The Microscope Part 1

So far, during this pre-winter break week, we have been doing one thing in science class. We have been learning the parts and functions of the microscope which is integral to understanding it. Some of the parts are the stage, the arm and base, the coarse focus knob and the fine focus knob. We took small things like tissues and examined them under the microscope. With the highest setting, I could see the fibers in the tissue. It was like I was in a different world. It looked like various mixtures of lines in one image.  We also learned there are many lenses in a microscope and look at images of things under the microscope. What do you think these things under the microscope are?   (by Alex D)

http://www.danoah.com/35-everyday-things-made-so-insanely-cool-under-a-microscope

The Microscope Part 2

Over the last few weeks we have been using microscopes. We have been using the stereomicroscope that is meant for looking at specimens. It uses two eyepieces. The stereomicroscope doesn't magnify as much as the microscope we're starting to use now, the compound microscope. In class we're learning all the parts of the compound microscope. It only has one eyepiece. The three lenses can magnify in 4x which is the low power lens, 10x the medium power lens and 40x the high power lens. What microscope do you like using better? Can you guess what this is a picture of?! (by Claire D)

http://www.danoah.com/35-everyday-things-made-so-insanely-cool-under-a-microscope

Click here to read some basic information about microscopes.  

Bull Sharks

I read a article about bull sharks. I already knew some facts about bull sharks and was extremely interested in them but I wanted to learn more about them. I asked Siri for websites about bull sharks and found a lot of choices. The website I like the best is at the bottom of the blog. I learned that bull sharks live in both fresh water and salt water but mostly in deep water. They have been found along the shores of the Mississippi River (United States) and Nicaragua (Central America). Bull sharks are number 3 on the most dangerous shark list for attacking humans due to the fact they are extremely territorial. They migrate with their food but if there is enough food bull sharks will stay in a certain area. Other sharks don't stay in the same spot and will move around the sea. Their daily diet is other sharks, fish, stingrays, mollusks, and even birds from time to time. But bulls sharks will really eat about anything. They attack their prey by bumping it (which will throw it off balance or even kill it) then biting it. Bull sharks can be 13 feet in length and 1,270 pounds. The females are larger than the males. Bull sharks are gray on the top and white on the bottom with 2 dorsal fins, one small and one big on the tail. During mating season bull sharks don't get along with each other. Females will have a litter of 4 to 10 pups. Female sharks will carry their pups for one year before giving birth. The pups won't reproduce until they are 10 years old. Bull sharks don't have much to fear about in the water. Rarely tiger or great white sharks will eat them. Alligator and crocodile may eat bull sharks depending on the location. Hunters will also kill bull sharks. But the number of bull sharks are still high. That is good because they don't do well in captivity. I am interested in bull sharks because they are the most unusual shark in the world. I want to know more about them other than the fact they are the 3rd most dangerous shark in the world. This connects to our science class because bull sharks can swim in lakes and most invertebrates that we studied can live in lakes as well as ponds. I feel that sharks are not just man eating machines. Click here to see the website. (by Kaitlyn)

Using smell as a way to camouflage

In the beginning of the year we learned about pond ecology and how organisms survive using adaptation.   Recently scientists discovered another form of adaptation through diet.  The orange-spotted filefish, which lives in the ocean, feeds on Acropora corals in Australia.  Once they ingest the chemicals in the corals it causes them to take on the scent of the coral. Then they can hide from their predators such as cod fish.  The filefish is vibrant blue and has orange spots on its body.  This is the first time scientists have discovered an animal that camouflages with its diet. I was interested in this animal because I had never heard of an animal that camouflages with the scent from its food. What do you think about the orange-spotted filefish? Click here to read the article. ( by Katy)

The Creatures of the Deep (Pond)

In class for the past 3 weeks, we have been learning about pond creatures like planaria, hydra and daphnia. We just finished our labs on them in class. The labs include the pond creatures' appearance, behavior, fun facts, habitat, food chain and a lab drawing of these pond creatures. There is  a great deal of life in a pond that you don't see until you look closer under a microscope. When you look under the microscope you will see the daphnia's one compound eye, it's intestines, and egg sacs. The daphnia jerks up and down to create a current which supplies it with air and food. When you look at the planaria you will see its two crossed eyespots in the middle of its triangle shaped head that can only detect light and dark. One third of the way down from its body tube is its mouth tube on the bottom side of the planaria. Which of the three creatures did you like best? (by Caroline)

Adaptations

We studied pond ecology in science class. We learned that all organisms have adaptations. That means that they all have their own thing to help them survive. Here are some examples of prey
adaptations: a Chinchilla, if it gets caught, it sheds all of its fur so the predator chokes. A porcupine has quills so the predator will get poked and hooked by the quills so it will be hurt and not try and eat it again. A walking stick insect has camouflage to blend into the trees. And so on. The predators also have adaptations to help it catch its food. Like the eagle has sharp talons to grip onto its meal. The anteater has claws for breaking into an ants hole. Owls have tufted
feathers that make its flight a silent flight. And so on. What is your favorite prey or predator adaptation?Click here to see a video about adaptations (by Eliza)

Planaria

We did an awesome lab with planaria! We got to see them with microscopes and with our bare eyes. Then we gave them egg yolk to eat and got to see them eat. The planaria senses the food with chemoreceptor cells.The planaria eats by wrapping its body around the prey, sliming it, and then sticking out its mouth tube and sucking on the prey. The planaria does not have eyeballs but eyespots that can only see light and dark. What do you know about planaria? (by Mika A)

Cross-Eyed Creature

In class, we are doing a unit when we look under a microscope at a series of living organisms and do labs on those organisms. One of those organisms that I am going to be focused on most is the planaria. The planaria has a rather odd appearance. It has a spear shaped head and has two eyespots that aren’t like our eyes at all. The planaria’s eyespots just can detect the change of dark to light. Also, it’s eyespots appear to be crossed. The planaria’s color changes with what type of food it eats, but most commonly it is brown. The way a planaria eats its food is really odd. The planaria’s mouth is in the middle of the underside of the planaria’s body and whenever they want to eat, they have to latch on to their prey, cover it in slime, and then they pump out their mouthtube from their body and start to eat. Look at the picture and tell me your favorite feature or fact about the planaria. (by Owen A.)

Bears in Maine

During the election this past week, one of the topics you could vote about was bear baiting. Bear baiting is a way of luring bears with food and an attempt to reduce or even out the bear population. Some people think that bear baiting is a cruel way to reduce the population, but it does help keep bears under control. All of the other states have successfully controlled bears, so maybe Maine doesn’t need bear baiting. If the bear population goes up then, the salmon and the tree squirrel population would decrease because they are prey of the bear. If the bear population decreased then the salmon, tree squirrel and many other populations would increase. This connects to our science class because we have been talking about food webs. The reason people try to control the bear population is because otherwise like we learned in class it will change the whole food web. If you could vote what would you vote on bear baiting? (by Ben A)

Why Northern Shrimp are in Trouble

  In our last quarter, we talked about food webs, food chains, and population fluctuations. It reminded me that this past summer in Georgetown, I heard that there was a ban on shrimping in Maine because the population of the organism was too low. Apparently fishermen over fished over the last several years so the shrimp population plummeted. The northern shrimp feeds upon phytoplankton whose population has also gone down due to warmer waters. It also feeds upon small ocean invertebrates. The natural predators of northern shrimp are larger fish and seabirds. The natural predators are not the problem. The problem is that the natural predators of the shrimp have been overtaken by the human fishermen, who have overfished and depleted Maine’s shrimp population. The good news is that a regulatory agency has banned shrimping so that the little crustaceans can reproduce and bring their population back up to acceptable levels. Here is a link to a site that helped me learn more about the northern shrimp: http://www.asmfc.org/species/northern-shrimp        (by Joey A-M)