Name: _________________________
Take-Home Learning Experience #2
This take-home learning experience will be due at the beginning of class next week. You are allowed to use whatever class notes you have taken, or handouts I have given you. You are not allowed to work with other students. If your answer matches someone else’s answer, neither student will receive credit for the answer. If you do not understand the question, you should contact Tiare by Wednesday to receive help.
1) Describe or draw how you can tell a simple leaf from a leaflet?
Look at where the leaf connects to the branch. If there is a small bud there, it is a simple leaf, if not, it is a leaflet.
2) Go outside and find a simple leaf. Using the vocabulary words from class, describe each of the following characteristics for your leaf: (When you are done, pick the leaf and attach it to the page using tape or a stapler. No leaf = no credit!)
Attachment:
Arrangement:
Shape:
Margin:
Extra credit (5 points): What is the name of the plant this leaf is from?
3) Your friends are about to go to a nursery to look for a cool plant for their front yard. You want to make sure they don’t buy an invasive plant, so you tell them: (describe what an invasive plant is and characteristics (such as how they spread) of an invasive plant)
An invasive plant is a plant that spreads and threatens to hard other plants.
An invasive plant is often from another place (introduced), though not always. They generally spread quickly via vegetative propagation (a little piece breaks off and starts a whole new plant), or through seeds and berries that spread. They generally produce a lot of seed.
4) Despite your best efforts, your friends come home with English ivy. You whine and scream and threaten to cut it down, wad it up, and stick it in a tree. They say, "What’s the big deal? We’re just planting a little bit in our yard because it looks so pretty growing up the side of the chimney. It’s not like we’re hurting any wildlife in our yard or anything! Loosen up!" Explain to them why homeowners shouldn’t plant invasive species, and how they affect the native ecosystems and plant and animals living there:
Invasive species spread easily - a piece breaks off, a bird eats a seed and flies away and poops it out, etc., and then it has been planted in an area.
It can spread there, out-compete the native plants, and take over.
This causes an entire shift in the habitat because different food and shelter sources are now available to animals.
The animals haven’t evolved to use this foreign plant and must move to a new place.
5) Why do some naturalists believe that having an "attitude of gratitude" as you enter a place is a big part of the Routine of Invisibility?
Animals can read our body language and perhaps even the "vibes" we put out, and if we come into a place angry, or not thinking about what is around us and opening ourselves in a positive way, they sense it and leave or hide.
6) Complete the following tourist test:
Which direction do you face when you walk out the front door of your regular school?
Where would the sun rise?
When you last walked out the front door, was there any wind? If so, which direction did it come from?
One the way in, what birds sounds did you notice?
What flowers are blooming around the school?
What did the moon look like last night?
Name a tree a beaver would eat at our site:
Draw a deer print:
7) Using the MLA format, correctly (and neatly!) write the bibliographic citation for the following book:
Life In The Cold, by Peter Marchand. Published by University Press of New England, which is in Hanover. The years on the inside cover say 1987, 1991, and 1996.
Marchand, Peter. Life In The Cold. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1996.
8) Let’s pretend a Chinook salmon laid her eggs in a redd in Newell Creek last November. Based on your observations and things you have learned this quarter, what are some of the water quality problems and issues the eggs might encounter? In your answer, consider the condition of the watershed (how might farms, parking lots, forested areas, etc affect parameters such as the streamflow, temperature, turbidity, etc.)
Considering that much of the watershed is urban, when it rains a large amount of runoff quickly invades the stream, carrying with it silt, pollution, etc. The large flush of water may dislodge the redd entirely and wash it away. The silt and sediment may cover the redd and suffocate the eggs. The water temperature may rise due to heated surfaces, clearing of riparian vegetation, etc.
9) Let’s pretend the eggs from the previous question survived, and became alevins, then fry, then smolt, migrated to the ocean, and decided it was time to return to Newell Creek to spawn. What are some of the obstacles that might interfere with their ability to reproduce in Newell Creek?
Fishermen, dams, being able to find the stream by smell due to pollution, changes inrun-off, etc. Lack of suitable gravel for redd building, fast moving streams, etc.