GIS Learning session

Working in groups to learn the GIS system was a great opportunity to have in class. I was elated to learn how many of the programs I use every day function with layered maps. An example map is included, the final product of the map my group created while learning the program.

As you can see, we layered the map by counties, then by shore, then shorebird nesting, and finally Hurricane tracks over a period of 10 years.

Lab 2 - Leaf Miner Ecological Efficiency

 Research Question: What is the ecological efficiency of leaf miners?

 

Preparation: A leaf with evident leaf miner tunnels were collected, and the tubes were examined. Data was then evaluated to find length and width of tunnels. The length of the tunnel made by the leaf miner on the leaf collected was 63 mm. The width of the tunnel was measured at 1 mm. The leaf miner itself was 0.5 mm by 1 mm. The final point of the tunnel was 1.5 mm wide. Because of basic triangular properties, the approximate area of the tunnel was found to be 47.25 mm2. To find the ecological efficiency ratio, the area of eaten food was multiplied by the area of the miner, 0.5 mm. This gives an efficiency ratio of 1: 94.5.

Evaluations: Based on the concept of ecological efficiency, a trophic pyramid for leaves and leaf miners would look like so:

In order to calculate ecological efficiency on the kcal of energy of the insect vs. the leaf tissue versus the amount of tissue consumed vs. the size of the miner, both the insect and the leaf tissue would need to be burned in a calorimeter to measure the energy released.

Ecological efficiency of the leaf miners would be higher than a leaf eating beetle flying from plant to plant eating, because the leaf miner is burning less energy by moving less, and consuming more per body weight in the same amount of time.

The leaf miner can be categorized as both a herbivore and a parasite, because while the insect does eat leafs to sustain it’s life, it lives in and detrimentally feasts on the plant while growing into a mature larvae.

Quiz 1

1. Consider the hierarchy of organization for the environment (population, community, etc) in answering the following idea.  Discuss the role of observation and inference at each of the major hierarchical levels.

Organism, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere

Outside of a scientific setting, many people have difficulty distinguishing the difference between observation and inference. However, when used to categorize and explore our surroundings, observations and inferences are two very separate categories.

On an organismal level, it is important to make astute observations of the subject, either living or deceased, in order to make inferences about the subject’s behavior and skill set. Describing an organism with inferences could lead to incorrect conclusions about its behavior. When describing populations and community, the same principle applies. Using inferences as observations could lead to incorrect conclusions about interactions between species and organisms, thus arriving at false information and possibly changing what we think we know about past populations and communities.

When describing ecosystems and the biosphere, it is even more so important to first list observations in order to correctly make inferences about changes in climates, populations, and learn about the major weather trend. Applying these observations will lead to correct inferences, and allow for a better learning environment.

2.  Ecologists distinguish between climate and weather.  Photosynthetically active radiation is critical to many organisms on the surface of the Earth.  Discuss how this resource varies with season in the temperate northern latitudes, the northern polar latitudes, and at the equator.  How does this variation affect the distribution of plants, animals and microbes in those areas?

Organisms relying on photosynthetically active radiation need certain wavelengths from the sun in order to produce sustenance to maintain life. Each of the three latitudes, the temperate northern latitude, the northern polar latitude, and the equator, hold different levels of sunlight, and also have different amounts of sunlight per year. Because each location is unique to the level of sunlight received to the organismal level, distribution of organisms varies highly amongst the areas.  

The equator has the most constant amount of sunlight, thus allowing for the largest amount of organisms the environment can sustain. The Temperate Northern Latitudes and the Northern Polar latitudes hold fewer organisms due to restrictions from sunlight, respectively. Thus, each location has a more wide spread and more sparse distribution than an area near the equator.

3.  You performed an experiment with boats to examine the notion of buoyancy and cohesion.  You were limited to a piece of paper.  How would your results differ with the same surface area of balsa wood?  Of aluminum foil?  Explain the reasoning for your response.

A piece of paper is far less sturdy than the same surface area of a balsa wood boat, thus would be able to hold far less than a boat of balsa wood. The boats would most likely be able to float equally as well, however; when placing small objects, such as pennies, the wooden boat would be able to hold far more of the object than the paper boat. An aluminum foil boat would be much more malleable in the water, and if an equal boat were to be made of this material, would float just as well as the paper or wood boat. However, when placing objects in the boat, the foil would most likely bend and sink soon after place the objects. This is because the foil is a relatively heavy material, however, it is not completely solid like the balsa wood.

4.  You investigated the length of pine needles for one of your experiments, measuring 80 needles.  Look online or in a tree identification book to determine the species you examined.  How do your observations fit with those described for the species for needle length?  How would you design an experiment to determine the effects of environment on needle length?  Be sure to state your assumptions.

It is possible our needles came from a Slash Pine. This is a pine native to Florida, borne with two needles sheathed in a fascicle like the needles we observed, and with needle length near to the averages taken from our tree. The average online number is about 22 cm, where our average was about 26 cm for the needle length.

In order to design an experiment to determine effects of environment on needle length, several young pines would need to be split into even groups. One group would need to be the control group, placed in its natural environment. The other groups would need to simulate the natural environment of the tree all the way down to one variable. The variables would most likely be sunshine, water levels, wind levels, and humidity levels. With more or less of the variable than usual natural environment offers, the tree needles could become shorter to allow for more energy to go into seed production and tree protection. The largest factor would most likely be amount of sunshine, without enough sunshine the tree would not be able to produce sustenance for survival.  

5.  You have examined the resource use by leaf miners.  Instead of an ocular micrometer, you had access to a ruler for measuring the tunnel.  How might efficiency change for miners on oaks?  On red mangroves?  On apple trees?  How would you set up an experiment to test your ideas?

Efficiency of the leaf miners could change through calculations when switching to an ocular micrometer from a ruler strictly from higher accuracy. The leaf mine on the leaf I examined had a width ranging from 1 mm to 1.5 mm. Using an ocular micrometer, I would probably be able to examine the leaf more accurately and find the width to a more accurate decimal place.

Leaf miners feasting on different trees would mean different efficiency rates. There are hundreds of species of leaf miners, most feeding on specific trees, however; for the purpose of this explanation I will assume one species of leaf miner is feasting on oak, red mangroves, and apple trees.

Oaks, red mangroves, and apple trees all have different leaves with different thicknesses. Leaf miners are small insect larvae that feast on the leaves of trees by tunneling across the surface.  Because of the varying thicknesses, the leaf miners may create such a wide tunnel for each leaf. Apple trees have the thinnest leaves, then oak trees, then red mangroves. For each of these leaves, the leaf miner would need to make a thinner, and probably shorter, tunnel respectively. Holding a few of each of the trees in equal environments, and releasing the appropriate miners to feast upon them could test this. The miners would have until they change into worms to complete the experiment.

Lab 1 - Pine Needle Measuring

Research Question: How do pine needles vary in length, within and among individual trees?

Preparation: A pine tree was located and 80 dead needles were collected from the ground. Each needle was measured with a mm ruler and the length recorded. Needles were taken from groups of two connected, the longer of the two needles was measured. The data was evaluated to find the average length of pine needles from this tree, and a histogram was created.

Evaluations: When comparing the histogram to the description of normal distributions, it was found that both had a bell-shaped curve. This reaffirms that our population is average, with normally distributed length. Using statistical mean to evaluate the data collected was the most useful and accurate way to assess the data collected. The mode was also useful for making the graph of lengths of needles found, but the mean provided the average length for the needles collected, providing the ability to find "normal" needle length for a particular species. The standard deviation calculated provided a number to give the average amount of length above and under the average needle length.

 

Sample Size (n) = 80 pine needles

Sample Mean = 25.81 cm

Sample Variance = 4.409 cm

Standard Deviation = 0.233 cm

Standard Error = 0.426 %

95% Confidence Interval for Mean = 0.104 %

Graph: Frequency of length of pine needles.