Socratic Seminar Reflection
Humans greatly contribute to global warming. The CO2 that we release into the atmosphere traps heat and warms our atmosphere. The main way that CO2 is released is by burning fossil fuels which are used in many factories and cars. What we can do as a society is work towards finding a way to run factories that don't give off harmful gases. We can also promote the use of electric cars. Personally, I can invest in an electric car to help the environment.
Humans greatly contribute to global warming. The CO2 that we release into the atmosphere traps heat and warms our atmosphere. The main way that CO2 is released is by burning fossil fuels which are used in many factories and cars. What we can do as a society is work towards finding a way to run factories that don't give off harmful gases. We can also promote the use of electric cars. Personally, I can invest in an electric car to help the environment.
Photos of our terrarium, from newest to oldest.
Terrarium Proposal
-round bowl
-dirt, rocks, moss,
-succulents and plant ideas below
Plant Ideas:Golden Clubmoss ------> Air Plant ----->
Spider plant--> Jelly Bean ------>
Grouping Ideas:
But instead put sand under the rocks and dirt over the rocks, rocks as a middle layer
Proposal for the Project:
We will keep our ecosystem in a large glass jar with sand on the bottom, rocks in the middle, soil on the top and then some moss around our plants to help keep them moist and insulated. In our terrarium we will include a jelly bean succulent as well as an aloe vera succulent. For our moss we will just use local moss that we can find in our area. Our theme will be drought-resistance because all of the plants that we are using are good to plant during droughts. Our hypothesis is that although we will use minimal water, our moss will help our plants thrive by holding in the water and keeping the environment moist. It will also help to stabilize the plants in the soil.
We also added worms to serve as decomposers, we have our plants as producers, and there are insects in the soil that act as consumers. When we actually made the terrarium we had a limited variety of resources so we ended up using Scotch Moss, prickly pears, and different types of sedums.
Find a Solution Proposal
Stafford Lake “Find a Solution” Project
Stafford lake is a hilly 139-acre park with a fishing lake, a nature trail & picnic areas that can host large groups.
-Invasive Plant Management (non-native plants are taking space from native plants)
How to solve this problem:
-organize service projects to reduce the amount of invasive species by remove the plants from the ecosystem
More Details of Problem:
Ecologists are very concerned about invasive weeds that can rapidly take over a landscape, displace native plants and, as a result, cause great declines in biodiversity and habitat values. The preservation of natural resources is very important, and if the spread of invasive weeds is not addressed, these resources will be greatly impacted in a very negative way.
Source: http://www.marincounty.org/Depts/PK/Divisions/Parks/Stafford-Lake
-Drought Management (extreme drought is occurring that is drastically lowering water levels)
How to solve this problem:
-if it’s yellow keep it mellow
-take shorter showers
-save shower water and water your plants with it
-only run your dishwasher when necessary
-don’t wash your own car, go to a car wash
-if you are using a water bottle, drink the whole bottle and don’t waste the water
According to http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/clark/historical-califorinia-droughtthe-amazing-stats/3245559, in 2011, the San Francisco area had 56% of it’s recommended amount of water for that time of year.
Proceedings B Recent Advances
Neonicotinoids insecticides are used to kill harmful insects that try feed on crops. Some studies have shown them to be very useful for this purpose but others have said that there is absolutely no benefit. The downside of these neonicotinoids is that they greatly harm the pollinators, such as bees, that land on the plants covered in insecticide. Many studies have been done to weigh the negatives and positives of using neonicotinoids and even though it is highly effective, they are unsure whether or not it is worth the price. By adding in the negative effect that neonicotinoids have on bees, it makes this insecticide even more rigorously questioned.
Proceedings B Natural Science Evidence
Neonicotinoids insecticides are a highly effective tool to reduce crop yield losses owing to insect pests and they are commonly applied to crops as seed
treatments. Pollinators can be exposed to neonicotinoids in different ways. There is evidence that in Europe and North America many species of pollinators are in decline. Some potential causes for this could be disease, parasites, loss of habitat, and adverse weather. There are many different observations going on and one of them involves bees artificially exposed to neonicotinoids and then observed to forage in the field. They are doing this to see if neonicotinoids affect the performance of pollinators under field conditions. To interpret this data you have to look at the many different factors and to watch the impact on the bees. There is clear evidence that neonicotinoids affect wild pollinators.
CCD Reflection
For this activity we graphed results on the population of bees over many years and analyzed why there were changes. Bacteria, Neonicotinoids,
and climate change affect CCD. A stabilizing factor is fluctuation in temperature. A destabilizing factor is a contagious disease. I learned that curve fits are very useful for finding a best fit equation. I also learned that there are many different types of functions that you can use as curve fit lines. I learned that CCD is happening more often now and it is very harmful to bees.
Video Reflection
The problem that we adressed in our proposal and video was the invasion of non-native species and the drought at Stafford Lake. Our suggested solutions were to make sure you don't carry invasive plant seeds into the area and to try and preserve water by taking shorter shower or putting a bucket in your shower to catch the water. Two things that my group did well are collaboration and getting everything done on time. We all worked very well together and were able to sort out the responsibilities between everyone in the group. At first our group was a bit behind but we ended up catching up and getting everything turned in on time. Two things that we didn't do as well were focusing and communicating. We often had a little bit of trouble getting things done because we were laughing and joking around a lot. We also could have communicated a bit better because we had a group message to discuss the project but we never got the number of one of our group members. In this project I learned a lot about the environment at Stafford lake and what plants and animals are present. I also learned how important it is to conserve water and to help eliminate invasive species. This is important to me and to society because the more we know about environmental problems, the better we can solve them and the more motivation we will have to do so.
Terrarium Reflection
While creating our terrarium, we differed from our original proposal in many ways. This is because we had limited supplies, but we did keep our original theme of having an expiremental ecosystem. The ecosystem was unlike others because it included some plants that need minimal water and some that need a lot. We ended up using prickly pears, scotch moss, different types of sedums, and some regular moss to keep the moisture
in the soil. We also included some worms as decomposers.
The ecosystem inside our terrarium thrive as time went on. By about the third week, it began to grow small weeds and our small plant and sedums began to grow bigger. By about the fifth week everything was much bigger and there was a giant weed that had grown in the middle. Throughout the entire process, everything grew and thrived except for our moss and our prickly pear. Other than that, most of our plants doubled in size. My group and I believe that our moss and the worms are the reason for our success. The moss helped in keeping the soil moist and the worms helped in keeping the soil healthy. The main matter cycle in our terrarium was a carbon cycle because the plants took in carbon and released oxygen. Our terrarium also performed the main cycle section of the graphic below. The carbon dioxide went into our plants, then into the dead organisms and waste products (possibly dead worms or worm excrement), and out again through root respiration.
-round bowl
-dirt, rocks, moss,
-succulents and plant ideas below
Plant Ideas:Golden Clubmoss ------> Air Plant ----->
Spider plant--> Jelly Bean ------>
Grouping Ideas:
- Jade plant, Jelly Bean & Air Plant
- Aloe Vera, Club Moss
- Club Moss, Spider plant & Jelly Bean
But instead put sand under the rocks and dirt over the rocks, rocks as a middle layer
Proposal for the Project:
We will keep our ecosystem in a large glass jar with sand on the bottom, rocks in the middle, soil on the top and then some moss around our plants to help keep them moist and insulated. In our terrarium we will include a jelly bean succulent as well as an aloe vera succulent. For our moss we will just use local moss that we can find in our area. Our theme will be drought-resistance because all of the plants that we are using are good to plant during droughts. Our hypothesis is that although we will use minimal water, our moss will help our plants thrive by holding in the water and keeping the environment moist. It will also help to stabilize the plants in the soil.
We also added worms to serve as decomposers, we have our plants as producers, and there are insects in the soil that act as consumers. When we actually made the terrarium we had a limited variety of resources so we ended up using Scotch Moss, prickly pears, and different types of sedums.
Find a Solution Proposal
Stafford Lake “Find a Solution” Project
Stafford lake is a hilly 139-acre park with a fishing lake, a nature trail & picnic areas that can host large groups.
-Invasive Plant Management (non-native plants are taking space from native plants)
How to solve this problem:
-organize service projects to reduce the amount of invasive species by remove the plants from the ecosystem
More Details of Problem:
Ecologists are very concerned about invasive weeds that can rapidly take over a landscape, displace native plants and, as a result, cause great declines in biodiversity and habitat values. The preservation of natural resources is very important, and if the spread of invasive weeds is not addressed, these resources will be greatly impacted in a very negative way.
Source: http://www.marincounty.org/Depts/PK/Divisions/Parks/Stafford-Lake
-Drought Management (extreme drought is occurring that is drastically lowering water levels)
How to solve this problem:
-if it’s yellow keep it mellow
-take shorter showers
-save shower water and water your plants with it
-only run your dishwasher when necessary
-don’t wash your own car, go to a car wash
-if you are using a water bottle, drink the whole bottle and don’t waste the water
According to http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/clark/historical-califorinia-droughtthe-amazing-stats/3245559, in 2011, the San Francisco area had 56% of it’s recommended amount of water for that time of year.
Proceedings B Recent Advances
Neonicotinoids insecticides are used to kill harmful insects that try feed on crops. Some studies have shown them to be very useful for this purpose but others have said that there is absolutely no benefit. The downside of these neonicotinoids is that they greatly harm the pollinators, such as bees, that land on the plants covered in insecticide. Many studies have been done to weigh the negatives and positives of using neonicotinoids and even though it is highly effective, they are unsure whether or not it is worth the price. By adding in the negative effect that neonicotinoids have on bees, it makes this insecticide even more rigorously questioned.
Proceedings B Natural Science Evidence
Neonicotinoids insecticides are a highly effective tool to reduce crop yield losses owing to insect pests and they are commonly applied to crops as seed
treatments. Pollinators can be exposed to neonicotinoids in different ways. There is evidence that in Europe and North America many species of pollinators are in decline. Some potential causes for this could be disease, parasites, loss of habitat, and adverse weather. There are many different observations going on and one of them involves bees artificially exposed to neonicotinoids and then observed to forage in the field. They are doing this to see if neonicotinoids affect the performance of pollinators under field conditions. To interpret this data you have to look at the many different factors and to watch the impact on the bees. There is clear evidence that neonicotinoids affect wild pollinators.
CCD Reflection
For this activity we graphed results on the population of bees over many years and analyzed why there were changes. Bacteria, Neonicotinoids,
and climate change affect CCD. A stabilizing factor is fluctuation in temperature. A destabilizing factor is a contagious disease. I learned that curve fits are very useful for finding a best fit equation. I also learned that there are many different types of functions that you can use as curve fit lines. I learned that CCD is happening more often now and it is very harmful to bees.
Video Reflection
The problem that we adressed in our proposal and video was the invasion of non-native species and the drought at Stafford Lake. Our suggested solutions were to make sure you don't carry invasive plant seeds into the area and to try and preserve water by taking shorter shower or putting a bucket in your shower to catch the water. Two things that my group did well are collaboration and getting everything done on time. We all worked very well together and were able to sort out the responsibilities between everyone in the group. At first our group was a bit behind but we ended up catching up and getting everything turned in on time. Two things that we didn't do as well were focusing and communicating. We often had a little bit of trouble getting things done because we were laughing and joking around a lot. We also could have communicated a bit better because we had a group message to discuss the project but we never got the number of one of our group members. In this project I learned a lot about the environment at Stafford lake and what plants and animals are present. I also learned how important it is to conserve water and to help eliminate invasive species. This is important to me and to society because the more we know about environmental problems, the better we can solve them and the more motivation we will have to do so.
Terrarium Reflection
While creating our terrarium, we differed from our original proposal in many ways. This is because we had limited supplies, but we did keep our original theme of having an expiremental ecosystem. The ecosystem was unlike others because it included some plants that need minimal water and some that need a lot. We ended up using prickly pears, scotch moss, different types of sedums, and some regular moss to keep the moisture
in the soil. We also included some worms as decomposers.
The ecosystem inside our terrarium thrive as time went on. By about the third week, it began to grow small weeds and our small plant and sedums began to grow bigger. By about the fifth week everything was much bigger and there was a giant weed that had grown in the middle. Throughout the entire process, everything grew and thrived except for our moss and our prickly pear. Other than that, most of our plants doubled in size. My group and I believe that our moss and the worms are the reason for our success. The moss helped in keeping the soil moist and the worms helped in keeping the soil healthy. The main matter cycle in our terrarium was a carbon cycle because the plants took in carbon and released oxygen. Our terrarium also performed the main cycle section of the graphic below. The carbon dioxide went into our plants, then into the dead organisms and waste products (possibly dead worms or worm excrement), and out again through root respiration.