Spanish Flu, and Asiatic Clams

The Spanish Flue Epidemic of 1918 was a widespread and deadly influenza pandemic that spread across the world and affected many people. What was different from other epidemics is that the flu affected people who were young adults, and not the typical infants and elderly that most epidemics would affect for most epidemics in history. The pandemic lasted from 1/1918 to 12/1920. The Flu reached the far corners of the world. Even to some parts of the Artic and even to remote Pacific Islands. This is a video that shows the horrors of the Influenza panic. 

Here is a map that shows where the Spanish Flue started from and moved to. Many people have different theories on to where the virus began, some say the far east, and multiple sources have said  different things so it could be many different locations. One being the Far East, and others say that it could be Africa. 


For the other lab that we went on was to see the Asiatic Clams in the Ocmulgee River. The following video is one that shows how these clams can filter the water in these fresh water systems. As a group we did not find many clams that were alive, but the few that we did were quite interesting to see. According to an article in Wikipedia the Chinise call these clams the gold luck clams. The scientific name for these clams is Corbicula fluminea. This clam is one that we could have found in the Ocmulgee. 

Tree Hugging picture, Southern Pine Beetle, and Wild Ginger

This is my tree hugging picture, although it is not one where im hugging the tree, but I think it still is one that counts haha

We talked about the Southern Pine Beetle and the way that they would destroy huge chunks of land in the Forest, So here is a link to the video that shows the areas in the South that have had the worst outbreak of the Southern Pine Beetle for each particular year. Also while in Hitchiti we saw Wild Ginger. Wild Ginger would be desc lustrous leaves that cover the ground so well that one can barely see an inch of soil ribbed as heart shaped glossy. The following is a picture of Wild Ginger:

Wild Ginger can be grown either from seeds, or from slender rhizomes. It needs full sun, but can tolerate partial shade. This all is according to www.buzzle.com. 

ONM Wildlife

The wildlife around the Ocmulgee National Monument varies, but due to the swampy conditions that border the monument then the wildlife in the area follow that same trend. Herons, turkeys, fish, and many more make up the dense wildlife population in the swamp. The bird life consists mainly of blue and white herons as well as wood ducks. These are shown below.

there are some sources that I have found that claimed that Wild Turkeys will roam the area as well. This is according to wikipedia.org though. These are mainly the only bird species that may be hunted in the area, but hunting is prohibited on the monument land itself. 

Within the water of the swamp the fish life is mainly consistent of largemouth bass, crappies, and catfish. These are shown below.

The one mammal that has been disputed on whether or not it habitats within the area around the swamp is the Black Bear. These are animals that have been said to be coming back in the middle Georgia area.

All of these animals are kept in good habitats because of them living so close to the monument that is well maintained by the government.

Burgess Shale

The Burgess shale is a fossil field that is located in the Canadian Rockies that has a massive deposit of fossil formations that have been found to have many fossils that were from pre-historic age. These fossils which have been found are from many different groups of Animals. It has taken scientists by surprise, and they have not been able to answer how or what these animals were there. These are just a few images of the fossils that have been found, and what scientists have recreated them to look like.

This is a video of the recreation of the Burgess shale animals.

Undertow/ Rip tide

A rip tide or a rip current is a strong channel of water that runs from the shoreline and then back out to sea. When wind and waves push water towards the shore, that water is often forced sideways by the oncoming waves. This water streams along the shoreline until it finds an exit back to the sea or open lake water. The resulting rip current is usually narrow and located in a trench between sandbars, under piers or along jetties. A common misconception is that ordinary undertow or even rip currents are strong enough to pull someone under the surface of the water,in reality the current is strongest at the surface. This strong surface flow tends to dampen incoming waves, leading to the illusion of a particularly calm part of the sea, which may possibly lure some swimmers into the area. The off-shore path taken by a rip current can be demonstrated by placing colored dye at the start of a current at the shoreline. Rip currents are a source of danger for people in ocean and lake surf. They can be extremely dangerous, dragging swimmers away from the beach. Death by drowning comes following exhaustion while fighting the river or ocean current. This video shows how dangerous it could be if someone is caught in a rip tide, and how they would be rescued. 

Deep Sea, Deep secrets

Extremophiles: an extremophile is an organism that lives in an extreme environment, so at the bottom of the hydrothermal vents, or within the walls of Volcano. This is a picture of one of those organisms.

They live in many of these extreme environments such as these:

Geology Lab

Igneous: This is a picture of an Igneous rock that has come from molten lava flowing out of the Earth and it has solidified in this form which it has stayed today. These are the rocks that have been changed over time from when they first solidified from the rocks which they came from.

Metamorphic:The following are pictures of metamorphic rocks that have been metamorphosed throughout time. Which means they have been subjected to a lot of high temperatures, and high degrees of pressure over time. This will change the way that the rock looks, and it shows with the way that they appear now.

Sedimentary: These are the rocks that have been changed over time by the wind, sun, and many other happenings on Earth. The many particles, and minerals that make up these rocks come together and change the way that these rocks appear.

12 Soil Order

This is the 12 soil orders from all over the world. The most prominent type of soil that is in GA is inceptisols. Here is a picture of that Soil: 

When a person takes a sample of soil they will take the Munsell color chart and try to determine the hue, chrona, and value of the soil from the color chart. This can come in handy when someone is trying to determine what crop would be best to plant there. This is the link to the Munsell soil color chart online. It shows the different colors of soils and how each of their hues, values, and chronas change based on their individual color. 

This is a soil map of the state of Georgia. This link is one to a Soil Texture Dichotemus Key. Where it will show a person how to describe what kind of soil that one may have. The next picture is one of the soil texture diagram pyramid. This picture shows what type of soil that one might encounter when they have it in front of them. 

Sylvester Ferdinand Pollock III

I took my plant, named Sylvester, and placed him on the windowsill in my room. He is in a lot of light, and I watered him for the first time today. I am looking forward to what this brings for Sylvester.

So it is 2/18, and I have gave Slyvester his first spoonfull of water. I have waited this long because I have been keeping my humidifier on all during the night so that there is a lot of moisture in the air. Hopefully this will help Slyvester not be too watered.

Its 2/21, and there is no sign of growth in little Slyvester. He has not grown at all from what I can tell. He has stayed in the same spot on my windowsill, and my humidifier has kept the air moist, but there is still no growth. Maybe in two days I can see what will happen.

It is 2/23, and there is a sprout!! I thought that he was dead, but no Slyvester triumphed and poked his head through to live. It was so very cool to see him grow, maybe there will be more to come.

it is 2/27, and Slyvester is growing even more, i am looking forward to seeing how well he will grow for the future. his two stems at the are starting to curl around more and more while he grows higher and higher.

Its 3/1, and Slyvester continues to grow more and more. He is not curling under, and he is doing great. I have been watering him every other day and keeping him in a lot of sunlight so he is doing so well

Its 3/3, and Slyvester continues his phenomenal growth, he is growing straight up and looking fantastic. For Spring Break i am going to take him with me, and i am going to continue to water him every other day.

its 3/5 and i have just realized that I have left Sylvester in my dorm room over the break. This is a mistake of mine that could cause the death of Sylvester.

Its 3/12 and I am back in my room where i have realized that yes Sylvester is dead, i have watered him and maybe this could bring him back to life, but it will come out in the next few days.

Its 3.15 and it looks as though Sylvester is not going to make it. I am being optomistic that he could pull it out.

Its 3/18 and i am finally pronouncing the Death of Sylvester Ferdinand Pollock III.

Geocatching path

This is a map of the area that my group went for our Geocatching lab. the Distance that we walked was 454 yards all around the area of campus that we went. At each of the stations we found an item that was there. At the first station we found a keychain with a piece of paper there that was for other geocatchers to mark that they were there. At the second station we found black eyed peas in the container. At the third container we found a red container. At the Fourth container we found a tube of tabasco sauce. At the fifth container it was coke tabs that were in the container. At the Sixth container it was chalk that we found. At the seventh container it was a batter. And finally at the eighth container we found a magnet with a little car.

      Geocatching is something that can help people in many ways. With the way that it is a hobby for many people, but not only just people in everyday life, but for many scientists who could use geocatching as ways of researching and studying. For example, fisherman could use geocatching to plot where the fish have been previously caught by another fisherman and so on. Not only fisherman, but biologists could study where found a specific plant or animal species. The list could go on and on with how geocatching could be used to help people with their everyday lives. Many can use Geocatching in order for them to have a hobby that they could do on the weekends, and have a good time with it.

geocaching.org


       This is the link that leads to the geocaching of america website. Geocaching could help many environmental scientists who are out in the world trying to help the world. Environmental Scientists could use geocaching to help label where in the world that they are doing their research, and to help plot out areas where they would maybe find where the oil is spilling from a valve, or how far inland it would be moving. Scientists could use many geocaching techniques to find out where different aspects of the weather are acting different for the way that of the area surrounding it. This is just some of the few ways that Geocaching can assist in the study of Environmental Science.

Animal

This is a Red Snapper school. Red Snapper's habitat is in the Caribbean waters of the Atlantic Ocean. I chose this animal because I've caught many of these, and they are quite the tasty fish.

Geographical Location

This is a picture of the Long Island of the Bahamas. It is an island where right along the coastline fisherman will go and Bonefish along these waters. I would like to go down there and go bonefishing.

Park

This is a link to the Alexander Stephens State Park in Crawfordsville, GA. This is a park that shows the home of the Vice-President of the Confederact Alexander Stephens.

Alexander Stephens State Park

Field Research center

For the field research center that I found was the Guy Harvey Research Institute based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. It is based at Nova Southeastern University, and their main goal is to research the wildlife of the ocean to keep these animals rich. GHRI is one of only a handful of private organizations dedicated exclusively to expanding the scientific knowledge base needed for effective conservation of fish populations and maintenance of fish biodiversity. 

Map of my travels in GA

This is the Map of the roads that I take when I am driving from Mercer, My girlfriends, and back to my home in Augusta. I do quite a bit of driving all over the place as the map shows. 

Topographic Map of the State of Georgia

This is a Topographic map of the state of Georgia, it shows how the elvation changes from different areas of the state. The highest areas of Elevation are in the northern part of the state. With the highest areas of elevation being in the Northeast corner of the state. The lowest levels of elevation in the state are in the southeast part of the state nearest to the coastline.

Dot Density Map of Georgia

This is a dot density map of the State of Georgia, that could also be a chloropleth map of population. The largest population is in Atlanta, with some smaller areas of density in Columbus, Savannah, Macon, and Augusta. This map shows where the small areas of population are, and where the largest areas are.