Wetlands are lands that are saturated with water, all year or seasonally. Sadly, wetlands have slowly been disappearing. The main causes of wetland decline are humans destroying them to build homes, pollution, low nutrients and more. They are extremely important because they are the homes for thousands of diverse organisms, clean the water, sequester carbon and help flood prevention as well. Some action has been taken, but it is important that we continue to do whatever we can to assist in the restoration of these wetlands.
On Tuesday we participated in the DIRT Program with Save the Bay. We took measurements on the soil of the unrestored site. In groups, we measured the soil moisture, salinity, ph and more. Citizen science is very important to Save the Bay because many of their projects requires many volunteers. In face today, I participated in another Save the Bay program on Bair Island where they are working on restoring further. Our jobs as volunteers were to weed out the invasive plants around the native plants that were previously planted. It would be a lot of work if there were only three people out there weeding out the invasive plants by hand. Today alone, the group of volunteers have weeded out an estimated amount of 800-900 pounds of those invasive plants. Overall, I enjoyed participating in the DIRT program knowing that our data would help plan the restoration of the site we studied.
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Invasive species has been and still is a large environmental issue. An invasive species is any species of animal, plant or fungus that is not native to the specific area where they are found. They pose a threat to the environment because of the inbalance they may bring. The species' native predator may not be in the new environment meaning there is no biological factor to keep the species population in check. That one species may grow uncontrollably and outcompete the native species for food, shelter, water, etc. In class we studied the cane toads and the kudzu vines. The cane toads are a fairly large issue in Australia. They were introduced in 1935 from Hawaii, where they originated. The original purpose behind the introduction of these toads, was to have the toads eat the grubs and insects that were harming the sugar cane industry. However, things didn't go as planned. The cane toads didn't just eat the cane grubs, they ate just about anything they could fit in their mouth. Due to the lack of native predators their population grew and grew. As the population got larger they started competing more for food against the native species. Unfortunately these toads are still roaming over a large portion of Australia. The Kudzu vine is an invasive species in the United States. It was imported to be used as porch decoration and cattle feed. It was even subsidized by the government to fight soil erosion. In Japan the vine had insects that ate it and the vine died off in the cold winter. However, in the warm climate, excellent sun exposure and the lack of natural predators in the South, the vine grew uncontrollably. It also became known as "the vine that ate the South". The vine kills other plants by preventing sunlight from reaching them and by competing for soil nutrients. It's ability to survive in low nitrogen areas also helped contribute to its rapid expansion. The five invasive species management methods are: 1. Manual: removing the species by hand for example: digging, hand pulling or species removal 2. Mechanical: involving machines for example: cutting, mowing, controlled burning 3. Chemical: using chemicals for example: pesticides, herbicides 4. Biological: using biological factors for example: introducing another species to control the invasive one. 5. Cultural: limiting the area that the species may live in for example: amending the soil, replanting native species, minimizing edge habitats prone to invasion. Works Cited
“Cane Toad.” Tenplay, 6 July 2017, images.tenplay.com.au/~/media/News/National%20News/extra%20jpegs%20for%20outage/July%202017/6/toadzilla1.jpg?mw=900. “Kudzu Vine.” Lexington Herald Leader, 1 Oct. 2013, www.kentucky.com/latest-news/h6z30r/picture43159767/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1140/1gQMyk.So.79.jpeg.
In America, the majority of our energy comes from non-renewable sources. For example, coal, crude oil, nuclear, and natural gas. The most evident environmental impact is the increase in air pollution through the greenhouse gases that are emitted. They all produce energy in a similar fashion by releasing energy that boils water into steam which flows through a turbine and produces electricity. Nuclear can be considered dangerous, but it produces a lot of energy. Coal is very cheap but is bad for the environment. These two take up the most space due to the mining that is required. Natural gas and crude oil often come from fracking, which is also very harmful for the environment. Fracking does takes up little space because the mining is done underground. However, the liquid used in fracking contains chemicals that companies do not have to name. The chemicals very likely are harmful, making it extremely dangerous if the liquid were to leak and contaminate groundwater that people get their water from. Unfortunately, the world still revolves around the use of non-renewable energy, but that can always change.
A solar eclipse is a phenomenon that occurs when the sun, moon and the Earth line up perfectly. It is a very rare and beautiful event and that is what makes it so special. During a solar eclipse the moon blocks the sun and casts a shadow over a certain portion of the Earth. If you looked up during the solar eclipse and were under the area where there was a shadow, you would see that the sun became a whole in the sky with a halo around it. It would last around two minutes and the halo is the sun's corona which is the only part of the sun that is visible during an eclipse. Data: Cloud Coverage: At 10:00 there were many clouds and they were dark. At 10:08, there are small group of clouds that are slightly brighter. At 10:17, there were less clouds but are darker. At 10:30, the sky darkened and there are few clouds. At 10:36, the clouds started to reform. The data shows as it got closer to totality the clouds dissipated and the clouds got darker. The clouds got darker because the sky was getting darker. These changes impacted the environment because clouds can block light reaching the Earth. Surface temperature: This line graph shows that the surface temperature dropped during totality and then started to rise up again as the whole sun was revealed. These changes impacted the environment because certain temperatures can affect how a organism may function, perhaps if it got cold enough certain plants or animals would think it was night time.
Reflection: Even thought we were not on the path of totality it was a really amazing experience to be able to witness a such an amazing event. I felt so excited and so lucky to be able to catch just part of a solar eclipse because it was so rare. It was so much fun to see what how the sun made different shapes when we poked holes in boxes. |
AuthorFelicia is a sophomore at Notre Dame high school. She loves science and plays golf for the school. Archives
April 2018
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