The Odyssey

The odyssey was an essay about nutrients (made of chemicals) that are passed from one organism to another. It starts out with X in the lime stone. The limestone is eventually pulled out by the tree that decays the rock. X is tuned into a flower, then an acorn. The deer eats the acorn where X is stored. The deer is eaten by an Indian. The Indian passes away and X lays in the ground waiting for the cycle again. Y begins the cycle within the water. X is represented in the soil cycle.
Bio-geochemical processes are represented by this essay.The picture below shows the processes chemicals go through.

When animals die and decompose the nutrients are passed through the soil or water. The picture below shows the simple cycle of the nutrient's host.

The moral of the essay is that nutrients are made up of chemicals that vary in geographical location. Each living thing carries chemicals that are passed on to other living things. I have nutrients that I gained from other living things such as fruit and meat. It's a cycle I am proud to be part of.

Think like a Mountain Essay

Aldo Leopold wrote an essay in the Sand County Almanac about an event he encountered when hunting for deer. A pack of wolves were playing beneath where they were sitting. The group of men unloaded their rifles on the wolves with the objective to kill. Aldo says it was then when he noticed a green glow from the wolves eyes disappear as it died. He began to question and think like a mountain. Thinking like a mountain means to to keep a balanced ecosystem around the environment to keep it healthy. Competition and predation are parts of theses processes. Aldo was raised to shoot each wolf he encountered so that the deer would strive. If there is nothing to control the population of deer then the vegetation on the mountain will deplete into a bare mountain.
I was very sad to think of a bunch of men shooting innocent wolves for no apparent reason. I felt that these men were stupid about their belief in controlling the deer population. We must think before we believe in trying to control a certain aspect of a population. The mountain would go bare and the deer would eventually die off. Succession would begin all over again and species would evolve again. Either way we try to control a population, there is always a way a new community will arise naturally.
Marquette is having a wolf issue on Isle Royale. That last alpha female died when she fell into a hole. The population will be wiped out after the last male dies. Marquette and Upper Peninsula biologists are talking about adding wolves to Isle Royale. My opinion on this topic is not has not been made. I would need to research and imagine what would happen if we left nature alone. We can't save everything and have done a large amount of damage by introducing a species to save another. Ecology is a sensitive world of connections.

Bog Blog

We had a wonderful trip to the Presque Isle bog last Friday morning. We learned about the bog and it's plant life. We learned about specific adaptations plants have evolved enabling them to survive.
Bogs are composed of plant material not able to decompose all the way due to cold climates. Bogs lack nutrients and oxygen and are very acidic.

I thought it was very interesting to learn that two carnivorous plants live in bog territory, Sundew and the Pitcher plant. I was not able to spot any Sundew but did find a pitcher plant. It had flowers on it this year which apparently is a rare sight. Pitcher plants have cup like leaves that catch water. Insects get trapped in the water and are ingested by the plant's enzymes. The insects provide the plant with nitrogen. The arrows in the picture below are pointing to the pitcher plant.

This is a picture of the pitcher plant's flower:

The trees that grow on bogs are usually able to deal with the harsh conditions the bog has to offer. I found it very interesting that a baby maple tree was growing smack dab in the middle of the bog. I looked into the distance and noticed a large tree, unable to tell what it was. I assumed it was the mother maple of the one I was looking at. It's leave were bright red which insisted that the leaves were dying. Is the tree dying because it can't stand the acidic conditions of the bog? How is it living there?

I also have always loved two type of trees that bogs have to offer. Willow trees remind me of when I was a little girl. I use to play under the willow tree because it seemed so big and comforting.

I also love tamaracks because of their unique ability to drop their needles in the fall. Deciduous trees such as maple and oaks drop their leaves but conifers usually don't. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture.

 The beach was at the end of the bog walk. It was a beautiful windy day.

 A crow scavenges for food next to the rip tide danger sign.

 I found a little treasure left behind by a seagull.

 The bog contained many cranberry plants and arrowleaf plants.

 There were two bucks crossing the bog when I took this picture. The deer are very protected in this area. Why do deer seem to be attracted to swamps and bogs? Can they drink the bog's water?

 This section of the bog was filled in by humans. Grasses grew on it. Grasses adaptable to bogs include tansy, thistle, goldenrod, and burdock.

I can't wait to go back to Presque Isle and explore some more!

Inquiry Wheel

The class has a semester long project to do. We must use the scientific inquiry instead of the classic linear scientific method to carry out an experiment. Unlike the scientific method (question, hypothesis, experiment, results, conclusion...) the scientific inquiry is a wheel of objectives formed around questions.

Science is not a linear fashion type of ordeal, it's messy. Asking questions along the journey of our experiment will open doors for new hypothesis and more questions. We may come across an exciting result or hit a dead end.
For our project we are testing fertilizers on bean plants. We will observe each fertilizer's effect by measuring the plant's growth. Since fertilizer isn't the only factor to help plants grow we will be asking questions along the way. Is the room temperature just right? Is there enough sunlight? Is their micro-organisms in the dirt of the plants that may be harming/helping their health?
Once we come to a conclusion in our experiment we will open up new opportunities for more questions.

Is it alive?

The class was given objects to be wrapped up in a damp paper towel. We were given beans, finch food, paper clip,toothpick, cotton ball, rubber band , and a corn kernel. We were instructed to go outside and find plants and insects that were alive. We found some weeds and an ant. We added what we found to the previous items and wrapped all of them in the moist paper towel and placed in a baggy. We recorded the current state of each thing in the bag including air. We observed whether it was alive and now dead, still alive, never alive, or a product from a living thing. The bag sat in a sunny window sill for about a week.

When we opened up the bag, this is what we saw:

The weeds and the ant were no longer alive. The beans grew into baby plants and the corn kernels started to sprout! We noticed a webbed looking substance growing as well. I really enjoyed this experiment and plan on doing it in the future.

The Dangers of DHMO

Di-hydrogen monoxide is one of the most dangerous substances on earth. Some people in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan have died from it. Scientists have reported traces of it in cancer cells and tumors. Should we ban it?

Di-hydrogen monoxide(DHMO) is simply water. The class watched a video Dr. Lowe made about the dangers of DHMO and it's effects on the NMU campus. We were asked afterwards to vote yes or no on whether to ban it without the knowledge that it was just water we were voting on. Being environmentally conscious I immediately voted yes. I learned that I need to do my research without making rational decisions. A rational decision like this one could lead to dangerous results. Science must be researched and continually question before voting on it.

Mystery Containers

Each group was given a black film container with unknown contents. We were asked to come up with as many question as possible about the container and it's contents. After making a list of questions we were given an empty film container with a box of items that may possibly be in our containers. We were also able to weigh our containers.
We asked around eighty question about what could be in the container. For example, what was it's purpose? Is it made out of metal? Is it alive? Is it edible? I found an infinite amount of question that could be asked about this little container and it's contents. We  weighed the container and tried to add many items to the control container to obtain the exact mass. We failed to take in count that the containers were of different masses.
According to the inquiry wheel we learned about in class, science begins with question, as we did at the beginning of the activity. The inquiry continues with observing, asking more questions, carrying out experiments and eventually lead to results. The results may be unexpected; for example, we were one paperclip away from guessing the contents of the container because we didn't think of the mass of the container.
Overall I learned that doing science can be practiced with the inquiry wheel rather than linear fashion. The results won't always be the expected and may require you to start over by asking different questions.

My Celebration

A couple years ago on a snowy February day, I went hiking with my boyfriend down a trail unfamiliar to us. Out of curiosity we ventured the short trail looking for deer tracks. We found a tree holding one of the most elegant predators of the North. Six feet above the ground was a frozen barn owl hanging lifeless from a large maple tree. The foot was wedged into the tree restraining the owl from escaping. I observed the owl contently to unravel the story that led to his death. I have hypothesized that the owl flew into the crack of the tree to obtain food such as a mouse or tiny bird. He hit the crack with enough momentum at the right angle to attach him to the tree. The sad but amazing observation was a prime example of natural death. Since then I have encountered owls four times. I am happy to see these creatures unexpectedly and dedicate that day to the owl whose fate turned against him.

8th Grade Biology Test

I was confident about the test before I started it. Once I went through the questions I remembered how slow of a test taker I am. I did not have time to fix the answers I was unsure about. I started out at NMU as a biology major and should have passed this test with flying colors, instead I bombed it. I had forgotten what type of animal a seahorse was. A penguin is not a mammal and a shark is not a fish. I know this, duh! The question about what takes LESS energy stumped me because I was simply thinking about the human making beer and not all of the energy used to make the grains that go into the beer. I definitely need to brush up on my animal groups and need to remember my first instinct when taking a test is usually right, don't second guess myself.