Botany of Desire Excerpt Pictures

(Agricultural Illinois)

This photo is an example of coevolution. The flower is dependent on attracting the bee and rubbing it's pollen so the pollen can get to other plants. It is also a food source for the bee.

(Oregon State)

Wheat is useful to humans. So we make way by clearing land so we can cultivate it. This benefits the plants because we move things for them. 

(Geograph UK)

This is an example of domestication which we find less appealing to look at then wild animals.

(Animal Kingdom)

This is an example of what Darwin in his  The Origin of Species classifies as a artificial selection. Cocker Spaniels can be referred to like this because they were specially breed to have a variation that humans value.

The Wolf and Rabbit Lab

Analysis: At first the wolfs died easily because there wasn't a big enough population of rabbits to sustain them. The white rabbits had an even lower population because they were easy to target in the tropical forest background because they had bad camaflaogue. The green rabbits had better adaptions to survive in the environment because they blended in with the background when I was tossing the wolves. Different variations in the wolves like whether they were big or small effected the number of rabbits that they caught. It was more helpful if they were larger. Therefore they could catch more rabbits. After the population of rabbits became more dense the wolfs were able to survive and reproduce. We messed up on recording data and we forgot the first couple rounds to double the numbers of the bunnies which probably would have sped up the process. We also only made it to 12 rounds. Towards the end of the lab the wolfs started to out number the rabbits and eliminated them quickly which could have led the rabbits to go into extinction. The ecosystem had reached the carrying capacity for the wolfs so the wolfs started to die off afterward.

Forest Fire

There was a crown forest fire in the forest near Ostersund Sweden after I left. This burned a lot of acres.  Most likely since there are very few lightning storms and there are no volcanoes in the area, the wildfire was caused by humans. This is very unfortunate because the boreal forest was very old and takes a while to grow back. A crown forest fire is a type of wildfire that reaches high places and burns at the tops of the trees and follows a high canopy line.

Crown Forest Fire

(PC: Parks Canada)

Aftermath of a crown forest fire in the U.S Cascades

(PC: Wikipedia)

The fire must have occurred in a very dry time. Usually the soil is pretty waterlogged which makes it easier to prevent wildfires. The plants evapotranspiration must have not been balanced by rainfall. This wildfire must have been devastating because wildfires do not often occur in Sweden, so the plants are less adapted to it. 

(PC: Wikipedia)

Plants in fire-prone areas do have helpful adaptions most of the time. For example the Eucalyptus tree is  well adapted because they contain flammable oils that encourage fire and their hard leaves resist drying out in a drought or heat. This makes them more likely to survive. Some trees also have dense bark and shed lower branches to resist fires. 

Post to this fire the community will begin to rejuvenate. There are some plants that charred wood, smoke and heat cause them to germinate their seeds more. Post-fire soil will be in good conditions because less leave and needle cover will allow water to soak in. The soil will also retain more water at first because plant transpiration will be reduced. However more sunlight can reach the soil which may affect its temperatures. The soil may become more basic after the fire which could be a good thing because normally the soil in boreal forests are very acidic. The plants that generally re-colonize in fire-affected areas are the ones that already had seeds present in the ground or are able to travel in the area quickly. A lot of these plants will have adaptions to be herbaceous which means they thrive in areas with a lot of sunlight. These will later be suppressed as the coniferous and very shady trees regrow back.

(PC: USDA)

The smoke released from this burning can effect the climate by staying in the troposphere and increasing solar radiation absorption during the winter. The particles released from the smoke can also pollute and collect in animals lungs.

If predators escaped the fire such as hawks, they will later have an advantage in hunting. Their advantage will come because there will be less ground-cover to hide their prey. 

(PC: Wikipedia)

This fire would have not effected the ecosystem that much if it wasn't a crown fire. The crown fire however let fire reach heights where it doesn't usually on the pines.

(THIS IS FICTION FOR CLASS....DIDN'T ACTUALLY HAPPEN)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildfire
http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/pubs/glossary/c.htm

Boreal Forests near Östersund Sweden

I knew that I wanted to travel to a boreal forest biome to research that environment so I researched places where boreal forests and I came across this map:

( Photo Credit: The Boreal Forest Biome- Marrieta College)

All boreal forests are located in the Northern Hemisphere due to climates. That's why boreal forests are sometimes referred to Taiga which is the Russian word for the forest that lies to the South of the Tundra.  I decided that a good place to research the boreal forests was in Östersund Sweden. Östersund is located in lower Northern Sweden and is referred to as "winter city"for their attractions for skiers. 

(Photo Credit: Östersund- Wikipedia)

Östersund is located next to a lake and I stayed by the lake and drove out to the forest on the outskirts for my research daily. I did some background research on boreal forests and the average precipitation  is anywhere from 20cm to 200cm per year. I also researched the climate in this city to see what I should pack for the summer. Here is the city's climate data:

(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

Here are the temperatures in general for a boreal forest biome:

(Photo Credit- Marietta College)

 It is one of the sunniest cities in the summer with a record of 654 hours of sun in 2007 and however has very few hours of sunlight in the winter. The hours of sunlight exposure across a latitude are generally the same. For all the hours of sunlight It does get snow and becomes very cold in the winter as all boreal forests do and the coniferous trees are adapted to that. Coniferous trees are by definition trees that bear cones. These trees have needles which helps to shed snow easily. Their thick waxy texture is actually an adaptation to resist the cold and to keep water in. These needles which spread out to cover surface area help in photosynthesis. Photosynthesis can occur in even the winter. If the temperature rises above freezing then the productivity increases. Types of coniferous trees are firs and pines. Permanent shade from the evergreens in dense parts of the forest keeps evaporation to a minimum so there is a lot of water retained in the summer and provides a cool wet air feeling.

Pine Tree (Photo Credit: Ohio Public Library)

Fir Tree- (Photo Credit: Tree in a Box)

Some other plants I saw included the European buckthorn which produces berries that can be food for the birds and animals in the area. An adaption that a lot of these berries have is their bitter taste that defer some species from eating them. It is a defense mechanism for the plants especially if the attacking species' digestive system can damage the seeds.

(Photo Credit: theborealforest.org)

I also saw lingonberry and cloudberry bushes that are only found in Scandinavia. 

 Cloudberries ( Photo Credit: wikipedia)

In addition to these pretty bushes I saw with berries, I also saw a lot of mosses and lichens. Mosses and lichens also contribute to the production of nutrients and oxygen through photosynthesis. Lichens also have a fungi component that decomposes. Lichens and fungi have symbiotic relationships because they prevent some hosts from getting diseases and store water while there is photosynthesis.

(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

Other fungi that were in the area were mushrooms.

( Photo Credit: Swedish Freak)

Decomposition takes place very slowly in boreal forests generally because of the low temperatures. Soils in boreal forests have the clays and other heavier minerals that migrate to lower levels. The top layer of the soil usually has a a lighter sandier texture that is sometimes refereed to podrols which is the Russian word for ash. This sandy layer is usually densely covered with fallen biomass like leafs and pine needles. Boreal forests sometimes have high acidity levels in the soils too and are nutrient poor.

Some of the wildlife in the area include Moose, Red Deer, Grey Wolves, Beavers, European Badgers, Brown Bears, Wolverines, Lynx, Arctic Foxes, Taiga Shrews and a Snowshoe Hare.

(Photo Credits: Wild Sweden) 

These animals have helpful adaptations to help them survive. For example the larger they are the more efficient they are at keeping body heat. The Snowshoe Hare is unique because it changes its fur to camouflage itself during different seasons. When there is snow the Hare changes its coat from white to a brown color. The Snowshoe Hare also has large paws that are adapted to help not sink into the snow. Moose and deer also have habits to stay close to water and spend time in the water during the summers to protect them from black flies. Most birds travel south for the winter because they don't have other means of surviving the harsh cold. Bears hibernate through the winter, and other animals create burrows and tunnels and store their food. Many of these animals are not dependent on each other so there are few symbiotic relationships. A symbiotic relationship in a boreal forest can be how the squirrels get protection in the trees and it is a form of commensalism so the tree is not affected.

Here are some of the general food webs for a boreal forest biome

(ecoplexity organization)

(wikispace)

(AFNWS)

Primary producers are the plants that use the sunlight in photosynthesis. These producers get eaten by primary consumers which are small animals like the Taiga Shrews that are herbivores. The consumers usually get eaten by secondary consumers which are carnivores but are still smaller like Hawks and the Arctic Foxes. These secondary consumers get consumed by large predators like the Wolves and the Lynx. 

Human influence in boreal forests pose threats like hunting, destruction of habitat, logging and the exploration of natural gas. Exploration of natural gas is one of the biggest issues with more demand in places like Alaska, Canada and Russia. 

My visit to Östersund was very fun and educational. I highly recommend for people to go there even when it is not winter and a world class skiing attraction.

I used these sources to come up with the research

http://www.wcupa.edu/aceer/amigos/cd/adaptations.htm

http://www.wildsweden.com/about/the-wild-animals/

http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/boreal.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_symbiotic_relationships

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96stersund

http://www.swedishfreak.com/

http://www.borealforest.org/index.php

Roly-poly Lab

Abstract: In this lab my partner and I learned about animal behavior. We tested to see if a roly-poly (pill bug) would have a behavior that made them favor an environment with sugary nutrients to one without nutrients.  By recording how many roly-polies were in each chamber we could determine the results.

Introduction:

The study of animal behavior is known as Ethology.  Behavior is the animals response to Animals behaviors can be sorted into two categories: learned and innate. Learned behaviors are ones such as flight and innate behaviors can be a dog drooling at a sight of food. Proximate behaviors are the closest explanation of to what is responsible for causing something. Ultimate behavior is a more specific exact analysis of why something is occurring. A proximate question would be: how was the bird able to sing? A ultimate question would be: why did the bird sing? Fixed action patterns are innate. They are a behavioral sequence that is instinctive and are patterns that can’t be divided and run to final completion. Examples of a fixed action pattern are Moths instantly dropping to the ground and folding their wings if they encounter the ultrasonic signals of a bat. Imprinting is any kind of learning at a young age that is independent of consequences of behavior. Imprinting is most common when the young animals acquire the behavioral characteristics of the parents. The proximate cause of young geese following it’s mother is that it sees it’s mother leaving and should follow out of instinct. The Ultimate cause is it needs to learn quickly and survive and the best chance is if they follow their mother. Kinesis is a movement that is random and is not in a specific direction in respect to the stimulus. Taxis is a movement towards or away from a stimulus. If a lizard moves towards the sunny spot on the ground that is Taxis. If it moves in random directions in the sun that is kinesis. Classical conditioning is a type of learning process that is produced through associations between naturally occurring stimulus and an environmental stimulus. This places a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex. The neutral signal can be the sound of a tone and the naturally occurring reflex was the dog salivating. The dog was trained through classical conditioning to associate the tone with the feeling of hunger. Unconditioned responses are ones that aren't learned and occurs naturally when there is an unconditioned stimulus. unconditioned stimuli just produce a natural and automatic result. When you smell food you become hungry is an example. 

Hypothesis: If more roly-polies are found in the honey chamber then the dry (control) chamber then the roly-polies have a behavior that makes them move to a more nutrient and sugar rich environment.

Materials:

·      2 chambers attached

·      2 pieces of filter paper

·      10 roly-polies

·      Some honey

·      A brush

Procedure:

1.      Set up the two chambers and soak one filter paper in honey. Place the filter papers in the chambers.

2.     Brush the roly-polies gently into the chambers and record the initial amount of bugs in each chamber

3.     Start recording minutes and checking how many are in each chamber every 30 seconds.

4.     At the end of 7 minutes stop and remove the roly-polies from the experiment.

Data:

Minutes	Honey Chamber	Dry Chamber
0	4	6
0.5	4	6
1	4	6
1.5	4	6
2	5	5
2.5	4	6
3	5	5
3.5	5	5
4	5	5
4.5	5	5
5	5	5
5.5	5	5
6	6	4
6.5	6	4
7	5	5

Conclusion:

The data showed us that the roly-polies have no behavior that makes them move to a sugary chamber over a dry one. At the beginning the roly-polies didn’t move for a long time. Maybe this was because of the initial shock of being placed in the chambers. Finally one did move to have an equal number on both sides. The equal number stayed consistent and only fluctuated by one bug. This shows that the group didn’t prefer one environment and moving behavioral towards it. Some possible errors we could have made are we dropped some water in the control chamber by accident so maybe moisture had an effect. We also could have not recorded the time for long enough to see movement.