Debora Obrist - February 28th. 3/3

What we did today:

• It was a repeat day, sooo we did a lot.
• Finished our game of jeopardy. My congratulations to team Hottie Alert! =D
• Reviewed photosynthesis / cellular respiration.
• Did Are You Ready? questions on page 176.
• Did questions on page 202.
• Took notes on ATP. -what it is, how it's used and made.
• Squeezed pens and made charts and answered questions about it.

Thoughts/Opinions.

• I think in the future, actual clothespins should be used instead of pens.
• Are there any artificial ways of getting ATP into your body, without cellular respiration?

Above and Beyond:

• Yes, there are! ATP supplements are made to supply the cells in your muscles with more energy than they are able to make on their own. These work well for times involving strenuous physical activity. Most people don't need this, though.
• "http://www.goodhealthco.com/full_product/energyboost905.html"

Tara Landsbergen, February 25th, 3/3

What We Did Today:

• Missed Mr.C
• Had to put up with the Haus
• Started and worked on our Bottle Biosphere project

Thoughts And Opinions:

• I thought that the Bottle Biosphere project was interesting and fun.  It was also a good way for us to think about and review the biogeochemical cycles and the different trophic levels that we learned about earlier in the unit.  I do wish we could actually make one for real!!!
  
• Could closed artificial biospheres sustain human life??

Above And Beyond:

• A Biosphere Project was built in Arizona at the cost of $200 million US.  The scientists had tried to build a 3-acre Earth containing a desert, rainforest and even an ocean.  There were many problems though.  One of them being oxygen levels.  They started declining at 0.3% per month.  CO2 levels were extremely unstable as well.  They ended up having to pump pure oxygen into the biosphere, hence now destroying the "closed" system.  4 men and 4 women lived in this artificial biosphere and came out extremely depressed and malnourished.  This was after two years of living in the artificial biosphere.

website:  http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/dvorsky20070203/

Picture of Biosphere 2 Project

Rachel Klapp 3/3

This is what we did in class on wednsday:

• Had a qucik quiz.


• Marked our questions from the text book on the nitrogen cycle.


• Completed two work sheets on the phosphorus cycle.


• Watched a little demo on the phosphorus cycle.


• The bell rang while we were watching the demo so we will coninue on Monday.

Questions and Comments:

• I learned that the phosphorus cycle does not exist in the atmosphere.


• Are the phosphorus types of bacteria like there is nitrifying bacteria?

Above and Beyonndddddddddddddd:

There is suposed to be a picture here. I uploaded it twice from my desktop.

Amy Kidd, February 19 -- 3/3

What we did today:

Looked at the nitrogen cycle.
- did 2 worksheets.
- looked at the different types of bacteria in the cycle, and their functions.

Thoughts and Opinions:

What is the difference between nitrogen fixing bacteria and ammonifying bacteria? They do the same thing, so why are there 2 of them?

Additional Insight:

- All life requires nitrogen-compounds. ex: proteins and nucleic acids.
- Air, which is 79% nitrogen gas (N2), is the major reservoir of nitrogen, but most rganisms cannot use it in this form.
- Plants must secure their nitrogen in "fixed" forms, such as:
- nitrate ions (NOx)
- ammonia (NH3)
- urea (NH2)2CO

Mikki Johnston Feb.15,2008 3/3

What we did today!

• Looked at Carbon Reservoirs Questions from Yesterday


• Talked about Global Warming


• Talked about Greenhouse Effect


• Watched a clip of a video about something (Global Warming and Core samples and stuff)

Thoughts about the class

Well as we were watching the video about the Greenhouse effect or what not I wondered about how can core samples can tell you about the Earth ?!?

Additional Info

Ok so the core samples are layers of snow compacted over time and each layer tells you something about the Earth. It's like telling the history of the planet through snowly layers! Core samples also can be taken from trees rings and from the ocean floor. The core samples can tell you if there had been an ice age, drought and all sorts of stuff.

"A core sample is a cylindrical section of a naturally occurring medium consistent enough to hold a layered structure." -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_sample

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_sample

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/ogsr/images/core_library.jpeg

Carbon cycle, Kimara Gratton, Feb 14-08,

What we did today:

• Marked lab questions
  
• Chapter two quiz
• Talked about the carbon cycle

Thoughts and opinions:
I thought about what percentage of carbon dioxide plants took in compared to people.

Above and beyond:
I couldn't find what percentage of carbon dioxide plants took in compared to people, but i did find this web site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle that said that oceans contain 36,000 gigatonnes of carbon mostly in the form of bicarbonate ion. I found this kind of interesting.

What we Did;
we talked about the hydrological cycle
we talked about acid depostion
read page 46
we did a thought lab
and answered questions

Thoughts and Opinions;

I thought about how many rovers have been sent up into space to search for life and what has been found. I also wondered about different water currents and which ones carry the most heat. Which ones move in and out of Canadian bodies of water? And which ones? I wonder how deep the water table is in different regions on earth and how that effects the types of organisms that exsist there. I also wondered if there are any mountains in the eastern provinces that do neutralize acid rain in any way.

Above and Beyound;

After reading about tides on http://www.lau.chs-shc.gc.ca i found that some tides occur in the great lakes of canada. although mostly small and insignificant, they do occur. I also read about reversing falls. a phenomenon in which the tide rises higher than the water fall and the water seems to be flowing backwards. Canada's 3 reversing falls are the saint john river, wager bay and Barrier inlet.

Lindsay Baker (2/3)

THIS IS WHAT WENT DOWN TODAYYYY.

first, we did a pre-lab quiz. but i didn't. i wasn't there the day before.
then we did the lab where we pretty much just burnt up some food. i learned that carby things got a lot of food energy. more than simple sugars, y'know? and i am ultra-pro at burning pumpkin seeds. i'm wondering if i did the whole thing right, because i had answers in the 1000-3000 range and then i got one thing that was like 6283. or somethin'. the point is that junk food has alot of unnutritiousness and you should probably eat some seeds instead.
then we marked the thing with the water budgets with the kangaroo rat and the people and i found that people sure do pee alot.
we also got a sheet on the carbon cycle. somebody said a stage of the cycle was "bear". let me show you a bear.


it's standing. i wonder how much bears sweat? i know that bears smell pretty bad, but i don't think it's sweat. it's probably people parts. in their belly. WOO WOOOOO!

Craig Bourgonje, February 11 2008, 3/3

What We Did:

• Looked at Vadge's blog (Mitch will hit me for that).
• Reviewed lab.
• Handed in lab.
• Looked over assigned questions.
• Watched video clip about prescribed burns.
• Looked at hand out.

Thoughts and opinions:

Todays class was mostly boring, despite watching a video clip, which wasted a small portion of the class. The better part of the class was spent reviewing homework, which I am great full it was not for marks.

Above and Beyond

Fire has played a major role in determining the distribution of plants across the South. Some plant communities such as cypress swamps survive for centuries between prolonged droughts that finally allow stand replacement fires to enter. Other communities such as the once vast expanse of longleaf pine burn every few years. In fact some ecosystems, for example the longleaf pine-wiregrass association, require periodic fire for their very survival.

http://geology.isu.edu/geostac/Field_Exercise/wildfire/images/Prescribed-Burn.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvBORoVWuM4

Mitch Bach -- Feb 8,2008 -- 3/3

What we did:

• Pre-lab Quiz.
  
• Went over the lab sheet -- Photosynthesis in Plants.
  Did the lab.
  
• We took notes on Limits in energy.
  
• Read and took notes on Pyramids in Ecosystem.
  
• Practise Questions -- Pg. 31/32 Q. 1-3
  
  

Thoughts and Opinions:

When we were doing the lab, I wondered if there were any other indicators for evidence of starch. I also wondered which plant absorbes the most sunlight in photosyhnthesis throughout the world. Overall, I think that the lab was a complete success.

Above and Beyond:

Throughout the web, I couldn't find a site that said that other indicators can be used to trace starch. However, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starch_indicator says that starch is used to find traces of iodine element and ion, which makes sense.

I was unable to find which plant absorbs the most sunlight, but because it is the chlorophyll in plants where photosynthesis occurs, it would be the plant with the greatest concentration of chlorophyll in it. It would probably be a plant where a lot of water is found nearby, because water constantly reflects, refracts, and magnifies sunlight.

Chloroplasts, the major sight of photosynthesis.

Mr. C, Feb.6/08, 3/3

What we did today:

1. quick recap of caffeine research findings


2. discussion about terms introduced yesterday (biosphere, dynamic equilib, "mantra")


3. discussion about importance of biodiversity to maintaining dynamic equilibrium in the biosphere (included reading about frogs as indicator species: p12-14)


4. went over requirements for Blog (begins tomorrow)

Thoughts about the material:

Our discussion made me wonder about the biodome project (why didn't it work?), how many organisms can exist in a given food chain (is there a max # of "links"?), and just how thick is the biosphere (other than "saran wrap"). It's hard to believe that this small region is the only place that life exists in the universe.

Above and beyond:
According to this site: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/biosphere the average thickness of the biosphere is about 5400m above sea level to 9000m below sea level. That's 14.4km - not very thick (you could walk that far in about an hour and a half!).

Note: some organisms have been recorded outside of this range - at least temporarily e.g. Ruppels vulture found at 11,300m! (Mt Everest is 8850m) and some fish found at -8372m! (10,000psi of pressure!). Most organisms at the extremes of the biosphere are simple, single-celled bacteria.

The picture shows a charming baby octopus found deep in the ocean.