun beating down. It was very warm outside and the breeze was very light. I saw a bush, very green grass, blossoms on flowers, tress growing their leaves back and butterflies and bees flying around. At the second site, the pond, I heard nothing except the wind again. I felt the wind blowing and sun beating down on me again. It was warm and breezy as it was at the previous site. I saw flowers, blossoms, butterflies, flowers, and a tennis ball. At the last site, the creek, I heard the leaves blowing in the wind. I felt the wind blowing and the sun beating down on me. I saw leaves starting to grow back in the trees, frogs hopping around in the pond, and skunk cabbage.

EcoTower Observation #3


Our original animals were fish (9), crickets (5), snails (8), and worms (10). As far as we know all of our animals are still alive. We think all of our animals are still alive because we have a good oxygen supply and a good source of food. Also, they have plenty of room to move around in and the carbon, nitrogen and water cycles are all working together properly. Our original plants were beans and algae. The beans are doing very well but, the algae is starting to die. We think the beans are doing well because of the good amount of water we gave them and the algae is most likely dying because of the lack of sunlight. The water has become very cloudy but, you can still see inside the bottle well enough to see the fish. I think that our EcoTower will live until the very last day of the 6 weeks.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Animal Ears Lab

In this lab we used a clicky pen, our own ears, and ears that were made out of paper plates using scissors to cut a slit in each one. We were testing how far someone could hear a clicking pen with both their own ears and with enhanced ears. The addition of the enhanced ears did not help me to hear the clicks for a longer distance, it actually made hearing it worse. My distance decreased while having the enhanced ears on.

Student
Distance With Normal Ear
Distance With Enhanced Ear
TJ
40.6
63.6
Jessie
27.9
52.9
Travis
50.6
55.6
Albert
45
60
Reece
41
60
Conner
89.7
128.9
Brandon H.
58.6
87.2
Emily S.
64.7
76.3
Tangie
65.3
55.3
Brandon W.
58.6
78.6
Kasey
25.3
15.3
David
40.6
25.6
Emily P.
20.3
25.6
Sierra
53.8
55.3
Stephanie
34.4
62.3
RaeShar
57
62.3
Rayshawn
47.3
41.6
Montez
45.6
30.6
Devon
51.6
82.9
Total
917.9
1119.9
Average
48.31
58.94

Five animals that have large ears are:

Elephant
Rabbit
Maned Wolf
Fennec Fox
Lemur
Five animals that do not have very large ears are:
Chipmunk
Red Panda
Mountain Coati
Woodchuck




Wednesday, March 30, 2011

EcoTower Observation #1


The original animals were fish (9), crickets (5), snails (8), and worms (10). As of Friday all of our animals were still alive. We think they are still living because our EcoTower has a good source of food, oxygen, has plenty of room to move around in and the carbon, nitrogen and water cycles are all working together properly. The original plants we had were beans and algae. The beans are doing well but the algae is starting to die. We think the beans are doing well because of the good amount of water we gave them and the algae is most likely dying because of the lack of sunlight. The water has turned cloudy. You can see the specks of fish poop floating in the water. I think our EcoTower will remain alive until the very last day. 

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Ecotower Sealing Day

          We did this project to make a sample of an ecosystem and to better understand how they work and what makes them survive or die off. My group members are Rachel, Tangie, and Brandon. Rachel brought in fish. Tangie brought in soil, worms, plants, beans, fish, 5 gallon bottle, and crickets. Brandon did not bring in anything, and I brought in a 2 liter bottle. We had to make sure that the carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles were fully operational before sealing the tower. We put worms, crickets, fish, lima beans, algae, and snails into the tower. I did not sneak a peak, i'm waiting until Friday to look at our ecotower but Brandon said he saw it and there was a lot of condensation.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Succession and Abiotic Factors




In this lab we measured Height of plant material

We went outside and measured the temperature of the air, then of the black top. Then we went over to the baseball field and measured the temperature of the ground inside of the batting cages. After that we went to the grassy area outside of the batting cages and measured the temperature of the ground there. The next place we went was over to the woods where the shrubs are directly behind the school. We measured the temperature of the ground there as well. The last place we went was into the woods. We measured the ground temperature there also.


This is when we were at the black top.
 This is when we were inside of the batting cages.


This is when we were at the grassy area outside of the batting cages.


This is when we were at the edge of the woods by the shrubs.



This is when we went into the woods.


Monday, February 21, 2011

Site Observations: Day 5

Picture taken by Devon Vines
Site 1
At the first site Tangie, Rachel and I found a snail under a log. It was very warm with a soft, cool, breeze, like spring time. I heard people talking, the wind blowing, leaves crunching and birds above making noises in the trees. I saw the pond, people walking, the bus garage, trees, leaves, birds, stumps, moss, logs, plants and the snail that we found.

Picture taken by Devon Vines
Site 2
At this site I heard birds above making noises, people walking around crunching leaves beneath their feet, dogs barking in the distance, and the wind in the trees. I felt nice, warm, weather with a soft, cool, breeze. I saw trees, leaves, a big spider on a log, a creek with frogs and salamanders all over the place, and a big house behind us.

Picture taken by Devon Vines
Site 3
At the third site I heard people walking with the sounds of leaves and twigs crunching under their feet, and the wind whistling through the trees. It was very warm with little wind at this point. I saw a frog at the creek. Leaves and sticks were everywhere in the bottom of the creek, along with sand, mud, and rocks.

Picture taken by Devon Vines
Site 4
At the last site I heard people talking, Mrs. Richardson telling us where to go for site four and what to do when we got there. I saw geese in the pond swimming back and fourth and dipping their heads in the water with their butts poking up out of the water. It got hotter outside and less windy the longer we stayed out.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Site Observations: Day 4

Canada Goose, Branta Canadensis
Kingdom: Animalia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose

Immature grasshopper
Kingdom: Animalia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasshopper

Nepa Cinerea, Water Strider
Kingdom: Animalia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasshopper

Dolichovespula maculata, Baldfaced HornetKindom: Animalia
http://www.cirrusimage.com/Bald-faced_hornet.htm