Map of Pearl River Wildlife Management Area

This is a map of the Pearl River Wildlife Management area.

Anything on this side of the map is in the state of Mississippi

Anything on the left side of the river is in Louisiana

More Comments

About the video conference we had today:
How many caterpillars are typically found in the beat sheets?
If the caterpillars have to defend themselves from parasitoids AND predators, why can't they just adapt to defenses that protect them from both predators and parasitoids?
From,
Krystal

Hi, Krystal!

I love your questions! We do a visual search for the caterpillars first, because we might miss the caterpillars who avoid parasites and predators by dropping to the ground when we beat the trees. It would seem like they would drop into the sheet, but as soon as we whack one side they feel the disturbance and start dropping from the other side, too, and then we miss them. Since we pick all of these guys off, typically the ones that are left for us to beat off are the cryptic ones - the ones that look so much like twigs or leaf veins that you can look right at them and not realize it's a caterpillar. (Did you see that one we think might be a Maple Looper? It was lying right on the leaf vein!)

Since we've gotten a lot of them already, we typically get between 2 to 5 when we beat.


About adaptation:
Here's the thing, we haven't discussed how adaptations occur. Organism's don't really "decide" to adapt. What happens is, different individuals of the same species are sometimes better at a particular thing that becomes important for survival.
For example, all polar bears know how to swim. But because of climate change, the ice is melting and they have to swim farther from one ice floe to another. Only the really great swimmers will survive, the others will drown. Since babies are like their parents, the babies of the surviving bears will probably become better and better swimmers. The drowned ones don't have babies, so their traits don't get passed on. See? It's called "Natural Selection". The great swimmers are naturally "selected" to reproduce. The trick is, for the adaptation to show up in every bear, it takes a really long time because it takes generations and generations of bears for all the good swimmers to die, and for everyone whose left to become a really great swimmer.
If none of the bears was born a great swimmer, the species would eventually become extinct.
In the case of the caterpillars, some individual a really long time ago happened to vomit when a predator tried to eat it and it got away. Maybe it had been born with a really sensitive gut. The ones who didn't vomit got eaten. So the pukey one lived to have pukey babies and after many generations of pukey caterpillars getting married to each other and having babies, most of the caterpillars of that species can now avoid predation. But it just didn't happen to work out that an individual of that species has a physical characteristic or behavior that helps them avoid parasitism. BUT they haven't gone extinct because the number that get parasitized is low enough for them to survive as a species.
Stay tuned, though, they'll figure it out any millenium now....

Keep thinking, science girl!!
Have a fun and safe Halloween!

Mrs Feynman
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Paula,
Great to follow your adventure. I'm sorry I missed your podcast to the Loring 4th grade, walked into the classroom just after you ended.

Its good to know that your group is discerning.

Be safe and keep up the good work,
John Brackett

Hi, Dr. Brackett -

Thanks for checking out my blog. I think you are referring to our ability to discern between caterpillars and twigs, or caterpillars and bird poo. Yes, indeed, this work is not for the meek.

I'm sorry you missed our "talk", too. Ms. Burney's fourth graders are awesome and asked great questions. They are busy studying rocks and minerals right now, but they got really excited about going out to the field. We're really lucky in our district to have teachers like Ms. Burney and Ms. McCarthy who work so hard to make science so engaging.

Are you trick or treating tonight? Make sure to wear reflectors!

Mrs. Feynman

Comments!

Hi, everyone!

As you know, Mrs. Feynman is a little technologically challenged. Everyone else seems to have a hot link that allows them to manage their comments, but for the life of me I can't make the darn thing come up on my dashboard. I asked my resident expert, but Mr. Feynman couldn't figure out how to fix the comment thing, either, so I'm just going to paste in the e-mails I've been getting until it gets really late and I fall asleep.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
how is your caterpillar work doing?


-Jake

Hi, Jake -

Funny you should ask because today was a day that might seem like it was frustrating. We went to a part of the woods where there has been a lot of hurricane damage and many of the trees fell down. This means that there is a lot more sun hitting the forest floor all of the sudden, so lots of plants have a chance to grow that couldn't before because the big trees were shading them. There is this new kind of tree called Chinese Tallow growing in these places - it is not usually here, people brought it from China because it is pretty. It has spread like crazy, though, and there were absolutely no caterpillars on it. We were looking for 2 hours!!!
It would seem frustrating, but it is very important data - do you know why? Because it is an OUTLIER!!!!!! You always have to look into outliers - Rebecca (our scientist) was very interested in this result. Make sure to go into science, Jake. It is interesting and lots of fun! Tell your sisters, too!

Mrs. Feynman

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Hi mrs. Feynman how is it seeing all the kinds of caterpillars

-Hayley

Hi, Hayley

It is really cool - I love seeing all the caterpillars and waiting to see what happens to them. I wish we could see the parasitoids, too, but it turns out they are microscopic.
I've been thinking that we could make a TV soap opera about them. What do you think?

Mrs. Feynman
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hi mrs. feynman it was great to see you at the video conference yesterday! That was crazy how all of the caterpillars fell out of the truck! I would of posted this sooner but it was not working!

Hi, Marissa -

Thanks for sticking with it! I agree, it is so frustrating. Sometimes the technology that is supposed to make things "easier" actually makes things take SO much longer!! But look! Now we have a (kind of) solution

Rock on!

Mrs. Feynman
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hi mrs Feynman what kind of caterpillars have you caught . from lee

Hi, Lee,

great question!! If you watch the Paula Nye videos, you will see one of them! We have caught some really cool looking caterpillars - my favorites are the ones related to inchworms, noctuids (which look like little slugs), and the Tephra Tussock moth caterpillar. I have lots of pictures of them that I hope to post over the weekend. You won't believe they are caterpillars - they look like rock stars!

Say hi to everyone for me!

Mrs. Feynman
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How long ago did people start to realize that the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was not extinct? Who discovered they were still living?

Krystal Phu

Hi, Krystal -

This is a great question - and I actually gave it as a homework challenge today. I'm betting that by our conference tomorrow people will be able to answer your questions. If not, we will figure it out together!

Take care,

Mrs. Feynman
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hey mrs feynman i was in my backyard when i found a really cool looking caterpilllar. i tried picking it up when it rolled up in a ball and its hair got all spiky. it was really weird so i decided to email u 2 see if u guys maybe knew any characteristics that a caterpillar may do to figure out this mystery caterpiller.

Hi, Ryan,

Good for you for doing backyard science!
Spiky hairs often mean that it is stingy, so I think it was a good decision not to pick it up! Can you give me some more info? What color was it? any spots or stripes?
Take a look at the whatsthis caterpillar website and see if you see something that reminds you of your guy - let me know and we'll get on it!

Thanks for writing!

Mrs. F
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http://www.pbase.com/crocodile/image/51290398
this is the web we found the twig caterpillar that has not been identifeyd yet.


-Robin, Hayley, Susan(by hayley graff)


You guys are SO AWESOME!!!! It does look like our guy - tomorrow I will compare the picture to the real thing and let you know. I didn't see a name with that picture, though, did you?
What great scientists you are!

Mrs. Feynman

PS are you trick or treating together tomorrow?
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That is a big ol' tree. It's awsome that he saw that Ivory Woodpecker or whatever it's called. And I bet that the wild pigs that he hunts... aren't so cute. It's cool, the stuff about the shallow roots. I bet that if a tree had holes in it so that the wind went through it, but still had deep roots it would stand well through a storm. Luv ya! <3

Posted by Emmahappywoot!

Hi, Emma!

I love you, too! You are right - the pig isn't so cute - see video above. You are right about the trees, too. Some of the tupelos have spaces in the trunks for the wind to go through, and some of them even have snakes living in them! Maybe you can help me make the next videos and we can call you Emma Nye!

Miss you SO MUCH!!

Mama
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Poor Brenda! Tell her to get better! You write such long blog entries. It's cool about all the adaptation stuff. Luv ya! <3

Brenda is feeling much better - and thanks you for your concern. I know - my blog entries are so long - but there is so much cool stuff here. That's why Ms. McCarthy suggested I start making videos - what do you think? Do you like them better?

Posted by Emmahappywoot!

Mama

Paula Nye Videos!

Is it a caterpillar, or is it a tube of poo?

Today's topic is what we do with all the caterpillars once we collect them. First of all, we take them out of the bags that we put them in in the field. We count them, to make sure we don't lose any in the bag. In the video above, the bag said there were 6 caterpillars, but we could only find 4. Then Katie found something she though might be a caterpillar......




Is it a Maple Looper, or is it a False Underwing?
Then we make sure to identify the caterpillars with their appropriate scientific name by looking them up in the field guide. I found a caterpillar that I thought was in the Geometrid (inchworm) family, but......

We think it's a Maple Looper.....kind of......
We decide to enter it in the database as a Maple Looper. We'll have to wait until it comes out as an adult and see what it is for sure!

Caterpillar Theme Song

Here is the caterpillar we were trying to identify, with our theme song in the background. The words are "Caterpillar, Caterpillar. Caterpillar, Caterpillar. Tickle, Tickle on my arm. Tickle, Tickle on my arm. Tickle, tickle on my arm, Tickle Tickle on my arm. Caterpillar, Caterpillar. Caterpillar, caterpillar."

Holy Data, Batman!
After we finalize all our information, we put it into the database so we can keep track of EVERYTHING!!! Later, Rebecca and Dr. Dyer will compile all the numbers to see how climate change is affecting the relationship between the caterpillars and the parasitoids.

Hurricane Damage

Wow, it was so fun to talk to you guys today - I wish we'd had more time, but at least we will get to see each other again soon! Mrs. Kagels told me many of you were frustrated because you did not get to talk to me - I want to encourage you to send me e-mails with your comments and questions- I love them and have been answering everyone who writes to me. I just haven't figured out how to post them yet! Mr. Feynman said he'd help me today, so hopefully soon I'll be able to post your comments and questions!
After our conversation, we went right out to the field. As we were hiking to the plot, we ran into a man named Richard who was has been hunting here since 1970. Here is a picture of us two "hunters" - me for caterpillars, Richard for wild pigs and squirrels. Richard knows the woods really well and shared his knowledge with us. He once saw an Ivory billed woodpecker in here - until a couple of years ago, most people thought that bird was extinct!
To make sure her sample plots represent the forest fairly, Rebecca takes us to all different kinds of places in the forest. For example, some of the plots have lots of trees and branches that fell when they were hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Some were not as heavily damaged. Today we went to a plot that had moderate hurricane damage. Here is Tara standing in the middle of the plot - can you see all the dead wood?






Here's one of the trees that fell over - isn't that amazing? That big wall of dirt in front of mike is the dirt stuck to the roots of the fallen tree. These huge things are all over the place.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, there are five things that help a tree withstand a hurricane:
1)strength of the wood;
2)shape and size of the crown;
3)extent and depth of the root system;
4)previous moisture conditions; and
5) shape of the bole (trunk)

See how shallow these roots are? Deep roots are an adaptation for trees that have to go deep to get water. As you know, the water here is so close to the surface that the trees can get by with very shallow roots.

No trees are perfect for hurricane resistance, but the cypress trees and tupelo trees I told you about a couple of days ago do a REALLY good job at resisting hurricanes. Take another look at how wide the trunk of this tupelo is - I'm sure you can imagine that it would take a LOT to blow that tree over!
The tupelo and cypress trees also have adaptations that make them more flood resistent than the oaks, maples, and other hardwood trees that are in the forest. Therefore, you often find the tupelo and cypress at lower elevations where there is more flooding - the hardwoods can't get enough oxygen there.










A professor named Jeff Chambers at Tulane did research on the forest using satellite pictures and maps. He categorized the whole forest for damage after hurricanes Katrina and Rita passed through: 1 for not very damaged, to 5 for really, really damaged.

These are satellite pictures of the forest we are in now, the water is the Pearl River. Can you see where the areas of heavy damage are? (They are the brown places with no trees)

There is a woman who had gone around looking at all these areas in the forest, and has found that the areas of lower elevation where there are tupelos and cypress trees are much less damaged than the slightly higher areas with the hardwood trees.

Because the trees are so stong, they protect whatever is behind them from the winds and surging water of hurricanes. Towns that have wetlands with cypress and tupelo trees between them and the coast are much less likely to be damaged from hurricanes.


Classwork Challenge: Go to http://louisiana.sierraclub.org/cypressquiz.asp
and take the cypress quiz. Write down your answers and if you get them wrong, correct them!

Homework Challenge: Google "Ivory Billed Woodpecker" and find a site you like. On a piece of paper with a proper heading, take bullet notes on why it is such a big deal that Bill saw one of these in the wetlands.

We've Got the Beat!!

Hi, you guys!

Here are some videos we made while collecting yesterday. I haven't had luck uploading my longer ones, but these give you a feel for what we're doing!

Mrs. Feynman

SAMPLING!!!

ive

Hi, everyone!

Thanks so much to everyone who has been writing to me - after I finish this post I'm going to see if I can figure out how to publish your comments! Dinner went very well, though I have a special surprise for everyone on Thursday night! Brenda's poison Ivy is much better, but HG sent a great idea for a plant cure - thanks HG!!
Today we did plot studies which is a great way to estimate all kinds of things about the ecosystem. Plot studies are a type of SAMPLING.

Basically, what we do is we go out to the woods and set up a plot - like we did on our field trips with the pink yarn. Today we went to a place that Rebecca (our fearless scientist leader) was very excited about going to. She said it's never been "dry" enough to go there before now, which means that they water is only about a foot deep above the mud!!

Here is Lisa balancing on a log to get to the "dry" plot! See Rebecca on the other side already.

















Instead of squares, we set up two intersecting pieces of tape that are each 10 meters long. We make it so they intersect at 90 degrees, like a plus sign + . We then imagine the circle that would have the plus sign as the center, and the tapes as diameters.







Once we set up the tape, two of us start checking all the leaves we can reach for caterpillars. We look for clues like "herbivory". Herbivory are holes in the leaves that mean something has been munching on the leaves.

These leaves have about 5% herbivory.













Today I was looking for caterpillars. When I found some, I put them in ziplock bags along with enough leaves for them to eat until they make a chrysalis. We label the bags with the type of caterpillar we think it is, the type of leaves, the date, and the plot number.















Two people estimate how many leaves are in the plot - yes, you have to count every leaf!
They also estimate what percent of the leaves have been eaten - this is the percent herbivory.














Sometimes you get lucky, like Rebecca, and caterpillars just show up on your clothes! This is a really cool caterpillar in the same family as the inch worm - the family's latin name is Geometrid - can you see what the family name has to do with the name "inchworm"?















On the way back to the bunk house we had the packs with the caterpillars in the back of the truck. All the sudden Rebecca said: "Oh, my gosh! Caterpillars all over the place!" and pulled over on the side of the road. Our carefully collected caterpillar bags were flying out of the truck all over the highway.
Becky, Lisa, and I ran around collecting all the bags before our data got smushed by giant trucks.
Yet another reason why you have to do a lot of trials!

Once we get back to the bunkhouse, we take out the bags and go through the one by one to make sure we have identified and counted the caterpillars correctly. Today we got almost all of them. Do you remember the one that was on Rebecca's jacket? We aren't sure what it is. I suspect it is the Southern Pine Looper (Caripeta aretaria), but there is no photo of it in the field guide. I couldn't find one on the internet either, so...... here is your




HOMEWORK CHALLENGE - choose one of the following:
1) Identify this cute guy whose survival adaptation is to mimic (make himself look like) a stick! Can you find a picture of the caterpillar Caripeta aretaria? How about a description? WE NEED YOUR HELP - REALLY!! Maybe you can find him on www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk/america/ ?

2) Help me solve the following math problem. If 230 leaves in the plot had 0% Hervivory, and 210 leaves had 5% Herbivory, and 90 of the leaves had 10% herbivory, how could we come up with a percentage that would accurately represent the typical herbivory in the plot? (Remember: Herbivory is the holes in the leaf that the caterpillar ate.)

Amazing Adaptations

Hi, everyone -

We arrived at the Pearl River Wildlife Management area last night, and after spending the morning grocery shopping and setting up the lab, we headed out to the field for our first collection session.
Here is a picture of the whole team. From the left we are Lisa, Tony, Katy, Georgia, Brenda, Rebecca, me, and in the front is Becky. So far none of us has been stung or bitten by anything, but Brenda has poison ivy - it is ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!!

Tony cooked both lunch and dinner today. He made stromboli and thai chicken with coconut sauce and vegetables. It was really good - tomorrow is my turn to cook and I'm afraid I won't meet his high standards. Stay tuned....

The day was full of incredible examples of adaptation, so I thought this would be a great theme for today's blog. Remember ---

ADAPTATION is a behavior or physical characteristic that allows an organism to live sucessfully in its environment.

Fall Webworm - Hyphatria cunea
See it on the leaf in the bottom right hand corner? There is also a gecko crawling out of the picture on the left - tell Dot I miss her!!

Adaptations - It lives in a giant tent community with zillions of other caterpillars. Can you see the tents in the picture below? This helps them survive for many reasons. First, the tents get really warm during the day. At night, when it's cold, the caterpillars all crawl into the middle and that's how they make it through the increasingly cold nights.

They also forage (look for food) communally. A scout goes out looking for food, and if it finds food and eats until it's abdomen is full, it drags it's big giant stomach all the way back to the nest. While it's dragging, it smears the trail with a pheromone (a smelly chemical signal). That smell trail is like a big neon sign to the other caterpillars in the colony that says: "Hey, there's mighty good eatin' over here!" So finding food is easier for everyone.
A disadvantage, however, is that the large colonies have a really strong smell from the pheromones and also from all that collective caterpillar frass (poop). This makes them more vulnerable to parasitoids like the wasps, and also to predators like birds.
The long hairs are an adaptation that help against the birds. The hairs don't sting, but they are very irritating if you try to eat them..... I did not try any, but I'm sure it's true.


Orb Spider - Nephila Clavipes
Here you see a female and her relatively small mate. There are a couple of reasons why their size helps them survive as a species.
First, because of her big size, the female can produce mega numbers of eggs. Really - remember the end of Charlotte's web when her babies hatch and there are approximately ten gazillion little spiders? The Orb spider females put Charlotte to shame! She can also make a ginormous web that snags lots of food.
The males' small size is an advantage because he competes less with the females for resources - if he eats less, there's more for her! It sounds mean, but it helps them survive as a species and that's what it's all about!




Adaptations aren't just for animals, you know. It's hard work to take all that energy from the sun and turn it into food through photosynthesis. Plants have to come up with clever survival strategies. Take for example...

Mistletoe - Viscum album
Yes - this is the plant that inspires all the kissing at Christmas time. This plant is actually a parasite! See in this picture how the branch has two different kinds of leaves? That's because the mistletoe on the left grew right out of a Sweet Gum Tree (Liquid Ambar) - see the sweet gum branch coming out of the bottom and going off to the right? The mistletoe sets up camp in its host tree and then sucks it's nutrients right out - SCHA - WEET!




TODAY'S HOMEWORK CHALLENGE: The two trees below have evolved adaptations to help them overcome a specific challenge in the swamp environment. What is the challenge and how do the characteristics described help the trees overcome the difficult living conditions?

Try looking here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatophore
and here http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/forest/htmls/trees/N-aquatica.html
HINT: Look at the picture of the Tupelo - what is it growing in?


Cypress - Taxodium distichum
The cypress tree grows "knees" (knobby things) out of it's roots. You can see them in the foreground of the picture - the tree is right behind them. The knees are about a foot high, the tree is way up there.


Tupelo - Nyssa aquatica - Can you see how big the trunk is compared to the top of the tree ?


Well, that's it for today. Make sure to write up your answers for Mr. Griffin to check tomorrow. Also, I was very glad to get e-mail from RH who told me VK won the cheerleading competition - GO VK!!!

How is the magazine drive going? Has anyone earned a caterpillar?
Miss you!!
Mrs. Feynman

Louisiana Livin'!

Hi, everyone!

I arrived in New Orleans yesterday, and will be going out to the research site at the Pearl River Wildlife Management area this evening. I have already had many adventures, including going to a nearby drugstore to buy vampire fangs for Halloween! I also got some glow in the dark nail polish.

At the bottom of the post there are the homework questions - you might want to scroll down and read them now to keep them in mind as you read.

I thought it would be a good idea to work on our map skills and also to make sure you know where these places are - so let's start BIG!!

Here is a map of the world, can you find North America?
The United States is located in the middle of North America, except for Alaska at the top left, and the Hawaiian Islands under the words "Pacific Ocean"






Here is a map of the United States.
Can you find where we live in Massachusetts?
Can you find Louisiana (it is red in the picture)? It is East (to the right) of Texas and on the Gulf of Mexico (body of water at the bottom of the picture) .
East of Louisiana (towards Florida) you see the state of Mississippi. (It is fun to spell - do it fast and loud!)




Here is a map that has some of Texas, Louisiana in the middle, and parts of Mississippi and Alabamba.
Can you find New Orleans? It is near the bottom center.
See how north of (above) New Orleans there is a lake? It is called Lake Pontchartrain (hard to spell).

Here is map of Lake Pontchartrain. New Orleans is the pink part south of (underneath) the lake. Can you see the blue line that runs south of New Orleans? That is the Mississippi River. The Mississipi is a BIG HONKING river - a lot bigger than the Charles that runs through Boston. The light blue part on the right hand side of the picture is the Gulf of Mexico.
You can see it really well in the picture above. (*I just checked my post and there is a strange blue thing here that I didn't put in and it doesn't have an icon on my page so I can't get rid of it. SORRY!)

As you see, New Orleans is surrounded by water. It is so close to the sea, that most of the city is right at sea level (0 feet in elevation). That means that wherever you go in New Orleans, you don't have to dig down very far to hit water. Some of the ground is actually below sea level - that means that the water would just flow right over it if it could.

The reason it can't flow right over it is that engineers have built levees all over the place. A levee is a like a really big, really deep ditch. All the water flows to this deeper place, so it keeps the area from flooding. Any of you who have visited grandparents in Florida have probably seen the man made canals all over the place. Same idea.

Here's a levee I saw yesterday on my way to what I thought was a Jazz/Blues festival in the City Park:

The levees keep the city from flooding, but they cause all kinds of BIG TROUBLE for wetlands and especially when hurricanes come, which we will talk about later.





Remember how I told you that I went to what I thought was a Jazz/Blues festival? Well, I heard from someone else staying in the hotel that there was this big festival in the park and you could sit in the grass and listen to all kinds of bands. Since New Orleans is known for Jazz, I figured it must be a Jazz/Blues festival, so I got on a trolley car and headed on over.
It turned out to be a Nine Inch Nails concert. OOPS!!! It isn't my favorite kind of music, but I got really cool T-shirts for my daughters as souvenirs. On my way out of the park, I wandered into a boggy area because I couldn't see it in the dark. Remember how the water is always near the surface? So I've only been here a few hours and my shoes are already stinky and gross!

Hope you guys had a great weekend - VK - make sure to tell me how the cheerleading competition turned out!

Miss you already,

Mrs. Feynman

HOMEWORK: Answer the following questions on a piece of notebook paper with a proper heading. Mr. Griffen will ask you for it in class tomorrow -

1) What is the name of the lake near New Orleans?
2) Why is New Orleans so dang wet?
3) What is a levee and why do we make them?
4) What happened to Mrs. Feynman's shoes?

Another Candidate!

JH and I were looking at www.whatsthis caterpillar.co.uk/america and found a picture of the American Dagger moth - the black hairs are exactly like the one we found. 

Do you think this might be it? What could we look at to decide?

Good work, JH!!!

Mrs. Feynman

Could this be it?

I just found this picture of a Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar. Do you think this might be the same as the one we found?

Challenge: Can you go to the site I posted yesterday and find out what a Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar turns into? Bring a picture to class if you can -
How should we care for this guy? What do they like to eat? What do they do in the winter?

I can't wait to hear your answers!
Mrs. Feynman

Here is the picture of the Caterpillar from my last post!

This guy was so well camouflaged in the leaves on the forest floor, that I had to put him on a table to get a good picture!
Try going to http://www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk/america/
to figure out what kind of caterpillar he is!

Caterpillar Field Trip

Exciting news! On a field trip last week, several students found two caterpillars! Can you identify them? We are going to try to keep them in the classroom, so identifying them is really important so we know how to set up their habitat and what to feed them!

One of them looks like it is spinning white, net like threads around itself. Could it be making a chrysalis? What do you think?

Mrs. Feynman