Hunting for Caterpillars with Ms. Feynman

Packing up and Coming Home!

2008-11-06T09:55:00.003-05:00

Packing Up
On Tuesday we had many things do to:
1) Identify and process all the caterpillars we'd found on Monday
2) Zoo - feed, clean, and check the status of all the caterpillars in the collection
3) Pack all of our clothes for the trip to New Orleans and then home
4) Pack up the caterpillars and clean the bunkhouse
5) Drive to New Orleans and transfer the caterpillars to the Chemical Ecology lab at Tulane
6) Go out to dinner to celebrate the success of the expedition
7) Follow the results of the election

Identifying the caterpillars and gathering data was one of my favorite parts of the expedition. We divided the tasks to make sure everything got done. Here I am trying to find all those darn tortridiidae. You can see my bed in the background, I slept on the bottom bunk.

While I finished processing and doing zoo, others were cleaning the bunkhouse behind my back. I was so focused I didn't even notice them tidying up, so imagine how surprised I was when I turned around and the bunkhouse looked like this!

Do you even recognize it with the equipment gone and when it is so neat?

While doing zoo this AM, someone noticed that the wasp had emerged from the pupae that was stuck to the webworm I showed you during the conference on Monday. In this picture you can see the webworm on the leaf with the pupae case still stuck to it, to the right of the leaf and a little lower down, you can see the brochonidae wasp adult. It died in the bag, but that is OK because the data is complete.

Here's a video showing what happened when we separated the pupae case from the caterpillar!

Rebecca put the live caterpillar in it's bag back on the rack so that it will be cared for properly, but she doesn't think it's very likely that it will successfully undergo metamorphosis and emerge as a moth. The parasite really sapped a lot of its strength.

Here is the lab rack from the field, all set up in the Chemical Ecology lab at Tulane. We were worried about what would happen to the caterpillars, but Rebecca has a student who takes care of them all.

After finishing the lab work at Tulane, we all returned to the Park View Guest house - our home away from home in New Orleans. The people there were so kind to us - it was a wonderful place to stay!

This is the view Ms. Lewis and I had from our room - can you guess why the guest house is called the "Parkview?"

After washing up, we went out for a nice meal to celebrate the expedition. I had the gumbo sampler, of course. It turns out there are three kinds of gumbo - creole, okra, and filet (made with sassafrass leaves). They were all great - but I think I liked the okra the best. Tara is a vegetarian, so the chef said he'd whip something up for her - check out this awesome vegetarian edifice! Doesn't it look like food architecture?

During the meal, we were all anxious to get news of the election results. Here is Katie on the phone getting an update from her husband in Vermont.

When we finished dinner, we went to the place where Mike - one of our research leaders - had a gig - he is also a musician. Here we are with Mike playing in the background.

We stayed up pretty late watching the election results. We were so proud to hear about how many people voted in this election! Did you know that more African Americans voted in early voting in North Carolina, then voted in the whole election of 2004? Isn't that awesome? What a great social studies lesson in participatory democracy!
On Wednesday, it was time for us to say good bye and go our separate ways. It was hard because we had all become a very close team while we were together - but I also missed my class and my family and was ready to come home.
Here we are - all packed up and waiting for our taxis to the airport - Katie had a very early flight, so she had already left by the time we took this picture.

Home at last!
Here I am at home with my daughter and my doggies - we were all so happy to be together again!

Even More comments!

2008-11-06T09:00:00.002-05:00

Hi Paula,

I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading your blogs! How neat! Have a safe trip home.

: ) Sarah Cannon
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Do any caterpillers try to disguise that they are poisonous by not showing certain characteristics [bright colors]?

-Patti Kruy

Hi, Patti -

Thanks for your great question! The poisonous strategy depends on two things:
1)Being poisonous
2)predators knowing you are poisonous

The bright colors are developed as warning signs to the predators, if they don't recognize you, they might eat you anyway. Some non-poisonous species have a survival strategy called mimicry – they make themselves appear to be something else – for example, a leaf or a twig. Some of these actually mimic their poisonous cousins so the predators think they are poisonous when really they are quite a satisfying meal!
That said – I certainly do not possess exhaustive knowledge on this subject. If you and Victoria want to poke around a bit, I'd be happy to offer some extra credit!

See you soon!

Mrs. Feynman

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Hi Mrs. Feynman

This is Ali's mom Jennifer I would like to know if you have identified any of the parasites yet?

Jennifer Stahr

Hi, Jennifer and Ali!

Wow! I'm so psyched about this question! During the conference on Monday I explained to the kids that when we found parasitized caterpillars we move them to their own ziploc back and watch them until the parasites emerge. Yesterday we found two bags with parasites in them. One was a Braconidae Wasp, and the other was a fly that we couldn't identify without a fly expert. When we transported the bags to Tulane from the field I guess s/he got a little smushed and decapitated! We know it is a fly, though, because all other flying insects have two pairs of wings and flies only have one pair. The other set are truncated knubs that they use for balance – like a tightrope walker uses a pole.

There was another scientist working in the Tulane lab who let us look at the parasites through his dissecting microscope. They looked so cool! He was able to take pictures of them, and I'm hoping that he'll e-mail me the images when they are ready for release.

Rock on!

Mrs. F
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Hello Mrs. Feynman!

During dinner tonight we were discussing your trip to New Orleans and we talked about what you were doing there. I had a couple of questions for you since Kevin and Scott didn't know the answers. What are the main adaptations a caterpillar has to make to survive in that environment and how do they differ from the adaptations needed to survive in this area(Sudbury)? Also, do caterpillars communicate? If so, in what ways?

Enjoy your stay. Thank you.

Susan Henderson

Hi, Susan, Kevin and Scott,

Glad to hear your dinner conversation is so intellectual! At my house we usually make stupid jokes or try to figure out who needs to go where and when they need to be there!
To answer your FABOO question, any organism needs to do three things to survive:
1)maintain itself – eat, stay hydrated (drink), etc.
2)reproduce
3)not die – don't get diseases, don't fry, don't freeze, avoid predation/parasitism (not get eaten), etc

Most adaptations are around these three themes.
1)Most caterpillars get their hydration (liquid) from the leaves they eat, though they can drink water directly if there are raindrops on the leaves they crawl on, so that would be the same in any environment. In the North, we have different plants than they have in the South, so we would see some variation (differences) in the adaptations of the caterpillars to eating those plants. Many of the caterpillars I identified were generalists, that means that they eat whatever they can get their mandibles (jaws) on. They tend to have a wide range, and many of them can be found as far north as Canada and then south to Texas and Florida. Some caterpillars that have adapted to eat only one plant, would only be where that plant grows, so if it grows up north, you won't find those guys in the south and visa versa.
2)Caterpillars don't reproduce – only when they are adult moths or butterflies, so you won't see differences here.
3)The big difference here is the weather. In the North it is colder, obviously, so the caterpillars have to have a strategy for making it through the winter. I thought most of them died, and only eggs made it through the winter, but I recently learned that the caterpillars themselves spin a little netlike thing around them and kind of hybernate until spring. The warm weather wakes them up and then they make a real chrysalis and metamorphose into butterflies. In New Orleans, they also do this, but it's easier to make it because winter isn't as harsh.
Thanks for the questions!

Mrs. Feynman
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Krystal and I were looking at the blog and have been very fascinated by all the intricacies of these little creatures. I have a couple of questions: Would the study of these caterpillars yield any potential scientific evidences/clues to Global Warming ? If so, what would be your hypothesis on this cause and effect and your method to demonstrate it within your study?
Hi, Phillip and Krystal -

Wow – you guys are really thinking! Yes, there are clues to global warming. One of them is that we were finding caterpillars and lots of them. Rebecca was worried that it might be too late in the season to find caterpillars. There were certain ones that seemed to be done, but overall we found a lot of them. My hypothesis would be that the effects of climate change – earlier springs and later winters – allow some caterpillars to fit in an extra generation.
To test this you would have to compare old caterpillar hunting data to current and future data and figure out if the increased numbers are consistent and statistically significant.

Go Krystal!

Mrs. Feynman
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Hi Ms. Feynman,

It sounds like you have had a great experience in New Orleans. Can you please explain if there is a difference in the life cycles of catipillars in New England and southern areas, like New Orleans, due to the climate?
Hayley is looking forward to your return to Curtis!

Robin Graff

Hi, Hayley and Robin!

The big difference I know of is that the winters are harsher in New England, so the caterpillars don't have as much time in the summer to have as many generations as their southern counterparts. (See answer to Krystal above) I'm sure there are other differences, too, so I forwarded your question to Rebecca and I will let you know what she answers!
I am also looking forward to returning to Curtis – I had a great time and learned SO much, but I miss you guys a lot!

Mrs. Feynman
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hi mrs feynman! I miss you so much!
from jess L

I miss you, too Jess! The good news is that I will probably be back by the time you read this! Thanks for letting me know that you miss me. I was afraid that you'd have so much fun with Mr. Griffin that you'd want him to teach forever!

See you soon!

Mrs. Feynman
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do you try to find spacific kind of catipillers in new orleans
from lee
Hi, Lee!

For this study it is really important to collect whatever we find because one of the goals is to find out who's crawling around out there. That said, there are some caterpillars that were really cool, and we were very excited to find those. I especially liked the ones that look like they are wearing helmets, and the limacodiidae – the slug like ones with the sucker feet!

Great question! Can't wait to see you!

Mrs. Feynman
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Tony Nevelli this is for Did you really want to go on this trip or not so much?

Tony says “I felt mixed. I wanted to go, it was a great adventure, but I felt guilty leaving my little one.” (Tony has an eight year old son)
Tony sums it up really well – it is hard to leave everyone behind – but it makes it so nice to come back home!

Mrs. F
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Hi Mrs Feynman! I think what you are doing is great! It's nice how the kids can see you over the video conference! Marissa thinks you are a great teacher and can not wait to see you on thursday!
Marissa and I are very excited to hear all about your adventure.
Marjie Brockman

Hi, Marjie -

I was so happy to get all of Marissa's e-mails and to see her sitting in the front for all of the conferences – how nice to see her big smile all the way from New Orleans!
I will probably get a slide show together when I have a chance to catch my breath – I would certainly love to have parents come in and see it with us.

Thanks for your enthusiasm and support!

Mrs. Feynman
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Hi,Mrs.Feynman this is Susan and I have a question for you

Where do you find caterpillers?

Hi, Susan,

Good for you for asking so many questions – you are thinking like a scientist!
Thanks for asking this – at first, when we went out in the field, I didn't really know where to look for caterpillars. I was really lucky, though, because Kevin had found one on our field trip before we left so I got to see him do it! After you do it a while, you start to figure out where the different kinds like to hide. For example, if you see leaves that are folded or stuck together like a sandwich, it's likely there is a leaf tying caterpillar in there. Geometrids (the inchworms) like to pretend to be sticks, or the veins of leaves. They are wicked hard to find. The limacodidae look like dried out or rotting spots on leaves, so you have to look at all of those really carefully.
This is the part of the study that I was best at – I was not as good at counting leaves. Tony Novelli and Lisa Espro are really good leaf counters! We worked together – like the meerkats! In fact, as the caterpillar numbers increased and it got really time consuming to care for them, I think people were a little annoyed with me that I kept finding so many!

I hope we can go out and look for caterpillars together in the spring!

Mrs. Feynman
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How long does it take for a caterpilliar to die after it's been parasitized?

Linda Rhodes

Great question – the answer is that it varies depending on how many eggs were laid, the type of parasite, and the type of caterpillar. In the conference on Monday I showed the kids a picture of a Fall Web Worm with a Brachonidae wasp pupae stuck to it. There's a picture on my blog – it looks like a caterpillar laying an egg. Yesterday when we were at Tulane, we were preserving the wasp in alcohol and wanted to put the pupae in with it. When Rebecca used a tweezer to separate the web worm from the pupea, the web worm started crawling around. We all started screaming – we were so startled!
So that one actually survived parasitism. Rebecca thinks it is unlikely, however, that it will make it to adulthood.

Rock on!

Mrs. F
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Hi Ms. Feynman,

Sam asked me to write you a question regarding your field work with caterpillars and your blog.
I was curious about the caterpillar shown with the parasites moving around inside it. Do the parasites eventually kill the caterpillar? If the caterpillar dies, do the parasites die also or do they make their way out of the caterpillar and into a nearby caterpillar? Do they perform a positive function for the caterpillar, and if so, what?

I'm glad you enjoyed your research trip to New Orleans and look forward to hearing more about your learnings.

-Rachael Robiner

Hooray for Sam and Rachel – Wow – you guys came up with a bunch of great questions.
Wasn't that video incredible? I thought it might make a great horror movie!
Usually the parasites do kill the caterpillar, but not always (see answer to Linda's question above). This is the difference between a parasite, and a parasitoid. Parasites are animals like ticks, or intestinal worms, whose continuing nutritional needs depend on the host. If the animal died, so would they. Parasitoids, however, only use the host for part of their lifecycle, in this case the larval stage. They need the caterpillar meat to eat when they hatch out of their eggs, and then, when they are big enough, they pupate themselves. The parisitoids can keep going even if the caterpillar dies – they just keep on munching, but eventually they make their way out so they can metamorphose into adults.
They do not benefit the caterpillar in any way.

Thanks for your kind words – I look forward to sharing with you!

Mrs. Feynman
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How does a caterpilliar get parasitized?

Robin

Wow – the Rhodes family sure are busy thinking about caterpillars – good for you!
The caterpillars get parasitized in two different ways. Parasitoids like wasps have a body part called an ovipositor that is like a needle. They land on the caterpillar, stick their ovipositor into it, and inject their eggs into it's body.
But Parisitoid flies don't have ovipositors, so they have another strategy. They lay their eggs on a leaf hoping that a hungry caterpillar will come along and eat the eggs for lunch along with the leaf.
Great question!

Mrs. Feynman
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did you find any catipillars that are endangered or extint?

this question is for anybody

-christina

Hi, Christina -

Great question – I only kind of know how to answer, so I'm also going to forward it to Rebecca. I'm not sure how the issue of endangerment plays out with caterpillars. I know that there are some butterfly species that scientists are worried about because deforestation and habitat destruction threaten their food sources. I'm not sure if we found any of those.
We did find one that we are hoping is a rare type Geometrid. It has a cousin that is common up North, but the Southern variety is very uncommon.

Good job!

Mrs. Feynman
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this is a question for any teacher can a parisite lay eggs in another type of bug or animal

by:noveen

Hi, Noveen,

Wonderful question, but I need some clarification.I know there are lots of other organisms that get parasitized. Do you mean to ask if the parasites that lay eggs on caterpillars also lay eggs on other organisms?
Let's talk when I get back!

Mrs. F
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Hola Mrs.Feynman what species of caterpillar seems to be the most attracted to parasites?

-Jake !@#$%^&*()_+<>?":}{

Hi, Jake
The parisitoids are really attracted to the Fall Web Worms – Rebecca explains that since they live in colonies they have a really strong smell that makes them easy to find.

Keep thinking!

Mrs. Feynman
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Rebecca Lewis-
Do yuo find alot of caterpillars in the Spanish Moss? Please answer!
Sincerly,
Adriana

Hi, Adriana,

Mrs. Feynman, Mr. Novelli, Ms. Espros and I all sat around discussing this and none of us collected any caterpillars from Spanish Moss. It mostly grows high up in trees and we couldn't reach it, so we're not sure if there are caterpillars in there or not.

Thanks for looking at my blog and asking me a question!

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Hi!

Ok I couldn't pick which question so I did 3 :

What does zoo mean?
What is your favorite part when you go out to the field?
and What did you want to be when you were our age?

You can answer 1 of the three

See you Thursday -Ali

Oh, Ali! I love your questions so much I'm going to answer all of them.
“Zoo” is when we take care of all the caterpillars we collected. When we find them in the field, we throw them into ziplock bags with leaves for them to eat. Then , every morning, we have to open the bags, check the caterpillars to see if they've pupaeted or died, dump the frass (poop) and add more leaves. If there are any changes, we add that to the data base so Rebecca can keep track of them.
My favorite part of going out to the field is getting to the field! I really enjoyed the kayaking, the hiking, the walking over logs, the sloshing through the mud, and the looking for animals as we went. One team saw alligator tracks and a water moccasin skin!
When I was 11 I wanted to be a large animal veterinarian because my sister's horse's foot was injured and I saw the vet who took care of her and I thought that was really cool. As I got older, though, I learned about smaller animals and got more and more interested in very tiny things indeed!

Mrs. Feynman
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Music and Food of New Orleans

2008-11-04T08:19:00.000-05:00

SWAMPFEST

Remember last week when I wanted to go to a Jazz/Blues festival, but I ended up at a Nine Inch Nails concert by accident? Well, on Saturday everyone said "There's a big music festival in the park, let's go!" I was a little skeptical, but they promised it would be regional music, and it was daytime, and near the zoo, so I figured I could always bail and visit my animal friends if the concert didn't work out.

I was so happy, though, when I got there and found out it was a zydeco festival! Zydeco is really upbeat music featuring the accordian, fiddle, and a washboard that you wear like a vest. It makes you so happy when you listen, and everyone gets up and dances. Some people just boogie on their own, but a lot of people couple dance. Some of the songs are waltzes, so they go very well with couple dances.

This year the Grammy Awards added a Zydeco/Cajun music category, and we were lucky enough to hear the winners of the Grammy for this year - Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience. Here they are playing a really famous song called "Iko Iko".

One really cool thing that happens here is bead necklace throwing! Here is Terrance Simien's "little coozan" throwing beads to the audience -

My friend Brenda was really good at catching necklaces. Here we are wearing all the beads we caught!

Of course no New Orleans music experience would be complete without hearing "When the saints come marching in"

At the end of the day, we went to the Gumbo Shop and enjoyed a New Orleans Specialty - Chicken Andoullie Gumbo!! It is like a thick stew with meat, rice, vegetables and yummy spices.

Another kind of music that New Orleans is famous for is jazz. On Halloween we saw this brass band just jamming on the corner of Canal Street and St. Charles...

Homework Challenge: Choose one of the following:
1) Find out the origin of either Zydeco or Cajun music - what is the difference between them?
2) I am really sad about leaving New Orleans and not being able to find good Gumbo in our area. Please find a good Gumbo recipe we can try when I come back.

Last Day -

2008-11-03T22:48:00.006-05:00

Hi, everyone -

Well, I can't believe we did our last plot today - what an adventure that was! First, when we got out of the van, we had to cross a really long and shaky log over a deep creek. I love crossing logs - so I was really psyched! Ms. Lewis took this video of me crossing the log.

Then we had to whack our way through the underbrush....

On the way we saw these sawflies. Rebecca said you can always recognize them because they hold their tails up like question marks. They remind me of helmet head Lucy, what do you guys think?

In the end we found a LOT of caterpillars. Here I am with today's catch....

We found a really cool one from the Notodontidae family - we haven't found one from this family before - its complete name is:
Symmerista Canicosta

Do you remember at the beginning of the expedition, when the lab rack looked like this?

Now it looks like this! We have done an awesome job - here's how many we've done so far -

Homework Challenge: Choose one of the following:

1) Are sawflies caterpillars - (try googleing "Sawflies")?
Write down three ways to know if they are or are not caterpillars.

2) Look up Symmerista Canicosta
Write down at least 3 really cool characteristices, behaviors, or adaptations you find

Answers:
1) Hi Mrs.Feynman,
About the homework challange, Sawflies are mistaken for caterpillars because their larve resembales that of a moth or butterfly. But sawflies in adult stage look more like a wasp or bee.Yuo can tell the difference between larve because the sawflies have 2 stemmata instead of caterpillar's 6, also they have 6 or more prolegs rather than 5 or less on a caterpillar.
Sincerly,
Adriana

Mark Tentarelli wins first HW pass!!

2008-11-03T13:54:00.002-05:00

Mark and I have been enjoying your blog greatly. I was in New Orleans a couple years ago to spend a week rebuilding homes damaged by Katrina. It's nice to hear that the city is getting closer to normal, like that the streetcars are running again. Have they got stoplights at major intersections fixed?

I didn't see any caterpillars while I was there though. Maybe they don't thrive in toxic mold. Or maybe I was too distracted by everything else!

Sharon

Hi, Sharon - thanks for checking out my blog and asking such a great question. The streetcars are indeed running, and major streets have stoplights......in the areas that tourists visit and those whose elevations are high enough not to present a major repeat flood risk. Certain neighborhoods (mostly lower income) still have a lot of windows boarded up, covered with tarps, etc.
The caterpillars definitely took an initial hit with the storm - but the storm didn't actually hit New Orleans nearly as badly as it hit the Wildlife Management Area. New Orleans would have been damaged by the storm in any case, but the majority of the really bad damage was caused by the failure of the levees and the flooding that caused. The caterpillars would suffer the same fate as their host plants - so if they got blown away, drowned, etc. the caterpillars would also suffer.
However, the caterpillars are so robust that they have really bounced back - we saw a lot of them in Audobon park on Saturday, and Rebecca and Tara report that they do collections in the city sometimes just to see what's there- they call it urban ecology.

I'm glad you and Mark are enjoying the site - please tell all your friends!

See you soon!

PaulaF

Really Cool Processing

2008-11-03T11:50:00.004-05:00

Hi, Guys - The caterpillar on the left has a dark spot towards the back - can you see it? Not the very back, but about 1/3 or the way towards the front. (I know it's a little blurry - sorry) That is actually two parasites - you can see them moving around inside the caterpillar - EWWWW!!

This is a cool caterpillar I found yesterday - doesn't it look like it's wearing a helmet? It's the first one we've found from the Hesperiidae (skipper) family - I could only identify it to the genus level - it is an Erynnis (something)

Where are they now?

2008-11-02T23:08:00.004-05:00

Before: A Tortricidae

After: Parasitized Tortricidae!

Hi, everyone!

Every day we do "zoo". We open up all the ziplock bags replace dried up leaves, dump frass, and look at the caterpillars to see what is happening to them. If they are dead or have pupaeted, we record it in the data base. I thought you might be interested in seeing what happened to some of the ones I have shown you while I've
been here....

This is the Bomolocha baltimoralis that I showed you in our conference - remember? Now it's a pupae!

Remember when I showed you this cool guy? The Purple crested slug...

This is how it looks now! It has 13 parasite pupae coming out.... EWWW!

This is one we call "Brown head" that is about to pupate!

This is a fall web worm (Hyphantria cunea) that we collected on the first day we were here.

We found it dead when we came back from New Orleans and it has a big parasite coming out of it's abdomen.

Bummer!

It makes us sad when this happens, or the caterpillars die, but really it shouldn't. We can't take sides for or against the caterpillars or the parasitoids, what we really want is to find out how the populations interact by collecting good data. So, the data is the data - it's all good!

Rock on Ivy scientists!

Mrs. Feynman

HW Challenge: Find a scientist to interview. Today you heard from two women who decided to go into science. I would like for you each to find someone who is a scientist - it can be a parent or a relative or a friend. Doctors are scientists, as long as they participate in research. We will interview them later, but for now, just ask around and see if you can find someone who would be willing to talk to you about his/her work and why they went into science. Bring in a sheet for Mr. Griffin with a couple of names of people, and contact information if you have any. This is preliminary, you do not have to actually talk to them. If you can't think of anyone, you can look for scientists on the internet - BUT you cannot use any scientist who is dead, or whose name you have heard before EG Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, etc.

More Comments

2008-11-02T14:33:00.005-05:00

Hey Mrs. Feynman! What is the most interesting caterpillar adaptation you have seen so far?

Julia Provost

Hi, Julia,

Thanks for asking! I think hesperiidae has a really interesting adaptation. One way wasps find the caterpillars is by smelling their frass (poop). The hesperiidae shoots its frass really far away so that the wasps can't find it! Isn't that great!!

Mrs. Feynman
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Ms.F What was the most popular type
of caterpiler you found?
-skylar

Hi, Skylar,

The caterpillar we have found the most of is called the tortricidae, but we have nicknamed them the "torture"-idae. They are dinky, and they wrap themselves up in leaves. During zoo you have to find every single one to see if it needs more food, if its pupaeted, or if it's dead or parasatized. It is torture to find them all in the folded leaf mess!!
UGH!! Thanks for asking because I didn't want to complain, but since you ask....

See you soon!

Mrs. Feynman

hi mrs.feynman i have a question what is the most interesting catiiller you have seen so far? you can just tell me the name and i will look it up it see what it looks like

-Victoria Kruy

Hi, Victoria,

I think I like the crowned slug - Isa textula
it is one of the ones that has a big sucker foot at the bottom, and it has also changed a LOT since we got it. It was kind of plain green when we got it, and now it has orangish/red racing stripes down its back!

I took a picture of it this AM - if it comes out I will try to post it.

Rock on!

Mrs. Feynman
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Remember when you said there were only a couple of oak and maple trees in the forest of Chinese Tallow? Couldn't their be caterpillars there?

How big is the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area?

Krystal

Hi, Krystal,

The Pearl River Wildlife Management Area is 34,918 square acres.

There could indeed be caterpillars on the oaks and maples. I think one of the problems might be that a butterfly would have to find that one oak or maple that's in the middle of the tallow. It is probably easier to find the right host tree when there are a clump of them together. Also, I'm not sure to what extend the butterflies find their trees by scent. It might be that it's hard to smell one oak or one maple in the midst of all that Tallow. Want to look that up for extra credit? I'd love to know!
Today while I was "zooing" (checking the caterpillars in their bags, dumping frass and adding leaves) I found a bag with Chinese Tallow that had a Fall Webworm eating it. So I guess someone is trying to figure out what to do with that new stuff!

Great Questions!!!

Mrs. Feynman

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Hi Mrs.Feynamn! Just checking in with you. How are you? I am good.

-Ali

Hi, Ali,

Thanks for checking in! I was really tired after staying out late on Halloween, but thanks to the time change I got a really good night's sleep and now I feel so much better!
Did you have a good Halloween? Did you trick or treat, or go to a party? Did you dress up? Im sad that I missed it with you guys, I really like Halloween!

Mrs. Feynman

Halloween in the Big Easy!

2008-11-02T07:54:00.006-05:00

Can you find me in this picture?

"Big Easy" is a nick-name for New Orleans. One reason is because there is a kind of laid back attitude here - people like to kick back and enjoy themselves!
One big festival they have right before lent starts in spring is called Mardis Gras, but next to Mardi Gras, Halloween is the biggest celebration of the year! Everyone gets really into it - we saw lots of houses with really cool decorations.

On the streetcar on the way to the French Quarter, there were so many people in costume!

We went to the French Quarter, where there are lots of clubs and music, and the whole street was like one big party.

People came out on their balconies and threw beads and candy to the people below. I bought some candy and was handing it out to people as we walked to meet Rebecca and Tara. Everyone called it "Reverse Trick or Treating!"

Tara and Rebecca got into the spirit, and even the pets got dressed up!

They took us to the "cool street" where the locals hang out on Halloween. We went to hear a band called the Zydepunks!

At the end of the evening, we went to the Cafe Du Monde - a New Orleans landmark where we ate beignet (French dounuts) and drank chicory coffee - YUM!!!

Map of Pearl River Wildlife Management Area

2008-10-31T10:22:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-31T07:52:00.002-04:00

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
____________________________________________________________________

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!

2008-10-31T01:05:00.002-04:00

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

_____________________________________________________________________________________
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
_____________________________________________________________________________________

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
_____________________________________________________________________________________

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
______________________________________________________________________________________

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
______________________________________________________________________________________
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
_____________________________________________________________________________________

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?
______________________________________________________________________________________
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
______________________________________________________________________________________
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!

2008-10-30T19:14:00.007-04:00

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

2008-10-29T23:30:00.002-04:00

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!!

2008-10-29T07:12:00.004-04:00

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!!!

2008-10-28T08:05:00.004-04:00

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

2008-10-27T22:30:00.002-04:00

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'!

2008-10-26T09:47:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-10-20T10:32:00.003-04:00

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?

2008-10-20T05:24:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-10-19T22:27:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-15T21:06:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-12T08:36:00.003-04:00

"How did Mrs. Feynman get interested in studying caterpillars?" you might ask.

Well, I grew up in a house next to a creek, and I spent a lot of time catching frogs, trying to build dams, and throwing mud at my brother. It made me really love wetlands!

I knew that when I grew up, I would do something that would let me continue to play in the mud. So now I'm a teacher, and not only do I get to play in the mud, I take all my students with me at least a couple times a year. I hope they (and you) will also learn to love wetlands and grow up wanting to help them.

This is a picture of me working in the wetlands near my school. We have a project to control the Purple Loosestrife plants (the ones with flowers in the picture). They are an INVASIVE SPECIES - that means that they don't naturally live in this area. They are taking over the wetlands and making it hard for the plants that do naturally live in this area (like the cattails which have brown tubes and look like they are growing out of my head in the picture).

You have probably heard the word "INVADE" before - maybe in a book, or in a game you played. What is the connection between the invaders in your book or game and the Purple Loosestrife in the field?

Why you should be PSYCHED about studying BUGS!!!

2008-08-12T08:19:00.002-04:00

When I tell people that I am going to spend 10 days mucking around in a Louisiana swamp with bugs, I get two different responses.

Response #1: "That is so COOL!! Can I come with you?"

Response #2: "YUCK - I'd rather have big guys poke me with sticks!"

Like it or not - bugs play a really important role in everyone's life. Think about insects that pollinate flowers - without them, we'd have trouble growing food. Think about mosquitos - without them, how would we truly appreciate summer vacation?

Caterpillars and the creatures they interact with are just as important in their ecosystem. They can teach us a lot - I hope that by the time my trip is finished, you'll be one of the people who wants to come with me!

Test

2008-07-18T13:43:00.001-04:00

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