Each Page on this site will be for one section of the portfolio. There will be links to get from one page to the next so you can easily click through to guide you through the portfolio. You can also click on the links below to skip to any section you like.
This portfolio Covers all of the different aspects of what we learned in the course. By the use of images, data, and descriptions, this portfolio gives a general overview of all of the learning points and shows an understanding of the topics covered in the class.
After the class, the online format will provide a place for me to come back to whenever I need to freshen up on different concepts or ideas. I can also use some of the data for comparing to what I find later on to verify and find changes that are happening around me.
the following two quiz responses deals with complexity reproduction, development, change, structure, mechanisms, interdependence, and more!
A succulent is a type of plant that is generally found in dryer areas. One way that succulents survive the harsh desert climates is with spines. They can use the spines to fend off animals from eating them. Another way that succulents can be designed to survive is by carefully shaping themselves to catch water. Some have leaves that form a sort of catch bowl that can catch rain water and filter it down into the central root area, called rosettes.
Aloe Vera is a common succulent that stores its water in its leaves.
The ponytail plant is a large plant that stores its water in the stem.
lichen are considered a community because they are made up of different species. The taxonomy classification of lichen is Domain Eukaryota, Kingdom Fungi and have three growth forms:
Crutose: flat and crusty
Foliose: leafy
Fruticose: vase shaped
Lichen are unlikely to find in bigger cities because they are very sensitive to air quality. You wont find them in places with air pollution which means you can use them to indicate if the air quality is good.
My pond food web media covers structures, functions, interdependance, organization, and more.
This quiz response covers stewardship, human impacts, pollution, recycling, and mitigation.
Stewardship – Protecting environments, organisms, and human cultures. It includes protecting languages and practices too.
One way that I have engaged in stewardship is when I go to the beach, I often will find and pick up trash and throw it away.
The next response talks about endangered species, invasive species, human impacts, food webs, conservation and more.
You are planting a garden to attract a variety of pollinators. What are the characteristics of three different flowers you would select to attract pollinators?
1. Larger flowers with colors of yellow, pink, blue, and purple are the most effective for attracting pollinators!
2. Flowers with strong fragrances are also very good at attracting in some pollinators. Picking a flower with strong scents would be good.
3. Bundles of flowers are sought after by some species of pollinators. So ensuring to have a variety of bundled and individual flowering plants would be good to increase the chances of drawing in pollinators.
In the future, I would love to one day be able to help out with cleaning up oceans and I think it would be cool to volunteer with helping protect whales and dolphins.
Lastly, my media piece talks about sustainability, conservation, stewardship, organisms, energy sources and more.
Organism Care Plan (Succulents)
Food, Water and Housing
Should be watered only when soil becomes dry
Soil should contain perlite
Can feed with low nitrogen fertilizer
May need repotted if it outgrows its pot
Threats and Diseases
Succulents are prone to root rot, This can be avoided with careful watering and drying
Too much sunlight can cause harm
Having a good indirect light source is best
High Nitrogen in soil can cause leaf or root disease
Care Stages
Using a wet and dry technique is good for them
Water until soil is soaked, and then wait until fully dried out to water again
Let it acclimate when moving it around or to new locations
Consistency
Propagation can ensure you have a lasting line of succulents
safety (lab & field), field kits, equipment, field techniques, tracking, organism care, collecting & transporting specimens, reading tests & imagery, microscope analysis, self-analysis
The quiz response below explains some techniques for tracking, specimens and collecting.
Advantages:
Sampling is quicker and more efficient way to measure and make assumptions and guesses on a larger area that you may not have time to completely cover.
It allows for a cheaper and less resource requiring way of performing data collection.
Disadvantages:
It is often limited by resources such as money, time and weather.
it has the potential to skew the results if you happen to choose an area that has a strange or uncommon feature compared to the larger population you are studying.
My Evidence media piece shows equipment, field gear, techniques, collecting, imagery and self analysis.
Evidence Media
The evidence media assignment shows skills in tracking, field techniques, and reading imagery and tests. By marking out a specific, defined area and imaging and recording the data about the organisms inside of it, we can perform analysis on that environment and make assumptions about a greater area surrounding it.
Sample [2:00 PM October 14, 2023]
•There were 3 different organisms in the sample area I observed
•The sample area was about 8 inches by 8 inches
•There was a covering of vine like plants, with smooth leaves and they were in groupings of 4. From the sample, it is hard to tell where the plants were coming from so I can only guess that there was probably around 3 different plants in the area.
•There was also a few smaller plants with jagged, rough leaves. These were in groups of 2-3. These plants seemed to stay distributed in clumps.
•There was a leaf from what I thought was an oak tree, and another dead leaf from another tree.
communicating about the environment, matching message to media, writing & journaling, drawing & painting, photos & videos, mixed media, science stories, generational learning\
This quiz response deals with media and learning, and science stories.
1. Making media can help you to change the way you are looking at something and can build a new or unique experience that you may have otherwise missed or not thought of. It can also help you to experience something through the eyes of someone else who you are trying to make the media towards.
2. making media can get you out into new locations or places that you might not have otherwise been. For example, if you are making media about something in the field like an urchin, you will get to smell the air, feel the water, maybe even handle the urchin itself. If you had instead consumed other already made media, you would not have gotten the same experience.
My Mediated experience media piece covers photos, videos, sound, media, and stories.
Mediated Experience
I have spent a lot of time in Florida and visiting the Everglades and Big Cypress is always a fun time. Alligators and Crocodiles are common to see when visiting and you can often end up getting pretty close to them. I have even gotten to hold smaller ones at some of the different visitor centers and ranger stations. Alligators and crocodiles are scaled and have a leathery feel to their skin. They are really strong and even the small ones can wiggle free if your not holding them tightly.
They also made hissing sounds sometimes, but are generally pretty chill. You can walk right past them and they wont mind at all, as seen in the picture below. Our path out of the park we were in was blocked by a small croc so we had to walk closely past him to get out. They enjoy laying on the pavement because of the warmth I believe, so you often find them relaxing in the sun even in the warm summer months.
I don’t have and recordings personally, but here is a video showing the sounds that crocodiles sometimes make!
I am including this response because it showcases decision making, problem solving, analysis, and more.
You are building your own pond on a piece of land and have received a small grant to fund the purchase of organisms to stock the pond. We’ll assume there are bacteria already present. Make a list that includes each of these headings as well as the examples of organisms you would choose to purchase: two microscopic producers; two macroscopic producers; two microscopic protist consumers; and two macroscopic animal consumers.
Microscopic producers:
1. Algae
2. Diatoms
Macroscopic producers:
1. Elodea
2. Azolla
Microscopic protist:
1. Copepods
2. Amoebas
Macroscopic animal consumers:
1. Hydras
2. Planaria
I’m also including my response about the discovery pattern. It showcases discovery, recording, note taking, and more.
The process of discovery tends to follow a 3 step pattern. It starts with actually doing something and going somewhere to explore, for example going to a new beach and looking in the surf for things. Next up, after you have found something, you need to describe what you found. This can include making drawings, taking pictures, or recording sounds, etc. If I found a shell in the water, I could take some pictures of it, record a video, or even try to draw it. Lastly, you need to explain what you saw. This can include doing research or experiments if needed to be able to prove a theory or just learn more about something. I would likely go back and look up on the internet to see if I can find info about it. I can also check if there is anyone around who might be able to help me figure out what it is. I can also make guesses at what may have lived in it based on size and shape.
Lastly, my media piece below deals with note taking, discovery, recording, long term studies, habits, and practice!
Long Term Habitat Study
Location: Ocracoke Island, The Outer Banks, North Carolina
Frequency
I visit the outer banks very frequently, at least twice a year on average. I try to spread out my visits; one early in the summer and one in late summer. I have been visiting the outer banks for over half my life and I have seen major changes even since I began visiting. I plan to continue visiting and I am always excited to visit because of how the island changes so quickly and suddenly.
Predictions
I expect to see the Ocracoke point disappearing slowly as the years pass. The outer banks are known for their extremely fast changing shapes as the tides and currents are constantly pulling very hard. I would expect within just 5 years to see dramatic reduction in the size of the beach there.
I also expect to see a rise in sea turtle nesting population. The park rangers have done an amazing job protecting the nesting sea turtles and I have seen increasing amounts of nesting areas being closed off for the public. I even got lucky enough to watch hundreds of turtles making their dash to the ocean one year!
Data
I have thousands of photos taken over the years which gives me a great start to my documentation. Being a photographer for many years, photos and videos are my go to for documenting anything. I will also start to track the amount of turtles I find when visiting from now on so I can see the trends over time.
Bonus!!
Here is one of the photos I took when I watched the turtles hatching back in 2017
science news, science-related media, global issue,. science & culture, business/economy, science & the arts, science ethics, science products, events, institutions, science values, scientists, science-related jobs, science & technology, early naturalists
I am including my quiz response on global changes to showcase how business and jobs can become global issues and become big in news and media.
Deforestation: this is caused by too many trees being cut down for lumber, or converted to farmland or other uses.
Overgrazing: this is caused by farm animals pulling out plants and killing off the plant life in an area too much.
Overcultivation: this is using the land too much and too repeatedly for farming that removes too many nutrients.
My quiz response about bats also showcases the media contributing to a greater cause for the science community because of the widespread effort to save them.
North American bats are facing mass death as disease spreads throughout the population. White nose syndrome spreads and kills very quickly. This could have a very big impact because they are a large consumer of insects such as mosquitos. this could cause an increase in the insect population as a large portion of insect predators disappears.
Lastly, my data summary media piece showcases the use of media and visuals, and technology being used in science.
This article is well written and has engaging content and data visuals. The source is up to date as of 2020 at least. And the source is reliable, and gains no benefit from spreading misinformation.
Data and Visualizations
The article has many picture and data slides that provide information. One interesting one was the slide out on Ocean warming. The slide provides detailed statistics about the temperature increase, stating that there has been a .67 degree F increase over the past 50 years. This is shown to contribute to the melting poles significantly.
Another Interesting graph is about the atmospheric carbon levels increasing. Utilizing ice core data, it has shown that the levels of carbon dioxide have increased dramatically in recent times. This has been shown to be significantly higher than originally thought with the development of new, high tech instrumental data. This has shown almost a 50% increase since just 1958.
Observations, inferences, creativity & imagination, research design, library research, qualitative & quantitative, data collection, sampling, data management, data analysis, data visualization, synthesis & conclusions
I am including my quiz responses on analysis of data and research. This showcases the ability to receive or collect quantitative and qualitive data and present it.
Otters
Eukaryota, Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Mammalia, Carnivora, Mustelidae
River Otters:
Found in the northern Hemisphere
Lives in fresh water
Smaller (up to 20 lbs.)
Swim face down
Sea Otters:
Found in the Pacific Ocean
Lives in salt water
Larger (up to 90 lbs.)
Swims face up
Crickets are in the order Orthopteran and are alongside grasshoppers and katydids. A lot of crickets tend to be aggressive and like to chase and fight each other.
Roaches live in warmer temperatures and live in moist habitats. Roaches eat almost everything and don’t need to drink. They collect their water from their food. They have a tough exoskeleton and they molt many times. Roaches like to come out at dark.
By collecting data and creating a way to analyze that data, we can start to draw conclusions about what is happening around us!
I am also including my media piece on data visualization to showcase visual creation, data collection, sampling, and more.
Data Visualization
I chose to record data of trees in the area. I took a walk through my neighborhood of about half a mile stretch of roads and recorded the color of all of the trees that still had leaves. I did not count pine trees.
There was a pretty even distribution of colors, with slightly more leaning toward the red side.
I am including my quiz response about making hypotheses off of facts and attributes. This shows many of the outcomes such as evidence, specimens, theories, perception, prediction, and more.
You find a dead bird and would like to identify the species. You may no longer be able to determine behavior, but describe the other four field mark characteristics you could use to identify the bird.
1. habitat: you can look at where it was located, and where it lived to help determine.
2. size: The size of the bird will provide an accurate number that you can check against records for
3. Shape: the shape of the bird can help you determine which bird it is.
4. Marks: Colors and stripes and spots, etc. These can be a very strong method for determining which species you are looking at as they commonly have very distinctive characteristics.
I am also showing my quiz response about carrying capacity to show cause and effect and change, along with my changes in nature media peice.
Carrying capacity is the total number of organisms that a certain habitat can sustain with its available resources.
1. Fires could be affecting the foxes by destroying their habitats or killing them in the fires.
2. lack of food can also limit the foxes population. As stated above, fires could lead to a lack of food after destroying/killing off their food.
3. Grasslands are often converted into agriculture due to the good, moist land. This means that the foxes habitats are often disappearing as they are converted into agriculture.
Changes in Nature
Leaves are changing as the weather is getting cooler and the sun is shining less. We generally see our leaves change color much earlier, but this year has been a lot warmer than usual so the leaves stayed green longer.
We also see much less activity from animals such as birds and squirrels. You can still find the occasional squirrel running around but that’s about it.
The sun sets much earlier now, meaning that my plants get less sunlight and I had to relocate them to ensure they don’t die. I will also start watering them significantly less than during the warm, sunny summer months.
I am including quiz responses about collections because they are commonplace in museums and galleries. By collecting, local communities can benefit from them for learning and enjoyment.
Contemporary Collections
1. Collecting from other collections. By passing on old collections, and gathering from others collections, there is no new impact to nature, but the joy of physically having an item is still present!
2. Repurposing. Another great thing to do is to repurpose items to be used for other reasons. Collecting things to be used for teaching for example, or for research. Others can benefit from just 1 collected item rather than needing everyone to go collect that item.
Exploratory Studies help to draw connections between biology and the world around us. By examining a field specimen, we can start to see connections between the organism and its surrounding environment. For this I am including my quiz response about them and my media piece.
An exploratory study can help to identify different contributors to an organisms survival by reducing the amount of undefined external influences.
By slowly removing and isolating different factors, such as isolating colors of flowers to test whether color makes a difference in bees abilities to find certain pollinated flowers, we can start to draw stronger connections between these aspects.
Exploratory Studies
An exploratory study can help to identify different contributors to an organism’s survival by reducing the amount of undefined external influences.
By slowly removing and isolating different factors, such as isolating colors of flowers to test whether color makes a difference in bee’s abilities to find certain pollinated flowers, we can start to draw stronger connections between these aspects.
