Post number five

Leaves, we see them every day, and we take for granted what they do for us. Plants help to make our very existence possible; through the process of photosynthesis they create oxygen as a waste product.

We have a special relationship with leaves, we exhale carbon dioxide through breathing and in turn we take in oxygen. One may ask what the relationship is. A leaf is an organ of a plant specifically used for photosynthesis. In the process of photosynthesis leaves take in carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen among other products that are a waste of photosynthesis.

Basic types of leaves are Conifers, Angiosperm. Each of these is important parts of the Plant Kingdom. Conifers are cone-bearing plants that have seeds. There are a wide range of these, most of which are trees but some are shrubs. Angiosperm are similar to Conifers in the way that are seed-bearing, however they are flowering plants.

I focused my Leaf Project on leaves from my hometown of Ishpeming. The plants I collected came from mainly three different Phylum. These Phylum included Gnetophyta, Anthophyta, and Coniferophyta. Gnetophyta are flowering plants (gymnosperms), Anthophyta are flowering plants that produce seeds, and Coniferophyta are cone bearing gymnosperms.

I collected the following leaves:

· Yellow Birch

· Black Willow

· Hawthorn Tree

· Pin Cherry

· Apple

· Black Cherry

· Choke Cherry

· Sugar Plum

· White Birch

· Red Ash

· Jack Pine

· Northern Red Oak

· Sugar Maple

· Balsam

When identifying leaves you look at the shape, color, and stem to determine what leave it is. You also need to consider the location when trying to identify leaves. Some leaves have large pointy tips or have three points at the top. For example the Pin Cherry is a small green leaf that has a pointy tip. The leave has small jagged edges.

Out of our two laboratory projects I enjoyed the leave project the most. It was easier identifying leaves than insects. It was interesting to learn about each leaf and see what some are used for and where they are native too.

Picture: http://blogs.targetx.com/hbu/DawgTracks/2009/10/fall_foliage.html

Post number four

Insects are creatures that drive our world. They may be at the bottom of the food chain but they help to fuel most small animals that feed larger animals and in turn those large animals feed the whole human race. Granted not all things we eat use insects as a food source.

One project we were assigned this semester was to create an insect collection. We were instructed to collect insects throughout the semester. Our class went into the field a few of the days we met for laboratory. Later we would be pinning these insects and presenting them to our class.

My partner and I collected seventeen insects. We thought that we had nineteen but we later found out when trying to identify our specimens that two were not insects. We used insect books to identify our specimens. The insects we collected are:

· Orange Sulfur/Alfalfa Butterfly

· Western Conifer Seed Bug

· Blowfly

· Caddis fly

· Sand Hills Hornet

· Water Boatmen

· Nine Spotted Ladybug Beetle

· Jagged Ambush Bug

· Spur Throated Grasshopper

· Giant Resin Bee

· Honey Bee

· Black Cutworm Moth

· Dusky Clubtail

· Boxelder Bug

· Small Milkweed Bug

· American Dagger Moth

· House Fly

We organized our insects into orders. The orders that pertained to our insects were Odonata, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, and Hymenoptera.

The order Odonata consists of dragonflies and damselflies, Orthoptera consists of grasshoppers, crickets, and Katydids. Hemiptera consists of true bugs, cicadas, and hoppers. Coleoptera consists of beetles. Diptera consists of flies and mosquitoes. Trichoptera consists of caddisflies. Lepidoptera consists of butterflies and moths. And last, Orthoptera consists of ants, bees, hornets, and wasps.

We also found natural history information on each insect and the common and scientific name. For some of the not so popular insects it was harder to find all of the scientific classification information (i.e. kingdom, phylum, class, order, and family.) I found it really interesting to see where the insects are native too. It’s amazing to see how far some of them have expanded!

Overall I learned a lot of new information about insects. I enjoyed collecting the insects more than pinning and identifying.

Picture:http://www.copyright-free-pictures.org.uk/insects/

Post number three

For my third blog I will compare and contrast two common animals, the dog and cat.

Dogs and cats are the most common domesticated animals. What are their similarities and what are their differences

Scientific Name: Canis lupus familiaris

Common Name: Dog

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Canidea

Genus: Canus

Species: C. Lupus

The origin of domestic dogs is Canis Lupus, which you may notice is the first part

of the domestic dog’s scientific name. Canis Lupus is the scientific name for the Gray Wolf.

It’s not yet fully known how Canis Lupus became domesticated but one possibility could be

orphaned cubs. Humans could have taken the orphan cubs and tamed them.

No matter how dogs became domesticated they are still man’s best friend. Dogs are

used for many things. Some examples are; hunting, rescuing, lifelong companions, and sightseeing dogs.

Scientific Name: Felis Catus

Common Name: Cat

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Felidae

Genus: Felis

Species: F. Catus

Cats were first domesticated by Ancient Egyptians. They were used to control mice and

other pests in food storage. The Egyptians viewed the cats as Gods or Goddesses. When a cat

died it was mummified and then buried.

One may ask how domesticated cats came to America. Cats began to become domesticated

around Europe. When European settlers came to America they brought the domesticated cats

with them. For a short period of time in the middle ages cats lost their image as Gods and

Goddesses and were paired with the devil [1].

Cats and dogs are similar by the fact that they have both been domesticated. They are also both

common household pets.

Cats and dogs have great differences between them. Besides their obvious appearance in

difference cats and dogs are looked at differently in society. Dogs are looked at as man’s best

friend and are typically friendly and energetic pets. Cats on the other hand are not nearly as

highly revered as they once were.

1. www.catsinfo.com/history.html

picture: http://blogs.targetx.com/hbu/DawgTracks/2009/10/fall_foliage.html

Post number two

It’s Jackie again, and for my second blog I am going to talk about some interesting facts about fungi. I never knew how many different kinds of fungi there are including fungi that are useful to humans and those that can cause disease and illness.

Here are some basic facts about fungi that. There are about 74,000 named species and most of these are multicellular (reference). Fungi were listed in the plant kingdom for many years until it was found that fungi are more similarly related to animals, and then they were placed into their own kingdom. When you see a fungus you are only seeing the fruit of the organism, the rest of the organism is underground.

Fungi can be helpful or harmful. Some of the harmful things that fungi create are infections, and some of the helpful things are food and vitamins. Below I will talk about some examples of how fungi can be helpful or harmful.

Some human fungal infections are: Athletes foot, oral thrush, and ringworm. The first step in treating fungal infections is prevention. In order to avoid getting an infection you need to maintain good hygiene including not sharing any personal items with someone else. You can also go to your doctor and get antifungal medicine to help get rid of the infection if it is really needed.

It has been said that Enokitake mushrooms have been believed to fight cancer. That idea was first thought of when scientists in Japan found that a community that had eaten a lot of the mushrooms had low cancer rates.

You most likely use a type of fungal product everyday without realizing it because there are so many different ways to use or eat fungi. Some examples of fungal products you eat other than straight mushrooms are, yeasts that are used to make bread, wine and beer. Some drugs are made from fungi and are used to cure diseases. Also fungi are used to create flavorings for cooking or to make vitamins.

Some other fun facts are written below:

· Archaeologists say that people have been enjoying the products of fungi for at least 25,000 years.’

· To prevent your food from molding you need to freeze it at a temperature of -18 degrees Celsius. This is because some molds can continue growing to temperatures of -7 degrees Celsius.

· It can take 50-100 years for fungi growing on a tree trunk to reduce the trunk to dust.

http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Mushroom/English/Funky/facts.html

http://herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/funfacts/Kingfact.htm

http://www.campingsurvival.com/souninfa.html

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/f/fungal_infections/subtypes.htm

Picture: http://danny.oz.au/travel/iceland/flora.html

Post number one

My name is Jackie and I have found the most exciting lab experience so far to be going out in the field to collect fungi. The days we spend out in the field are the most interesting to me because we are busy trying to find fungi, insects, or leaves and we get to be outside.

I really had no idea how much fungi there was in the surrounding area. The fungi that we found were shockingly large. It was a really good time to collect fungi because it was the perfect weather and perfect time of the season.

It was interesting to learn about different types of fungi and how to identify them. The class was able to collect a wide variety of fungi so we were able to work with many different examples. We had four types of mushrooms; bolete, puffball, cup, and gilled.

They were all very different looking and had different structures. The bolete mushroom had a puffy look to it and you couldn’t see gills. The puffball was the best one, we cut a piece out and the inside was yellow and brown and when you touched it the puffball would spring back and the outside was hard and white. The cup mushroom looked similar to a gilled mushroom but the gills weren’t as noticeable and it had a lip around it, and the gilled mushroom was the most common looking mushroom, it had gills on the underside and mine was yellow colored on the top.

After we collected the four types of mushrooms we had to draw and label all the parts for each one. We also grew bread mold and drew what we saw when we studied a piece of bread mold under a microscope. The last drawing we did was a drawing of a commercial mushroom. We had to look at two different views of the basidium, which are spores produced externally and are found on the gills of the mushroom, from the mushroom. It was harder to find some of the parts in the commercial mushroom than in the mushrooms we collected ourselves.

Overall I thought the fungi collecting and lab was the most entertaining so far. I knew some information about mushrooms but not a lot so it was neat to learn some new things about them. I thought all mushrooms looked alike until this lab experience.

Picture: http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/gardening-articles/fungi.html