My turn!

There are accordingly nine types of marine phyla and are listed as followed (not in order): porifera, cnidarians, platyhelminthes, mollusks, arthropods, annelids, echinoderms, nematoda & chordata. Each phyla are classes to different species of marine life such as sponges & invertebrates class under porifera, gastropods and bivalves to mollusks, etc. We split into groups of 4 - 5, went into the vans and drove off to South Maui for some awesome observations for marine life at the tide pools to study the different phyla present there! We had brought some equipment to safely count the amount of species using a quadrat in a small area and record data.

The research question was to determine which marine phyla would be seen in the tide pools of South Maui, and which would be most diverse and in quantity. With that question, and from what I have learned during this lesson, I will hypothesize that the abundance of arthropoda will exceed the number of echinoderma there at the tide pools. After intensive observation, tallying and recording the data. I can confirm and conclude that the amount of arthropoda present at the tide pools proves greater than the echinoderms that were present (if any). Despite the numbers that were recorded, there were several possibilities of error, such as misplaced quadrat line, miscount, injuries inflicted during experiment, specimens enter & leave quadrat line to contradict already tallied specimens recorded, etc.

I definitely enjoyed the lab with the opportunity to study marine life through a quick trip to the tide pools using the skills we acquired which was coupled with the great assistance by the equipment like the transect tape, quadrat, I acquired how to safely handle the marine life and putting every turned rock or stone to their original place as to not disturb their environment.

Epic GeoCaching Battle Royal Hunt! 11/16/10

Yesterday during Mr. Marggraf's class in period 3, we went on a GeoCaching hunt for 3 locations. Unable to really determine where, we had found a secret GeoCache around Safeway. Also during our hunt, we used the website www.geocaching.com in order to get the specific coordinates of several Geocaching before our journey in the vans and split into two groups.

GeoCaching is an outdoor activity where participants use a GPS to locate and navigate the places where Geocaches or caches are hidden around the world. When a GeoCache is found, there will be a small diary or notebook with some items previous GeoCaching hunters left behind, once one is found. The person(s) will document their arrival upon the GeoCache with the date, name, take one of the prizes and replace it with something of more or equal value, then move back in the same position for others to seek.

I had learned where Geocaches may or may not be hidden, the hints provided within the website proved to be of great help to find what we could, in the unit we knew how to navigate through a GPS and its uses to locate, mark and navigate to other locations.

Intense Termite Caring!!

The jar set up with the following materials.

1. 75 termites

2. 19 milliliters of distilled water

3. 120 grams of silica dust

4. 1 Block of douglass fir

5. Small container for habitat

Set up:

1. Measure a suitable amount of water & silica dust.

2. Ready small container.

3. Enter silica dust within container.

4. Spread the distilled water about the silica dust to moisturize

in the container.

5. Place douglass fir block inside container.

6. Finally enter the termites in their small habitat.

7. Record and observe in time intervals.

Entry: 8/18/10 - Experiment begun! Materials include 75 termites, consisting of

worteer termites and regular termites, ranging about 1 millimeter. The termites use vibrations with their body to communicate. Some termites have darker heads & pincers while others don't.

Entry: 8/23/10 - Termites complete tunnel system with an entrance and exit. No reaction to the wood other than inspection, possibly leaving pheromones to later relocate.

Entry: 8/30/10 - Carved tunnels more refined and organized, partial consumption of the wood.

Entry: 9/8/10 - Termite experiment has been tampered with, tunnels & homes collapsed or destroyed. Trapped termites buried alive, many of them dead but mostly still alive. Silica dust homes restructured because of sabotage.

Entry: 10/12/10 - The experiment obviously tampered with a second time, once restructuring homes destroyed. Parts of dust has been dried out of moisture and seems void of life because of unintentional human interaction.

Human interaction was the cause of the demise toward the termite habitat and the population impacting the termites severely. Attempts for them to rebuild their homes and limit casualties but failed because of a second tempering occurred, voiding the container of life in the end.

I think the termite unit very informative to the dangers that termites pose, considering they can collapse houses in about a year costing millions of dollars in property damage. I quite enjoyed from the unit and learned quite a bit, my favorite part would be in creating the website to best represent our knowledge. The least favorite part was discovering how humans have severely impacted the experiment.

Symbiosis is where two unlike and dissimilar organisms in a long-term beneficial relationship.

The termite who chews up the wood goes down their esophagus and into the stomach. Where the dwelling protozoans eat away at the cellulose of the wood and excrete gases like carbon dioxide, hydrogen and also acetate which the termites digest, and the protozoa in the process receive a home in the termite's gut.

We first set up the microscope and the zoom to 40x for optimal efficiency. Take forceps and held a termite down before taking the tip of the termite's abdomen and pulling out the guts inside. Finally placing the guts into 2 drops of saline solution which will be on the microscope slide that will be pressed against a cover slip. Placing and setting them firmly under the microscope lens and observe.

I would say the lab we had done turned out extremely well, especially the results which find out the termite we used to experiment were completely packed like tuna of protozoans. Almost impossible to differ ones from another, overall thought the lab turned out well with exceptional results with my teammates, Max & Richard. The lab was a lot of fun!

WOOT GO SCIENCE!

Super AWESOME TRANSECT TAPE!!

This handy tool is used to find out the amount of species or items in a predetermined area within a grid frame.

1) First, have one person hold the transect tape, preferably have a hand secured under the black strap with palm grip. Holding it horizontally with the tab (metal ring) pointed oppositely from chest area of the holder.

2) Have a partner (recommended) jerk the tab (metal ring) until the measurement tape is released to a certain amount you believe to be an estimate of the area you will be recording.

3) Take a predetermined area grid, (frame example: PVC pipes into a square frame) and lay it flat along the surface of place you will be measuring.

4) Have tension between both ends of the transect tape and take a small area of the grid frame and record the amount of species in that one particular area. (A small square out of the frame.)

5) Repeat step 4 until the entire grid frame has been measured and organisms/items recorded.

6) The holder will rewind the tape by taking the metal handle by the small metal bump with a clockwise twist, or counter clock-wise depending on which hand you are holding the transect tape by.

7) Turn the handle over itself so it will pop into place when tape has been securely fashioned back into the device.

Epic Blog!!!!