project research
hi i'm monkey #3. When expirementing always keep a project journal. In science if you didn't write it down, then it is like it didn't happen. It also helps you keep track of progress.
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hi i'm monkey #3. When expirementing always keep a project journal. In science if you didn't write it down, then it is like it didn't happen. It also helps you keep track of progress.
Hi, I'm Monkey #1 and this is my first post. I am currently collecting water samples from a creek nearby and I am analyzing them for microscopic creatures called protists. Protists were the first organisms when Earth was created, so it is interesting to observe them.
Our research project is about the condition, in terms of the amount of different kinds of vegetation, of the Riparian Buffer Zone of a tributary of Rubes creek that runs through the Sweat Mountain Park area. As of now, we only plan to investigate the first 15-20 ft. of the entire RBZ.
Wednesday we put six stakes in the ground to mark out the area we will be researching. It took a while, so we didn't get anything else done. We will begin collecting data next Wed.
Only 3 salamanders were found today. One in a pool, one in a riffle, and one in a run. Most of these were found towards the dog park. The teams working on crayfish have also caught a couple of salamanders that we have used. I was very suprised that only 3 were found. Be sure to read our next post, thank you!
-Julia
Only 3 salamanders were found today. One in a pool, one in a riffle, and one in a run. Most of these were found towards the dog park. The teams working on crayfish have also caught a couple of salamanders that we have used. I was very suprised that only 3 were found. Be sure to read our next post, thank you!
-Julia
Hi and welcome to the Sweat Mountain Park blog. This area of the blog is on the salamanders in Sweat Mountain Park. My name is Julia and along with my partner Alex and the rest of my class we go into the creek and conduct our designated projects. I'm studying what type of salamanders can be found and where and Alex is studying the size of the salamanders that we find.
So far we've had luck finding the salamanders using the kicksein in the pools of the creek. It has been difficult finding them in other places such as the riffles and runs. I need to find them on land, pools, riffles and runs. Only 2 specimens of salamanders have been found. Only 11 have been found. 10 of those are a muddy brown color and 1 is orange-green. I was suprised that we never found another of the orange-green kind.
Please contine reading the other entries for more information on the salamanders in Sweat Mounatin Park. We hope that you will find it interesting. Thank you!
I've gone through a few ideas, but finally decided on a good one. I tied a string across the creek's depression and marked it every 30 cm with yarn. Now I'll measure down to the ground the surface of the creek every other week. It should work pretty well.
Our project is about various depths that worms burrow to when affected by different temperatures. So far we have collected the first trial of data for room temperature and cold temperature. At room temperature we found 26 worms ( 24 original & 2 babies), mostly at the bottom of the tank. The worms seemed to move normally. At cold temperature however, we made a misake. At first, we would just set a bucket of ice on top of the soil. Then we had the idea of mixing the ice into the soil to make a more realistic cold enviornment for the worms. Our plan however,failed. Not thinking, the ice melted, making the soil flood. The good thing was that we found 26 of the same worms. But, they seemed to be moving faster, and they were seen at the top of the soil when we lifted the ice bucket up. We definately learned from our mistake and learned not to mix too much ice in the soil.
One member of the funky Fungi is doing a database research project on fungus in the park. The member learned that there are many lichens in the park. There are also two species of tree fungi found in the park. One is White Foams fungi, and the other species is Witch's Butter fungi.
`The second member of the Funky Fungi is dong a project involving the cultivation of the mushrooms in the park. The member realized that it is very hard to find mushrooms in the park. However, the member did discover a bracket mushroom and a Red-Belt mushroom. The third member learned to always be prepared as that member didn't bring their materials.The lesson learned was to always bring the necessary materials because one day's delay can mess up the entire project.
DAY #4
Today was horrible!!! We went to gok and check the progress of our coverboards and tubes,only to find that the coverboards were blown away by a water storm. Now we have about three boards and two pipes that need to be put back into place.
Today was very upsetting because it either means that we will have les s data or we will have to work even harder for the same amount of data that we were aiming to get before.
An upside of today was that we found some good future sports for coverboards.
DAY #5
Today was the first day that we took the dip net out in the park to try to catch some salamanders. We split up our group at the beginning of the class period so that we would be able to get more done in a small amount of time. Two people replaced two of the coverboards in spot 2A. The other two people went down closer to the sewer and used the dip net to try to find any salamanders in the riffle areas.
Today we all wore boots, so that we could walk through the water and do the dip net.
The main upside of today was that we found our first salamander. It was in the riffle areas of the creek. The two people that were using the dip net found the salamander because the other two people were looking for a shovel to use so that we could dig an area under the coverboards so that the salamanders would have somewhere to live.
The project of the Murky Waters group is a study of the impact of the newly formed dog park on the creek in, near, and around Sweat mountain park. We are studying how distance from the dogpark effects E. coli and fecal coliform levels. We have decided to use the product Coliscan gel for our testing procedures.
On our first testing day we decided on four testing sites labled 1, 2, 3, and 4. Test sight 1 is located at the source of the Sweat Mountain Park end of the creek. Test sight 2 is located in a ditch nearest the dog park. Test sight 3 is located near a clear fast running section of the creek. Test sight 4 is located at a murky and usually polluted looking sight on the creek.
Our first testing Day went well. Test sight four was looking very unclean yet when we checked it's results it had one of the lesser coliform levels. The creek appeared to be at an average level with no serious rain within the last couple days. When pouring one of the solutions from the water into a petri dish we poured it into the wrong side causing the results of one test to be useless.
Question to ponder: Alatoona lake is very down compared to what it usually is yet it seems that the creek is unaffected. Why?
Testing Day two went well too. We had slight trouble remebering which test sight was which but we figured it out. Testing site four no longer looked so polluted but we hypothesized that this was due to heavy rain the previous days. When arriving back at the class room to prepare the solutions, however we discovered that we had not recorded how much water we had used last time. After some thought we deciede we had used three milileters and finished preparing our solutions. We have not recieved the results yet.
CB here and this is the first post of the floating foxes, or ff. CB doing expirments on the creek's flow velocity and cubic feetper second. CC is doing a project on attracting bats to our school park. And last but not least, GR is doing an investigation into the growth of cyanobacteria with the circumstances of different amounts of fertilizer and different types of water.
CB Refl: Right now as of today February, I'm already done with three trails on spot A and two trails on spot B. My data is based on my 6 foot 10 inch area, lenth wise, and width which varies, and the average depth an area of the creek. Then I multiply to figuere out the velocity of the area. Finally I drop a miniature floating football at the begining and time it to the end of the spot. Sometimes it flows upstream, weird. I'm tring to determine how rocks and other debris affect the flow and velocity of the creek. (You don't know how many times I had to say that.)
CB here and this is the first post of the floating foxes, or ff. CB doing expirments on the creek's flow velocity and cubic feetper second. CC is doing a project on attracting bats to our school park. And last but not least, GR is doing an investigation into the growth of cyanobacteria with the circumstances of different amounts of fertilizer and different types of water.
CB Refl: Right now as of today February, I'm already done with three trails on spot A and two trails on spot B. My data is based on my 6 foot 10 inch area, lenth wise, and width which varies, and the average depth an area of the creek. Then I multiply to figuere out the velocity of the area. Finally I drop a miniature floating football at the begining and time it to the end of the spot. Sometimes it flows upstream, weird. I'm tring to determine how rocks and other debris affect the flow and velocity of the creek. (You don't know how many times I had to say that.)
This is my first post and I am protist monkey #3. The creek is filled with dirt, mud, and protists. The way you find protists is tie polyurethane blocks with nylon rope and submurge it in distilled water. Weigh it down with bricks and let down in water. I put three in the water, they went in a pool, a ripple, and a flow. After you get them in the water let them soak for a week or two. After they are done soaking examine them under a microscope.
HAMMER IN ALL STAKES---GOOD! By this I mean, the water in the creek moved my stakes around. My stakes were labeling my measuring places for water level.
My research has shown that the water level in the creek has gone down drastically since 12/12/06.
Station one had a depth of 27cm on 12/12/06. Then on 1/31/07, the depth was 5.5cm.
The first time we went out to the park, we marked marked our measurements with flags. Unfortunately, our flags got washed away in the rain and wind, and we were unable to find them. Because of this, we decided to use stakes because they are durable. So far, this seems to be working, but we have not been outside since we put the stakes out. These are the problems that we have faced since the begining of our project.
Hi, I'm Monkey #1 and this is my first post. I am currently collecting water samples from a creek nearby and I am analzing them for microscopic creatures called protists. Protists were the first organisms when Earth was created, so it is interesting to observe them.
I am p-3 from group Creek-Its. My project, however, does nto correspond with name of our group. The question that my project is based on is a question about the depth in which earthworms live at when the tempurature of their environment is either warm, room tempurature, or cold. My first idea for a project was gathering worms of different ages from the park and measuring their lengths. We then figured out that worms lengths vary. They can stretch and shrink.
My new project has only slightly been started. I am to stay and work on it for an hour after school to catch up as much as I can. My worms have not been able to be in the tank because the habitat is not yet ready. The whole data collection will only take 3-4 weeks, so hopefully it will be done in time!!!
This is p-2.I am in group creek-its. My report is on creek bottoms.Yesterday(1/31/07)was my first time actually interacting with the creek.I numbered 7 wooden stakes 1-7. Then i put 6(because i ran out of time) of the stakes 5 meters apart in the middle of the creek! I am eventualy going to take sampels of the creek bottom and identify there size to see if it has any thing to do with there placment it the creek and make a map showing the bottom.!!:)
The lichens group is certainly making progress. We've had to alter our original ideas, but we have recorded our editions in our journals and typed up project plan. So far, we have not done too many trees, but we have a plan to get more. It seems as though weekends will be the best time for us to do our investigation. Right now, we have about five differet trees marked down, and about ten to fifteen more to go! The other memebers in our group have also been getting a lot done!
I have gotten all my materials and have yet to bring them in. I have altered messervice learning project from having an area of trees to having them scattered throughout the trail. I have recorded there alterations in my journals. I will be using orange plastic strings to mark the trees in which I am going to identify.
I have already done my actual project and recorded much of my data. I have had to alter some of my procedure the do to seasonal change.
The lichens group is certainly making progress. We've had to alter our original ideas, but we have recorded our editions in our journals and typed up project plan. So far, we have not done too many trees, but we have a plan to get more. It seems as though weekends will be the best time for us to do our investigation. Right now, we have about five differet trees marked down, and about ten to fifteen more to go! One interesting thing that we learned about the lichen trees we have already seen is that the lichens tend to grow toward the north. The other memebers in our group have also been getting a lot done!
I have gotten all my materials and have yet to bring them in. I have altered messervice learning project from having an area of trees to having them scattered throughout the trail. I have recorded there alterations in my journals. I will be using orange plastic strings to mark the trees in which I am going to identify.
I have already done my actual project and recorded much of my data. I have had to alter some of my procedure due to seasonal change. All of the leaves I have experimented on have died. Therefor I will be doing a secnd experiment and averaging my data.
A few weeks ago a study was started at Sweat Mt. Park. Many aspects of the park and the life in it were explored. This particular group, Soil is Coil studied the protozoa in the creek and the composition of soil in the creek.
Protozoa are a group which consists of microscopic animals. This group includes ameobas, algaes, and ciliates. They are a member of phyla in the kingdom protista. The particular ones that are being studied in this experiment reside in Sweat Mt. Creek.
This experiment was started on December 11, 2006 and is still being carried on today. This experiment was done branching from the research question," What kinds of protozoa live in the creek?" A polyfoam sampler was made and left in the creek for about a month. Every two weeks or so I returned to the creek and squeezed water out of the polyfoam sampler into a jar, along with some decaying leaves found on the bottom of the creek.
Once the water and decaying leaves containing the protozoa have been collected and the protozoa have multiplied, it will be put under a microscope and studied for any kind of protozoa. The research coninues to happen...
-Soil is Coil
So far in our experiment we have found that more crayfish are found in pools than riffles or runs. We have found a total of 7 caryfish in pools, 6 in runs, and 0 in riffles. When you look for crayfish you should start down stream and go up, instead of starting up stream and going down stream, this way, you end up catching the maximum number of crayfish possible. If you start up stream dirt will travel down stream disturbing the crayfish and then the crayfish will leave. Then your data won't be as accurate as it could be.
So we were trying out the Increment Borer for the second time. The first time, we were successful at our trial. The second time, however, we were not as successful. One certain person chose a rather large oak tree and they didn't realise that it was rotten. So they stuck the Increment Borer in the tree and couldn't get it out. This is because when the bit hit the rotten section of the tree, the teeth wouldn't grab the inside of the tree, and so the Increment Borer is still in the tree. And now, someone broke off the only remaining part of the Borer that we could see.
This research is signifigant because it helps us understand where the salamanders prefer to make their habitat and how they react in length to the diffferent spots. It also helps us understand how the flow rate, depth, and width of the creek affect the salamnders also.
We have not been doing well in catching salamanders lately. In two days outside at the park, we have caught only two salamanders. It seems as it gets colder we catch less salamanders.
Our team name is fuzzy bear. We are a tracks group focussed on finding what types of mammals live in the park around our school. The purpose of our project is to find wheter or not the increasing number of cities and structures has the negative impact on animal population that scientists say it does. So far we have made a track pit and checked for tracks several times, no luck yet. We will be posting again soon with more updates.
This is Team Simple Life's first entry! Our team is made up of four people who will be anonymously referred to as ProtozoaPerson (Pro), BacteriaPerson (Bac), TardigradePerson (Tar), and MacroinvertebratePerson (Mac).
It is about two or three weeks into our Sweat Mountain Projects, and we have decided our questions/problems, hypotheses, and written out our research plans.
Bac has collected water samples and has found E. coli and fecal coliform in the creek. Tar has taken samples of moss and gotten his materials ready for data collection. Mac has been counting macroinvertebrates, and Pro has already begun the first trial for data collection but otherwise has not actually done anything yet.
We are all, slowly but surely, making progress.
Our project team is doing an independent study on crayfish in a stream that is in the Rubes Creek water basin outside of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. We are trying to find out how the creek bottom can change the amount and in some cases size of the crayfish found. We are doing well with our project but have realized that we have many variables that our affecting our project. Our main variable is changing the creek bottom but changing the creek bottom also results in changing many other variables. These variables included water depth and temperature. These two variables can result in the size and the amount of crayfish found. Right now our team is using a trap to find crayfish and will probably stick with that since that is giving us the best results.