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Global gas 2

Submitted by sworkman on Wed, 02/21/2018 - 15:52

Human activities have increased the levels of most of the greenhouse gases. Nitrous oxide is released through soil cultivation, fossil fuel combustion, nitric acid production and biomass burning. Methane is produced through decomposition of landfill waste, agriculture, and manure from livestock. And carbon dioxide is released from deforestation, land use changes and burning fossil fuels. When these gases are released there is no easy way to reverse the effects; for example, carbon dioxide can take hundreds of thousands of years to dissipate through chemical weathering or rock formation. The main way carbon dioxide leaves the atmosphere is by being absorbed into the oceans which causes many problems. Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases and is a huge issue that has huge consequences.

Global CO2

Submitted by sworkman on Wed, 02/21/2018 - 00:38

Global warming is caused by the buildup of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere which keep the sun’s heat from escaping. Light from the sun, which is what heats the Earth, comes down to Earth and reflected off, but instead of going back through the atmosphere, it gets absorbed by greenhouse gases. Around 90% of the light from the sun is absorbed by these gases such as water vapor, nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide. Global warming is occurring because greenhouse gas levels are continuously increasing, in a large part because of humans. In the last 150 years’ humans went through an industrial revolution that has significantly increased the release of greenhouse gases. Just within this time, carbon dioxide levels have increased from 280 ppm to 400 ppm. 

Local ecosystems

Submitted by sworkman on Tue, 02/20/2018 - 00:39

The Quabbin Reservoir is just under 40 square miles and is an interesting and diverse landscape. It is a lake that is relatively narrow and long stretching 18 miles from North to South Massachusetts. The lake is surrounded by forests which are mostly deciduous types and some conifer types. This area is very rich in different species; there are very high populations of things such as rodents, deer or even bears. The water’s edge has smaller plants and shrubs, but is mostly just rocks and sand. This area has less diversity because it is the transition of two patches; there are small animals that live at the water’s edge, including a large population of salamanders. The water has a maximum depth of 151 feet, but an average of 45 feet; this leaves room for a wide range of fish that live there in very high populations. The reservoir also has many islands; the larger islands have similar trees to the mainland, perhaps in less density and the smaller islands are even more sparse. These islands have some animals, but the populations are much smaller and are mostly small animals. 

Image observations + Inferences

Submitted by sworkman on Fri, 02/16/2018 - 14:49

Observations –
In panels A, B and C the lighting is different between the original and replicate. The original panels from are darker in color with more saturated tones. The foliage in the original panels and the replicates appears different. The replicates show the plants with fuller foliage in a lighter shade of green. The angles are also different. In each panel the original is from a lower angle and does not include the entirety of the pot which the replicates do; these original photographs are more level with the edge of the pot. The letters on the replicate panels have a period after them, while the originals do not.
The different angles of the photographs also vary what is included on the sides of the pictures. The original panel A shows a space between the bamboo backing so the outside is visible. The replicate does not have this space, but shows the ground and the bottom of the bamboo backing; it also shows a red rectangular object behind the plant and water on the table.
The original panel B does not show any of the table; it is the plant, the top of the plant, a portion of a plant next to it and the bamboo backing. The replicate shows the same things, but additionally shows the entire pot, the table and a red rectangular object behind the table.
The original panel C shows the top of the pot up with a very small portion of the plant next to it included. The replicate shows the entire pot, the table and much more of the plant next to it and a plant on the other side.

Inferences –
The light differences could be based in different times of day/season or different equipment. The angles and format were probably not specified in the methods.

Methods PP

Submitted by sworkman on Thu, 02/15/2018 - 13:40

I made a multi panel figure that displays photographs of a flowering plant and a map of the plants origin. The plant I chose is a Cattleya hybrid known as Cattleya ‘War Paint’. Cattleya is a type of orchid that can be found anywhere from Costa Rica south to Argentina.

I found this plant in the Durfee Conservatory located on the campus of Umass Amherst. I entered the conservatory from its front entrance, near Thatcher Way and went through the building until reaching the Epiphyte/Vine House. There were shelves of plants on the right side of the room and the Cattleya was the first one in the row. I took three photographs of the plant. The first was taken from the front which included the entire plant and pot with the tag “Cattleya ‘War Paint’” showing. The plant had two flowers, one to the rear and one lower and in front; I took a close up of the front flower next to a ruler in mm for my other two photographs. One is with the ruler horizontal against the flower and the other is with the ruler vertical.

 

 

Methods draft

Submitted by sworkman on Thu, 02/15/2018 - 10:27

Methods

The plant I photographed is a hybrid of a Cattleya Orchid. I found this plant in the Durfee Conservatory located on the campus of Umass Amherst. I entered the conservatory from its front entrance, near Thatcher Way and went through the building until reaching the Epiphyte/Vine House. There were shelves of plants on the right side of the room and the Cattleya was the first one in the row. I took three photographs of the plant. The first was taken from the front which included the entire plant and pot with the tag “Cattleya ‘War Paint’” showing. The plant had two flowers, one to the rear and one lower and in front; I took a close up of the front flower next to a ruler in mm for my other two photographs. One is with the ruler horizontal against the flower and the other is with the ruler vertical.

 

Mercury contamination pt 2

Submitted by sworkman on Tue, 02/13/2018 - 23:07

This experiment shows that the diet of the birds is what most likely caused their mercury levels to be so elevated, so the next part of their experiment was to study the mercury levels in the bird’s main prey. This part of the experiment showed that the prey did have elevated mercury, but it further proved that the higher in the food chain, the more mercury in the system. In this case, spiders had a much higher mercury level because it eats other organisms that already have mercury in them; and if spiders have this much more mercury, then birds would be significantly higher because they are so far up the food chain. 

Mercury contamination

Submitted by sworkman on Tue, 02/13/2018 - 17:47

The study done shows the mercury levels in different organism’s blood, by tracking these levels the mercury can be tracked as it moves through the food web. This looked at species around the Shenandoah River in Virgina where there was mercury contamination. The experiment tested 13 terrestrial-feeding bird species that bred within 50 m of the river, 5 aquatic-feeding species that had direct contact and species at an uncontaminated site. Both aquatic and terrestrial-feeding birds had similar levels which were significantly higher than the uncontaminated birds. This suggests that the birds do not need direct contact to be affected; if something they ate was contaminated it would be passed on to them. Predators typically only receive 10% of the energy from their prey, so they must eat more to receive sufficient energy for survival; this means if spiders are contaminated and the birds must eat many to get sufficient energy, then they will have much more mercury in their system then one individual spider.

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