Find a Solution Proposal:
Impacts:
Two main ideas:
1. There has been extensive shifting wildfire regime along with change in snowpack and precipitation due to climate change. This has also widely affected species habitat management.
2. American pikas which are an indicator of species ecological effect in that area have moved to lower elevations to avoid the heat which has resulted in the suitable habitat being reduced.
-Carrying capacity: Gets lowered because there is less space to flourish from wildfires
-Biodiversity: Gets reduced because of the less space to populate so overcrowding will cause natural selection
Solutions: Help plant trees and other plants to let the dead area thrive faster so the pikas can get there full habitat back.
Be more aware of the environment the pikas live in and make sure not to destroy it.
Impacts:
Two main ideas:
1. There has been extensive shifting wildfire regime along with change in snowpack and precipitation due to climate change. This has also widely affected species habitat management.
2. American pikas which are an indicator of species ecological effect in that area have moved to lower elevations to avoid the heat which has resulted in the suitable habitat being reduced.
-Carrying capacity: Gets lowered because there is less space to flourish from wildfires
-Biodiversity: Gets reduced because of the less space to populate so overcrowding will cause natural selection
Solutions: Help plant trees and other plants to let the dead area thrive faster so the pikas can get there full habitat back.
Be more aware of the environment the pikas live in and make sure not to destroy it.
Video Reflection:
For our video we chose to talk about the ecosystem of Mt. Lassen. My group and I decided to set our focus on one specific animal and one specific problem for that animal. We chose the Pika and how it is affected by wildfires. The solutions we came up with our to simply avoid the pikas in their natural habitats, helping to plant trees and other small plants to restore their habitats, and safely exercise the use of fires to prevent wild forest fires from happening. Two things I think we did well was our group collaboration and editing the video. My group and I got along very well and we were able to easily decide who had what task. Another thing we did well was putting the whole video together. Even though there is some humor in it, I think it came out very good and got the point and facts across to the audience. Two things we could have worked on to improve were the vocals of our video. Sometimes the voice overs were a little hard to hear, and other times they were very loud. Another thing we could improve is talking slower while reading facts because some parts were hard to let all the information soak in before moving on to new facts. Overall I think the end result turned out great and we gave some really good advice on how humans can help the environment and the pika population.
For our video we chose to talk about the ecosystem of Mt. Lassen. My group and I decided to set our focus on one specific animal and one specific problem for that animal. We chose the Pika and how it is affected by wildfires. The solutions we came up with our to simply avoid the pikas in their natural habitats, helping to plant trees and other small plants to restore their habitats, and safely exercise the use of fires to prevent wild forest fires from happening. Two things I think we did well was our group collaboration and editing the video. My group and I got along very well and we were able to easily decide who had what task. Another thing we did well was putting the whole video together. Even though there is some humor in it, I think it came out very good and got the point and facts across to the audience. Two things we could have worked on to improve were the vocals of our video. Sometimes the voice overs were a little hard to hear, and other times they were very loud. Another thing we could improve is talking slower while reading facts because some parts were hard to let all the information soak in before moving on to new facts. Overall I think the end result turned out great and we gave some really good advice on how humans can help the environment and the pika population.
Socratic Seminar Reflection:
Humans contribute to global warming in many different ways. I think humans do contribute to global warming, but only a small part of it. I think it would really help and make a difference if everyone understood how much impact we do and could have whether it be used as bad or good. I don't think humans realize the size of their "carbon footprint" because we use so many greenhouse gases. Humans could help reduce global warming by simply trying to reduce their use of gases. You can do this by carpooling or not loitering your car. There are simple things we can do in our everyday lives to reduce human's effect on global warming. The socratic seminar really gave me a good view on all the effects of global warming and humans contributions towards it. I learned a lot from it.
Humans contribute to global warming in many different ways. I think humans do contribute to global warming, but only a small part of it. I think it would really help and make a difference if everyone understood how much impact we do and could have whether it be used as bad or good. I don't think humans realize the size of their "carbon footprint" because we use so many greenhouse gases. Humans could help reduce global warming by simply trying to reduce their use of gases. You can do this by carpooling or not loitering your car. There are simple things we can do in our everyday lives to reduce human's effect on global warming. The socratic seminar really gave me a good view on all the effects of global warming and humans contributions towards it. I learned a lot from it.
Terrarium Proposal:
My group and I made an experimental terrarium. This means that we put together different plants and soil options to see if our terrarium would work and keep growing. I observed that over the course of a few weeks our terrarium seemed to keep growing even thought the plant got a little brown at the roots. Abiotic factors affecting our terrarium could be the soil we used and how we layered it with sand and rocks. This could have trapped water or possibly suffocated the plant. Biotic factors could have been the slug and worm we put in our terrarium even though after the first week or two, we lost track of them. I assume that they died and either decomposed in the soil or simply escaped from the terrarium container. In our food web we only had the worm and slug which were decomposers. The only producers we had were the preserved moss and the big piece of moss in the middle. Overall our terrarium seemed to work out keep producing and goring. This was a cool experiment and next time I would like to try one with multiple different plant producers and more of a food web in it to see if it flourishes and grows a lot.
My group and I made an experimental terrarium. This means that we put together different plants and soil options to see if our terrarium would work and keep growing. I observed that over the course of a few weeks our terrarium seemed to keep growing even thought the plant got a little brown at the roots. Abiotic factors affecting our terrarium could be the soil we used and how we layered it with sand and rocks. This could have trapped water or possibly suffocated the plant. Biotic factors could have been the slug and worm we put in our terrarium even though after the first week or two, we lost track of them. I assume that they died and either decomposed in the soil or simply escaped from the terrarium container. In our food web we only had the worm and slug which were decomposers. The only producers we had were the preserved moss and the big piece of moss in the middle. Overall our terrarium seemed to work out keep producing and goring. This was a cool experiment and next time I would like to try one with multiple different plant producers and more of a food web in it to see if it flourishes and grows a lot.
Terrarium Reflection:
Making our own terrarium and being able to watch it grow and see the results was really cool. It was very interesting to see how the terrarium and its ecosystem, plants, and insects changed and adapted. Over time or terrarium seemed to keep growing but we lost track of our slug and worm that we had put inside. This could affect the ecosystem by not having them decompose which would cause the soil too not be as good. The worm and slug were lost pretty early in the experiment so I don't think it changed the outcome of how our terrarium grew because they didn't impact it for that long. It was fun to watch our terrarium progress and keep growing. Here are some pictures of the terrarium's progress over the weeks:
Making our own terrarium and being able to watch it grow and see the results was really cool. It was very interesting to see how the terrarium and its ecosystem, plants, and insects changed and adapted. Over time or terrarium seemed to keep growing but we lost track of our slug and worm that we had put inside. This could affect the ecosystem by not having them decompose which would cause the soil too not be as good. The worm and slug were lost pretty early in the experiment so I don't think it changed the outcome of how our terrarium grew because they didn't impact it for that long. It was fun to watch our terrarium progress and keep growing. Here are some pictures of the terrarium's progress over the weeks:
CCD Reflection:
In this part of the unit we were given sets of bee population data in a few states and the U.S. We had different tasks and questions the answer when analyzing the different sets of data. We also had to graph different patters and sets of data, and pick the line that best fit the graphed data. Many different factors affect CCD such as the pesticides used, how far the bees travel, diseases/parasites, and stress. Some stabilizing factors that affect CCD are weather and human actions. Destabilizing factors are human effect and chemicals the bees are exposed to. I learned that curve fits can be a needed factor to represent your data and explain it with an equation. I also learned that CCD is a much bigger problem than everyone thinks it is and that humans should really do all they can to help the bee populations continue to thrive.
In this part of the unit we were given sets of bee population data in a few states and the U.S. We had different tasks and questions the answer when analyzing the different sets of data. We also had to graph different patters and sets of data, and pick the line that best fit the graphed data. Many different factors affect CCD such as the pesticides used, how far the bees travel, diseases/parasites, and stress. Some stabilizing factors that affect CCD are weather and human actions. Destabilizing factors are human effect and chemicals the bees are exposed to. I learned that curve fits can be a needed factor to represent your data and explain it with an equation. I also learned that CCD is a much bigger problem than everyone thinks it is and that humans should really do all they can to help the bee populations continue to thrive.
Matter Cycles:
During this unit we also studied the carbon cycle and water cycle. Here are some diagrams showing the process and steps of how water moves throughout the environment and how a carbon atom moves within the atmosphere:
During this unit we also studied the carbon cycle and water cycle. Here are some diagrams showing the process and steps of how water moves throughout the environment and how a carbon atom moves within the atmosphere: