Over the Winter Break Mr.Peavy gave my class a Long Term Project. This homework had two possible ways in which it could be completed. Task A: Visit a natural area and document your trip with a video and/or photos. Then, create an iMovie or PowerPoint documentary about your trip. You can focus on one or more of the following topics: The ecosystem and it's unique plants or animals, certain organisms and how they adapt to their environment, the impact of humans on the environment, relationships or interactions that you observe amongst the organisms in the ecosystem. Task B: Choose five appropriate and relevant tasks from this website and document how you complete them (i.e. photos, nature journal, PPT, Blog, iMovie etc.).
I decided on 'Task B'. The five tasks I chose were:
- In a garden flower, find the different parts
- Find the scientific name of a plant or animal
- Become a frogwatcher
- Find a streetlight or a backyard light and watch for insects who flutter into it
- Understand your local weather
Garden flower parts:
Parts of a sunflower
Scientific name of a plant:
Bougainvillea Spectabilis
(This is the scientific name of the Bougainvillea)
Become a frogwatcher:
I went to a local lake and sat down. I looked around and heard nothing. No wind. No bugs. No frogs. Suddenly movement. A frog jumps three feet in front of me. Almost like a shadow, another one appears. They both stare at a leaf in the pond and jump. They land elegantly. They turn to each other and croak. They continue this for 5 minutes. Finally they glance at me and then jump into the lake, and swim away.
Were they afraid of me? I hope not. I didn't move when observing them, because I wanted to make them feel comfortable. I have never really been a big fan of frogs, mainly because their way of communicating is hard to understand. Jane Goodall went into jungle and observed apes. It took her ages to understand their interpretation on life. I'm sure it will take me years to understand frogs point of view on life, whether I end up understanding or not, frogs are frogs and they will continue to interest me.... even if it means conquering a fear.
Insects around a light:
When observing a streetlight at night with insects around it, I noticed they all ran into the light. There are many theories as to why insects are attracted to light and occasionally run into the light.
A popular theory is that insects are attracted to light because of navigational purposes. Insects that fly during the night use the moon as a source of navigation. They keep the moons reflected light on a certain angle. This allows them to maintain a straight path and course. When artificial lights are turned on they interfere with the insects ability to keep constant track of the moon. When an insect flies close enough to an artificial light they attempt to navigate by using this light instead of the moonlight. Insects tend to run into the light because unlike the moon, the artificial light radiates in all directions. This makes it hard for insects to keep a straight path and lose direction at the last minute.
When sitting on the gravel observing this, I thought navigational purposes was a great theory as to why insects are attracted to the light and occasionally bump into it. For example, when people get lost in the jungle they attempt to find freedom by following the sun or keeping the sun on the right/left of their body. This is probably the same for insects. Since they are 'lost' in the darkness they use the moons light to guide them in the right direction.
Local weather:
Where I live the air is very humid. During the day, humidity is around 80%. The temperature is in the 30 degree range during the day and in the mid 20's at night. When the clouds cover the sun the sky looks beautiful, but the heat is still powerful. Fog is common during certain months. Thunder storms are present often after lunch or late in the evening. Monsoon season is from March-April. The drier months start from May and end in July.
Thank you Mr.Peavy.... for inspiring me
Credits:
- theknockerboys.blogspot.com
- freefishcaretips.com
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