EcoTower Observation 3 4/8/11

On Friday 4/8/11, we had to do our EcoTower observations like we do every Friday. I went to go and get our EcoTower and brought it back the the table. I sat it down and started to look and see what all has happened in the tower and what all has grown. The algae is no longer standing up right it is laying on the rocks on the floor of the bottle. The water is really cloudy and starting to get a lot darker and more cloudy. The algae is slowly breaking down and decomposing into little pieces. The beans seem to be growing very well still. Even though there is no other sign of life in our groups EcoTower the beans are doing a good job of still growing and living well. The plants have grown bigger and taller over the time period since the last time we looked at the EcoTower. The guppies have completely decomposed and they're little pieces floating around on the bottom of the bottle. They're pieces of algae that has started to fall apart and started to float around in the water. The grass has became completely brown and looks like if you would touch it that it would break into millions of pieces. The decomposed worm is still laying there in the same spot and has not fully decomposed yet. It has a hint of red around the worm and looks like it is bleeding everywhere. There is still some green and blue around the worm but not much because there doesn't look like there is much worm left. I think next week that the beans will have grown a lot more and the algae will still be decomposing and wont be much left in the EcoTower wish our tower, the fish,worms,crickets,grass an the algae would have lasted longer than a week like it did.

Spring Has Sprung in a Deciduous Forest Biome

Yesterday on April 8th 2011, our ecology class went outside to see what all has happened since the last time we were out there looking for signs of spring. Last time a few weeks ago, there wasn't much out there that showed the signs of spring, So yesterday, We all walked outside to the field and our first site was "Edge of the field." Conner and I started to walk down to where we took our picture of the berry buds on the limb. As we got to the spot i was very surprised because I thought that the berry buds would have grown into red colorful berries but there were all dried up and brown looking and look dead. There was no breeze blowing at site one witch would have been nice if it was because it was a little hot specially because i was wearing a red shirt under my red Zion crossroads Fire Dept. jacket. It was about 75 to 80 degrees out there on the old practice field from the hot sun beating down.  

As we finished up writing our things down from site one, we stared to head down to the pond . site two was called " Pond."Conner and I went over to the blue berries bush and looked to see how they were growing along. Some of the berries have grown bigger and bigger some have died off and been eatin of the bush. They were a nice dark blue color. A ways in the distance i could hear two birds chirping a lot. There was a nice cool steady breeze blowing across the pond to where i was sitting on the bank writing my observations down. It was feeling good and cooling me down from when it got hot on the practice football field. I could sit there and watch the dark water blow and make little ripples across the water as the wind blew across the pond. We waited for the class to get doe writng down their observations. As they got done they walked over to where the rest of the class was standing with Ms.r.

We started to make our way to site three. We walked up and around the little hill and down to the creek and started looking for things to write down on our observations. I was standingon the bank as the rest of the class was around the creek and was looking down at the bottom of the creek. There was a lot more water in the creeks than last time we were out there looking aroud in the woods. The water was flowing pretty good and moving well. There was skunk cabage all around the creek bed and on the sides an banks of the creek. their was  frog but albert's fell an dropped in the pond where the frog was. POOR FROG!! There was a few little crayfish swimming around in the bottom of the creek. I didnt see them but ms.r and some of the other did. The breeze was nice and cool blowin threw the woods and trees, blowing cool and softly threw the trees and hitting me. It felt pretty good. It was warmer by the pond than down by the creek. Even though down in the woods was cool and had a breeze sittingon the bank by the pond felt better than down by the creek. Owell it was fun just that you could smell the skunk cabage as you walked by it or it got stepped on. It was a fun day outside looking at the changes from right before spring to it being spring now, just the ways its different and how the flowers are starting to grow was pretty neat. Hope next time their will be more suff to look at and more things that have started to grow

Animal Ears

On April 5,2011 it was a cold windy day. We were told that we were going to do a lab called Animal Ears. We got our lab papers from Ms. r and our paper plates. She told us to count off to 13. My number was 3. We had to find the other person that had the same numbers that would be our partner for the lab. My partner was Kasey. We were told that we were aloud to go out in the hall and do the first part of the lab. after the first part was done, Ms. r told me to go around the hall and get the rest of the class and tell them that we were going outside. As we got outside, we were all standing in a line on one of the marking lines in the sidewalk. She said that now were doing this as a class for an average. So one group of the class lined up on the line and she said"i am going to click the pen and every time i do, move back one step until you cant hear the clicking of the pin same thing for same thing for you guys that's going in the second group. After both groups got done we all went back in the classroom and ms.r asked us to read out our distance numbers to her when she calls on us. everyone had to copy down all the data as everyone called out their amounts to ms.r. It was a fun lab and hope their will be many more fun ones to come.

EcoTower Observation number 1 3/25/11

On 3/25/11, we were told that we were going to get to see our groups Ecotower and see what all has happened over the week. So Conner went to go and get ours and he came back and sat it down on the desk and we looked at it. All of our worms(12) had died except for one. Their is this one worm that has started to decompose. It has turned blue green and a white color and looks stuck to the side of the bottle. It is kind of nasty looking but neat at the same time. The bean plants(5) have started to grow a lot but not growing straight up and didn't help nothing else in our EcoTower live. The plants were a pretty good size for how short of time it took for all of our animals to die. All of our fish(guppies)(5) have died and started floating belly up laying on their backs. They have started to turn a white color and stared the decomposing phase. Thier eyes have turned a white color and started falling out and floating to the bottom. The water the fish are laying and falling apart in has turned really cloudy and doesn't look good at all. All of our crickets(6) have died and turned a dark brown color. We had algae(5 pieces) that we thought woulod help out our fish, worms, and crickets a lot but it didnt look like it did.

This is our EcoTower, you cant really see all of the dead animals but they are there. Wonder whar were going to see next time wee take an observation???

Ecotower Sealing Day

Early last week, Ms. R pasted out a packet and told us that we're going to be building an Ecotower with three other people as we make a group. So Conner, Riley, Marcus and I got together and started drawing what our Ecotower was going to look like. Conner and I started drawing the bottles and Marcus and Riley pitched in so ideas on how it should look like. After the detailed drawing of our Ecotower, we made a list of what we needed. Conner got the duct tape,  Marcus got the rocks, Riley got the two bottles, Conner and I went and got the soil and the warms, and I got the electrical tape. We borrowed the fish, snails, crickets. Our whole group got the algae and the grass together from the pond. After we gathered all of our materials, we started to build the Ecotower. Riley and Marcus were on their senior trip on Friday so Conner and I got most of the tower built that day. When Monday came around, Riley was at home sick for a few days. We added the fish, snails rocks, water and algae to the bottom bottle and started to tap the top bottle to the bottom one. Conner and I got some onion netting and taped it to the bottom of the top bottle so the soil and other stuff would not fall into the water. We got everything tapped up and added the crickets, soil, worms and the grass in the top bottle. After all that was finished we put the top back on the bottle where the worms, crickets, and grass would live and taped it up with duct tape and electrical tape.  The next day while everyone was finishing up their Ecotowers our fish had babies ALOT OF BABIES!! We did this project because, to show our three cycles working together and also to show a well working ecosystem with Biotic and Abiotic factors. The three cycles that were used are: Nitrogen, Carbon, and Water. No i did not get a look at our Ecotower yesterday. Friday will be the day we get to look at our Ecotower and see how its doing.

Abiotic Factors of LCHS

Yesterday, we went outside and got in groups of two and had a ruler and a thermometer, are first stop was the black top behind the school near the commons and we all laid down our thermometer and waited two minutes to see what the temperture was of the back top. Tangie and I had a reading 20 digrees celcius. After we got our reading on thr thermometer, we started walking down the baseball batting cage. Ms. r told us that we need to find a spot of bare soil and lay the thermometer down and let it set their for two minutes we got our reading and it was 25 digrees celius.  I was standing around talking to conner about the fire calls that came in the night before while waiting for everyone to finish writting down their reading. Ms. r told "come on were moving to the next site". So, we walked to the fence behind the softball feild and had to find a patch of grass so Tangie and I went to the top close to the fence and found a pice of grass that we had to mesure. The grass was 19cm tall. We laid the thermometer down to get a reading of the grass temperture. We waited for 2 minutes like we have been doing and after the 2 minutes were down the temperature was 16 digrees celius. I wrote down my reading and was talking to conner about the fire calls again. So we started walking down to the practice football field and as we were walking down the hill it was feeling warm as the sun was beating down on us and it made being outside yesterday feel great. We were told to find a shrub and messure and take the tempurature. So tangie and I walked to find an shurb and found one so we messured it and it came out to be 9 cm and the temperature was 15 digrees celius. As we were standing waiting for the rest of the class to get done and for Ms.r to tell use where the next site where we were going to messure and take the tempurature of the base of a tree. About a few minutes later Ms.r told us "okay lets go". So we started walking near the garden behind the school and wnt back down the trail close to the garden and Ms.r told us to spread out. We found the smallest tree close by that wouldnt be so hard to messure and get the tempurature. We sat the thermometer down and messure the tree while the thermometer was getting the reading and the tree was 48cm and then after the reading, the tempurature was 16 digrees celius. I think the relationship between succession site and tempurature is that the tempurature is what was messured from each sites. Biotic factors influences the surfaces tempurature at each site?expalin. Well i think that the Boitic factors influences the surfaces tempurature because every time somethin walks on the sureface of any of the sites we were at yesterday it warms up the surface under us as we walk

Signs Of Spring

Yesterday, we went outside again and had a good time. We were looking for Signs Of Spring as you can see that's what our tittle post is. We walked down to the practice football field, and started to look for signs of spring. Ms. r told us to spread out and look around. That's where my first sign of spring came along and it was named The "Edge Of The Field". I walked up on this bush that had briar bushes all around and seen this:

I seen that the grass has gotten greener than last time we were outside, there was a medium sized birds nest nearby. You could hear the leaves and treetops blowing as the wind blew an medium breeze against my chest and all around me. the sun was pretty warm and made it feel warmer than it was outside. the breeze made it cool but the sun made it warmer. After ms. r and the rest of the class came over to where Conner and i were standing, ms. r told us to all be quiet and listen to see what we could hear in the background. We all heard a crow in the distance that flew over head.  After that we moved on with our walk and headed down to the pond. As i as sitting on the bank with Conner and a few others, we found Alder catkins witch made the start of my next observations and the tittle was "Down By The Pond". Alder catkins are the little brown tail looking things that hold pollen and can always be found near a pond or lake. They are very interesting to look at but we got up and started making our observations and i came across some blueberries.

So that's where i started to make my observations. As i was walking over to where the blueberries our, i seen the water rippling across the pond as the wind blows, their was some gravel rocks under my feet. Their was still a breeze blowing but it was warmer than it was when we were all on the football field and could still hear the wind blowing the treetops and leaves crackling. When i was sitting on the ground it was warm a little but not to cold. There was some blueberries on the bush but not as much because its still a little cold not all the way warm yet and still isnt spring. As Conner and i found the blueberries on the bush we got caught back up with the class and was on our way to the next sign of spring. We walked down this small trail and stopped to listen and we herd the frogs trying to mate in the distance by the noise the frogs made. This is what started my next set of observations. The tittle ws "Out In The Woods On The Small Trail". There was a butterfly on a tree but by the time i got up there to where the butterfly was at it was gone. So i continued to walk on through the woods with the class and we all stopped ina bottom and spread out again to try and find more signs of life. i seen a few nats out that were crawing on my jacket sleeve, there was some patches of green under a few trees. There was no breeze that blew theough where we were sll standing at. After a few minutes later, we all started to head back up to the school and on the way Conner ms. r and i were all talking about the fires that happened a few weekends ago and about how bad they were. We got up to the front of the school and ms. r said "Here is sign four". The next tittle i named sign four was "Out In Front Of  the  School". The class spread out and Conner and i found:

These are some red bud blooming red flowers on the trees out infront of the school. The grass was greener than the grass on the practice football field. We didnt have to much time because the bell was getting read to ring to move on to our next class. Their was no breeze blowing but the sun was made it feel like it has warmed up outside. I wish we could have spent the rest of the school day outside because the sun making it warmer and no breeze blowing yes it made it feel really good outside. i heard a crow making a sound in a distance behind me. Their was no othersounds i heard besides the crow in the back ground. I hope we go out next week and have a good time like we did yesterday...

Site Observations Day 5

As the class was listening to ms.r talk about what we were going to do outside, we made our little sight, hear, and feel, thing on a piece of paper and we got all of are things together and went outside. As we walked outside, it felt warm and had a nice cool breeze blowing. We all met up at the red dumpster behind the school and started to walk to the woods. We stopped in the middle near the entrance because some people had to go back in the school to get some different shoes. We started are first sight observation and spread out there wasn't much that we could find because there wasn't that much near us. Conner and I found a pin cone and put that as our organism.

After we took the picture we went to regroup with class as soon as the others came back from the school with there different shoes. ms.r said " okay, lets start walking down the trail. so i got my paper and pen ready to write we got to the next observation. the cool breeze was still blowing and was feeling really good outside when we were in the woods. we started down the trail and found this log laying down across the path an we seen a spider crawling on the ground and we tried to get a picture of it. and Conner took a good one of the spider on the log.

I think that this picture of the spider on the log is a good one. After the picture was taken and we got caught back up with class, we continued to walk on through the woods. A few minutes later, we came up on a smallish pond and made a circle around it to look and see what we could find. Ms.r found a frog and tadpoles swimming around in there I tried to get a picture of it but when i hit the button the frog and tadpole was gone. Someone said that there was a salamander in the pond as well. i didn't see it but I tried my best to find it and get a good picture of it but the salamander was gone as well. There was a huge house in the back ground and some hounds barking and howling in the distance. They sounded like hunting hound dogs. i could tell by the way they were barking and howling. It was warm while we were around the creek but a cool breeze was still blowing through the woods. I put the salamander,tadpole, and frog as a community. Ms.r spoke up and said we have 20 minutes so lets start heading back.  Our third observation was when we passed the wood bridge and looked in the pond and found a frog. someone picked up a frog and got a picture but i didn't. i was way to far ahead and kept on walking up the hill. As we started walking back we stopped at the pond and made that our last observation. There was some geese in the far side of the pond. We finished up at that observation and started to head back to the school. I took one more picture of the woods and put it as a population.

When we got back to the school it was time to go to our next class. It was a fun day out in the woods again. I like to be out there because that's mostly were i am unless I'm working in the garage with my dad, but other than that I am waiting to go back out there with the class again.

Site Observations Day 4 (kingdoms)

Yesterday, my classmates and i went outside to the woods to serch for the six kingdoms. As we wer walking through the woods, we got to the pond and seen are first kingdom. It was the Animal kingdom.  There was the bus garage in the back ground, and a black bird flying over head. You could here the train in a distance.There were some geese in the pond on the far side. Right in front of us conner ad i found some Cat tails.(Typhceae)

That was the first start off to the Plant kingdom. The Cat Tails are very interesting plant. They are found near ponds. I have never seen them near a creek only at ponds/ near ponds. As we continued to walk through the woods we came up on a few small creeks. We looked for a sign of life in the creeks but i couldnt find any. It was hard to look through the greenish water. The bottoms of the creeks were some leaves and sticks witch made it hahrd to see the bottoms of the creeks. Up a few ways we found a log. It looked like it was roting away. This is what we found


Slime mold.(Dictyostelium discoideum) It was all over the roting log. There was a small spot of witch looked like it was a growing mushroom. You can barely see it in the picture but its there. The bark on the tree, was falling off in big chunks. I pulled some of the bark off and so did Conner and he found a Centipede. It was a small one but as soon as he seen the bark being peeled off he took off across the log.



If you look you can see the legs of the Centipede(varies). A Centipede is very interesting to look at. The way they look is pretty neat. They live mainly in the ground or on something that is decaying like the log this picture is taking on. As we continued to pull the bark off we found our next kingdom. Kingdom bacteria or Eubacteria.

After we found are next kingdom and after we pulled sime of the bark off this is what we found. As you can see thre is some of the bark under and infront of the log. i beleive by the end of the summer this year there will not be much of the log left. The weather yesterday, was pretty warm id say it was about 65 out there in the woods and near the pond. It was feeling pretty good but the only thing was is that it would have been better if i has some shorts on. Ihad some long pants on and boots. But over all yasterday was a pretty nice day ouside. I wil be glad the next day we go out an take a long walk through the woods with the class and looking at some neat stuff. I had fun walking through and looking at the wild life thats out in the woods behind the school.Theres a lot of land out there that would be good for hunting. We found a lot of tracks and fresh paths where something walked.

site observations 1,2,3,and 4 Day 3

Site1 (conner tooks these pictures)
Hearing:sticks breaking,people talking and laughing having a good time being outside,everyone walking and listening to ms. r talk about the site
Site:sticks,trees,leaves,people,a little creek
Feel:i could feel the cool air as i kept on walking up the hill passed the bus garage and as we kept going an talking at the same time conner and i seen a deer rub while the rest of the class walked by it

site2
Hearing:As we left site1 and was on our way to site2,there was a lot of the class waas talking and it made ms. r mad because as lound as we were she said that we would not be able to see anything cool because we could not stop talking
Site:we stoped at the site2 and found a woodpecker hole in a large tree, to the left was a stack of wood an axe leaning against the tree,there was moss at the bottom of the big tree a fungi on a tree near by
Feel:i felt warmer as i walked on threw the woods with the rest of the class it was a pretty fun day to spend a thursday outside besides being stuck up in a classroom all class
Site3
Hearing:i could hear the leaves as i stepped on them as i was walking on ,i could hear a lot of talking and laughin after we had to sit on a log an not taqlk because ms.r wanted 2 minutes of no talking just being quiet
site:i seen the blackish colored fungi growing on the near by tree log as we were walking,there was a lot of leaves all around the fungi on the log,ms.r told aqllof us lets keep walking so we fallowed her
Feel:ic ould feel the warm cool air blowing between the trees and hiting me in my face,my feet were starting to hurt a little bit
Site4
Hearing:site4 came up pretty quick,i could hear the leaves and sticks cracking as we stepped on them as we walked on there was bird flying over head of us crowing but the part of the class that was talking really loud made me not be able to hear the birds as they crowed
Site:there was a log with an acorn on it that had been ate on some all around thats all i found was half ate acorns,there was a lot of sticks that was laying close the hole in the log and some leaves were in the hole i guess that was a bed for the animal,behing was a real shallow creek
Feel:when we started to head near the school i felt the warm air and my feet again

Site observations 1,2,3, and 4 Day 2

Site1
Hearing:trees,wind,leaves,everyone walking threw the woods
Site:pond,woods,clouds,sun,bus garage,big deer track

Site2
Hearing:leaves,cool air blowing threw the trees,birds crowing
Site:old pannel truck sitting near a big pile of metal,a tiny creek,bird flying over head of us
Feel:i could feel the cool wind blowing threw the woods hitting me in my face making mu nose and cheeks cold,in a way my body was warm,my feet were cold as i kept on walking

Site3
Hearing:leaves being stepped on as i walk,people walking threw the woods,everyone talking and being loud as they walk
Site:vernal pool,leaves,sticks being stepped on,leaves at the bottom of the vernal pool
Site4
hearing:birds crowing over head as they fly over us walking threw the woods,me talking to conner as we walk,people talking and laughing
Site:creek,house a ways threw the trees,a bird picking bark off the tree

site observations 3 day 1

Hearing:wind,leaves,trees,people walking threw the woods,sticks breaking when being stepped on

Site:lichen on the tree stumb, a nice deer rub on a tree behind where we were standing,people talking,teacher pointing at the lichen

Feel:warm cool air,nice gentle breeze,tree limbs rubbing against my arm as i walk by them

site obervations 2 day 1

Hearing: wind, trees, birds, leaves, students talking, teacher talking, leaves and sticks breaking

Site:turkey feather, trees, leaves, sticks, pond, water

Feel: a little warmer, wind, ground, paper(journal book), pen/pencil, ground under my feet, boots, my hands, my toes, stcks rubbing across my arms as i brush up against them

site obervations day1

Site: train,wind,leaves,birds,grass,mud,sea pod,clouds,trash,water

Hearing: wind,trees moving,leaves being stepped on,class talking,sticks breaking,feet dragging

Feel:cold,wind blowing cold air,clothes, feet,ground under my boots,paper,pencil