Wednesday, April 30, 2008
This is my house back in England. My mother and Father bought the land so they could self biuld the property. They tried to be as environmentally friendly as possible with their budget. We have very thick concrete walls which are heavily insulated so that we can save on gas and heating in the winter. In England we recycle just about everything. We have pink bags for paper and plastic, blue bags for bottles and red bags for news papers. Every week the bin men come to collect everyone's rubbish and they take it to be recycled. My mother also has a compost heap in the back garden where she throws any vegetable skins in to. She then puts whatever is produced on to our plants so she doesn't need chemicals to help them grow. Although these are all great things I think that more could be done. There are a lot of houses back home that use solar power for their electricity and I think this could be something that every house has in the future.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution:
The Evolution of Tortoises and Turtles
Charles Darwin produced theories on evolution, which served as a guide for people to evaluate the changes in species of animals as they adapt to their new surroundings through time. Darwin researched the Galapagos Islands and some of the animals on it. He developed a more modern version of the theory along with Alfred Russel Wallace. I used some of his ideas to come up with my own research on the tortoises and turtles that were bought in to class for us to analyze.There were 8 different turtles and tortoises for us to examine in class, all varying in shape and size.
The first turtle we analyzed was the box turtle. Turtles are water animals and tortoises are land animals. The box turtle however also lives on the land and does not have particularly webbed feet to help it swim through the water currents. This box turtle had a patterned shell, which was yellow and black but all in all the shell was rather plain as the turtle was a female. These box turtles are native to Florida.
Tortoise number two was a red foot tortoise native from South America. The flat belly showed us that it was a female as this is a specific feature adapted to the way these tortoises mate. The tortoise moved very slowly, which also gave us a clue it was not a water animal. Although the name suggests that the skin on the tortoise was red, it was actually more brown/grey. This tortoise is a vegetarian and therefore had a soft mouth.
The third turtle was the Central American Wood Turtle. This turtle was very active and seemed rather agitated. It had a pointed mouth, which is perfect for shredding the fish which it eats. Its shell was slightly raised and triangular in shape which would allow it to glide through a water current easily. In appearance this turtle was much brighter with orange and black eyes, and a brown with orange shell.The second box turtle we looked at was a male with a yellow head and a long fat neck. This turtle also lives on land as well as in water and originates from Texas. The mouth is slightly pointed and would be able to cut through thick vegetation. This turtle has a very small tail and was only about 6 inches in length.
The third and final box turtle was also a male, but native of Florida. His legs were thick with orange spots on them, in contrast to the plainer female. The turtle also had red eyes and a thick square neck. His claws were extremely long and sharp which means that he may be able to dig deep holes to get to food or shelter from the sun.
The Russian tortoise is a vegetarian and has a pointed mouth, perfect for shredding foliage. This tortoise also looks like it may be able to dig as his claws were also long and sharp. When we put him down on the table to look at him he also tried to dig into the wood. He was very heavy , ran very fast, had a yellow/brown shell, but the bottom was completely black.
The mud turtle we looked at was only young and therefore very small in size. He had very webbed feet and a triangular shell to glide through water. His face looked completely different to the others as he had a more triangular and stream lined face and mouth. His bottom jaw was very pointed and this shows that he probably eats fish in the water. For camouflage the turtle was green with black spots on his belly. This turtle originates from North America.
The last tortoise we looked at was very big. It was the yellow foot tortoise, which lives in South America in forests. It was a female with huge scaled feet and a thick segmented shell. This tortoise moved very slowly and carefully. The colors were very dull, mainly grey and brown. The skin looked very thick and she looked like she would be pretty well protected from predators.
The Evolution of Tortoises and Turtles
Charles Darwin produced theories on evolution, which served as a guide for people to evaluate the changes in species of animals as they adapt to their new surroundings through time. Darwin researched the Galapagos Islands and some of the animals on it. He developed a more modern version of the theory along with Alfred Russel Wallace. I used some of his ideas to come up with my own research on the tortoises and turtles that were bought in to class for us to analyze.There were 8 different turtles and tortoises for us to examine in class, all varying in shape and size.
The first turtle we analyzed was the box turtle. Turtles are water animals and tortoises are land animals. The box turtle however also lives on the land and does not have particularly webbed feet to help it swim through the water currents. This box turtle had a patterned shell, which was yellow and black but all in all the shell was rather plain as the turtle was a female. These box turtles are native to Florida.
Tortoise number two was a red foot tortoise native from South America. The flat belly showed us that it was a female as this is a specific feature adapted to the way these tortoises mate. The tortoise moved very slowly, which also gave us a clue it was not a water animal. Although the name suggests that the skin on the tortoise was red, it was actually more brown/grey. This tortoise is a vegetarian and therefore had a soft mouth.
The third turtle was the Central American Wood Turtle. This turtle was very active and seemed rather agitated. It had a pointed mouth, which is perfect for shredding the fish which it eats. Its shell was slightly raised and triangular in shape which would allow it to glide through a water current easily. In appearance this turtle was much brighter with orange and black eyes, and a brown with orange shell.The second box turtle we looked at was a male with a yellow head and a long fat neck. This turtle also lives on land as well as in water and originates from Texas. The mouth is slightly pointed and would be able to cut through thick vegetation. This turtle has a very small tail and was only about 6 inches in length.
The third and final box turtle was also a male, but native of Florida. His legs were thick with orange spots on them, in contrast to the plainer female. The turtle also had red eyes and a thick square neck. His claws were extremely long and sharp which means that he may be able to dig deep holes to get to food or shelter from the sun.
The Russian tortoise is a vegetarian and has a pointed mouth, perfect for shredding foliage. This tortoise also looks like it may be able to dig as his claws were also long and sharp. When we put him down on the table to look at him he also tried to dig into the wood. He was very heavy , ran very fast, had a yellow/brown shell, but the bottom was completely black.
The mud turtle we looked at was only young and therefore very small in size. He had very webbed feet and a triangular shell to glide through water. His face looked completely different to the others as he had a more triangular and stream lined face and mouth. His bottom jaw was very pointed and this shows that he probably eats fish in the water. For camouflage the turtle was green with black spots on his belly. This turtle originates from North America.
The last tortoise we looked at was very big. It was the yellow foot tortoise, which lives in South America in forests. It was a female with huge scaled feet and a thick segmented shell. This tortoise moved very slowly and carefully. The colors were very dull, mainly grey and brown. The skin looked very thick and she looked like she would be pretty well protected from predators.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Mini Project 5
This weeks project was to go to the EPA's web site (www.epa.gov) I had to find the closest Superfund Site to Nova. First I entered all my details so that a map could be formed and then they gave me a color coded key to see where the sites were. it turned out that the closest Superfund Site is the Davie National Resource Recovery in 3250 Field RD FLD984182014.
I found this on http://www.cqs.com/super_fl.htm
I also saw a map of Davie with Superfunds on the EPA website.
http://iaspub.epa.gov/enviro/goemp.redirect?appl=wme&cmd=ZoomInByZip&min_x=-80.251293&max_y=26.093835&max_x=-80.199765&min_y=26.045421&selected=
I found this on http://www.cqs.com/super_fl.htm
I also saw a map of Davie with Superfunds on the EPA website.
http://iaspub.epa.gov/enviro/goemp.redirect?appl=wme&cmd=ZoomInByZip&min_x=-80.251293&max_y=26.093835&max_x=-80.199765&min_y=26.045421&selected=
mini Project 4
Genetically Modified Products on the Market today
We all look on the back of food packets to check how many calories, or how much fat there is in our food but do we look to see if it has been geneticaly modified? I dont think we take enough care when choosing food for us to eat as we asume, if it is on the store shelf then it is safe to eat. I found a realy great website, the link is posted below, which gives vital information on every genetically modified product out there.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3422284765166527606
We all look on the back of food packets to check how many calories, or how much fat there is in our food but do we look to see if it has been geneticaly modified? I dont think we take enough care when choosing food for us to eat as we asume, if it is on the store shelf then it is safe to eat. I found a realy great website, the link is posted below, which gives vital information on every genetically modified product out there.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3422284765166527606
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Global Warming spread the word!
To spead awareness of Global warming to as many of my friends as possible I created a group on 'facebook' and invited over 40 hundred people to join. On the group page there are photographs and videos displaying current global issues. Some of these are heart wrenching but even though some may be offended, the message needs to be spread, we need to stop Global warming NOW!!
Here is the link;
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28660695362&ref=mf
Here is the link;
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28660695362&ref=mf
Mini Project 3
Endangered SpeciesI live in Milton Keynes which is an hour north of London in England. I researched into endangered species in my area but could only find information on animals from the entire country. I narrowed down the list based on which animals I know live in and around my city. These are the species that are the most endangered neer me;
Mammals;
The Red Squirrel
The European Hare
The Hazel Dormouse
Birds;
The Grey Partridge
The Song Thrush
Reptiles;
The Slow Worm
The Grass Snake
The European Adder
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Environmental Studies 2nd Mini Project
The Carbon CycleCarbon is all around us, every living thing on our planet is made up of carbon. Sunlight is used by plants to make their own food in photosynthesis and to grow. The carbon then becomes part of the plant. Dead plants, organisms ans other waste products turn into fossil fuels made of carbon like coal and oil, this is a process completed over millions of years. Burning fossil fuels emits carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas,which traps heat in the atmosphere. Without it and other greenhouse gases, Earth would be a frozen world. Too much of it however can cause global warming, which researchers are claiming will have huge effects on our planet.
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