Tiny Tree Hunt and EXTRA CREDIT

Today was a very, very windy day out on the tundra. Look how much this larch tree is bending in the wind (and how the white spruce next to it is not).  We used an anemometer to measure the wind speed. The top speed we measured was around 30 mph, but the weather station recorded gusts at almost 40 mph.  This wind didn't stop us from doing our work today, or from having fun.

After we finished coring 50 adult trees in the forest biome and 50 in the forest-tundra ecotone, we starting doing seedling and sapling collection. This is considering "destructive sampling" which means that we actually remove the seedling or sapling by pulling it out of the ground after we record a bunch of data about it.  We do this so that the researchers can find out data about the age of these seedlings and saplings and how well they are growing, which they can only do for such small trees back at the lab by cutting them up.  Here I am crawling around looking for seedlings...once again.

For those of you who have been following my posts and pictures and want some science credit or EXTRA CREDIT!!! for doing a little research, I have some assignment options for you to choose one of the sites or sights I have seen here at Churchill, and write a little about it so that I can make a bulletin board when I get back using my pictures and those of you who want to help out can have your work posted on there too.  You guys have all weekend and next Tuesday and Wednesday off, then I will be back on Thursday so you can give it to me then, or give it to your teacher or Ms. Wong when you are done with it.

Directions: Choose 1 of the following and write/type up a description of it. Your description should include all of the information I listed, and be at least 8 sentences (or more!) long.

1. Shipwreck: The shipwreck I saw is called the MV Ithaca. Find out what kind of ship it is, how it got to Churchill, when it ran aground here (how long it has been here), why it got shipwrecked here, and what kinds of animals use it as a home now.

2. Plane Crash: The plane crash wreckage I saw is from a plane nicknamed "Miss Piggy." Find out what type of plane Miss Piggy was, when she crashed, why she crashed, where she took off from, what kinds of cargo she hauled (including what type of animal she carried).

3. Fort Churchill Rocket Range: This is what the Churchill Northern Study Centre (where I am staying) used to be. Find out when it was built, who built it, who used it, what it was used for, how long it was used for, and when it shut down. Try to find out why it was built and what type of research was done here, or what types of rockets they launched from here.

4. Churchill Northern Study Centre (yes, Canadians spell it -re): This is the place where I am staying on my expedition. Find out when it was founded, what it is used for, what some of the things the people here do, how far away it is from the town of Churchill, what 3 biomes it is close to, and what National Park nearby is a famous denning site for polar bear mothers and cubs.

Thanks guys! I look forward to reading what you find out, and keep up the good work with the comments! Great questions so far.