Last Weekend in NOLA

My last weekend in New Orleans was an absolute blast! We were thrilled to find out that our final days coincided with the New Orleans Jazz festival, a 40 year long tradition that showcases both local and international artists for 2 weekends in April. Here are some pictures from our final lab work at Tulane, as well as photos taken while touring this great city. I would say there are few cities that compare with New Orleans in terms of the rich culture and history. I can't wait to visit again soon!

When we got back to New Orleans, we spent time setting up a caterpillar zoo in the Tulane lab, where Rebecca, our lead researcher, will continue studying the caterpillars after we leave. As we went through the bags, we observed lots of interesting life cycle changes. The picture to the right shows a fly pupa that literally broke through the skin of the caterpillar it had parasitized. You can see the skin of the caterpillar on the leaf. The coin is meant to help you see the size of the parasitoid.

Here is a shot of a cemetery I walked by after the Jazz Festival. New Orleans is famous for their above ground cemeteries. This is St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 and it first opened in 1854. The crypts (or burial vaults) on average are more elaborate than at the other St. Louis cemeteries, including a number of fine 19th century marble tombs.
Challenge Question: Why do you think the cemeteries are above ground? What do you know about New Orleans that might help answer this question? Check out this site to learn more: http://www.experienceneworleans.com/deadcity.html

I took the picture of these young musicians as they performed on a street corner outside the Jazz Festival. They are part of the New Orleans String project, an organization dedicated to enriching the lives of youths in the community through music. Check out their website: http://www.neworleansstringproject.org/

Our last meal as a group was at a fantastic little sushi restaurant near the Park View guest house. What better way to celebrate our accomplishments than a caterpillar roll?! We all agreed that this was a wonderful week! We sure will miss our caterpillars!

First Day Back!

I was so excited to return to school today and see the fabulous Coleman campers! They welcomed me back with super hugs, cards, and lots of questions! We spent some time in the morning talking about the trip and looking at more pictures. I was also quite impressed with their questions and their interest in my experiences in Louisiana. They seem motivated to start a similar investigation or community/school based project in the next few weeks, expanding on what we have learned so far in a fun and meaningful way. I included some cool pictures of insects that assistant researcher, Mark, took last week. The pictures found in the blog entries, as well as many more that have not been posted will be available to view from our class website in the next few days. Check them out at www.mscoleman.com/earthwatch.This insect is called a lacewing. They have 2 pairs of wings and chewing mouthparts, as well as long, thin bodies. Lacewings resemble dragonflies, but they hold their wings over their backs when they are not flying: dragonflies are unable to fold their wings over their bodies. As the name suggests, the wings of these insects are lace-like, with a dense network of veins and cross veins. Lacewings are fast-moving predators that patrol plants for aphids, insect eggs, and other arthropod prey.

Here is the frass from a bag of about 20-30 small caterpillars. We had to clean out about this much frass each day from this particular baggie!

This is a picture of a Damselfly (Suborder Zygoptera), an insect in the Order Odonata. Damselflies are similar to dragonflies, but the adults can be differentiated by the fact that the wings of most damselflies are held along the body when at rest. Damselflies are also usually smaller, weaker fliers than dragonflies, and their eyes are separated.

This plant-feeding insect is called a Plathopper and is part of the family Flatidae. This species of planthopper is found in various parts of the world, and is sometimes called the green planthopper, or the torpedo bug. They about 15 mm long, they resemble small leaves and are generally found in trees. Their wings are triangular, and the back edge and corners of their wings are lined with dotted red. Kinda looks like a punk rocker to me!

Barklice are tiny (less than 1/8 inch long) brownish insects. Adults have two pairs of wings, with the forewing being larger than the hind wing. Barklice have long, thin antennae and their mouthparts are for chewing. They feed on fungi, algae, dead plant tissues and other debris. Consequently, they are considered harmless and perhaps beneficial to the trees they infest.

More to come soon!

Here is answer to the last challenge question: The hidden animal is a green tree snake. Nice job blending in, huh!? I thought it was really amazing how well animals can blend in with their surroundings, especially after seeing so many different types of animals camouflaged with their surroundings this past week!

North Carolina Bound!

I had a great weekend in New Orleans and promise to post pictures and details soon. It's 4am here in New Orleans and I will soon be on my way to the airport, headed back to North Carolina! I can't wait to see the 4th graders tomorrow! Thank you so much for following my journey this past week. I learned so much and have a much greater appreciation and understanding for science and the work that scientists do. Check back soon to find out how the rest of the trip went.

I just received an email from Rebecca Hazen, our lead investigator, with the following information:

I just wanted to share the following tallies from our field collections! During our 7 days in the field last week, we:

-collected 513 caterpillars from 13 families in plots and general collections.

-reared 19 parasitoids (and many more are likely to be on the way!...)

-completed assessments for 10 plots, which translates to estimating 2,033,790 leaves from 785 square meters of bottomland hardwood forest and Cypress-Tupelo Swamp.

I am also planning on implementing a class project similar to the one I did here in Louisiana. Pictures and details will also be posted on the blog over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

See you soon!

By Golly, It's a Gator!

We spent the morning working in the zoo and the afternoon out in the field. A few of us went out to the Honey Island Swamp where we witnessed one adventure after another! Once again, the caterpillar hunter was amazed by the wonders of nature. Check out my day in the field below!

Challenge #1: Here is my mystery animal picture for today. Try to see if you can identify what it is!I hope you enjoy the videos below! I had a lot of fun making them, which proves that science can be fun (for any of you non-believers). I personally learned so much this week and had a great time doing so.

You don't want to miss this one! I thought the end was funny to watch, but not funny at the time since I kinda hurt my leg when one of the other teachers played a little joke on me. You will be glad to know that my leg only suffered a very minor bruise. It was really neat to see an alligator in the wild. Luckily, we were at a safe distance and despite the fact that it appears as if I am getting closer, I was never close enough for anything to happen. (Also, sorry for the smacking sound when I am talking...I had just put a piece of gum in my mouth when we spotted the alligator! Not the best timing.)

This video highlights some of the cool things we found while searching for caterpillars. One of the things we did during this particular plot was try and uproot an invasive plant called the Chinese Tallow. Invasive species of plants are not native to the area and can often completely take over the other plants. Read more here to find out why it was important for us to uproot this plant in our plot: TallowFactSheet.pdf

In the video, I also show a crawfish building a mound out of mud. I almost stepped on a bunch of these walking though the swamp. The mounds looked like little towers. Apparently, there had been a lot of water where we were walking only days before. In areas where the water dries up, the crawfish build these mounds, where they will stay until the water comes back. Female crawfish also build mounds to lay their eggs.

Leaf Rollin' Caterpillars


Remember to Recycle! As silly as this video may be, we were actually amazed at how much trash we found in the swamp. I made sure to try and pick up empty cans, bottles, and other trash during our caterpillar collections, even though it doesn't seem like it in the video. It's tough when there aren't trash cans anywhere near you though! I guess people don't realize how much of a difference one piece of trash can make...it sure does add up.

Tomorrow we leave for New Orleans. We have a busy morning ahead of us, packing up the cars with over 750 caterpillars! We will take the caterpillars back to the labs at Tulane University, where we will continue to add new ones to a database and monitor the progress of the others. Then, off to a fabulous New Orleans dinner and Jazz Fest! More to come soon! Miss you!

Here are the answers to the challenge questions the other day.
Remember the hidden caterpillar for Challenge #1? I am pointing to the caterpillar from that picture with the marker in the picture to the right. The caterpillar is a geometrid, which camouflages itself by pretending to be a stem. Sure fooled us, huh!

The answer for Challenge #2. The psychidae is similar to Psyche, the goddess of the Soul, because they both play hard to get. The psychidae creates a shelter out of sticks and wood, which the female never leaves. Once she has laid her eggs, she usually dies. That is why we had to cut them open when we were skyping, to see if they were still inhabited.

A Day in the Life of a Zoo Keeper

It was so great to see everyone again this morning when we had our web conference! Rather than write a whole bunch of stuff about my day, I thought I would show what a typical day is like with some videos. Not only will you see what zoo keeping is like, but how scientists collect and organize the data or information gathered in the field. And, you will see that even scientists can make easy mistakes if they aren't careful. (Remember to always check your work!)

Zoo Keeping

Check out this crazy caterpillar. We watched as more and more wasp larvae were coming out of it. Wow!

This was one of our favorite new fuzzy friends today. It is from the Arctiidae family.



Tussock Moth Building a Cocoon

Here are some other pictures of caterpillars from today. I will try to post some this weekend but I have a feeling it will be hard since we are leaving for New Orleans Saturday.Notodontidae Family - Red Humped Oak Worm

The papilionidae I showed you from the first day already built a cocoon!

By the way, I heard that you have a new caterpillar guide book in the classroom. I thought it would be cool if we started learning about the caterpillars you are finding around the school. Maybe we could do our own plotting and collecting when I return. I can't wait to see everyone very soon! Keep your questions coming! I will answer the challenge questions from the other day during our meeting tomorrow morning.

Have a great weekend and remember to check the blog over the weekend!

Zoo Keepin' in Humidity!

Boy, was it hot today! All of a sudden, it feels like someone turned the thermostat on outside!  Today was a busy "zoo keeping" day.  As we sorted through and observed the caterpillars in the baggies (don't worry, they love the baggie...), we began to identify caterpillars we hadn't noticed before when we were out in the field.  We even opened some of the psychidae cocoons to see if there were actually any live caterpillars inside.  Unfortunately, we were pretty unsuccessful, as most of the cocoons had been taken over by insects (spiders and ants).  I thought you would enjoy the picture where I am wearing the headlight.  Nice hair, huh!?

Here are some pictures that we took today.  Lots of cool new caterpillars!

This is a White-marked Tussock moth, part of the Lymantriidae family.  We didn't notice the baby caterpillar when we were in the field, but today, there were two caterpillars in the bag!  Exciting!

Tulip Tree Beauty (Geometridae family)

Filament Bearer (Geometridae family)

Yellow-Based Tussock Moth (Lymantriidae family)

Orange Dog - Giant Swallowtail (Papilionidae family) - Remember this guy from the first day we skyped?  He's building a "hammock" for himself.  What do you think he is going to do next?

Rather than give you the answers to my challenge questions, I thought I would still give some of you a chance to answer them.  I am proud those of you who are checking the blog each day and responding!  I would like everyone to try and come up with questions after tomorrow's web conference, so I can come prepared with answers for Friday's conference.  Please send your questions in the comments section and feel free to ask me whatever you would like!

This afternoon, we were helping clean the bunk house when I heard some local fisherman yelling to me through a fence.  Apparently, there were loose kayaks floating down the Pearl River, which must have floated away when the other team was out collecting caterpillars.  Luckily, the owner of a "Swamp Tour" had his boat running.  2 other teachers and I bolted to the dock and chased (literally going full speed in the speed boat) down the river to get the kayaks.  It was a lot of fun and a great laugh since the team who was out collecting caterpillars hadn't even noticed the kayaks were gone.  

So now, I am Ms. Coleman: the caterpillar hunter, plant investigator, AND kayak rescuer...

My last surprise for you guys is a little trip to a grocery store we all know very well!  I even posed in the cart for you guys but got stuck!  I looked a little silly, but knew you would enjoy seeing your teacher acting goofy!  I was hoping to see a dog like Winn Dixie inside, but no such luck.  Also, more videos of the Caterpillar Hunter are coming tomorrow.  :)  Miss you guys!  See you soon!

Ms. Coleman, the Plant Identifier

I enjoyed reading your responses to my challenge questions again today. Here are your answers. You are doing a really super job. Make sure you are commenting on the correct entry, since many people seem to be commenting on the blog from March.
Challenge #1: The difference between a parasitoid and a parasite is that a parasitoid kills their host in one generation. For example, if a wasp were to lay its eggs in a caterpillar, the eggs would hatch, but the caterpillar would not survive. The wasp would be a parasitoid because only one life cycle of the wasp would come from killing the caterpillar. A parasite’s goal is to live in a host for many generations, so a parasite would not kill the caterpillar, but live at the expense of another host, which it does not usually kill.

Challenge #2: The mysterious creature (or Waldo) is actually a gray tree frog. Can you see it better in the picture to the right?

Challenge #3: The caterpillar (that looks kinda like a snake) is another swallowtail, similar to the one from the blog entry 2 days ago. This attractive green caterpillar is called the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus. What appears to be eyes is actually just false eye dots, to make the caterpillar appear to have a large head, which would prevent predators from eating it for dinner. (Super job Ellie, Rebecca, and Lucas on answering this question! I shared your responses and research skills with my team and they were blown away. Milana was very close too!!)

This morning we went out on the kayaks again, but this time we collected caterpillars on land, rather than those found on plants growing in the water. Basically, when we collect caterpillars, it is either a random or “general” collection (meaning we can do it from anywhere at anytime) or we collect from plots. Setting up a plot is a long process and took hours, but can provide much more specific information about the interactions within an ecosystem. The basic rules for creating a plot are that we have to set up a quadrant and collect all the caterpillars in that particular 10-meter plot. (By criss-crossing 2 long orange pieces of tape, we were able to outline a large circle). We also used a GPS device to mark the specific location. In addition to finding caterpillars we had to count or estimate every single leaf and it’s herbivory in the plot. This was my main role today and let me tell you…it isn’t easy.

Can you imagine trying to estimate the number of leaves on every plant within a 10-meter circle? And, to top it off, the palm pilots we used to input the data both froze and lost everything we had collected. Ms. Coleman quickly realized that becoming a scientist is definitely hard work! Luckily, we did end up finding most of our data later. Whew!

Ms. Coleman, the caterpillar hunter, is back for a second day! Check out the video to learn more about what I did today!

Here are some pictures from our work today, both out in the field and here in our bunkhouse lab. The picture shows a caterpillar from the family called “psychidae,” commonly known as the bagworm. I wonder how it got its name?
Challenge #1: Can you tell me more about this type of caterpillar and why it looks like a bunch of branches?
After lunch, half of us spent time updating and cleaning the “Caterpillar Zoo.” We took out all the caterpillars we found yesterday and today and used a guide to identify them. We also identified the plants they were eating since sometimes while we are collecting, it is hard to figure out what is what. By identifying the plants they are eating, we are able to make connections and learn more about the interactions on all levels of the food web. We made sure the caterpillars were healthy by looking for herbivory (signs that something has had a bite to eat) and frass (caterpillar poop) in the bag.

Here is another caterpillar we found in the field in the geometridae family! They are also called "loopers" or "inchworms" since they make a distinctive loop shape when moving. (So inch worms aren't actually worms...) The one in the picture looks normal, but take a look at the video of a geometridae that probably won't live too much longer.

While we were going through all the samples collected in the morning, we had a hard time finding some of the caterpillars in the zip loc bags. When we took them out, sometimes we still could not find them!
Challenge #2: Find the caterpillar in this photo below. Explain where and how you found it.

I am pretty tired today since trying to identify caterpillars and plants can be really tough and frustrating at times. (Especially since Ms. Coleman never likes not being able to find the right answer.) There isn’t a whole lot of information about caterpillars out there and can you imagine trying to figure out what a plant is when there are so many to choose from!?

I am off to bed now, but please be sure to ask me lots of questions and let me know about things you would like to see or hear about when we Skype Thursday morning. Miss you lots! Thanks again for your great comments!

Someone asked this question in the comment section, so here is the answer (according to the scientists I am working with):
Q: How do you identify if a caterpillar is a girl or boy?
A: The best way to tell the difference is to rear or raise the caterpillar into a moth or butterfly. When it’s an adult, there are various indicators that would suggest one sex or the other. For instance, in humans males would grow facial hair easily and women usually do not. In certain adult caterpillars, some adult males have very feathery antennae to help them find females. The female excretes chemicals to tell the male where she is. The male’s antennae have become larger and more complicated over time to detect the female’s chemical communications easier. This is just one example of how scientists determine a caterpillar’s sex.