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.