Hunting for Caterpillars with Ms. Gier

Another great question!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:16:00 +0000

O.K. I'm still here waiting for my flight which most likely will be delayed because of the rain in the NY area, and as I was going through some of the photo and videotape footage that I have both taken personally and received from other teachers on this expedition I thought that I would share some more insight into what we did when we went into the field.

One common question that I saw keep coming up throughout the week was...

Do you collect caterpillars that you already have collected and how do you collect those that blend in so well to their surroundings?

First of all we collect and bag/tag every caterpillar that we find in the field, which happened a lot with a particular caterpillar that by the end of the expedition we began to hate... In fact I found over 25 on one plant alone! Sometimes these little guys can be tricky so we use "very scientific methods" in order to collect these caterpillars! I have a video that shows how "scientific" this method is... bonus points for those of you who mention this video when I see you tomorrow! Yeah it finally downloaded... this is Ms. Espro, another teaching fellow, explaining our methods of finding the "difficult to find" caterpillars!

Afterwards we bag them and write a description on the ziplock bags so that when we got back to the bunkhouse we could ID each of the caterpillars and log them into the researcher's database. Once again I have a video of what this looks like which I will try to upload when back in NY!

However, caterpillars are not the only things we are focusing in on during our time out in the field... remember we are looking at the tritrophic interactions within the selected ecosystems!

This means that we have to look at the vegetation (plant material) that is in the area because that may have something to do with the abundance or lack of caterpillars found (another great question that I received). This additional data helps the researchers see if there is any other possibilities that could be affecting the caterpillars and their parasitoids! The video that highlights this with Mr. Novelli, another of the teaching fellows, is a definite want to see!

See you all tomorrow!!!

What amazing questions... I just couldn't wait!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:03:00 +0000

Well I'm here at the airport waiting for my flight that isn't for another two hours and I kept getting such wonderful questions that I just had to answer one!!!

One question that keeps coming up is...

Why are the most colorful animals usually also the most poisonous?

This is such a great question and I did a little research on it and found a website that very clearly described why this occurs in nature. I hope this explanation helps!

Coming Home!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:17:00 +0000

I can't believe this journey is coming to an end! I'm sitting here in the Park View (looking out onto the beautiful Audubon Park) waiting for my taxi to take me to the airport and back to Long Island... yet I don't feel ready to leave quite yet. It was such a wonderful experience and a taste of what real science is!

Some of my students have commented on the opportunity to experience something similar and I hope that we will be able to because there is nothing better than exploring and learning through doing! I may not have either a botany or entomology background however I now have such a deeper respect and understanding of both because of my work in the field and that is something that you can never receive from a book. Perhaps I will have to start holding classes outside and exploring the Earth Science that is all around us on our school grounds... depending on the weather that is!

Although there have been many comments on this blog I am going to wait and comment on them in class so that I can pull up the many various pictures that highlight the answers better than I could describe in an online environment. I look forward to being in my classroom with my wonderful students tomorrow and hope that this journey of mine will inspire them to move forward, strive higher, push further towards what they believe is the impossible because I'm sure that they will see as I have, that there is NOTHING that we cannot achieve when we believe in ourselves and try!

Our Last Day in the Field!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:31:00 +0000

I can't believe that our days in the field are now officially over! I feel that I am now a professional "Caterpillar Hunter"... O.K. perhaps I'm just now even more observant of nature, but I have learned so much from all of the Earthwatch researchers and am so thankful for them taking the time to so patiently teach us so much in so little time! Today was also extremely special because I was able to see and talk to my students again... I really have been missing not talking and sharing all of the experiences in full detail everyday. I have been getting their wonderful posts and cannot wait until Thursday when we can go through all of the pictures and their questions. This blog is only a small excerpt of all that I have been experiencing and I feel that I cannot express everything that there is to share on here... if only I could Skype with my students EVERY day!!! Thankfully I have the rest of the year to share science with them on a daily basis and we will incorporate the spirit of this trip into our time together!

Today was the last day in the field collecting samples (we still have to care for them tomorrow, etc.) and I was fortunate enough to be able to go kayaking for a second time however it was definitely an adventure when we were told by the Wildlife Management Ranger that we should keep an eye out because they had seen a 13 foot alligator in the area. After the SwampFest and learning that if I'm within a 30 foot radius of the alligator there is no escape, this was NOT good news! In fact where we landed on the river bank we saw multiple FRESH alligator foot prints (see below) and when stepping out of the kayak in order to put on my boots I almost lost my flip flops (see how mud logged they were) and instead got to "enjoy" a Louisiana pedicure when I put my socks on over my mud encrusted feet! The soft silk could not withstand our heavy steps and it was good to get onto higher and more solid ground!

Once we hiked to our plot I was constantly looking about to make sure no snakes or alligators were around but we did see evidence of a snake... a molted skin (see below)! We are not exactly sure of which snake it was, however our fearless guide believes that it is from a baby Water Moccasin! YIKES!!! Thankfully we didn't see any real snakes. Although I searched for over an hour for any kind of caterpillar in my zones (even after hitting the branches with the beat stick and beat cloth) I could not find any caterpillars. Instead I found some interesting friends who you can see below!

I have stepped out of my comfort zone on this expedition and have loved every minute of it. I have always loved hiking and exploring the various trails that the places I visit have to offer, however I now have a new found love for exploring "the wild"! I cannot wait until I work with my students to help decide how we can take this shared experience and do something locally. I know that this post is not my last one, but it will be my last one in the "bunkhouse". Tomorrow afternoon we head back to Tulane with all of the caterpillars and make sure that they are taken care of in their labs in order to further continue watching their progress in their life cycles and possible exposure to parasitoids. I look forward to working there and sharing this experience will everyone tomorrow!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:35:00 +0000

Wow! The weekend is almost over and we have fit so much in! Today we left the beautiful Park View Guest House (see picture below) in the morning and headed back to Slidell and the swamp for some more hunting. Although I was really sad to say goodbye to New Orleans and civilization I was excited to find such amazing new caterpillars that nobody has yet found during this expedition, like the Red-Eyed Button Slug (see below)... a stinging variety and another unknown caterpillar (see last photo) that I'm looking forward to identifying tomorrow because it looks like a snake almost!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:04:00 +0000

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!

Finally... A Snake!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:41:00 +0000

Well today was such a fun day because I finally got to see my students today and talk to them for 40 minutes and share my experience with them more personally! Using their questions (which I was thrilled that they took so seriously) I was able to be sure to answer what they wanted to know and was thrilled that they had such wonderful questions while I was talking to them. I'm thrilled that I was able to more fully share this experience with them and I think that they could really see the excitement I am experiencing... I only wish they were hiking through the woods with me to fully experience it!

I finally saw a snake today as we were about to head into the swamp for another plot this afternoon, but thankfully it was a baby and too small to do any damage but it made me think that there has to be a mama or papa snake around which had me looking and stomping that much more on our way toward the plot!

I have to say that completing the plots is definitely getting easier, which makes it more enjoyable. I found some great caterpillars today and look forward to processing them tomorrow morning to find out their names because one I have not seen before! Afterwards we are headed back into New Orleans where we are going to meet up with Dr. Dyer and have him discuss his research even more which should be extremely interesting. Afterwards we are off for the evening to enjoy Halloween New Orleans style... this should be interesting with all of the vampire and voodoo stories that run rampart around here! If I see any interesting costumes I will be sure to share! Have a happy and safe Halloween everyone!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:36:00 +0000

Today was a fabulous day on the Pearl River! After working in the lab and assisting some of the other teaching fellows in the morning I headed out on kayak with our fearless leader Mike and one of the other fellows, Tony! When we arrived at our plot location we noticed a fresh alligator slide going into the water... I guess that is better that he is in the water and not up on the land where we were headed!

After almost losing my flip flops that I was kayaking in I put on my Snake Boots and headed into the forest! Thank goodness for Mike and his machete!!! Some of that brush was thick but it was more amazing to see other parts of the forest completely destroyed still from Katrina. The Pearl River Wildlife Management Area is located in Slidell, LA which was one of the hardest hit areas when Katrina came ashore. In fact there was a thirty-foot storm surge at the base of the river and travelled up the Pearl River destroying much of the natural wildlife as well as local fish houses (see above).

It was good to see that plants were coming back (slowly) and that new fishing houses were being built, but it makes me wonder if they consider the strong possibility that storms of Katrina's magnitude could possibly become more frequent causing more damage to their livelihood and local ecology. Many of the people in Slidell rely on hunting not simply for pleasure but also for food, especially when times are tough and businesses are not coming back as quickly as they assumed they would after Katrina. Perhaps with better public awareness and policy to protect both the people and the land, improvements can be made and the devastation and the lives lost will not be repeated!

I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow!

Lab Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:56:00 +0000

Today had a great beginning because I had the opportunity to work in our makeshift lab here at the bunkhouse to catalogue (listing number of specimens in each bag, type of plant they were found on and eating, taking pictures of them, noting any parasitism activity, and listing life stage) as well caring for them (cleaning the frass, ensuring that the caterpillars have enough food and moisture). It was amazing to see some of the varieties that we found and I'm sure that we will find even more by the end of the expedition and I can't wait to share them with you tomorrow. I even got to give nicknames to the caterpillars we couldn't identify without further research!

After lunch I then was able to

go back out into the swamp in order to research another plot and bring back more specimens to study. In order to get there we had to walk through some deep swamp water and I am happy to report that I did not see any water moccasins or alligators!

Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day because I will be going out into the swamp via kayak in order to get to a research plot that is inaccessible by car, so I'm sure that we are going to see a large and diverse ecosystem that has been relatively untouched by humans! Keep your fingers crossed that I don't run into any snakes or alligators then... I hope to see all of you on Thursday afternoon in one piece! I'm looking forward to your comments tomorrow when you are at the library and I am even more excited to see you on Thursday!

Challenge Question:

How do caterpillars adapt to their environments and protect themselves from predators as well as parasitoids? Research this and tell me your favorite one!

Our First Hunt!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:11:00 +0000

After helping making lunch and before our first hunt I got a chance to walk around our surrounding swamp land and got a few great pictures that I think are so indicative of the wonderful and rich ecology that LA has to offer!

We then got to get ready and head into the Honey Island Swamp in order to hunt for caterpillars! We were lucky because we found other friends to study as well... but not too closely. We began finding our furry friends right away and I learned how to "beat" them ou

r of the tree and find them, and "bag" them in order to bring them back to the bunkhouse where we will be caring for, studying, and cataloging all of the specimens we collect!

Once we start cataloging I will have some amazing pictures and the stories behind these amazing specimens that can potentially do so much good for our agricultural advancement!

Stay tuned...

Challenge Question:

How are caterpillars similar to insects and how do they differ? What in the environment do scientists theorize has influenced the evolution of insects over the past 300 million years? Read this article for a hint http://harvardmagazine.com/2007/11/dragonfly.html

We're Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:44:00 +0000

We have arrived at the bunk house tonight (12:45 am our time 1:45 am your time... don't forget LA is on Central Time)! We met up with the EarthWatch team at 4:00 and got to know each other and learned more about the project and what to expect over the next few days. We went to an AMAZING Tunisian restaurant which was so delicious and will be hard to replicate over the next few days here in the bunk house! I will be posting pictures tomorrow of the bunk house and the area outside as well... Keep You Posted!!!

Challenge Question: Approximately how many degrees of longitude are NY

& LA? The hint is in the paragraph above!

Our bunk house... after one night of sleep! We need to make our beds I think!

6:30 am (our time) and we are already hard at work!

Getting Ready

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:54:00 +0000

WOW!!! I can't believe that I head off to New Orleans to meet the rest of the team in only two days, however I have mixed feelings... I'm excited to embark on a new adventure where I know that I will have the opportunity to learn and share so much, but on the other hand I will miss seeing my students each day, especially after today's shared experience of Rachel's Challenge!

Today's program was a strong reminder that we need to appreciate those in our life and that small things really make a difference. I had the rare opportunity to share something so powerful and uplifting that I am positive that it will have a positive influence in everyone's lives and that Rachel's death will not be in vain. I am fortunate to have such wonderful classes and supportive colleagues and administrators that it makes me proud to be a teacher in East Meadow! Together we will continue the chain of kindness with each smile and encouraging word that will continue long after this day!

I have to say that I feel very fortunate to be able to share this exciting experience with my students and that I only wish that they could be coming with me to share each new experience! I am a bit worried about the potential hazards I will surely encounter such as alligators, water moccasins, chiggers, stinging caterpillars, and many more interesting wildlife! I do hope to have some real Cajun cooking and when in New Orleans I want to tour around the devastation that Katrina left in its wake so that I can once again share how fortunate we all are, how thankful we should feel, and look together for ways to reach out to others in need.

Tomorrow I will finally pack and am confident that this expedition will lead to a great opportunity for me to reach my students in another way and to perhaps inspire them to follow their dreams, reach for the stars and achieve their goals!

The Excitement is growing!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgia Gier) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:53:00 +0000

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

In little more than a month I will be embarking on such an amazing expedition and feel extremely lucky that I will be able to share it with my students and school! Right now I am planning my trip and getting to know the other teachers who I will be sharing this experience with and cannot wait to work together as a team with the research team from Tulane University. I look forward to recording this experience for others who are interested in the work that I will be assisting in collecting and how our changing climate is impacting our future.

As I am preparing I am most looking forward to the adventure of kayaking into the remote regions of the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area to gather data and share the experience "Live From the Field" with my students. Although I will not be in front of them I am excited to see them during our conferences and hope to hear their thoughts on the experience on this blog! I am hopeful that this experience will continue my classroom theme of "Science is Everywhere" and will further continue to show students that the science we learn together goes beyond the classroom and connects them to the world!

I look forward to you joining me on my exciting adventure!