Terrarium Porposal
Terrarium Proposal
Nick, Eric, Emily and Ellie
Our terrarium is going to be a representation of a forest floor. It will be based off of plants found in the redwood forest.=
The terrarium will have sword fern, redwood sorrel, rhododendron, and maybe other plants, as well as a redwood branch just for decoration. The soil suggested for growing a redwood tree is ½ soil, ¼ sand and ¼ compost, so although we will not be putting any trees in here we might want to use this mixture for the terrarium. We will start of with a layer of rocks, then soil. This will help to filter the soil when we are watering the plants. After we put in the soil, we will start adding plants.
The terrarium will need to be at least partly shaded, and the soil must usually be damp, but not soggy. It may be ideal to keep it humid in there as well. (note: got info from an article about how to grow a redwood tree, so it might not be 100% accurate)
We want to get worms because they can help keep the soil more fresh but require extra food and compost in the soil to survive. We would need to take care of the worms by feeding them compost or veggies/fruits (they apparently love watermelon too)
We could also add ferns to add more life to the terrarium.(deer fern or lady fern)
The case will be a jar, but because of this, it may be a little hard to add plants to it.
We hope that until December, if all goes well, the plants will hopefully survive in the same ecosystem a redwood tree should be in.
Nick, Eric, Emily and Ellie
Our terrarium is going to be a representation of a forest floor. It will be based off of plants found in the redwood forest.=
The terrarium will have sword fern, redwood sorrel, rhododendron, and maybe other plants, as well as a redwood branch just for decoration. The soil suggested for growing a redwood tree is ½ soil, ¼ sand and ¼ compost, so although we will not be putting any trees in here we might want to use this mixture for the terrarium. We will start of with a layer of rocks, then soil. This will help to filter the soil when we are watering the plants. After we put in the soil, we will start adding plants.
The terrarium will need to be at least partly shaded, and the soil must usually be damp, but not soggy. It may be ideal to keep it humid in there as well. (note: got info from an article about how to grow a redwood tree, so it might not be 100% accurate)
We want to get worms because they can help keep the soil more fresh but require extra food and compost in the soil to survive. We would need to take care of the worms by feeding them compost or veggies/fruits (they apparently love watermelon too)
We could also add ferns to add more life to the terrarium.(deer fern or lady fern)
The case will be a jar, but because of this, it may be a little hard to add plants to it.
We hope that until December, if all goes well, the plants will hopefully survive in the same ecosystem a redwood tree should be in.
Socratic Seminar
We had a socratic seminar discussing the severity and effect of global warming. Some of it included cars, transportation, modern culture, and farming. I feel like it would have been nice if we had someone that didn't believe global warming existed, because it was hard to argue/discuss when everyone agreed with the general statement. I did like that we covered a variety of topics and pretty much everyone contributed to the idea.
Find a soultion proposal
Find a Solution Proposal
Ecosystem: Dry areas/mountains in Novato, such as Burdell or Big Rock Ridge, etc.
Impact: Drought combined with careless human error (or arsenry) has caused fires. With the drought and careless water consumption, it’s hard to combat fires so we must warn people about this and what to do if a fire breaks out/how to prevent one.The Novato and Marin area tends to be a very dry climate with winds and is constantly at risk for fires.The drought has been a constant previous issue and puts the region at more risk for wildfires.
Of course, El nino just came so we will be more safe from the fires. The grass is more likely to not dry out because of the rain.
“A wildfire or wildland fire is an uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside area. Other names such as brush fire, bush fire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and veldfire may be used to describe the same phenomenon depending on the type of vegetation being burned, and the regional variant of English being used.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildfire
Solution:
Report any suspicious activities
Report any fires seen
Always check the weather before going out camping or hiking
When camping, make sure you have a sand & water bucket nearby
Set your fire in a circle pit surrounded by rocks and cleared from grass
Same goes with cars, do not park them next to dead grass (exhaust from ignition can cause fires)
Stay on the right trail
Do not obstruct any trails in case firemen need to get to area
no smoking outside controlled areas
no burning yard waste or firing fireworks in forests
raise awareness for how at risk our region is for wildfires
To learn more ways to help go to:
http://www.cultureofsafety.com/wilderness/forest-fire-prevention/
have more controlled fires, more places for people to throw away their cigarettes and anything hazardous to fires, have safer more controlled fires when camping and being outdoors. Raise awareness to the problem and how at risk we are.
But events like these are hard to fully prevent. There are many things that we can not do to stop them from happening, but we can lean more ways to stop them that we have control over.
At the end of the day we need to raise awareness and spread the word to help people be more cautious.:0)
Ecosystem: Dry areas/mountains in Novato, such as Burdell or Big Rock Ridge, etc.
Impact: Drought combined with careless human error (or arsenry) has caused fires. With the drought and careless water consumption, it’s hard to combat fires so we must warn people about this and what to do if a fire breaks out/how to prevent one.The Novato and Marin area tends to be a very dry climate with winds and is constantly at risk for fires.The drought has been a constant previous issue and puts the region at more risk for wildfires.
Of course, El nino just came so we will be more safe from the fires. The grass is more likely to not dry out because of the rain.
“A wildfire or wildland fire is an uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside area. Other names such as brush fire, bush fire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and veldfire may be used to describe the same phenomenon depending on the type of vegetation being burned, and the regional variant of English being used.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildfire
Solution:
Report any suspicious activities
Report any fires seen
Always check the weather before going out camping or hiking
When camping, make sure you have a sand & water bucket nearby
Set your fire in a circle pit surrounded by rocks and cleared from grass
Same goes with cars, do not park them next to dead grass (exhaust from ignition can cause fires)
Stay on the right trail
Do not obstruct any trails in case firemen need to get to area
no smoking outside controlled areas
no burning yard waste or firing fireworks in forests
raise awareness for how at risk our region is for wildfires
To learn more ways to help go to:
http://www.cultureofsafety.com/wilderness/forest-fire-prevention/
have more controlled fires, more places for people to throw away their cigarettes and anything hazardous to fires, have safer more controlled fires when camping and being outdoors. Raise awareness to the problem and how at risk we are.
But events like these are hard to fully prevent. There are many things that we can not do to stop them from happening, but we can lean more ways to stop them that we have control over.
At the end of the day we need to raise awareness and spread the word to help people be more cautious.:0)
CCD Reflection
A mysterious thing is happening to bees throughout the country known as colony collapse disorder (CCD). For some reason, the workers in a hive are leaving, forcing the queen to fend for herself. We don't why, but the trends obviously show that they are decreasing in population, making many florists and beekeepers uneasy about the future of their jobs. Our class decided to investigate what was going on.
There are many possible factors affecting CCD. It seems that it is decreasing in California, but increasing in South Dakota. There must be some law, or climate change, something that is causing bees to die out in California but live in South Dakota. It could be many possible options. Could be pesticides in plants, the crops grown in California compared to South Dakota, the stress put on bees due to migratory beekeeping, malnutrition, genetically modified crops, electromagnetic radiation...the list goes on and on...we really don't know for sure, but scientists are doing all they can to figure out what is going on.
There are many possible factors affecting CCD. It seems that it is decreasing in California, but increasing in South Dakota. There must be some law, or climate change, something that is causing bees to die out in California but live in South Dakota. It could be many possible options. Could be pesticides in plants, the crops grown in California compared to South Dakota, the stress put on bees due to migratory beekeeping, malnutrition, genetically modified crops, electromagnetic radiation...the list goes on and on...we really don't know for sure, but scientists are doing all they can to figure out what is going on.
Find a solution
California is in a drought. Many animals and plants are dying to a huge lack of water, people are forced to conserve their own, but another important thing is that grass is all dry, starting up easy wildfires that can burn down cities.
Or grass WAS dry. It started raining again. Which makes the video below kind of pointless, but whatever. It's still a good PSA.
This is very important. The community needs to know how to properly set up and avoid fires. We can't let fires just happen with the high likeliness of starting one, combined with the lack of water that we have. Because of this, we made up a little PSA about fire safety during the drought.
Or grass WAS dry. It started raining again. Which makes the video below kind of pointless, but whatever. It's still a good PSA.
This is very important. The community needs to know how to properly set up and avoid fires. We can't let fires just happen with the high likeliness of starting one, combined with the lack of water that we have. Because of this, we made up a little PSA about fire safety during the drought.
We worked well as a group together. We all had great ideas and positive thoughts toward the video we were making and when we were recording. We were also very good at giving suggestions and ideas toward the video.
I think one of the main problems with our group was communication. All of us had really good ideas, but they weren't properly shared. For instance, Eric and I had picked out a more wilderness-y spot that was still inside of the school, but we didn't talk too much about where we were going to shoot the video, so we ended up filming it where it was obvious we weren't in the wilderness. Also, the narrators were supposed to be Eric and I, and the girls were (obviously) supposed to be Emily and Ellie, but something happened, an before I even knew what was happening, Emily and Ellie were the narrators. I didn't argue, however, because I thought it'd be a silly idea if I was portrayed as a girl along with Eric.
Also, sometimes we really didn't fit together as a group. Yes, we were a great group and we worked well together. But I was really the only one taking the full brunt of the editing. Sometimes Eric wasn't filming us, but it was someone else. Stuff like that happened in our group.
I think one of the main problems with our group was communication. All of us had really good ideas, but they weren't properly shared. For instance, Eric and I had picked out a more wilderness-y spot that was still inside of the school, but we didn't talk too much about where we were going to shoot the video, so we ended up filming it where it was obvious we weren't in the wilderness. Also, the narrators were supposed to be Eric and I, and the girls were (obviously) supposed to be Emily and Ellie, but something happened, an before I even knew what was happening, Emily and Ellie were the narrators. I didn't argue, however, because I thought it'd be a silly idea if I was portrayed as a girl along with Eric.
Also, sometimes we really didn't fit together as a group. Yes, we were a great group and we worked well together. But I was really the only one taking the full brunt of the editing. Sometimes Eric wasn't filming us, but it was someone else. Stuff like that happened in our group.
Terrarium Reflection
I'm going to say this right out loud: the whole thing kind of fell apart.
Let me just scroll up to the paragraph at the top of this page and laugh at all of the things I've said.
First of all, we based this off of the idea that we would have a decent amount of space to work with. And we didn't. We didn't realize how small out terrarium would actually be, so we pretty much and to abandon all of our ideas. Those plants we mentioned? No, we just have the fern. That's it. Worms? Again, too little space, so no. Compost? Nope. We ended up abandoning a lot of our old ideas in the end.
We did, however, keep the same idea of the ecosystem. This was equally shaded and in light, and was kept moisturized, but not flooded in water. Unfortunately, we really didn't keep up with our terrarium. Some days we forgot to water it, and most of the time we didn't take pictures, so I really do not have a lot of info to share. I don't think the fern has increased or decreased in size, but now that I look at the picture closely, I think it's dying.
I didn't take many pictures, but this is what I have.
Let me just scroll up to the paragraph at the top of this page and laugh at all of the things I've said.
First of all, we based this off of the idea that we would have a decent amount of space to work with. And we didn't. We didn't realize how small out terrarium would actually be, so we pretty much and to abandon all of our ideas. Those plants we mentioned? No, we just have the fern. That's it. Worms? Again, too little space, so no. Compost? Nope. We ended up abandoning a lot of our old ideas in the end.
We did, however, keep the same idea of the ecosystem. This was equally shaded and in light, and was kept moisturized, but not flooded in water. Unfortunately, we really didn't keep up with our terrarium. Some days we forgot to water it, and most of the time we didn't take pictures, so I really do not have a lot of info to share. I don't think the fern has increased or decreased in size, but now that I look at the picture closely, I think it's dying.
I didn't take many pictures, but this is what I have.
I swear I took more than one picture from December 3.
Using Plants As Potential Medicines
Many doctors and biologists know what evolution and natural selection are. Well, it also applies to viruses, which are slowly becoming immune to vaccinations that we have used over the years. Therefore, it is important to take plants from all over the globe and test them to find out if they are good at killing or warding off bacteria. So we each found a plant (mine was rosemary) and made extracts of the plants. We then put tiny dabs of the extract in certain areas after covering the plate with bacteria, as well as one negative and one positive control. The positive control is supposed to show what the extract would look like if it killed bacteria, and the negative control showed what it would look like if bacteria took over. The goal was to have a ring of no bacteria around the rosemary extract. And there was! This meant that rosemary could be potentially used as medicine. (Actually I'm pretty sure it already is) Here is a picture of the dish. It's not very clear, but you can see rings around the four dots towards the edge of the plate.