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Monday, November 18, 2013

How's Our Water?

The Urban Naturalists braved the cold to do some very important water testing today! We took a hike through the Blackstone Park and assess what animals were still around at this time of year. We collected some water samples and discussed what things affect water quality. We tested the following:

Nitrates: These enter our water systems both naturally and by humans. A big factor of nitrates in our fresh water ponds and streams is by runoff of fertilizers from people's lawns. Nitrates in a normal range are not bad for ponds, but excess nitrates can cause huge problems for the pond's delicate balance

Dissolved Oxygen: It is important to have alot of dissolved oxygen in the water to help support life in the pond! Many factors can effect the levels of dissolved oxygen including excess plants and algae growing in the pond. 

pH: It is important that water stays as close to neutral as possible. Water that is too acidic or too basic, the life within the pond will not be able to survive and thrive. 

We did some tests on York Pond in Blackstone Park. Just off River Rd. 


Jacqui shows us the kit!
Discussion of what each of the tests
tell us

























Daniel reads us the directions





Nico tests the pH for us
...and tells everyone about how
important it is to have clean water!


Our test of pH shows that we are
looking at a pH of 6. Considering
that 7 is neutral (the best it could be)
our pond has pretty good pH!
Our Nitrate levels were quite low -
between 0 - 5 ppm. This is good, but
we also think that it helps that
it's fall and most people are not
adding fertilizer to their lawns right now


The Dissolved Oxygen was between
4 - 8 ppm, which is pretty good!
Our plants and animals have some
wonderful oxygen to help them grow!

Creepy Crawlies Under Logs

Today, the Urban Naturalists explored Blackstone Park in hopes to find some "creepy crawlies" by flipping logs! Loads of animals live under logs because its a dark, damp, secure place with lots to eat!

We flipped our first log and found a pile of salamanders! Salamanders are amphibians who need to keep their skin moist to survive. They lay their eggs right around October and the babies hatch in spring.

The salamanders we found were called Red-Backed salamanders.






















We found so many salamanders in two different locations! Both locations, we noticed, were very moist. We explored alot of the logs in the upland spots of the park and did not find many salamanders, however the mid to lower areas were full of them!




We had a visit from two past Urban Naturalists, Kash and Emeril, who now attend The Greene School in W. Greenwich! They led the current Urban Naturalists on a hike around the park and taught them about the ecosystems found there.

Kash leads the students in identifying
salamanders

Kash and Emeril lead the pack!

Finding animals in Blackstone Park!

Past Urban Naturalists show off their identification skills



















Tracks and Scat! What's up with That?

Today, the Urban Naturalists learned how tracks and scat can tell us about the the animals and plants in an ecosystem. In most research situations, scientists don't usually see the animal, rather look for the evidence left behind!

Tracks occur when an animal's footprint gets left behind in their habitat. A great place to look for tracks is around a water source as the ground is usually squishy and wet and animals tend to gather their to drink. Tracks tell us what types of animals have been there, whether there was multiple in a group or a sole animal, and, sometimes, it tells us a story about the animals near the waterhole.

Scat is another word for animal poop! We can learn alot from poop! We can learn about what animals eat in the area, what types of animals are predators and prey, what gender the animal is, whether the animal is sick or healthy, and whether its a small or large animal in the area.

Marks and Evidence are another way to learn about animals in the area. Looking for evidence of nests, burrows, fur shedding, remnants of something being eaten, chew marks or scratch marks on trees or leaves, etc., you can learn about what animals are in the area.

We learned about the tracks and scat of various animals and then investigated a "Critter Scene". We checked out a scene set up around a river bed. The Urban Naturalists were in charge of reading the landscape to see if they could figure out what happened around the river.

Hmmm...what happened here?
The Urban Naturalist decided that the following situations happened at the scene:

Owl: There was an owl that was sitting in a tree, swooped down and grabbed a rabbit, ate the rabbit and expelled a pellet (the undigested bones and fur of an animal) We had evidence of this with an owl pellet, owl feathers and a pile of fur left over from the rabbit

Rabbit: There was a rabbit who visited the river, but did not drink from it. They rabbit appeared to have just disappeared. We then found out it disappeared because it was picked up and carried off by the owl. We figured this out by identifying some rabbit tracks and fake rabbit scat

Deer: A deer came to the river, drank, pooped, and then walked off. We knew this from the left over deer scat and deer tracks

Coyote: A coyote was hiding behind a bush when it spotted a squirrel who had been feasting on some nuts. The coyote bounded out of the bush and attacked the squirrel. The squirrel and coyote appeared to have a bit of a scuffle before the squirrel was killed and eaten. Only the coyote walks away from that scene. This is evident by the coyote poop, coyote tracks, and squirrel tracks. 

Squirrel: A squirrel was bounding along until it found some nuts. It ate the nuts and was attacked and killed by a coyote. This is evident from the squirrel tracks and nut shells left over. 



Urban Naturalists were brainstorming on what
happened at the scene
After testing out our tracking skills, we tried our hand at identifying what an animal ate. Rather than looking through scat, we checked out owl pellets! Owls have a special adaptation that allows them to eat their prey whole (or in chunks) without chewing. Their body then separates the fur and bones from the meat and they "cast a pellet" - they expel the fur and bones in a small, hard pellet form. These pellets can tell us what animals owls have been eating in an area!

The pellets we dissected were cooked at high temperatures to kill off any bacteria and the Urban Naturalists were able to dissect it to discover what their owls ate!

Jessica found quite a few bones!
Nico is a pro at owl pellets


Katherine wearing her official T-Shirt!

One of our Urban Naturalists found a bird skull!





















Saturday, November 9, 2013

The Living Tree

The Urban Naturalists each took on the part of the living tree, representing the Heartwood, Xylem, Phloem, Roots, Bark, Leaves and Pests trying to get into the tree! Check out their work!



Friday, November 8, 2013

Let's ID Some Trees!!!

On Wednesday, storms were predicted so we decided to explore trees around the school instead of venture to the park. Jacqui, our trained Arborist, led us around the neighborhood and taught us about what types of trees are planted in the area.

We loved the color of this tree
Some of the leaves were mid-color change




Matthew was checking out the trees
ahead of us
Such pretty trees in the neighborhood!



Jacqui showed us the features of the tree
that help us ID the species 
Some of these trees were beautiful! Many
were located on the lawns of the owners


We loved the red color of this tree!

Jacqui talked about how important is was to have supports for a growing
tree, but how it is equally important to remove them so they don't
end up choking the tree!

We then found this VERY interesting tree
growing with the fence INSIDE it!
We were amazed by how this tree could grow
with the fence heavily embedded inside it




Esteban checks out the tree/fence situation


We discovered that an invasive species
was actually choking out the native tree!
Darn you Tree of Heaven!
Check out how the fence is deep into the tree.
The tree encountered the fence and tried
 to grow around it


An up-close view of the fence embedded
into the tree
Here, a tree was growing up the fence
like a vine


One Urban Naturalist noticed holes in this
tree. Any guesses as what could have
caused this???

These spikes were caused by the the shoes worn by
at someone who's job is to check the powerlines!
They climb up the trees with spiked shoes and left
wounds in the tree. Not cool! 

We found this crazy tree growing across a powerline!

Our class then checked out one of the FIRST trees
to ever exist and was around during the time
of the dinosaurs! Check out this Ginko Tree!
Along the way, we collected lots of fun colored leaves in order to create some amazing murals! Check out some of the Urban Naturalist's work!

Brainstorming - what to do? What to do?


Matthew works hard on his mural

Jessica decided to make an ID Chart!

This team made a model of a tree to show the various parts

Lucy strategically places her leaves...

Daniel made an AMAZING hat!
Daniel's true form...


Model tree is almost complete!



Check out this BEAUTIFUL mural!