Outdoor Science Bog

Kealia Pond: California Bulrush Eradication Study

2008-05-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

Introduction: The Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge is a place for native birds and plants to flourish in a constructive habitat. Some of these birds are endangered. The California Bulrush is an invasive species that the endangered birds cannot nest in. It is taking over Kealia Pond and killing that native species, which destroys the environment that they have created there. Two of these endangered bird species are the Hawaiian Coot, or the ‘Alae Ke’okeo (Fulica alai) and the Hawaiian Stilt, or the Ae’o (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni). These birds are both endemic.

Significance: This study is significant to Kealia Pond because it could save their delicate balance at Kealia Pond. Since the California Bulrush kills the grass that the endangered birds nest in, getting rid of the Bulrush could save the endangered birds. It is important to science because if we can find a way to get rid of it now, there will be a way to prevent it from coming back in the future. It will also save the ecosystem there.

The Study: The class went to Kealia Pond two times. The first time, we broke up into four groups. One group to cut, one group to spray, one group to both cut and spray, and one control group. Each group measured out 1 meter of Bulrush, then took down data about the Bulrush and the surrounding area. Some of the information we took was the height and density of the plants, the weather, and information about the water, such as the amount of phosphates, the turbidity, water depth, the pH, the salinity, and the water temperature. We then did to the plants what we were told to, aka cutting and spraying.

Graphs:

Conclusion: In conclusion, the class decided that the best way to get rid of the California Bulrush was to spray it. It had the greatest percentage dead. Cutting it really did not do anything extra, and it would be a waste of money, time, and labor. Spraying it is easier.

Reef Survey

2008-02-14T01:06:00.000-08:00

REEF, Reef Environmental Education Foundation, is an organization that is dedicated to conserving marine life by educating people. They believe that with education, we can become stewards of the ocean as well as scientists. To learn more, visit their website at: http://www.reef.org/ .

In science, we took a fish survey by going down to a fishpond in Kihei and counting the species and the abundance of each species that we saw. We had an underwater slate and pencil that we took with us. We had snorkels and fins so all we had to do was kick and look for fish, then write down anything that we saw.

The visibility was very poor on the day that we went snorkeling, we ended up only seeing one fish. Some other students reported seeing as many as five, but they must have had really good vision. The water was so murky that we couldn't see to the bottom, and it was shallow enough to stand. The visibility was so bad that I dropped the slate and couldn't find it because we couldn't see. I believe that the conditions were poor because of a storm that occured a couple day before. It rained and was very windy, and I believe that runoff went into the water, and also the movement of the water stirred up the sand and mud on the bottom and into the water. There probably weren't many fish there anyway, even if we could see.

Fish Pond, Cultural Part

2007-12-03T13:50:00.000-08:00

What is the cultural significance of the fish pond?
This fishpond was the only pond that was managed by the common people.

What are they used for?
This fish pond was used to harvest fresh water fish, shrimp and to grow taro.

What are the roles of men and women?
This fish pond was taken cared by the women only. The reason for this is that fresh water fish ponds’ waters are clear. According to the Hawaiians woman were clean and pure so they could not tamper with water that was dirty and salty.

How does the harvesting take place?
The harvesting of the fish was done by the women; they would catch the fish with nets.

Where is this type of fish pond found?
This fish pond is found at the inland part of the ahupuaa, in areas that were not near to the sea water, and the pond could be located at the high part of the ahupuaa or the lower part.

What is important to know about the fish pond?
This fishpond is a fresh water fishpond; some of the fish that lived in this fish pond were at one time salt water fish. The reason for this is that the women would take fish that lived in salt water and carry them up to the fresh water fishponds; some of the many fish adapted.

What material is used in creating the fish pond, why?
The materials used in this fish pond are the land /mud, water and taro.

Describe features of the fish pond that should be known.
Even though the Loko I’a Kalo was a fresh water fish pond, fish from the lower section of the ahupuaa or the brackish water were taken up to this pond to be raised. Many of the fish adapted from the salt water to the fresh water.

Explain major structural parts of the fish pond.
The loko I’a Kalo is both a fish pond and taro field. The fish pond was made from a diverted stream that would enter into the taro fields, the fields were swamped with fresh water from a stream that would be redirected towards the taro field flooding the area.

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Species in this fishpond:

1) Kalo (Taro)- it was believed by the Hawaiians that it had the most “life force.” It was a staple of the Hawaiians’ diet. They made poi by pounding the kalo’s roots, and wrapped their pig in kalo leaves before they put it in the imu to give it more flavor.

2) Limu (algae)- The Hawaiians used limu as a seasoning, when they combined it with sea salt and mashed kukui nuts. The women were the ones that gathered the limu in the tidepools, while the men gathered the algae in the outer reef.

3) O’opu (Stream guppy)- It is the representative of unflagging devotion to achieving one’s goals. Some people believe that the O’opu should be the state fish instead of the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a because of the cultural significance. The O’opu was also a major food source for the Hawaiians.

4) Opae (Spineless Shrimp)- This shrimp was a food source for the native Hawaiians.

5) Awa (Milk fish)- Awa grown in the fishponds were for the chiefs and nobles.

How does life sustain itself in the Loko I’a Kalo?
There are many different species that live in this fishpond. The herbivorous fish feed on the kalo and the limu, which provides them lots of protein and makes the larger and healthier. Then we eat them!

Intertidal Lab Write Up

2007-09-26T01:33:00.000-07:00

Intertidal Lab Write Up

I) Introduction:
The Intertidal Zones are the home to many creatures, small and large alike. They are an important part of our ecosystem because of that. Everything in tide pools is delicately balanced. According to a study in New England, a small herbivorous snail can affect the algae population dramatically, which in turn affects other animals (Lubchenco, 1978). However, this paper is going to discuss where intertidal hermit crabs are the most abundant. One study that I found shows that the intertidal hermit crab is able to live healthily and happily in all zones (Reese, 2007). I am going to see if that is true.

II) Question/Hypothesis:
The question that my group came up with was, "In which zone will we find the most hermit crabs?" We are looking to two zones: the splash zone, and the tide pools. My hypothesis was that we would find the most in the tide pools, because that is where they would be the most protected.

III) Procedure:
1) Drive down to a tide pool (we did the one by the Maui Sunset).
2) Bring equipment: quadrate, pencil, paper/notebook, refractometer, and digital thermometer.
3) Place the quadrate into the water in the splash zone.
4) Count all of the hermit crabs that you see, remembering to look under rocks and placing the rocks back where you found them.
5) Write down the final count with your pencil onto your paper or in your journal.
6) Take the cover off of the thermometer, and put the metal part into the water.
7) After about 30 seconds, take a reading and write it down in degrees Celsius.
8) Use the pipette to collect a sample of water from inside the quadrate.
9) Put a drop of water on the blue area of the refractometer, and put the plastic lid over it.
10) Look into the scope of the refractometer and aim towards the light.
11) View the numbers and write them down in ppt (parts per thousand).
12) Pick up the quadrate.
14) Walk over to the tide pools.
15) Place the quadrate into the water in the tide pool.
16) Repeat steps 4-12 for this zone.

IV) Data:

V) Results:
The number of hermit crabs that we found in the splash zone was 2. That was in 1 meter2. So the density of the hermit crabs in the splash zone was 2/1m2. The number of hermit crabs that we found in the tide pools was 12. That was also in 1 meter2. So the density of the hermit crabs in the tide pool was 12/m2.

VI) Discussion:
The Conclusion of our experiment is that there are more hermit crabs in the tide pools, than there are in the splash zone. According to a study done in 1981, the crabs that this person studied lives in the low-high intertidal zones (Bertness, 1981). The splash zone is not at all mentioned. However, one possible source of error is that we could have missed some crabs when we were looking for them in the splash zone, because we didn’t look that hard at first, then discovered the trick of lifting rocks later on.

VII) Bibliography:
1) Bertness, Mark. "Competitive Dynamics of a Tropical Hermit Crab Assemblage." JSTOR. 6/1981. 9/2507. <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0012-9658(198106)62%3A3%3C751%3ACDOATH%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B>.

2) Lubchenco, Jane. Plant Species Diversity in a Marine Intertidal Community: Importance of Herbivore Food Preference and Algal Competitive Abilities." JSTOR. 2/1978. 9/25/07. <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0147(197801%2F02)112%3A983%3C23%3APSDIAM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4>.

3) Reese, Ernst. "Behavioral Adaptations of Intertidal Hermit Crabs." Integrative Comparative Biology. 2007. 9/25/07. <http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/9/2/343>.

This is a picture of a hermit crab that I drew.

Plankton Lab

2007-09-13T14:32:00.000-07:00

Sheilah Jorgensen
Period 2 Outdoor Science
9/2/07

Plankton Lab Write Up

I) Introduction:
Plankton is important because it is the bottom of the food chain. Without it, we would not have any other animal that lives in the ocean, or even some land animals. It affects everything that lives today. That is why it “rules the world”. A study done in England found that the number of krill in the area could control the number of copepods found (Atkinson et al, 1999). The temperature of the water could also affect copepod abundance. A study done in 2004 shows that phytoplankton is not as abundant is places where the water is cooler, which affects copepods, because they are herbivores (Richardson, 2004). Another study concluded that though copepods and rotifers are usually the most abundant zooplankton in lakes, cladocerans were occasionally more dominant (Alexander, 2007). I am doing this study to find out what is the most abundant zooplankton in the Kihei Boat Ramp.

II) Question/Hypothesis:
Our question was, “What kind of plankton did we find the most of?” My hypothesis was that we would find more copepods than anything else because copepods are usually the most abundant zooplankton.

III) Procedure:
1) Drive down to Kihei Boat Ramp.
2) Bring equipment: plankton net, refractometer, digital thermometer, water bottle, and turbidity tube.
3) Put the plankton net into the water while holding the string.
4) Walk up and down the ramp towing the plankton net in the water.
5) After collecting the sample for two minutes, take the net out of the water holding from the string.
6) Open the bottle top and empty contents into the water bottle.
7) Close the bottle so that you don’t spill anything.
8) Use the pipette to collect a sample of water from the same place that you got the plankton sample.
9) Put a drop of water on the blue area of the refractometer, and put the plastic lid over it.
10) Look into the scope of the refractometer and aim towards the light.
11) View the numbers and write them down.
12) Take the cover off of the thermometer, and put the metal part into the water.
13) After about 30 seconds, take a reading and write it down in Celsius.
14) Fill up the turbidity tube with water from the same site.
15) Look down through the tube and take out water until you can see the secchi disk.
16) When you can see the secchi disk, look at the labels on the side on the tube, and write down the number that corresponds with the water level.
In the Classroom:
1) Gather the samples that you took in the field along with other supplies: pipette, microscope and computer, Petri grids, and detain.
2) Once you have gathered the supplies that you need, carefully mix up the plankton sample in the water bottle with the cap on.
3) Pour some of the contents of the bottle into a Petri grid.
4) With the microscope and computer, search sample 1 for plankton found in the vicinity of the grid.
5) Write down the number of plankton that you have observed along with the species.
6) Repeat steps 3-5 for two more samples.
7) Put everything away.

IV) Data:

V) Results:
The average number of copepods that we found in the three samples was 7. The average number of worms that we found in the three samples was 3. We only saw 1 salp, so the average number of salps that we found was 0.33.

VI) Discussion:
We found that there were a greater number of copepods that anything else. This means that copepods are the most abundant zooplankton in the Kihei Boat Ramp. This adds proof to the fact that copepods are the most abundant animal on Earth. According to a study done in 1998, copepods are also the most abundant zooplankton in the ocean (Zehr, 1998). However, one source of error in this study was that we counted the plankton 24 hours after we had taken the sample, meaning that some plankton had most definitely died, and because of that, we did not get an accurate count.

This is a female Copepod with eggs.

Welcome to my blog!

2007-08-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hi my name is Sheilah Jorgensen and I am a Junior at Kihei Charter High School. In this blog, I will post all of the assignments and projects that I have done in Outdoor Science, as well as descriptions, pictures, and videos of each one. Welcome to my blog!