Observation

• What did you choose to observe? Why did you choose to observe this.
• I was looking at different type of protist  in today's lab.
• How long did you choose to observe your organism.
• I was observing them for the whole time of the class but something that got my attention it
•  was the pond water.I spent about 10 minuets on because it was really amazing to see those small  creature are moving around so fast.
• Describe your observation and note at least 3 specific things that you observed.
• they move so fast specially cosmarium my team mate try to take a picture of it but it was going really fast so it was so hard. it was really tiny and also the color was green which means it has chloroplast in it.
• Are there any abiotic factors that influenced your observation? If so, what are they.
• Because I was looking at the protist I do not think there is any antibiotic in protists
• Would you change anything about your mode of observation the next time you do it?
• maybe if I had more time I would spent more time to observe their movements.
• Write at least 3 scientific questions based on your observation.
• Did the protist in pond water have cell walls?
• where is the green color coming from?
• Do the need light to survive?
• Write 1 hypothesis based on the questions above.
• the protist in pond water are be ab to do photosynthesis process.

Service Learning - BIOL 212

My service learning was a volunteer opportunity at a newly developed Buddhist Temple called Tu Tam Meditation Center.  It's a recently formed community, and the Temple held many events to teach people how to meditate, and apply Buddha's teachings to resolve problems in their lives. The event started off with a small praying session with well Known Buddhist monks around the area.  I was assigned to introduce the monks a lead the teaching session according to plan.  After the teaching session, I helped serve lunch to the community and clean up.  It was a long day, but filled with knowledge and interesting examples that actually happened to real people.  These examples were given to teach people one of the main Buddha's teaching: "You will reap what you sow".  One interesting example given was about a lottery winner.  After she won the lottery she spent her money carelessly and slowly becoming unappreciative of everything in her life.  To her at that point, everything she need she can have. She spent her days shopping, and her nights partying.  Soon after she tried marijuana and other drugs, ultimately she was addicted to heroin.  She wasted all her money on drugs and became homeless after 7 months of winning the lottery.  At this point I recalled the "Mouse Party - Addiction" app  and the mechanisms of heroin on the brain .   Heroin mimic the body's natural opiate and bind to the opiate receptors in the brain.  Once bound, heroin caused the neurons to stop secreting a type of inhibitory neurotransmitter that would prevent the secretion of dopamine.  Since the prevention of dopamine secretion is inhibited, dopamine is constantly secreted in heroin users.  The neurons with the opiate (aka heroin) receptors are found in parts of the brain responsible for pain, stress, and emotional attachment.  Of course I didn't recalled ALL of this during the session at the Temple, but rather the session encouraged me to revisit these scientific facts after it was over.  I would never thought volunteering at Temple could help me remember facts about the CNS, and relevant drugs mechanisms.  

Some scientific questions I had after reflecting upon my volunteering session: 

Besides marijuana, what other drugs did this person use and how might that affect her brain and behavior? 

If she was able to recognize her problems sooner and fix them (i.e: rehab center) how long will it take for her to completely be drug free? 

Is the addiction she had was to drug or to the excess amount of dopamine in her system?  Can or Is dopamine be use as a part of the treatments for addiction? 

What causes relapse in a previously drug-addicted person?  What happened in his or her body that causes this relapse? 

I'm not sure how to translate event into English, but I will try my best... 

Tittle of event: Learning Buddha's Teachings and Meditate To Regain Inner Peace

Number of Hours I volunteered: 4 

Name and email of event organizer: Dien Ho, hxdien@gmail.com

Citation: "Mouse Party-Addiction".  University of Utah, Genetic Science Learning Center.  2006. http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/mouse/

Garbology!!

Collecting garbage from cans around campus

Of all the various extracurricular projects I worked on this quarter, ranging from running microplastics and anthropology booths during Earth Day, and during the Club Fair, to functioning as a group lead during Stolja Ali (Gold Park) restoration projects, water quality monitoring and co-authoring the Anthropology Departments Salmon Report for Japanese and Big Gulch in Mukilteo (https://www.academia.edu/30938171/A_Survey_of_Fish_and_Wildlife_Japanese_and_Big_Gulch_2016), I am most proud of my involvement in the Garbology project run through the Campus Sustainability Club with assistance from CSEL and the Green Team.

Students getting involved collecting data :)

This project was the culmination of many quarters here at EdCC working to educate students and faculty about the impacts their choices of which products to consume have on the environment, and of how our waste stream is largely something that we don't think about. A "garbology" is a study of waste, in this case our project sought to analyze how effectively trash, recycling, and compost were disposed of on campus. By sorting through the recycling and garbage bins, weighing the contents, then recording how much of each bag was actually recycling, garbage, or compost, we were able to roughly estimate how effective our campus is at disposing its waste properly.

Supervising the recording of data

As the project lead, I was responsible for the set up, coordination of volunteers, data recording, sorting and final disposal of waste, and wrap-up for both days I ran the garbology event. This amounted to a little more than 9.5 hours the first day, and 6 hours the second day, for a total of just over 15 hours. This doesn't include time spent preparing procedures, coordinating with campus staff, and actually planning this project. 

This relates to animal biology because the waste that our society produces directly impacts the survival of many species. The effects of plastics on species of seabirds such as albatross are well documented, and the link between our disposal of these products and the actual impact on wildlife often goes unrepresented in discussions. (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_-IlzDDqpjSamxHeGw2elRPWlU) This particular link has been the subject of a great deal of research and effort on my part as I attempt to bring this information into the zeitgeist of our campus community.

Having a blast sorting trash

The overall goals of this project were twofold. Initially, the project design sought to provide visibility to the issue of trash, and generate public interest in this topic. Secondly, there was an educational, service-learning component. By involving volunteers in hands-on activities analyzing waste on campus, it encourages critical thinking about their own practices and habits.

Sorted bags

The data that we collected during these events was telling - simply put, individuals are less discerning about what they throw in the trash than what they throw in the recycling. About 75% (by weight) of the contents of trash cans sorted through turned out to either be recycling or compost. The contents of the recycling bins, however, were roughly 80% recycling. This is powerful data. On a basic level, this data clearly represents a need for further education of our campus community on the importance of garbage disposal not as a "catch-all" category, but as a specific and necessary way to dispose of items that are not re-usable in some way. This opportunity to work with students in a hands-on and personal way, as opposed to more of a lecture setting, has really demonstrated to me the value of getting people involved with projects. Not only did the students involved walk away with more knowledge of an issue, but we uncovered a very interesting issue on our campus, which opens the door to further projects and highlights the need for more student-led projects that seek to engage the student body in conservation-related research and activities.

Students somehow not completely sick of sorting trash in the rain

 Relating to the material of this course, the garbology event strongly reflects project design elements refined during our group project labs. Challenges such as coordinating with team members, creating an effective project that has clear goals and measurable objectives, as well as finding proper ways to divide the labor are all relevant to the various labs we worked on.

Ultimately, this project raised several questions. Firstly, the question of how to actually use the data we collected was raised by many of the student volunteers. Currently, this one is unanswered - I am sure that several professors may be able to integrate data gathered from this project into their courses, and that this information would be useful for directing further projects on campus.
Secondly, the question of why Green Team efforts to educate students during weekly Trashy Tuesday events hasn't had a larger impact on the rate of proper trash disposal is somewhat curious. Every week students volunteer to pick up trash on campus, and ostensibly learn which objects are actually trash, as opposed to recycling or garbage. Does this knowledge not disseminate through friend groups and social networks?
Additionally, the effectiveness of this project in both collecting data and providing visibility to trash and its proper disposal opens the question of which other programs the Campus Sustainability Club could partner with on campus, and how we could capitalize on the success of the garbology event.
Finally, during the course of this project it became clear that we were not collecting as much data as possible from the student efforts. Notably, we did not separate and record weights of plastics in the waste stream, nor did we find an accurate way to account for weight lost from liquids in our data. Procedural changes are obviously necessary, but refining the project is a somewhat complex task. Exactly how to do so is a difficult question.

Service Learning Kayaking Patrol- Eloina

  

 

I signed up for Kayak patrol on Lake Union with Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, an organization that works to protect and preserve waters of the Puget Sound. Part of their mission is to make water clean for fishing and to prevent contamination of marine life by toxins from storm water runoff. The name of the event was Kayak patrol on Lake Union and I volunteered for two hours. The contact person for the event was Kerry McGowan and her email is kerry@pugetsoundkeeper.org. Kayak patrol was a group of volunteers that kayaked on Lake Union to collect trash and debris along the South Lake Union shore. I was partnered with another volunteer to share a kayak and part of our duties included identifying and reporting and sources of sewage or oil spills. At the end of the even all of the trash we collected during the event was combined and weighed.

It was interesting to understand the major sources of pollution to Lake Union and that a lot of old chemical waste has not been able to be treated. It made me realize that there's a lot of work for scientists to do in order to help fix a lot of pollution problems in our community. This experience was great because it made me view the Puget Sound as an ecological niche which relationships between organisms and their environment similar to some environments we discussed in our course.

This service learning experience was really inspiring and it made me really interested in knowing more about other work and events that Soundkeeper Alliance does. It also made me realize how much there is to understand and do to become a more responsible and proactive community member.

Service Learning - Campus Community Farm work party.

March 6^th 2017 I decided to do my 2-hour service learning activity at our Campus Community Farm to learn about ecologically friendly community resources and provide a peaceful and relaxing area for students to enjoy. The Farm work parties is an event that all are welcomed to joined and is organized by Carla Tjung: carla.tjung@email.edcc.edu.

Farm work parties start off by a tour given by the event organizer, where volunteers are taken around to see and learn the purpose of various structures that other volunteers and community farm workers have built.

Some examples of what we have at our community farm are; the hoop house. A large hoop shaped cover made of plastic whose purpose is to provide the crops inside with a slightly more stable environment during the harsh weather conditions. In addition, the crops in the hoop house were covered in a white fabric that also helped to insulate heat.

Another would be the worm casting bins where the worms inside the bins digest compost and produce worm castings fertilizer. The compost used to feed the worms comes from the compost bins around EDCC campus where after the castings produced are then used as fertilizer for the crops in the gardens.

There was also a Bug Hotel made up of recycled Dead wood, cardboard, hay, dry sticks and bricks to provide insects with a place to live, not only that it works as a way of keeping insects that may harm the crops away and insects that help them coming.

After a full tour had been given we divided into groups where we were each assigned a task with an objective of maintaining crop patches to keep the farm clean. My groups first task was to categorize new seeds by types and by alphabetical order, which helps with easy accessibility when trying to find seeds needed when it comes time to plant. Our next task was to plant sugar snap pea seeds in the hoop house for the upcoming spring, and last task was to do weeding in the in the hoop house.  

Working at the community farm allowed me to learn about how biological factors like insects can either help or hinder how successfully the crops are maintained. Learning about how the bug hotel can provide a safe dry place for insects to hide, hibernate and have young. The insects that live in the bug hotel eat problematic garden insects a process which is called bio control. Through knowing this the community farm can use this structure as a form of natural non-chemical repellent keeping the crops safe. 

During my learning service experience, I was able to observe various biological things at work, one specifically would be the earth worms from the compost bins. Earth worms belong to the phylum Annelida and class Oligochaeta, and they have hydrostatic skeleton with antagonistic muscle groups that cause the shape of their hydrostatic skeleton to change which allows for their locomotion. These muscles are longitudinal and circumferential which are used to retract and contact its body through the decrease or increase of certain segments throughout the worms’ body which all in turn leads to their ability of being able to move around the best on flat surface areas like soil.

Questions?

1. What other structure are being planned to be built next and how will they help the farm?
2. How does worm compost fertilizer compare to other types of fertilizer?
3. How long does it take for the earthworms to go through compost and produce worm casting?
4. What kind of rain water systems are used throughout the farm and how are they more ecologically efficient? 

Native and Invasive Species at Gold Park, By Toqa Abosabaa

Native and Invasive Species at Gold Park

By Toqa Abosabaa

For my Service Learning Project, I signed up for a bird walk in Seattle to look at different species of birds. However, due to daylight savings time changes, the event coordinator was an hour late, so instead we visited Gold Park by Edmonds Community College to look at native and invasive species. The event lasted for about two hours, from 9:30am to 11:30pm on March 11, 2017. The name of the event organizer is Ekaterina Rar. Her email address is ekaterina.rar@email.edcc.edu.

The goals of the event were to identify some native and invasive plant species, and to determine how invasive plants can affect other native plants, animals, the environment, and our society. We started out by completing a survey about native and invasive plant species. We had to give the name of each plant and determine whether or not it was native or invasive. Then we took a trip to Gold Park to find these different plants. I found that knowing the names of these plants was important because some native species looked similar to invasive species. For example, the English Holly and the Oregon Grape look very similar to each other due to the appearance of their leaves. Both are green and possess sharp edges.





English Holly



Oregon Grape

However, one is distinguishable from the other due to the orientation of the sharp edges on the leaves. The sharp edges on the leaves of the Oregon grape are pointing in the same direction on both sides. However, the edges of the English Holly are alternating on both sides. English Holly is invasive plant species, while Oregon Grape is a native species. It is important to distinguish the two plants because invasive species can be harmful to native species and the environment. If overpopulation of invasive species results in an area, this could harm the native species. Invasive species can cause soil toxicity, and can increase the emission of carbon dioxide into the environment. This is harmful to the environment because it can facilitate processes such as global warming. At the same time, invasive species can reduce the emission of oxygen into the environment. This is due to the invasive species harming the native species.

For example, English Ivy is an invasive species that can grow and spread on trees and other surfaces. When English Ivy grows nearby and onto trees, it can reduce the amount of nutrients that the tree could be receiving. And if it clings and grows onto the tree, it can make the tree weaker and therefore easier to fall and die. This reduces the amount of oxygen that goes into the environment, which can affect animals that need oxygen to breathe.

Invasive species can also take over native wildlife habitats because most wildlife cannot breed in a habitat overrun by invasive species. During the walk at Gold Park, the event coordinator described rats as one of the only animals to be able to breed in an area overrun by invasive species such as English Ivy. Furthermore, Invasive species can affect key industries such as seafood. Salmon move through streams for mating, and while going upstream, they use pockets in the water for resting. Invasive plants can affect the mating process in that they don’t provide pockets in the streams for the salmon to rest, whilst a native plant like a tree could do so.

Although we didn’t get to look at animals such as birds, I found this event to be very worthwhile and I was able to see things from a different perspective. We learned how plants can make up an environment for animals and how they could help wildlife flourish, as well as be a danger to wildlife at the same time. Scientific studies focusing on topics like native and invasive species play a huge role in society because plants and forests can affect our industries, the food we eat, and our animals. Community service that can help control native species would be very helpful to our society in that it would contribute to healthy air, forests, and wildlife habitats, and could keep key industries flourishing, such as the salmon industries.

There were four questions that were raised during the trip. To what extent do invasive species contribute to global warming due to increased carbon dioxide emissions? How do invasive species make their way into an area that consists of mostly native species? In what ways can the community help reduce the population of invasive plants? Is there a specific reason as to why English Holly and Oregon Grape leaves look very similar to each other?

A photo taken by Kaveena Ranaweera, including Jennifer Chin, Toqa Abosabaa, and Kaveena Ranaweera

Service Learning Assignment - Invasive Species Removal

Invasive Species Removal (2 hours)
17 March 2017
Organizer: Adam Oberstadt (Minister for Environment, Überstadti holdings in Mountlake Terrace)
Email: oberstadta@gmail.com


The service learning project I was involved in has been ongoing for a number of years now. An area stretching over several private properties has had a large infestation of invasive plant species for the past many years. For the past 5 years, under the direction of the Minister for the Environment of a pseudo-governmental organization called Überstadt, efforts have been taken during the Spring and Summer seasons to identify and remove such plants while transporting native growth to the same area. Of particular interest to this area are English ivy, which often chokes out trees and other plants by growing up the length of them and smothering them, and Himalayan blackberry, which is environmentally demanding with its massive thickets and poses a high fire risk during the Summer months. The environmental effects of these plants impact animals by choking out the potential habitat and feeding opportunities of birds, squirrels, and numerous varieties of insects that grow in and around the base of trees. By removing these plants and, as we have done in the past, by planting native species, we promote the long-term success of the native ecosystem.

In this project, I identified native species, including lowland huckleberry, Oregon grape, and trailing blackberry, to prevent accidental damage to them; and I identified English ivy and Himalayan blackberry and removed or incapacitated them. To remove the English ivy, I had to pull out the entire length of a single plant (which extended upwards of 8 feet at a time) and remove as much of the main root system as I could by digging it out. English ivy is notorious for their ability to grow back from just small segments of the plant being left behind, and so removing as much as I could was essential. They grow in segments, each with a small root system at each end. The Himalayan blackberry was more difficult to remove. When completely digging the root of the plant was not possible, the stem was cut low, and several uneven lacerations were made from the root to the tip of the remaining stem to effectively kill off that segment of the plant.

The ultimate goal of this project is to promote the long-term success of the native ecosystem by reducing the amount of non-native plants and increasing the amount of native plants. Conservation of our native ecosystems helps maintain genetic diversity across the world by limiting the detrimental impact of robust species that simply are too overbearing in the context of different environments. We learned in class that there are several processes that already often lead to a decrease in genetic diversity, such as genetic drift, natural selection, and gene flow; we don't need to contribute to this by promoting natural selection against native species by introducing non-native species and not regulating them.

This leads to some questions about what we can and should do in the context of supporting native ecosystems:

• Should there be regulations enacted to limit the spread and/or enforce the eradication of harmful species? 
• How much can humans directly affect an ecosystem by introducing and removing different species until we begin doing more harm than good? Should we be doing more?
• Can and should we utilize non-native species for economic gain? Is this unethical considering the serious repercussions this can have on local ecosystems?
• How can we help make the public aware of these issues and get them involved in their local environment?

As I participated in this service, I was struck by the simplicity of the work that is required to help preserve native ecosystems. The science supporting these efforts is clear, and yet so few people engage in such activities. Although this individual project I participated in covers a minuscule area compared to our region, I have gained a renewed sense of urgency in the work that needs to be done across the world to protect our existing environments. The role of ecologists in understanding, preserving and protecting the biosphere has never been so important, nor has it been so complex with our globalized, industrial societies. To make their efforts worthwhile, it will take the efforts of billions to actively protect our planet from ourselves.

 Figure 1: Oregon Grape prominent, with English Ivy visible in bottom right corner.

Figure 2: Example of root system of a branch of English Ivy.

Figure 3: Madrona tree planted 2 years ago.            

 Figure 4: Thorny vine at the top is Himalayan Blackberry.

Figure 5: Deceased tree, planted several years ago. Numerous lifeforms occupy dead trees, making them some of the most biologically diverse systems in a forest.

 Figure 6: General overview of focus patch.

Figure 7: Native trailing blackberry, as identified by their long, thin vines and 3-leaf arrangements (Himalayan blackberries have 5 leaves in a bunch).

Figure 8: A wild Aaron Oberstadt appears! (And is also very wet after 2 hours in the rain.)