Happy Day of the Dead Everyone! In order to celebrate those who have passed on I thought I would also share with you some of our caterpillars who are losing their lives due to parasitoids that we found yesterday. Both of these caterpillars have been parasitized by wasps and you can clearly see the wasp eggs attached to the caterpillars. Yesterday we also had the wonderful opportunity to have a talk by our lead researcher on this project, Dr. Lee Dyer, who mentioned that the main difference between a parasite and a parasitoid is that a parasitoid almost always kills its host by feeding on its organs before hatching out of its host. I thought his talk regarding the research was so informative and I can't wait to discuss it with all of my students on Monday when we get the chance to conference again!
Since yesterday was Halloween we did come out of the swamp in Slidell and came back into the Big Easy to celebrate with the whole town! It was quite an experience, and one that I'm sure I will not forget. It was so much fun to meet up with our Earthwatch researchers and see the town through their eyes!
Today was quite fun because in Audubon Park, which is located directly next to the Bed and Breakfast we are staying at while in New Orleans was having a Louisiana Swampfest which was an experience that I had to have and share with my students! For lunch I had the "Alligator Wrap" (with Louisiana hot sauce on it of course) which was so delicious... it really does not taste any different than chicken though. I wish we could get some good Alligator up North so that I could have everyone try it! I also had the opportunity to see an alligator feeding (thankfully it was not me) and learned that what I thought was true about escaping alligators (running in a zig-zag pattern) is simply not true and that if you are within a 30 ft. diameter of a gator that you are pretty much history. I'm not so sure I want to go back to the swamp tomorrow morning and head back into the field now!!! We have three more days of swamp living to go... which may be hard after coming back to civilization for two nights, but we are in need of more data so that the study can be strengthen even further and more can be learned about the tritrophic levels of interaction that we are studying! More tomorrow... stay tuned!
posted by Georgia Gier @ 12:04 AM
8 Comments:
Hi Mrs Gier, it's really good to hear that you're having such a fun time over there, and that your research has been progressing so much. It sounds really interesting, we can't wait to hear about it in class. And I was wondering, of those caterpillars that have died, did you have any concluding research on them before their death? do you still research them, even though they're dead? It's also nice to hear that you had such a nice halloween! Hope you don't run into any alligators, hahah. We'll be talking to you tomorrow!
-Marie.
hi mrs gier! im glad you're having fun, and you're getting far with your research. its is unfortunate we only get to talk for a period but im excited to hear about everything next time i see you in class. i was wondering, why do the parasitoids pick caterpillars as its host? like, do the caterpillars somehow protect the parasitoid? talk to you soon!
- sara
Hello, Ms. Gier. I was wondering if the streets of New Orleans were busy with trick or treaters because after Hurricane Katrina the population of the area had decreased? Compared to here was the number of people out similar?
Hi Mrs. Gier,
It's good to see you're having a great time down in New Orleans. Reading your blog has been really interesting the past week or so.
Someone amongst your Earthwatch group recently spotted an alligator. Do you know what kind of alligator it was? Male or female? I think they're fascinating animals.
And by the way, that Alligator Wrap doesn't look half bad!
- Ricki
Hi mrs gier, it is good to see that you are having a great time over in Louisiana. But isn't killing alligators illega? If it is where do they get the meat for your wrap?-Vinny
Hey, Ms. Gier! :)
It's really good to hear that you're enjoying your adventure. I'm angry because I checked the site on Sunday but I didn't comment because I didn't have time; I had to leave. But I have some questions: How far away was that alligator in that picture? That seems scary! What was it feeding on?
Also, where was that small snake found? What kind of snake is it? It looks really tiny, I don't know how someone could spot that!
-Bridget
hi mrs gier! i was wondering if the caterpillers you are finding down there could be found here on LI? because i would love to actually get to see some.
i hope your last day is fun!
see you thursday :)
-erin
Hi again, Ms. Gier.
I have some more questions:
Where have you found the most caterpillars? Is there a specific area that comes to mind?
Also, is there a certain species or kind of caterpillar that the wasps particularly like to lay their eggs in, or does it just not matter?
-Bridget
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