Biome HW 2

(Other articles to be added soon)

Article: The Cruelest Place on Earth

Quote: "For an Afar woman, putting on her jewelry is like wearing her bank account. In a strictly male-dominated culture, it is one of the few things a woman owns. Jewelry serves as emergency insurance during severe droughts, says anthropologist Laura Hammond. "When lots of jewelry shows up for sale at markets, that can mean the people are facing a famine."

Question: How well are these women treated?

Comment: The quote "diamonds are a girl's best friend," comes to mind here. The quote above was only a single caption on the article about a specific tribe in a deadly desert, and even thought the rest of the article is extremely interesting, I'm very interested in learning more about the women.

According to this article, years ago, men had to kill an enemy tribesman before they could marry a woman. I'm not sure if that's something that says 'woman are something you must be able to protect,' or if it's simply a way of proving one's manhood. A coming of age sort of deal, perhaps? Either way, if one of the few things that the women in this tribe owns is her jewelry, I'm wondering how much respect women get over there, and if the revolution of 'feminism' has even been fathomed. All in all, I find other cultures such as this to be extremely thought provoking, which makes me curious to dig deeper and see these things for myself someday.

Aritcle: A Sea of Dunes/Indonesia Undersea

Quote: "The shark that walks: A two-foot-long (61 centimeters) epaulette shark propels itself on muscular fins near Fakfak. One of two new species of epaulettes discovered here, it swims if alarmed, but normally strolls, hunting crustaceans, snails, and small fish in coral crevices."

Question: Where is this wonderland? How deep is it under the Indonesian waters? How does this shark hunt?

Comment: This article just made me want to become a journalist all the more. The animals and reefs of this article wee gorgeous to say the least, not to mention really interesting since there were so many creatures that I didn't even know about. I quoted the walking shark caption because that creature in particular sounded fascinating to me. I'm very interested in how and where this shark hunts. Is it something like a bottom feeder? Why does it walk most of the time, rather than swim, if it's a hunter? Surely it must get most of it's pray from the surfaces it walks on.

Article: Life in The Desert

Quote: "In a rush of wings whipping the night air, as many as 500 bats a minute exit a shallow cave in the Pinacate and Grand Altar Desert Biosphere Reserve, a protected area within the Sonoran Desert just south of the Arizona border. Some 200,000 female members of this species-the lesser long-nosed bat-gather at this cave each April before giving birth to their pups in May. At night the mothers-to-be venture out to feed on the nectar and pollen of cactus flowers, including organ pipe, cardon, and saguaro. Come winter, these bats will migrate to central Mexico, where they will pollinate the flowers of agave plants, which are used to produce tequila and mescal."

Question: Bats pollinate flowers?

Comment: I had no idea. I knew butterflies and bees pollinated flowers, but not bats. Not only that, but I had no idea that tequila was made with pollen of flowers. Then again, I've never actually looked into where tequila came from. Nonetheless, it's kind of funny hearing about these two subjects. I just thought that bats eat bugs. Maybe they eat bugs that also pollinate the flowers? Well, however it works, it seems like that would be quite an interesting sight.

Honors:

Article: Coral Reefs: Canaries of the Sea By: Mindy Pennybacker

Quote: "An estimated 10 to 27 percent of coral has perished worldwide, and 40 percent may be gone by 2010, according to the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. "

Question: How are the reefs now? Has the estimated amount of coral perished, since it is now 2010? What can we do to protect these beautiful structures?

Comment: I never knew that coral helps protect low-lying islands from storm waves until I read this article. I always just thought that they were homes for fish as well as beautiful things to look at. So hearing that they are getting unhealthy, and losing their color makes me feel pretty sad, but ready to help as well. I would like to hear an update on this article, but I couldn't find one.

Apparently, though, humans, pollution, as well as rising temperatures in the ocean are what is affecting coral reefs around the world. It seems as though everything around them is working against them, so how can we help? I know, of course, that there's always becoming more green, but I feel like there should be more than that.

Article: Forest Holocaust

Quote: "More than 80 percent of the Earth’s natural forests already have been destroyed. Up to 90 percent of West Africa’s coastal rain forests have disappeared since 1900."

Question: Why am I not seeing this?

Comment: It always amazes me to hear statistics like this. I read these kind of articles sometimes, and get concerned, and then somewhere along the way, I think that things are getting better, almost as if on their own. But how is that possible? How do I even know if other people are helping or even care? If we only have 20 percent of our forests left, why haven't I noticed? it's not as if our world as become a concrete jungle. It just makes me realize that there's so much to the world that I haven't seen yet.

Article: "Pleistocene Park" emerges from Patagonia's rescued grasslands

Quote: Some biomes--Earth's broad kinds of habitats--have done better than others. None has done worse than temperate grasslands. Of the ten million square kilometers this biome covers worldwide--that's about the size of the U.S. lower 48 states--only 4 percent is protected, and only half of that is well-protected. That's the statistic.

Question: Why aren't grasslands being very protected? Are they under appreciated?

Comment: To be honest, I'm more interested in the other biomes more than grasslands. However, that doesn't mean I don't want them to be preserved. They support so much life, and they hold their own kind of beauty just like the rest of the biomes. It worries me to think that not even 10% of grasslands are being protected. Not even 5%, actually. What will we do when they DO need protecting? Shouldn't we start now?

Blog 4

Post at least 1 question for each biome and try to find an answer for it.

Freshwater

I've never heard that ponds are seasonal. The ponds I've seen seem to always be there...then again, I'm not always by a pond. Why are some ponds seasonal? Does the water dry up and then come back as the rainy seasons return? That would make sense. Or maybe the salt that is settled in the dirt sucks it up after a certain period of time and weather?

Marine

If so much of our rain comes from the ocean, why aren't rain drops salty? My best guess is that this is because only the water evaporates into the air, not the tiny bits of solids that come with it. But then why is some rainwater dirty? Or have I just always thought that rain was dirty, but it turns out that rain is actually pure water? Or does the water catch the pollutants in the air as it falls?

Desert

The text says that deserts are pieces of land that get less than 50 centimeters in a year, but why is it that they only get this much in a year? Weather varies, covering different areas at different times, with no particular patterns. So why don't deserts become non-deserts at any point in the year? I guess it would make sense that many deserts are near the equator, which would probably mean that the clouds would break apart before they could rain, most of the time.

Forest

Since plants were some of the first pieces of life, does that mean some creatures were made from plants? I'm not even sure where to begin with this question.

Grassland

The text for the Savanna grasslands said that it was crucial for the rainfall to be concentrated into six to eight months. This just ties me back to my questions about deserts. Why do the clouds go from place to place to help keep certain ecosystems alive? If these grasslands are watered only by chance, why are there still so many of them? The possibilities of where the rain clouds go seem infinite.

Tundra

Since tundras use mostly dead organic materials as a nutrient pool, so we take a lot of these dead plants to use for commercial compost? Are we ruining these particular biomes somehow?

Getting Organized

A detailed schedule for completing Project 2 for Friday and the weekend. You need to be specific. What will you do in class on Friday? How will you schedule your weekend? Organize your time down to the hour if possible. Many of you will need to stay on track if you are going to complete the project on time.

Friday:

Hour 1 (in class): Finish up the Plant Index

Hour 2 (in class): If not finished with Plant Index, then continue. Otherwise, finish placing all the plants properly in the garden.

After school:

4pm: Finish placement and index

6pm: Create food web

Saturday:

Throughout the day: Finish up everything that needs to be drawn, and make sure everything is at least close to scale.

Sunday:

Throughout the day: Complete final research on all plants and organize index in a comprehensive manner.

Monday:

After school: Put in final touches, and edit through to make sure everything is clear and concise.

Blog #2 (California Ecosystem News)

Corman, By Joanna. "Sacramento Valley: A Haven for Birds — and Birders - Latimes.com." Los Angeles Times - California, National and World News - Latimes.com. Web. 06 Oct. 2010. .

A large flock of American Bitterns (a rarely seen bird) were seen in Sacramento. More specifically, they were seen in a wildlife preserve called The Gray Lodge Wildlife Area. This Area is highly attractive to waterfowl. This preserve mixes habitat types from a variety of habitats in Sacramento.

"In California's High Desert, a Solar Gamble | Newsdesk.org." Newsdesk.org | new World News. Web. 06 Oct. 2010. .

There is a place called "Owens Valley" in eastern California. In this valley, there was once a lake called "Owen's Lake." However, that lake is now dried up due to the hostile environment. But S. David Freeman proposes that we turn this loss into a gain. He suggests that we turn this now dry land into a home for a new 80-square-mile solar panel, since it gets, as he says "the best sun in the country." However, landowners and other residents are skeptical about the whole situation, and point out that there has been many disputes about this land due to the valley's water rights.

"Big Whales Appear in Great Numbers in Northern California | Newsdesk.org." Newsdesk.org | new World News. Web. 06 Oct. 2010. .

Many krill have appeared on the coast of Montery, California, and has thus attracted many Blue Whales, Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, Risso's Dolphins, Harbor Porpoises, and more. Some whale watchers spotted over 200 whales within 2 hours of their little expedition. However, these krill-lovers will only stay as long as the krill do--meaning once they eat them all up, they'll leave. Seeing this many Blue Whales in once place is something that typically only happens every 20 years or so.