Class NotesMonday April 18th through Tuesday April 19th

Soils Quality Testing (Ammonia, Nitrates)

Soil Quality:            Soil can be hard to describe.  How would you define it?  It can be defined as the product of the breakdown of organic and inorganic compounds in the environment.  In this case the word organic refers to living or once living organisms or biotic factors.  Inorganic would be the abiotic or nonliving things.  As these break down into smaller and smaller pieces they become “soil”.             Soil is needed in a biosphere or an ecosystem because it provides the following things to the living organisms.  This is done either directly for the plants or indirectly to the consumers of the plants.  Without the following plants would not have the raw materials to undergo photosynthesis and respirations could not occur.            Nutrients            Water             Air            Anchor, Home, or Base                        Living organisms in turn give back to plants by providing the following.  This completes a cycle of nutrient reuse that is part of every ecosystem.            Raw materials            Protection

Soil Testing:

pH: pH is the measure of the hydrogen ion (H+) activity in a sample. It show up on a scale that extends in either direction from the number 7. Below seven is said to be acidic and above seven is said to be basic. In the environment most organisms prefer to live in a pH neutral or seven environment.

Potassium (K): Potassium enhances disease resistance by strengthening stalks and stems, activates various enzyme systems with plants, contributes to a thicker cuticle which guards against disease and water loss, Controls the turgor pressure within plants to prevent wilting, enhances fruit size, flavor, texture, and development, and is involved in production of amino acids (the building blocks for protein), chlorophyll formation, starch formation, and sugar transportation.

Nitrogen – Nitrogen is a key component of many chemicals that are vital for a plants proper growth and function.  None is more important that the production of chlorophyll.  Without nitrogen in the soil plants cannot produce chlorophyll and thus photosynthesis would be severely compromised.  Nitrogen is also important for vitamins, enzymes and many other chemicals in living organism.

 Approximately 79% of our atmosphere is nitrogen.  The other twenty one percent is

divided between oxygen, 20% and a host of chemicals that comprise about 1% total.  With this

make up you would think that plants could easily get nitrogen from the atmosphere and use it in their day to day activities.  However, nitrogen comes in two forms, fixed and free.  Most nitrogen is free, unattached to another element, and cannot be used by plants.  Nitrogen must be fixed, or attached to other elements, in order to be used by plants.

Nitrogen can be fixed in two ways.  Lightning strikes during a storm can fix nitrogen and make it available for plants to use.  This process is important and should make us thankful not only for the rain but for the more severe storms that often bring thunder and lightning.  The other form of nitrogen fixation is from a symbiotic relationship between legumes and a bacteria growing on its roots.  Bacteria in the soil cling to the roots of plants called legumes and fix nitrogen for the plant.  The plant in return gives the bacteria carbohydrates to feed on.  This is mutualism and both organisms benefit from the relationship.  Remember that the other forms of symbiosis do not result in both organisms being helped.  Parasitism provides one organism a benefit but harms the host and in commensalism the host is not helped or harmed but the other organism is helped.

Phosphorus: Phosphorus is necessary for the hardy growth of the plant and activity of the cells. It encourages root development, and by hastening, the maturity of the plant, it increases total yield in plant growth. Life, plant or animal, cannot exist without phosphorus, and of course, the soil is the chief source of this constituent. A lack of phosphorus, therefore, not only retards growth but also lowers the tone and vigor of both plant and animals that consume the plants.

Potassium: Potassium enhances disease resistance by strengthening stalks and stems, activates various enzyme systems with plants, contributes to a thicker cuticle which guards against disease and water loss, Controls the turgor pressure within plants to prevent wilting, enhances fruit size, flavor, texture, and development, and is involved in production of amino acids (the building blocks for protein), chlorophyll formation, starch formation, and sugar transportation.

Soil Chart  

   

  Soil Types:            Soil scientists divide soils into four main types based on size.  I will add three more to the list for a total of seven.  Please note that the particles in the soil decrease in size as you go down the list.  Loam is a mixture of the other types of soils, sand, silt and clay.            Leaf litter             Detritus             Humus             Sand            Silt            Clay            Loam

Class NotesThursday April 14th through Friday April 15th

Bird Watching, Estimating,How To Conduct A Bird Count

Class NotesWednesday April 13th

Skinny DayWater Quality Continued

Class NotesMonday April 11th through Tuesday April 12th

Water Quality Testing (Ammonia, Nitrates)The Water Cycle, Estimating

Estimating:Estimating, not counting, or guessing the number of organisms in an area can be difficult.

This can be very true of birds that move quickly and are rarely in one place for very long. To help you learn some better techniques in estimating the number of birds you see we are going to do a few activities centered on guessing.

Number of Items in a Jar:For each of the jars placed on your desks estimate, don’t count, the number of items in

the container. For each of the students at your table add up the guesses. Then divide the total by the number of guesses. This should be close to the actual number.

Repeat for the picture of the birds on the overhead.

The Water Cycle:The law of conservation of matter states that matter can’t be created or destroyed. It just

gets moved around the universe. This idea holds true for water. Water doesn’t really go anywhere. It just gets moved around. We don’t have a quantity problem. We have a water quality problem. Below you will see the water cycle. It is a diagram of how the amount of water we have is used and reused. Remember nutrient recycling?

Ammonia:NH3 is a waste product and can be used as an indicator of the health of pond water. Living organisms produce waste. This waste can accumulate in an environment if there

are not the proper mechanisms to remove it. Too little ammonia may mean that there is not enough living in an area to produce the product. Too much may mean that the biodiversity is out of balance. If our test show a nice middle level of ammonia we should think of it as a good thing and use the result to compare to the other tests that we do.

Nitrates:Organic matter discharges nitrogen as it decomposes in a pond. The result might be

ammonia, a compound that has nitrogen as a key element, nitrites or nitrates. The organic matter can come from fish waste, dead insects or other animals, or decaying plant material. The presence of nitrogen-based compounds is a part of the life cycle of a pond, but levels do need to be controlled to maintain overall pond health.

Class NotesThursday March 31st (Skinny Day)

Practice Bird Test,Bird Video

Class NotesTuesday March 29th through Wednesday March 30th

Water Quality Testing (pH)Water Distribution

pH or Percent Hydrogen:Percent hydrogen or pH is a measure of acid and base levels in an environment. Most

organism like to live in a pH neutral or 7 on the pH scale. Neutral means that the environment is not an acid or a base. Below are some examples of items and their pH levels. Remember, we want the pH to be neutral or at 7 on the scale for our environment.

Water Distribution:Water is indeed important.  Remember that it is one of the three “spheres” that we

identified that is necessary for an ecosystem to exist.  Along with lithosphere (land), and atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water) is vital to the existence of any biological system.  With this in mind I thought it would be good to review some basics about how water is distributed and used around the world.  The surface of the earth is covered with about 75% water.  Perhaps we should call our planet “water” or “hydro” rather than earth.

             Of all the earth’s water 97% is ocean water or salt water (saline).  That leaves just 3% for fresh water.  As you can see from the chart below about 2% of all the earth’s water is wrapped up in the polar icecaps and glaciers.  This number seems to be changing but at this point still represents a major portion of the earth’s fresh water.  This leaves just one percent of all our water as liquid fresh water.  Actually it less than 1% because we can assume that it is not all clean or usable. 

             Because so little of the earth’s water is usable fresh water it make the importance of recycling this water back into clean usable water extremely important.  This is where the water cycle comes in.  The water cycle does not make or destroy water.  It continually moves it around the world in various forms and provides clean usable liquid water to the living organisms in all ecosystems.  This is the law of conservation in action and demonstrates the importance of nutrient cycling as a component of every ecosystem.

Class NotesFriday March 25th through Monday March 28th

What Is Environmental Science Test,Water Quality Testing,

Water Distribution

Dissolved Oxygen:As you can see in the following chemical equations of photosynthesis and respiration,

oxygen (O2) levels in any environment are extremely important. Oxygen is a byproduct of the photosynthesis reaction and is used in cellular respiration to break down sugar to release energy. This energy is then used to run the bodily functions of all living organisms.

Photosynthesis:                                             In the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll

   ↓6 CO2  +  6 H2O → C6H12O6  +  6 O2

Respiration:

C6H12O6  +  6 O2 → 6 CO2  +  6 H2O                           ↓

      Energy is released

pH or Percent Hydrogen:Percent hydrogen or pH is a measure of acid and base levels in an environment. Most

organism like to live in a pH neutral or 7 on the pH scale. Neutral means that the environment is not an acid or a base. Below are some examples of items and their pH levels. Remember, we want the pH to be neutral or at 7 on the scale for our environment.

Water Distribution:Water is indeed important.  Remember that it is one of the three “spheres” that we

identified that is necessary for an ecosystem to exist.  Along with lithosphere (land), and atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water) is vital to the existence of any biological system.  With this in mind I thought it would be good to review some basics about how water is distributed and used around the world.  The surface of the earth is covered with about 75% water.  Perhaps we should call our planet “water” or “hydro” rather than earth.

             Of all the earth’s water 97% is ocean water or salt water (saline).  That leaves just 3% for fresh water.  As you can see from the chart below about 2% of all the earth’s water is wrapped up in the polar icecaps and glaciers.  This number seems to be changing but at this point still represents a major portion of the earth’s fresh water.  This leaves just one percent of all our water as liquid fresh water.  Actually it less than 1% because we can assume that it is not all clean or usable. 

 

            Because so little of the earth’s water is usable fresh water it make the importance of recycling this water back into clean usable water extremely important.  This is where the water cycle comes in.  The water cycle does not make or destroy water.  It continually moves it around the world in various forms and provides clean usable liquid water to the living organisms in all ecosystems.  This is the law of conservation in action and demonstrates the importance of nutrient cycling as a component of every ecosystem.

Class NotesWednesday March 23rd through Thursday March 24th

Review For What Is Environmental Science Test,Water Quality Testing,

Bird Watching

Review:1. Draw and label a diagram showing the only place in the universe we have found life so

far. Include in your diagram two outside energy sources that run this biosphere.2. Write the complete and balanced photosynthesis equation and explain why it is

important.3. Think back to the story A Sound Of Thunder by Ray Bradbury. What do you think the

meaning of the story is?

Water Quality: Above is an aerial view of our school’s study site. Today we will be taking a short walk to collect 36 different water samples from various places around the site. When we return to the classroom we will begin to take a look at some of the samples for things like dissolved oxygen, nitrate levels and pH.Remember we need water samples from a wide variety of places from our study site.

“Of all the substances that are necessary tolife as we know it on earth, water is by farthe most important, the most familiar, andthe most wonderful; yet people know very

little about it.” - Thomson King

Class NotesMonday March 21st through Tuesday March 22nd

Review For What Is Environmental Science Test,Photosynthesis, Respiration

Review:1. What is environmental science?2. Complete the following diagram and explain its importance.3. The earth as an ecosystem has two outside energy sources. Identify the two outside

energy sources of the earth and identify the mechanisms that capture this energy.4. Ecosystems must be open or have an outside energy source. Explain why?

Photosynthesis:            Photo = light            Synthesis = to make             To begin our discussion of photosynthesis you will watch a video of the process.  It contains a bit more detail than you will need in the end but it does a nice job of explaining what is going on.  The chemical equation for photosynthesis can be written as follows.  Please notice that the chemical equation is balanced.  Remember that this helps remind us of the law of conservation of matter and energy.  Matter and energy can’t be created or destroyed only transferred or rearranged. 

During the process of photosynthesis sunlight energy is captured or absorbed in the chemical chlorophyll and used to create chemicals sugar and oxygen out of the reactants carbon dioxide and water.  Sunlight is the outside energy source.  The process of photosynthesis is the structure that allows for the energy to enter an ecosystem.  Without green plants to run photosynthesis we would need another source of energy to use to run our ecosystem.

Why do plants undergo photosynthesis?  They don’t do it because they like us and allow us to eat them.  They do it because they use the sugar as an energy source to run their own bodies.  They use it just like we do.  Though some of the byproducts of burning sugar in plants is a bit different in plants than people it is basically the same.  They use it for energy.  Because they do this for themselves they are called autotrophs or “self” feeders.  You and I are called heterotrophs or “other” feeders.  Because we eat plants directly we use the term herbivore which means plant eater.

Photosynthesis:                                             In the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll

   ↓6 CO2  +  6 H2O → C6H12O6  +  6 O2

Photosynthesis:            Photo = light            Synthesis = to make

             To begin our discussion of photosynthesis you will watch a video of the process.  It contains a bit more detail than you will need in the end but it does a nice job of explaining what is going on.  The chemical equation for photosynthesis can be written as follows.  Please notice that the chemical equation is balanced.  Remember that this helps remind us of the law of conservation of matter and energy.  Matter and energy can’t be created or destroyed only transferred or rearranged. 

During the process of photosynthesis sunlight energy is captured or absorbed in the chemical chlorophyll and used to create chemicals sugar and oxygen out of the reactants carbon dioxide and water.  Sunlight is the outside energy source.  The process of photosynthesis is the structure that allows for the energy to enter an ecosystem.  Without green plants to run photosynthesis we would need another source of energy to use to run our ecosystem.

Why do plants undergo photosynthesis?  They don’t do it because they like us and allow us to eat them.  They do it because they use the sugar as an energy source to run their own bodies.  They use it just like we do.  Though some of the byproducts of burning sugar in plants is a bit different in plants than people it is basically the same.  They use it for energy.  Because they do this for themselves they are called autotrophs or “self” feeders.  You and I are called heterotrophs or “other” feeders.  Because we eat plants directly we use the term herbivore which means plant eater.

Photosynthesis:                                             In the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll

   ↓6 CO2  +  6 H2O → C6H12O6  +  6 O2

Respiration:

C6H12O6  +  6 O2 → 6 CO2  +  6 H2O                           ↓

      Energy is releasedRespiration:

Respiration is sometimes confused with breathing.  Although they are related they are not the same.  I like to think of them as big and small processes, or “macro” and “micro” processes.  Breathing is a big process.  It is the act of drawing air into your lungs so that an exchange of CO2

and O2 can occur.  Plants also take in air but it is much more of a passive thing.  Air gets into the leaves through openings called stomata but it is not necessarily drawn in by breathing.  However, plants do undergo respiration just like people.  Respiration is a small process.  It happens at the cellular level and has to do with the breakdown of sugar to release energy. 

If you turn the photosynthesis equation around and write it backwards you have what is called respiration.  Because energy went into making sugar and oxygen when respiration occurs energy is released.  This release of energy is how organisms, called heterotrophs, get their energy.  The energy comes from the stored energy in the sugar molecule.  You will also notice that when you run photosynthesis backwards that nutrients are recycled.  The products of respiration are the reactants for photosynthesis.  This ensures that in an ecosystem that materials will always be available for the production of sugar and oxygen.  Together with photosynthesis,

respiration completes what is called the carbon cycle.  The carbon cycle is the structure that allows nutrients to be recycled within an ecosystem.  Without the carbon cycle the raw materials to produce food, from photosynthesis, would soon run out. 

Class Notes

Thursday March 17th through Friday March 18th

Bird Watching, Classification

Bird Watching: Weather permitting we will be outside today watching birds. As we look and listen to the birds that are around us we will be looking to observe anatomical structures of a variety of organisms and describe their similarities and differences. These similarities and differences help us classify birds and make it easier to study and remember them each time we are out.

Classification: Each time we are outside we will be making a running list of the birds that we see and attempting to classify them based on many of their characteristics.

Bird Count 03/17/20016 Blue Jay Eastern Bluebird Turkey Vulture American Crow Red-Winged Blackbird Brown-Headed Cowbird European Starling Northern Cardinal American Robin House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow Mourning Dove Eastern Phoebe Tree Swallow Coopers Hawk Carolina Chickadee Canada Goose Killdeer Mallard Northern Shovler

Class Notes

Tuesday March 15th through Wednesday March 16th

Components Of An Ecosystem

Components Of An Ecosystem:From yesterday, environmental science can sometimes be called ecology or the study of

ecosystems. An ecosystem can be defined as a grouping of organisms that interact with each other and their environment in such a way as to perpetuate the grouping. In this definition we want to focus on the word perpetuate. It is a form of the word perpetual. Perpetual usually means forever. However, in this sense it is used to mean for a long time. Ecosystems are not ecosystems unless they have interactions that are sustained over a long period of time.

An ecosystem can be defined as a grouping of organisms that interact with each other and their environment in such a way as to perpetuate the grouping.

Biosphere:            Take a look at the diagram above.  It is called a biosphere.  Currently, the only place in the universe that we know of where we find living organisms is in the circle represented by the overlap of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and the lithosphere.  Because we do not have any evidence that life exists elsewhere we limit our study of environmental science to this area.  If you were to draw a circle around the earth it would be just nine miles above the surface.  The area where we find living organisms is inside this circle, nowhere else.  As you will see from classroom notes it is a very restricted area.  It may be possible to expand the area somewhat in the future by learning more about our surroundings.  But for right now it exists only in a nine mile band around our planet.  We often look at abiotic factors that fall outside the biosphere to help us understand interactions that affect us here on earth but we do limit our study of ecosystems to the biosphere because that’s where we find living organisms.

Class Notes for Thursday March 26th

Components of an Ecosystem

Components of an Ecosystem:            Every ecosystem needs several components to help it “perpetuate” the relationships it involves.  Depending on the books you read these components may vary and may include or not include several items.  However, I like to identify three that are most often seen in any list.

Outside Energy SourceNutrient RecyclingStructure

             Outside energy source: Every ecosystem needs to have an outside energy source.  This energy source continually inputs more energy to help run the ecosystem.  Think about your body.  The individual body is the smallest level of organization for any ecosystem.  If the body does not have an outside energy source, the food you eat, to continually supply it with the fuel it needs to run properly you will die.  Most of you can’t even survive a few hours without feeling hungry and in need of more fuel.  So it is with any ecosystem.  There must be a source of energy outside the system to supply it with fuel.            Ultimately this outside energy source is the sun for our biosphere.  Most, if not all, ecosystems rely on the sun for energy in one way shape or form.  There are some exceptions, we think, but for the most part this is true.  The diagram below may help to visualize how this energy enters and leaves our ecosphere.  Perhaps the most important piece of this puzzle is the 0.1% that is used to drive photosynthesis.  We will spend more time on this later.  However, this is the mechanism that captures the outside energy supplied by the sun and makes it available for living organisms to use.

Rock Bottom

Name: Period: Today’s Date: Author: Title: Source: Date Published:Page:

Summary:Watch the episode of Sponge Bob Square Pants: write a short summary of the episode

and speculate on the outside energy source that provides energy to maintain the ecosystem at Rock Bottom.

Rock Bottom

Name: Mr. BannonPeriod: All Today’s Date: 03-27-15Author: Sponge Bob Square PantsTitle: Rock BottomSource: P.S. Streaming Onlinehttp://pscinema.click/SpongeBob-SquarePants-Season-1-Episode-17b-Rock-Bottom_v7184Date Published: 03-27-15Page: NA

Summary:Sponge Bob and Patrick take the wrong bus home to

Bikini Bottom and arrive in Rock Bottom. A strange place populated by strange creatures. How do they get their energy to survive? Where do they get the energy to survive? It seems to be coming from the Earth’s core. Every living system needs an outside energy source. Rock Bottom’s comes from the heat bubbling up from the center of the earth.

Class NotesFriday March 11th through Monday March 14th

Levels Of Organization,Little Animals In Water,

Water Samples

Little Animals in Water by Antony van Leeuwenhoek, (1632-1723):Van Leeuwenhoek was a tradesman by profession but is best known for his many

observations of microorganism using his homemade microscopes. The article, Little Animals in Water, that you will read and summarize today describes nicely an experience he and others had as they looked into tiny drops of water. Perhaps like you, he was excited that even in such small environments there were many living organisms.

From yesterday, environmental science can sometimes be called ecology or the study of ecosystems. An ecosystem can be defined as a grouping of organisms that interact with each other and their environment in such a way as to perpetuate the grouping. In this definition we want to focus on the word perpetuate. It is a form of the word perpetual. Perpetual usually means forever. However, in this sense it is used to mean for a long time. Ecosystems are not ecosystems unless they have interactions that are sustained over a long period of time.

An ecosystem can be defined as a grouping of organisms that interact with each other and their environment in such a way as to perpetuate the grouping.

Levels of Organization:            The word grouping is used to refer to size.  The grouping or size of an ecosystem can vary.  Its size will depend on how the person or persons doing the study want to organize their work.  Take a look at the handout on levels of organization below.  Please notice that it has a wide variety of names for the sizes of ecosystems.  From universe, big, to subatomic particles, small, the key is that we want to study relationships.  It must also be stated that we sometimes pull these things we study out of context to get a better look at them and understand them better, but we always want to put them back into the puzzle and see how relationships are formed and play out.  Ecology usually deals with the range of levels between Ecosphere and organism.  As we learn more about the world around us we might expand this general level of organization. 

Pond Water:After reading Little Animals in Water by Antony van Leeuwenhoek, (1632-1723) we will

be doing a recreation of his work by looking at samples of pond water collected from our schools study area.

Class NotesWednesday March 9th through Thursday March 10th

Guinea Pig Scientists Final Draft,What Is Environmental Science,

A Sound Of Thunder

What is Environmental Science?Environmental science can be defined as the study of ecosystems, or the study of any

and all of the interrelationships among organisms and between organisms and their environment. In this definition it is important to identify two relationships. The relationship “among organisms” is focusing on the living portion of an environment. These are called the biotic factors. Biotic is a term that means living. The relationship “between organisms and their environment” is focusing on the living organism and how they relate to the nonliving or abiotic factors in an ecosystem.

Science Fiction:Bruce H. Franklin defines science fiction this way; “Let's start by distinguishing it from

other fiction. On one side lies fantasy, the realm of the impossible. On the other side lie all the forms of fiction that purport to represent the actual, whether past or present. Science fiction's domain is the possible. Its territory ranges from the present Earth we know out to the limits of the possible universes that the human imagination can project, whether in the past, present, future, or alternative time-space continuums.”

Ray Bradbury uses these words to describe science fiction in his introduction to the collection of short stories you will be reading from this year called Science Fact/Fiction, Scott, Foresman and Company, 1974>

“…science fiction guesses at sciences before they are sprung out of the brows of thinking men. More, the Authors in the field try to guess at machines which are the fruit of those sciences. Then we try to guess at how mankind will react to those machines, how to use them, how to grow with them, how to be destroyed by them.”

- Science Fiction Before Christ and After 2001, page xiv.

I like to think of science fiction as practice. If we think about many of the issues discussed in science fiction writing it can prepare us to better deal with them when and if they arise.

A Sound of Thunder:Read the short story A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury. A copy is available online.

After completing the reading please answer the ten questions on the handout. Be prepared to discuss your answers to these questions on Monday. I will collect your answers so please have them ready to go when you return to class. Keep in mind that as we begin our study of environmental science we are focusing on relationships.

Class NotesMonday March 7th through Tuesday March 8th

Guinea Pig Scientists Final Draft,What Is Ugly?, What is Beautiful?

What is ugly? What is Beautiful?:For our first day of environmental science I have borrowed a lesson from our art teachers

called The Viewfinder Project. The lessons are called, “What is Ugly?” and “What is Beautiful?” As we take a short walk during the first half of today’s class I want you to use your phones to take picture of several things you find ugly and several things you find beautiful. Get down close, move back, change the angle from which you view things and try to get a different perspective on the world around you.

When we return to class I am going to ask you to pick one picture from each category. Then I want you to share your photos with your friends and have a discussion of how they are related. What connects the ugly photos you have taken and the beautiful images? For your homework copy and paste these photos into a word document side by side and explain the connections you have made. We will discuss them in class when we next meet.

Example: The two pictures that you see below are my pictures of ugly and beautiful. They are connected in that the difference in their beauty has to do with how close you are. I think the grate is beautiful up close. I love patterns and the picture is a great pattern. However, far away it is not much to look at.

UGLY BEAUTIFUL