New World Ecology

Nature Calendar of Events

2011-03-07T08:07:00.001-05:00

Dear students,
Check out the links to birding on Cape Cod, Song Bird Migrations, Explore Cape Cod as well as Nature Trails. These might help you with your nature calendar. Good Luck.

Course Description

2010-08-06T09:59:00.002-04:00

Ecology is a division of Biology that studies the relationship between living organisms and their environment. The name, Ecology , is derived from the Greek word, oikos, meaning house or home.

Ecologists are interested in learning about the factors, living and non-living, that support or limit populations of any species. Ecologists study influences on population growth and decline. Ecologists want to know how man affects the balance of nature.

This course is a project-based field course. You will be expected to participate in off site research, collecting data, making observations, drawing and labeling critters collected and/or observed. It is hoped that this course will teach you an appreciation and respect for the Earth and all creatures large and small living on it.

2010-08-06T09:45:00.000-04:00

"Any piece of knowledge which the pupil has himself acquired - any problem which he has himself solved, becomes, by virtue of the conquest, much more thoroughly his than it could else be."

Herbert Spencer

The GreenHouse Effect

2009-11-19T17:01:00.002-05:00

If you missed class, click on the link below to see the video presented in class.

Greenhouse Effect

Reconnecting

2009-11-02T08:45:00.002-05:00

Dear Honors Ecology Students,
It is time to use this blog. Check out the side bar for links to sites that will support your studies. See the new NOAA site for weather info. Post a question or a comment when you have a chance. I will post the weekly homework for your reference on the sidebar.

Check it out!

2009-03-18T12:45:00.004-04:00

I have added some sites to help you with tricky info about your biome. For example, there is a new link to info on soils in the tropical rainforest. There is also a link to average weather in your biomes.

Remember that spring is coming in two days. Keep your eyes to the skies. Watch for the birds returning. Check out the osprey platforms. Listen with your ears to the new sounds of birds setting up their territories and attracting their mates.

Biome Project

2009-03-18T07:33:00.001-04:00

To help you with your biome project, see the links to essential info under the Favorite links section of this blog.

Nature Walks on Cape Cod

2008-12-08T07:35:00.001-05:00

Check out the link to nature walks for your Nature Calendar. Although this one refers to the fall on Cape Cod, it gives you great ideas of where to send your readers anytime of year.

Nature Calendar

2008-12-08T07:35:00.000-05:00

For this project, you and your partner will create a nature calendar of events for anyone visiting Cape Cod. You will be assigned a month to report on. Your calendar must describe for the reader what they should expect to find on their visit. What will the weather be like? How much daylight will be available? What animals will they see? Will plants be blooming or in dormancy? Where can they hike, bike, or boat? Any sunsets to be seen?

Biomes Project

2008-10-07T08:51:00.002-04:00

If you look below, you will see that the ecology class was working on biomes in April of last spring. Go to the favorite links on the right side of this blog and you will find links to various biomes. This may help you in your research.

Welcome Back!

2008-04-25T07:32:00.002-04:00

Spring break is over! The weather is marvelous. Nature is busy - It is time to go to the pond! This week we will be busy learning about the biotic and abiotic factors that influence the health of a fresh water pond. It is important to be in class to prepare for our field trip on Thursday. Hope your break was restful and you are ready to go!

TIME MARCHES ON!

2008-03-14T08:00:00.003-04:00

Spring is Coming! Spring is Coming!
Are you keeping your eyes to the skies? Now begin to look also at the ground! What is beginning to grow? Soon enough we will be back in the field looking and listening to the sounds of this spring's arrival. In the meantime, gather your ecological address. Check "Favorite Links" for information to help you with this project.

Acid Rain

2008-02-24T09:04:00.003-05:00

Welcome Back!
I hope you are well rested and ready to go! We will spend a couple of days researching and learning about acid rain. Check out favorite links for your researching efforts. Answer the questions posed in your 3-ring binder... not your field notebook. Tuesday we will do a lab associated with this ecological problem.

Weather

2008-01-31T13:19:00.000-05:00

Weather data is being collected over ten days. The first set of weather data was collected on Thursday, January 31. Please be sure that you record data collected by your team if you are absent. Keep your field notebook up to date.

Your Ecological Address - Homework

2008-01-04T11:12:00.001-05:00

#1
This project asks you to identify your ecological address. You must find out where you get your water and where it goes when it leaves your house. You must also identify the direction (north, south, east, west) in which your house faces. You must check out soil, rocks, topography, plants and animals in your backyard. Your must discuss the history of your neighborhood. Was it originally farmed? What use change will occur in the future? Have fun identifying your ecological address.

Flax Pond Water Quality Report

2007-10-08T11:03:00.001-04:00

Water Quality Study of Flax Pond in South Yarmouth, MA

Include in your lab report a title page. The title page should have an appropriate title, the date of submission, your name, period, and my name.

Follow the lab report format given in class. The report should include the purpose of the study, your hypothesis (given back to you from a homework assignment), discussion section on three factors used to determine water quality, your data table with calculations, and a one or two sentence conclusion based on the data.

This report is worth a test grade.

Flax Pond Water Quality Study

2007-05-03T17:09:00.000-04:00

What to collect!

Your team will collect biotic and abiotic samples from Flax Pond, a kettle pond formed 10,000 years ago by the retreat of a glacier in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts.

Your collective goal is to determine the relative water quality of the pond. You will decide if that quality is good enough to support a diversity of life in the pond. Your team must come back to D.Y. with six samples of water for testing in the lab. They include nitrates, phosphates, fecal coliform, total solids, and biochemical oxygen demand. Additionally, while at the pond your team will bring back data on water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and turbidity.

Lastly, the class will bring back buckets of muck to examine for and identify benthic macroinvertebrates.

Baked Potato Invertebrate Trap

2007-03-26T19:16:00.000-04:00

Objective: To trap and observe soil organisms.

On Wednesday, we will take a field trip to study a kettle pond but also to trap some soil organims. We will use three baked potato halves per study group. We will place them on a site Wednesday, and check them on Friday.

You will be asked to identify differences in the type of organisms at each site. You also must explain why these differerences might occur. We will also collect soil samples to bring back to the lab to see if there are other organisms within the soil.
Are soil organisms considered good or bad?

Prepare your field notebooks and get your field study clothes ready.