Spanish Flu and the Asiatic Clam

I was surprised to see evidence of how devastating the Spanish Flu was in 1918. My group searched a couple of plots in the cemetery, and at one point we saw about four or five gravestones in a group that all had people who passed away in 1918...one was even an infant grave. We also found a fair number of deaths in 1917 and 1919, which I feel could have still been due to the flu, even though its most prominent year was 1918.

The Asiatic Clam's scientific name is corbicula fluminia. It is an invasive species, brought to North America in 1924 by Asian immigrants who ate it. 

Hitchiti Experimental Forest

Sadly, I don't have my picture of me and Mitch hugging our tree :(

The hike at Hitchiti was unexpectedly fun for me. I don't see myself as a very "naturey" person usually, but the forest was very pretty. It was also nice to be with someone who can explain the flora so that it doesn't all just blend together. Walking in the woods is a lot more interesting when you know what you're looking at :)

I found it particularly interesting to see the pine trees that had been destroyed by the Southern Pine Beetle. When we see trees stripped or fallen, we usually assume that the destruction is the product of something man-made, so it was interesting to see that happen in nature as well. 

Adventures Around Campus

5 Species of Trees:
1. Cherry Blossom Tree
2. Tulip Tree
3. Oak Tree
4. Ginko Tree
5. Bradford Pear Tree

5 Species of Plants
1. Bermuda Grass
2. Ivy
3. Azalea Bush
4. Holly Bush
5. Daffodils

5 Types of Rocks
1. Granite
2. Feldspar
3. Quartz
4. Gneiss
5. Sandstone

5 Species of Animals
1. Squirrel
2. Cockroach
3. Owl
4. Hawk
5. My cat when my roommates brought her to my flag football game last semester :)

5 Soil Erosion Danger Areas
1. Hill behind intramural fields
2. Area next to new parking lot (by baseball field)
3. Grassy area behind MEP parking lot
4. Hill leading up to quad from Coleman Ave.
5. Hill leading up to parking lot behind Engineering Building (across from tennis courts)

Burgess Shale

The Burgess Shale Formation is one of the worlds most celebrated fossil fields. It is located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia. It is one of the earliest fossil beds containing the imprints of soft-parts.

The pictures are of the following fossils: anomalocaris, wiwaxia, hallucigenia, opabinia, waptia, and marella.

Water Cycle Blog

This is a picture of the water cycle. Also known as the hydrologic cycle, this is the continuous movement of water from sources like ground water, lakes, oceans and rivers to the air and back again. Without evaporative cooling, we would have a much higher surface temperature due to greenhouse gasses and a much hotter planet.

Soils Blog

http://soils.cals.uidaho.edu/soilorders/

Link to the 12 soil orders of the world.

This is an example of red clay, a prominent soil type in Georgia.

The Munsell soil chart is used to determine the hue, value, and chroma of soil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munsell_color_system

This is a soil map of Georgia.

http://www.landhelp.info/documents/DichotomusKey6.pdf?PHPSESSID=f78117b04cbe1d39e82c3dc3cf85cf1e

Soil dichotomous key.

Soil texture chart.

Extremophile Blog

An acidophile is an organism that thrives in extremely acidic environments, usually at pH 2.0 or below. Lactobacillus is important in producing lactic acid and is found in the human body in mouth and intestines.

Geology Blog

Igneous rocks are formed by the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. Some examples of igneous rocks include granite, diorite, and basalt.

Granite is an intrusive igneous rock, which means that it results from the crystallization of magma underground.

The dark color and texture of basalt makes it easy to see that it came from magma.

Sedimentary rocks are formed by sedimentation of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Some examples of sedimentary rocks include quartz, sandstone, and coquina.


This picture shows that quartz can come in different colors.


Coquina is a rock formed when coral and seashells are fused together by calcite.


Metamorphic rocks are rocks that have been changed from their original form through a process called metamorphism. Some examples of metamorphic rocks include marble, slate, and gneiss.


Gneiss typically contains bands of feldspar and quartz.


Marble is produced from the metamorphism of limestone.

Nathaniel's journey from seed to tomato

Day 12: I've been a little lax with keeping up with poor Nathaniel's growth, but, like any good parent, I'm hoping to make up for lost time! Nathaniel survived a stressful ride home from class in my car in which a little bit of his soil spilled and ended up comfortable watered at his new home on my kitchen table (where he gets plenty of sunlight). He sprouted around day 4, and he's been growing ever since. I had twins at first, but, due to unknown circumstances (but probably because of my cats), Nathaniel's twin is no longer with us. Nathaniel has pushed through the pain, however, and seems to be in good health. I'm a bit afraid that he's living in constant fear, though, because one of my cats has an extreme affection for plants (particularly for how they taste). I caught her chewing on him yesterday and chastised her, but I was so concerned about him that I moved him to the windowsill in my kitchen. Then in class yesterday, Dr. Rood told us that there is great potential for him to dry out on a windowsill, so I'm thinking of relocating him to my desk in my room, since it is next to a window and the cats are rarely in there.

Days 13-19: No big changes with Nathaniel over the past week. He's not drying up and dying, but he doesn't seem to be growing any bigger either. I'm not sure when I'm going to need to move him to a bigger pot. He has been relocated to the windowsill, though, and he's in the company of some Marigold seedlings we're growing. So he's now safe from the cats, but I'm having to make sure to keep a closer eye on watering him. I went out of town last weekend and will be gone again this weekend, but the person who's babysitting our cats is looking out for him as well.

Day 25: RIP Nathaniel :( Unfortunately, it seems that my cat got to Nathaniel after all. Not to give too much information, but she is in heat and has taken to peeing everywhere (our couch, our shoes, etc). So she actually went to the length of getting up on our counter and peeing, and poor Nathaniel was caught victim to it. He was a wonderful tomato; may he rest in peace.

Day 1: I have a new baby! Today I planted Larry the Cucumber (like from Veggie Tales!). Hopefully he'll fare better than poor Nathaniel. He's been moved to my room where the cats can't get to him!

Day 6: Larry has sprouted! Nothing of note to report yet, but I planted three seeds, and there are two sprouts.

Geocaching adventure!

Geocaching is an activity where participants use a GPS or other navigating tools to track down containers known as "caches" anywhere in the world. Some caches are small and contain a log, but others are larger and contain trinkets. Caches are currently located in over 100 countries and on seven continents.

http://www.geocaching.com/

There is a type of geocaching known as "earthcaching" in which the participant has to perform a task to find the cache that teaches him or her a lesson about the science of the area.

A few of my favorite things

This is a picture of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, which is part of UC San Diego. The institution operates the Shore Stations Program, which positions stations along the coast of California that provide access to current an historical records of sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity (SSS).

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm

This is a link to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, my favorite national park. Although I've had the chance to go to Yellowstone, and it is amazing, this park has sentimental value for me because I have gone to the mountains up there with my family every year since I was a baby.

This is a picture from the Meteora region in Greece, an area where Eastern Orthodox monks built monasteries into natural sandstone formations as early as the 11th century. Studies suggest that the pinnacles formed around 60 million years ago and were shaped into their current formation by wear and tear from the weather.

This is a picture of an ocelot. The ocelot resembles a leopard, but is roughly the size of a large house cat, and I find it adorable. It has two white spots on the back of its ears that are called "ocelli." It is nocturnal and very territorial; it will fight to the death over territory so, as cute as it is, it wouldn't make a great house pet.

Maps, maps, everywhere!

This is a map of my hometown, Rome, Georgia. I have pointed out my house, my high school, and the path from my house to my high school. I also pointed out the two restaurants that I worked at during high school, Panera Bread and Provino's. The two areas that I highlighted are the shopping center where Panera was, which was also home to Barnes & Noble, TjMaxx, Kroger, and all kinds of exciting things for a small town. The second area is Broad Street in downtown Rome, where all the action is on the weekends.

This is a map of population densities in Wisconsin. The darker counties are where the population is more dense; the lighter the counties the less the population.

This is a topographic map of India. The lighter colors show higher elevation.