Mullusk Discovery, Chiton

Chitons have a dorsal shell which is composed of eight separate shell plates. These plates overlap somewhat at the front and back edges. The chiton can curl up into a bug like a roly poly bug when it's in danger.the shell of the chiton is really hard so it protects it from enemies above it. The chiton looks like a rock while sitting still and blends in with it's enviroment well it could be lost in a second.

http://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/149682/chiton-on-rock.html - Vid

the scientific name for this is Cyclobranchians and the common name is chiton. Chitons live on hard surfaces like on rocks or under rocks.

Crustaceans and Echinoderms

Crustaceans are arthropods, creatures that have biolateral semetry, includes lobster, shrimp, crabs and barnacles. Echinoderms have spiky skin, includes the sea star, sea cucmber, brittle stars and sea urchins. The difference between them is that the crustaceans have an exoskeleton and the echinoderms have an endoskeleton. Similarities between them are they all start off as small as plankton.

              Crustaceans

Cleaner shrimp

 Hermit Crab

Echinoderms

Sea Urchin

Sea Buscuit

Brittle Star

 

Biofilm simulation at the G.C. Marine Reserve

During the biofilm experiment, I made a madel (out of grahm crackers) of what a biofilm disk looks like when sitting in the water for multiple weeks or months. Different sprinkles I've used symbelizes different organisms tthat show up on an object that sits for a long time. Red sugar crystals were red coralline algae, Brown long johns were diatoms, rainbow sprinkles and marshmellows were barnacles, rainbow longjohns were coral, blue or green dots were oysters, depending on how many organisms we had added up to the ammount of marshmellows (barnacles) were added. The frosting was used as a sticky substance.

Signs of spring 3/2/2011

On March 2, we were looking for signs of spring. The first sign i saw was the honey-suckle and more birds are showing up. While listening hard enough, you could hear up to 5 - 7 diffrent birds. The things I felt was the cold breeze from being in the shade which made it even colder. This was located beside the baseball field.

On the second site beside the pond there were a couple birds and even more signs of spring. Some plants were starting to bud, but some had really small flowers. I've only heard the a crows and the wind blowing through the trees and feel a little warmer from the sun shinning in the area. There were also pollen all over the place getting ready to fly away to make new plants. I've felt the smooth pine leaves on the new little pine tree.

Third site was still beside the pond but on the other side of it and almost to the creek near the bus garage. There were more pollen seeds and buds on trees, also some buds were looking like they had almost fully bloomed. Heard different birds and crows plus of course the wind in the trees. Felt the warm sun and the soft evergreens.

Site four i did not really see anything for signs of spring, unless if i did not look hard enough.i saw a couple small birds, some crows and a hawk flying around. Could feel warmth and cool air. The area where this was was at the creek beside the bus garage.

Algae in the cupboard

Alginates, carrageenan, beta carotene

Most of the items I'v found was food and wich fits the catgory of carotene. Carrots, broccoli, pumpkins, and spinach are in this category. Brown algae and seaweed goes with alginates, it goes with food as a stabilizer. Red seaweed is the only thing I've thought of that was a carrageanan, this is also used as stablizing agents in food.

Plankton wars

During the plankton wars we had to create a plankton that could sink the fastest or slowest to the bottom. If your plankton floats and never sinks you practically lost. The plankton my partner and I created was a free floating plankton because it just sat there floating. No matter how much pieces we took off of it it'll still float.

Here is our little dude orange ._.

February 18 / backyard bird count

On February 18 we went outside to see/hear how many birds we could find for the bird count. Our first stop was on a field behind the school where our first site was a cardinal. We heard both a chickadee and crow while standing. A black vulture flew over while walking to the pond.

Downy woodpecker and the warbler were spotted in almost the same area by the pond,
same with a couple geese.

Little further ahead was a little salamander under a log. The salamander almost looked like a baby snake since it hasn't grown its legs yet.

Observing Algae

On Monday, February 14 we went out again to find some algae. While looking for algae the birds were chirping, seagulls flying and the ducks were swimming. As we were going to different locations the color of each of the algae were different. Some were green, dark-green and brown. All the lighter algae was in the little stream on the rocks under the water. The darker algae was in the lake on the edges where the plants were growing. (Images uploaded from KW (http://marineecologykw.blogspot.com/2011/02/algae-observations.html))

Plankton Observation

Phytoplankton are free floaters unattached plants, usually microscopic. These plankton do exactly what what plants on land do, they create oxygen. Phytoplankton also make the water their in a green color, they are the base of the food chain in the ocean. I saw diatoms, little square single-celled, yellow green plankton. The sand we saw underneath the microscope, star sand is another type of plankton that dried up and its skeleton makes the soft sand on the beach. Also the star sand is micro because it's so tiny that it's easier to see under a microscope. Diatoms also create a long rectangular shape to keep the floating instead of sinking. Dinoflagelates use small hairs to move around, we saw one of these under the microscope, we saw a worm. Bacteria use flagella to move them around also.

Day 3, February 3

first site, at the creek, was damp, muddy, cold, and had little signs of life. the muddiest parts of the site 1 were all near the rdge of it. even though it was cold it was still a little damp out. holes in the ground shows there mayby signs of life like a snake, snail, or some kind of bug.another piece of life that was there were crows flying around and sitting in trees. ALso we herd the crows cowing away while they sat in the trees. I felt the grass and they were a bit wet from the dampness in the air.SITE 2: Site two was just the same as 1 by being cold damp and muddy but diffrence is that it was the pond. There were a couple ducks or geese swiming around on the opposite side from where we were standing. Holes in the ground near pond aswell, and cattails. Sounds we herd here were the ducks and the pond water. SITE 3: Site 3 at the trail next to the lake was really muddy. Everywhere you steped there was mud. The trail was also where the wind blew a little harder making some people freeze. I felt the mud slip as i walked on or over it. I've also herd the wind blowing along with the crows. felt cold air on my face and hands.SITE 4: Site 4 was outside the school door by two or three trees. The cold air wasn't so cold and there were crows there too.

Obserservation site 4

birds in the distance that were mainly crows and tiny birds. cold air all over the place all mainly from the wind blowing. Sunny and in the spots where the sunlight hit were warm. Windy, wind blowing hard making it cold.

Obserservation site 3

Dip in the land allows little wind to hit you. Frost site on the ground from the freezing air.There are little sounds only ones were birds. The sun shinning making it a bit warmer.

Obserservation site 2

leaves are damp of moister in the air. Little trees allowing the sun to shine to the smaller plants. Dead trees tiped over from rotting. Frost on the leaves makes them crunch when stepped on. Shadows appear from small amounts of trees.

Observation site 1

Air is cold, freezing when wind blows. Shady from the shadows of the trees.  The lake is frozen due to the temperature. Frost on the ground makes leaves slick, and mud is slippery. Crows and smaller birds flying around, briers sticking to peoples' clothing.