Portal:Ecosistema

This link may be of interest to some readers. Please comment and let me know.

http://orton.catie.ac.cr/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/?IsisScript=GREYLIT.xis&method=post&formato=2&cantidad=1&expresion=mfn=002896

Signatura: 15649.
Autor: RESTREPO DE F., M.; ALVAREZ M., L.M.; ARANGO B., L.G.; MAYA M., L.A.
Título: Fitografía del ecosistema de CENICAFE,
P. imprenta: Chinchiná (Colombia), CENICAFE - Universidad de Caldas, 1994. 1994. 338 p.

Palms, Fungi and Insects...Have you thought about how the food supply is affected by fungi and insects? What about laboratory reports...Are they rela

"Date palms were propagated in large numbers clonally through tissue culture technology. Tissue culture derived date palm cultivars planted in the KISR tissue culture orchard showed crown bending at the fruiting stage." Source: http://www.scientificjournals.org/journals2009/articles/1480.pdf; Accessed August 19, 2010.

Do you eat dates? If so, perhaps you will find the linked article informative. Have you thought about how the food supply is affected by fungi and insects? Science study becomes, "relevant," to students when they can connect to ideas with which they are already familiar. They likely have heard of date nut bread, or, eat dates and milk to break a fast, or just pack some dates for hiking trips. So, research on dates can assist students in assimilating some broader concepts on food production, such as, how pests and diseases can affect the food supply.

Here the work of C. Sudhersan, Yousef Al-Shayji, and S. Jibi Manuel of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research is used as a way to interest students in science.

In the USA, some people celebrate Ramadan and now it is the time for Ramadan. Since most students do not celebrate this holiday, it might be confusing why some students are using dates and milk to break their fast, so tying in dates in science class might give all students something to share and provide a cultural link to the science class, too. But, lets get back to the science class and think about food.

Plants are what types of organisms when it comes to thinking aboutfood?

Did you say producers? Yes, the date palm uses sunlight to produce the sugar found in the date. We, people, on the other hand, are consumers, we eat dates. Do you have educational standards in your area related to producers and consumers? It is easy to find lessons on this topic, for example, www.teachersdomain.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.oate.lp_energyweb/ shows a lesson and also has a tab to show the standards related to the lesson. The national standard have often included this topic among the science standards:

"For ecosystems, the major source of energy is sunlight. Energy entering
ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis. That energy then passes from organism to organism in food webs."

In reading about the date palms, students can relate the date palm as the producer and we, who ingest dates, as the consumers. Where do the fungi cme in?

Fungi are opportunists and can cause plant disease. The journal article referenced indicates the role of an insect vector and a fungus in causing a disease in the date palm.

Is the fungi decomposing the date palm, just making it sick, or is it a decomposer/ What do you think? Getting students to think about questions like this can help them appreciate food. Rather than just thinking about food as something available at meal times, students can see that science is involved in getting food to the plate. Of course, there are farmers, and the people that have shipped the food, and the stores or markets that have carried the food, and the person that prepared the food...but, science is also involved. And students will also have their own religions and cultures ideas about food, which are important to them when they are integrating new science knowledge into their thoughts and memory for later use. So what is the science? Let's look further at the article.

In the, "Introduction," students can read that dates are a major food crop of the Arabian peninsula, and link the science study to geography they know. Students can learn there about propagation by seeds (sexual repproduction) or by succkers or offshoots (asexual reproduction). [Note: These ideas cover other educational standards.] Then the introduction may have words that the students don't yet know. They can use this opportunity to build vocabulary or can just go for the gist of the introduction, depending on the student interest and/or grade level. Since this article is a laboratory report on an important food crop, some students may wish to go for the most detail. The, "Introduction," goes on to point out that observations made during a field survey led to the current experiment being reported.

The, "Materials and Methods," section comes next. What did the scientists do? Can you find out? Math can be linked to the science study here:

"Sixty (60) young palms of 12 different cultivars were used for the study.
Among the 60 palms, the trees showing the disorder were identified and 2 trees per cultivar were selected for the study. Later on, one of the selected trees from each cultivar was uprooted completely and the other was dissected out on site without uprooting."

Twelve into sixty is _____. So, How many palms of each cultivar were there? Did you say, "5?"

Try to make a flow chart for the materials and methods that the researchers used. Create the flow chart to simplify reading what steps you would do if you were going to repeat this experiment. If you prefer, you can just number and list the steps in order.

Look over the, "Results," "Discussion," and "References [Literature Cited]" Sections of the article. Do you see that scientists use laboratory report formats that are universal. Scientists around the world use the same type of format. When students write laboratory reports, they are learning what scientists do and how to understand research. Have students go through each part of the article and see what they make out of it. Have them reflect on how the exercise has changed what they think about the food supply and the role of science in it. Ask if they think other crops may have diseases. See where the students go with it. Review experimental design and laboratory report format again. Ask students if they have ideas for experiments related to the food supply.

Enjoy your food. Younger classes may want to recall the story of, "The Little Red Hen [http://www.ingles360.net/Freebies/books/red%20hen.html]," and discuss where food comes from. The teacher can talk about the role of science, whereas, young children will likely think of parents, stores, and farmers. Religious classes may want to cover the relationship of food to the gifts and blessings they have received. In science, look at the role of science in food production, cover laboratory report format and experimental design. Remember that using prior knowledge and other subject areas can help keep information in your mind in a usable format. Try some dates and milk. Have fun.

(c) J S Shipman 2010

Today's, "In the News," and Experimental Design

Fungus Wiping Out North America's Little Brown Bat

One of North America's most common bats may be driven to extinction in the northeastern US in as little as 16 years. A disease known as white-nosesyndrome, caused by a fungus that grows on the nose, wing membranes, and ears of bats while they hibernate in caves and mines during the winter, is believed to have caused the deaths of 1 millionlittle brown bats in North America already. Bats play a vital role in the control of insect populations, and this bat in particular has been known to eat its weight in insects in a night. The loss of these bats could result in increased insect populations that damage crops and spread disease.More ... Discuss

Fungi are one of the groups of organisms, like plants and animals. They are their own group, however. At one time, they were grouped with plants. New research shows that they are separate. Well, here, we are looking at news on extinction of bats.

...[R]esearchers led by biology professor Thomas H. Kunz of Boston University report in Friday's edition of the journal Science that white-nose syndrome, caused by a fungus, could all but wipe out the little brown bat in the Northeast in 20 years.

The syndrome was first discovered near Albany, N.Y., in 2006, and since then bats have declined from 30 percent to 99 percent in various areas. The illness has been confirmed in 115 bat hibernating locations in Canada and the U.S., ranging as far south as Tennessee and west to Oklahoma, the researchers reported.

.Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i4hYP04HWAm_9Kx-2HMKO8aeZekgD9HDFON00 Accessed: August 16, 2010.

You might not like bats, but, did you notice the mosquitoes carrying Eastern equine encephalitis are up? Do you think that the decline in bats might be related? If you were a scientist, how could you design an experiment to find out?

Here's another link that might give you some background information as you write the background information for your experimental design:

http://blogs.courant.com/connecticut-homes-gardening/2010/08/bugged.html

Don't forget to go from the popular press and reach into the refereed journal articles.

Fungi are opportunists. They take advantage of a situation. If your immune system is down, you are more likely to get fungal infections, for example. Plants, on the other hand, have fungal diseases more routinely.

Can you design an experiment to see if good nutrition plays a role in preventing fungal disease?

Why do you think the bats are getting more fungal disease now? Are people also getting more fungal disease now?

What makes up good experimental design?

Think about that. We'll come back to it in future posts. First, come up with your ideas.

(c) 2010 J S Shipan

Spelunking and Science

What do you think of when you think of caves?

stalactites

stalagmites

water

bats

darkness

I think of Luray caverns and the stalagtite organ there.

Did you know you could study micro organisms in caves? Here is an introductory quote about that. Go to the link for more information.

Dr. Gsell, an associate professor of microbiology, shows a visitor digital photos of a recent trip. The microbe hunters, dressed in hard hats and caving gear, wind their way through tight spaces while looking for water and sediment sample.

Source: http://www.govst.edu/default.aspx?id=35338&blogid=734
Accessed August 16, 2010.

Here is a quote and links to another place to find out about spelunking:

Let's go spelunking

Science World, Nov 1, 2004

• 1
• 2
• Next

Name: --

In "Slime Hunters" (p. 18), you read about Dr. Diana Northup's journey into Cueva de Villa Luz in southeastern Mexico. Suppose you were her research assistant, and you follow her to Lechuguilla, a cave in New Mexico's Guadalupe Mountains. Your duty: Go inside the Cave Entrance (see box, below), and explore the different sections to complete your Field Journal (below).

CAVE ENTRANCE

www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/caves/jewel.html#fea_top

Protist Link from the University of Montreal

"...scholarly information on the morphology, ultrastructure, molecular biology, taxonomy, ecology and physiology of these organisms," (Source: http://megasun.bch.umontreal.ca/protists/otherprodbs.html, Accessed 15 August 2010).

http://megasun.bch.umontreal.ca/protists/protists.html

la leccion de la vaca....y "science class"

---Under development---

"La leccion de la vaca," is a story that
"La leccion de la vaca," is a story that can

can be tied into concepts in science.

Watch the video and see if you can come up

with some related science concepts.

Did you like the story? Why or why not?

Here is a PDF file link on grain use versus meat use in the USA and China. Do you think it relates to concepts in the story? www.biofuelsdigest.com/MeatvsFuel.pdf

Here is an article comparing and contrasting grass versus grain fed beef:

http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/397/1/Grass-vs-grain-fed-beef.html.

Does the article have a point of view? A bias?

Here is another link: http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes2/secondary_science/sci09d/09dq5b?view=get.

This one is about a science standard in the UK:

Science at key stage 3 (Year 9) Unit 9D: Plants for food Section 9: b. How do pests affect plant growth?
Objectives
Children should learn:
that toxins enter a food chain when plants take them in or are in contact with them that as animals feed on plants they may accumulate toxins taken in by the plant that at each step of the food chain persistent toxins are accumulated in the carnivores and that this process is bio-accumulation about advantages and disadvantages of using pesticides" Source: http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes2/secondary_science/sci09d/09dq5b?view=get. Accessed 15 August 2010

Look at the objectives and speculate on how they might relate to the, "leccion de la vaca."

Here is a quote for reflection:

Ensuring sufficient food supplies is one of the most basic challenges facing any human society. Organized and efficient food production supports population growth and the development of cities and towns, trade, and other essential elements of human progress.

Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/history-of-food-production. Accessed August 15, 2010.

It is, in my opinion, important to have and share hope. When thinking about the food supply, what can we each do to ensure sufficient food. This assurance doesn't mean giving away our least favorite vegetables, the way we might have thought when we were children. What does it mean? What can we do? We are resourceful people and can use our science knowledge to solve the world hunger problem. How can you learn and apply science related to this global problem?

Here is a vegan food triangle link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153389182/.

Here is a food triangle or pyramid that is for meat eaters:

http://www.lifeclinic.com/focus/nutrition/food-pyramid.asp.

Can you compare and contrast them, then, evaluate them based on the science you know? Can you suggest a public policy based on what you have learned? But, wait...Is it good for diabetics? Look at this quote and related link, too:

Once it is considered that following food pyramid can provide effective diabetes control and blood glucose management. But now food pyramid is considered as outdated method that is only suitable for healthy individual (non diabetic) not for diabetes.

Source: http://healthy-ojas.com/diabetes/food-pyramid.html Accessed August 15, 2010.

WHere does biomass fit into the picture of alleviating hunger?

"The concept of biomass is important. It is a general principle that the further removed a trophic level is from its source (detritus or producer), the less biomass it will contain (biomass here would refer to the combined weight of all the organisms in the trophic level). This reduction in biomass occurs for several reasons:

1. not everything in the lower levels gets eaten
2. not everything that is eaten is digested
3. energy is always being lost as heat

"...[R]emember that the decrease in number is best detected in terms or biomass. Numbers of organisms are unreliable in this case because of the great variation in the biomass of individual organisms."

Source: http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/102/ecosystem.html#Pyramids5. Accessed August 15, 2010.

Hmmm! What do you think about that? Is it time to look at journal articles on the food pyramid and biomass?

From today's, "In the News..."

"Moon Too Dry to Host Life
Though recent moon missions have found water iceon the Moon's surface and evidence of water was reported in rocks brought back to Earth by Apolloastronauts in the late 1960s and early 1970s, scientists now believe that the Moon may actually be quite dry. A recent analysis of chlorine isotopes found in the Apollo samples revealed that the hydrogen content of lunar magma during the Moon's formation was actually quite low. Since hydrogenis a key element of water, it stands to reason that the Moon possesses relatively little water. More ... Discuss"

The above quote is from today's, "In the News." You can use it to jump sart a discussion in science class.