Geocaching

For the past few weeks we have been experimenting with geocaching in our science class. Geocaching is a world wide hunting game that you do to find caches by using a GPS. We used a site called Geocaching.com to get the exact coordinates to put in the GPS according to caches around the kihei area.

I learned that geocahing can be difficult at times and that its very important that when you find a cache that you put it back in the same place.

Our results were that we found one cache and the other locations we looked we could not find them.

 This is a picture of a few people in my group looking for the cache, but unfortunately we did not find it.

Termite Observations

The First thing we did was fill a small jar with 20 grams of silicon sand, a piece of  Douglas wood, and 18 ml of water.

After that we added termites to the jar and observed them in each class, as the days passed the sand would begin to sink from the water that was put inside. The termites were beginning to chew on the wood but not fully yet. The sand would also move around a lot because of people moving the jar. After a while you could see that the termites were making a little progress in biting the wood.

I learned a lot from this termite unit, it defiantly got me prepared for the future if i ever start to see something that would concern me about having termites. My favorite part was doing the mark release recapture method and making the brochure. My least favorite part was looking at the protazoas.

Feeding and Protazoa Lab

In this picture we are magnifying into the termites guts to find the protozoa.

In this picture you can see the protazoas, cytoplasm and particles.












A symbiotic relationship is an association of organisms in a benificial relationship.
The benefits of a symbiotic are that the protazoas get a home to live in the termites gut, and it receives food from the wood that termites eat.

Procedure:
First we grabbed the termites head and thorax with the forceps.
Second we took one of the forceps and pulled the termites gut out of its anus.
Third we placed the termites gut in the saline solution on the microscope slide and press carefully on the cover slide to release the protozoa from its gut.
Then we observe the protozoa though the microscope using different magnifications.

I thought this lab was interesting and how you can see the protazoas in the scope moving so clearly.

The Transect Tape

This tool is not only used to measure, but its also used to collect the population of objects in an area.
1.) First you roll out the tape.
2.) Put in down on the area you want to find a population of things.
3.) Count by every one or two meters.
4.) Get an average.
5.) Record your data.



Picture of a transect line underwater.