Climate Change and Forests with Ms. MacMillan

Our last day here....and a snow day there....

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. MacMillan) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:05:00 +0000

I was reading over some of your answers to the mystery photos I posted earlier. The first photo is the close up of bark with lots of little holes in it. I, like many of you assumed that the holes were formed by bugs. But the scientists here told me they were actually made by the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Click here to see a photo and find more info. One way that you can tell that the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is responsible is that the holes are in a straight line. This tree was covered with them!

The second photo was of an old wire fence. Most likely it was an old property or pasture line. We found remnants of the fence in other spots in the woods. The beech tree over time has grown around the wire....it looked kind of funny, but did not seem to affect its growth. SERC used to be an old dairy farm so that makes sense that they may have had wire fence.

Nice job detectives!

Today we finished up the last two plots, so the hectare is complete! We also collected the rain gauges and recorded how much rain we received in the storm. There are a number of rain gauges in the woods and it is interesting that they each have different amounts of rain. Why do you think they would be different?

Remember, I mentioned they are having a hunt here? Well today my group decided to stop in at the hunters' station before heading in for lunch. We were curious to see if they had caught anything. They did not have a deer there but one of the security guards had grilled some amazing bbq chicken and invited us to have some! We were so excited, it was delicious. The guard told me that the hunters have gotten over 100 deer this year just on the SERC property!

Well, it is time for me to pack up. I leave tomorrow and I'm excited to see you all Monday. Have a great weekend!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. MacMillan) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:33:00 +0000

So, I just checked the NOAA website and they are predicting 4-8 inches of snow tonight and 1-3 inches tomorrow for the Rumford area. I am going to be bummed if I miss the first good skiing of the season! I was able to talk to a few homerooms today and was hoping to talk to some tomorrow….but, I’m not sure with this weather if we’ll have that opportunity!

It has been raining here all day and the weather has gotten much colder. Today some of the group went out in the rain to survey a few more plots. We only have 2 more to do before this area is complete. We are the last group they have this year so we really want to finish it for them. Hopefully we can do that tomorrow. I stayed in the lab today and found the mass of lots of dried leaves. I’ll attach a video tomorrow that explains more about what I was doing.

Today I’ve attached three photos. Two are of the sycamore tree that I think has the coolest bark out of any tree I have seen. I remember when I was little my dad told me that you can identify the sycamore tree because the bark looks sick. I found a range map on the web and it seems that sycamores do not normally grow in Maine but can be found in Massachusetts. The other photo is a picture of the bags of leaves that I was collecting data on in the lab.

Today’s Questions:
1. What is your favorite tree? Why? (it can be a certain type or a certain tree, like one in your yard….even if you don’t know what type it is)
2. Can you explain the difference between climate change and global warming? Many people use the words to mean the same thing when actually they are different.
3. What do you want to know about global warming and climate change? These questions will help me plan my lessons when I get back.

If you don’t have school but you check this from home feel free to respond or write to me. Enjoy the snow!

Heat Wave!

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. MacMillan) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:15:00 +0000

Hey guys….the videoconference was so cool! It is great that we have this kind of technology….many of the other teachers said that their students don’t have the access that we do to computers and technology in their classroom. We are very lucky to have the laptops and equipment that we have!

This morning after our conference I walked on the road out to meet my group. It was kind of nice just to walk and be able to listen to all the sounds around me. One thing that I heard was a peeping noise, which reminded me of the spring peepers (frogs) that we get in Maine in the springtime. I forgot to ask the scientist if they were frogs or birds. I’ll try to remember to ask tomorrow. It was really warm today and I didn’t even have to wear a long sleeved shirt, but I did find a tick on the back of my neck. Luckily, it hadn’t attached yet.

I was reading over your answers from yesterday and I have posted just a few, although many of you had correct answers and good hypotheses.

To answer a few (sorry not all!) questions you had….
**We have been working in the same area each time; they are getting data for a 16-hectare plot. Each hectare is 100 meters by 100 meters and has 100 smaller plots inside; each of those is 10 meters by 10 meters. We work in the smaller plots (10m x 10m) until we have tagged all the trees and then we move onto the next one. Yesterday my group yesterday did about 5 plots. I think we did about 7 today.
**Largest tree we measured today was a tulip poplar that was 73.3 cm DBH. Can you figure out the circumference?
**The tower that we climbed the other day had all sorts of instruments up top. There were some to collect rainwater, some to measure wind, some measured UV radiation from the sun and there were many more….those are the ones I remember.

In college, I read a book that I really liked called Reading the Forested Landscape by Tom Wessels. The book discussed how much you can tell about the history of a forest by what you find. For example, do you remember in the video I made in my backyard I pointed out the stone wall? Stone walls in New England generally mark the edge of old fields and property lines. So I hypothesized that my property used to be farmland. Then, my neighbor told me that my house was part of an old potato farm! My hypothesis was correct. So, now I have two photo mysteries for you…..what do these pictures tell you about the history of the land or tree?

Today’s Questions:
1. Photo mystery questions….hypothesize what has happened to the land or trees in the photos.
2. What are some ways that people can identify trees? Think of as many as you can and remember that the leaves are not always there!
3. Brainstorm some of the benefits of trees and forests. Check out the following two links (Maine Forests, Forest Facts) that will give you some ideas. Then find a picture (either at home in a magazine or print one) that represents one of the benefits you came up with. Attach your photo to the back bulletin board.

If you finish early watch the videos that Lynne Barden or Lesa Rohrerhave posted on their blogs! Have a great Thursday!

The view from above....

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. MacMillan) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:02:00 +0000

Hello all! I am looking forward to talking to you tomorrow morning! Today we had another full day and I am exhausted! When we talk tomorrow I will tell you all about my day and the work we did. I am going to attach a few pictures that I captured today. One shows the tower we climbed and the other shows the view from the top....it was really an amazing view. You can even see the Rhode River in the background.

Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. MacMillan) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 02:30:00 +0000

December 8th, 2008

Today we had a very full day. We had a presentation by Dr. Bert Drake who talked to us about climate change to start off the day. It was an excellent talk and I will share some of his information with you when I return. Next, we meet with the scientists we will be assisting. We took a short walk in the woods and learned a little about the trees we will be identifying. The photo shows the seeds of a tulip poplar tree, it reminded me a little of a pine cone because all the seeds were layered together.

As we were looking on the ground for other seeds I thought I found one but as I picked it up I realized it was actually deer scat! I quickly dropped it!

Then, we learned how to measure diameter at breast height (dbh) as well as how to identify where the trees are in the canopy. We practiced doing this so we are ready to go out to the plots tomorrow and get started collecting data. I hope you are all doing well!

Today's Activity
I would like you to go to the EPA’s website. I know that you learned about the carbon cycle last year, but I would like you to watch the carbon cycle movie & take the quiz at the end. Use that information as well as the internet to answer the following questions with a partner. Post your answers to the blog - only one post per group.

1. Where is carbon found?
2. What is a carbon sink?
3. How do you think this (carbon cycle & sinks) connects to the research being done here?
4. Feel free to ask me a question!

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. MacMillan) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:14:00 +0000

Ok, so I am now able to connect to the internet and I'm posting a few photos from my weekend in Washington. First I went to the zoo and saw the pandas, cheetahs, elephants and lots of very cool small mammals. Here is a picture of one of the pandas, I believe it is Tian Tian and you can read more about the pandas at the link.

Giant Panda

We also went to the Natural History Museum. The rocks and minerals were beautiful and I was able to find some tourmaline from Maine.

I'm here!

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. MacMillan) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:06:00 +0000

Hello all! It has been a fun but full weekend. I woke up at 3:45 AM to fly out of Portland Saturday morning! I spent Saturday touring Washington DC with my sister. We went to the zoo as well as a few museums. My favorite stop was a photo exhibit at the Natural History Museum. If you get a chance during learning lab check out the photo exhibit by going to the link below.

As we were walking around yesterday evening it was snowing! My sister said I brought the snow from Maine. I had been hoping it would be a little warmer here. I will post a few pictures tomorrow from DC....I am having a slight problem connecting to the internet with my computer. Today I met up with my group and we toured the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) where we will be staying and doing our research. Tomorrow we will learn more about what we will be doing in the field. Hope you all had a great weekend and a fun Monday!

Photo Gallery

Getting Ready!

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. MacMillan) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:33:00 +0000

Welcome back from Thanksgiving vacation! I have been busy getting ready for my upcoming trip to Maryland. I am very excited, but know that I have a lot to do before I am ready to fly out of Portland on Saturday!

On my trip we will be studying the forest. In Maine we are very lucky to have an abundance of forested areas. One thing that always catches my attention as I drive around Maine is how the forests change from one area to the next. Yesterday I took some time to video my backyard as well as Grafton Notch State Park.

Watch the video below and then hypothesize why these two forests look so different. Post your hypothesis as a comment and make sure you explain your thinking!

Photo test

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. MacMillan) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:06:00 +0000

I'm attempting to attach a photo. This is a picture of a zinnia from our school garden.

Test

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. MacMillan) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:27:00 +0000

Hello there! This is Ms. MacMillan testing the blog. I am getting excited for my upcoming trip!