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.

Blog #1

Generate 3 essay questions and answers

What are the components of a community, and how do they effect each other?

Communities in nature include all the varieties of living species that live within a specific area, and interract with each other. This includes animals as well as plants. These plants and animals live in specific regions due to things such as adaptation. All of the plants and animals in a community have evolved to coexist with each other in a way that keeps them alive, as well as flows properly with the circle of life.

What is "Artificial Selection?" Give an example.

Artificial Selection is when people control how plants and/or animals breed, which in turn controls how they evolve. One example of this that we have today is the many types of dogs that we take care of in our own homes. Chihuahuas and other breeds started off as wolves, but in time, humans bred them to become the best friends we have today.

Describe your community.

My community is on Mt. Helix, which is mostly desert. The plants that live here include cacti, various types of bright flowers, palm trees, lemon trees, apple trees, grapefruit trees, orange trees, and ice plants. Animals include humans, coyotes, racoons, skunks, black spiders (not sure of their specific spiders), brown spiders, daddy long legs, rabbits, lizards, snakes, and squirrels.

Generate a list of 25+ vocabulary terms (just the terms for now)
Ecosystem, biotic factor, abiotic factor, organism, species, population, community, habitat, organism, species, population, fertile, community, natural selection, evolution, adaption, artificial selection, resistance, hereditary, pesticide resistance, bacteria, fungus, protist, gymnosperm, angiosperm, invertebrate, vertebrate.

Research and summarize a specific type of planting you would like to see created in our garden this semester.
I like the idea of a Color Garden. A Color Garden can either be a garden that has an immense amount of colors, or one that focuses on one specific color (such as white). I love colors, so I would prefer to do a color garden of multiple colors. Color gardens are often bases on a certain season (for example, fall season would have fall colors such as orange and brown). I would like to see a variety of flowers to show our colors, like red roses (roses of any color, really), white and yellow daisies, greenery, and so forth.