Paleo Class Prep for Next Week (5/20)

Paleo Class Prep Materials

Materials:

Please bring an old sock that you can get wet and dirty.  If the weather is good we will be outdoors for most of class so please dress accordingly with sunblock/hats and water bottles.

 

Vocabulary:

behavioral reconstruction

model

extant

extinct

error

estimate

hypothesis

average

 

Websites:

Dinosaur Running Speeds

1.  http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/buzz/locomotion.html

dinobuzz section on dinosaur speeds

 

2.  http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/dinobuzz.html

 

3.  http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/dinosaurbasics/a/How-Fast-Could-Dinosaurs-Run.htm

 

Dinosaur Behavior

4.  http://paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/info/everything/behavior.html

 

SERC Volunteer Opportunity

Volunteer for a Survey of Introduced Parasites on Native Mud Crabs in Chesapeake Bay for the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (Ages 15+)

Project summary

An introduced parasite is affecting native mud crabs in Chesapeake Bay. The parasite Loxothylacus panopaei (Loxo) infects recently molted mud crabs by burying into the carapace. Once inside she undergoes a series of physiological and morphological changes and assumes control over the host crab, controlling major functions such as molting and reproduction. After a time Loxo grows into a reproducing adult and forms small sacs (reproductive bodies) that emerge through the abdomen of the crab, usually after the crab molts. After fertilization by a free-swimming male Loxo, the sacs are filled with of thousands of larvae that are released into the water to seek out a new crab host. This process eliminates the crab’s ability to reproduce and results in the crab caring for the developing larvae of the parasite. Both male and female crabs are parasitized and both are tricked into caring for the larval parasites.

Loxo are native to the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and parts of Florida and parasitize several species of mud crabs throughout this range. The first discovery of the parasite in Chesapeake Bay was in 1964 on the native White-fingered Mud Crab (Rhithropanopeus harrisii) in the York River. The parasite is now common in much of the Bay, but the population and abundance varies greatly between years. Mud crabs are easily transported with oysters, and Loxo was likely transported to the Chesapeake with mud crabs caught up in shipments of oysters from the Gulf of Mexico.

Researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) having been studying the prevalence of Loxo in populations of the White-fingered Mud Crab, R. harrisii, since the 1990s in hopes of understanding how this introduced parasite affects the mud crab population. The White-fingered Mud Crab is native to and abundant in Chesapeake Bay. Starting in 2003, Dr Gregory Ruiz and others have collected mud crabs every summer from ten sites in Maryland including sites near Queenstown, Centerville, Oxford, Aqualand (near the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge), Combs Creek, Broomes Island, Harrington Harbor, Deale, Corn Island and SERC. At each site, crabs are collected in habitat collectors, or crab condos, which are small plastic crates filled with dead oyster shells that sit on the surface of the sediment. These crates stay in the water for two months, during which time mud crabs take up residence between the oyster shells. After two months, each crate is pulled up and the crabs are hand-collected from the oyster shell habitat. Back in the laboratory these crabs are measured, sexed, and examined for outward signs of the Loxo parasite.

Volunteer Information Including Locations and Dates

This year we are inviting volunteers to join in the collection of the mud crabs.

• Volunteers must be at least 15 years old.
• Collection of the crabs will take place June 14-16 and August 16-18.
• We can accommodate a maximum of 12 volunteers per day, two teams of six.
• A total of 10 sites will be surveyed, 2 on Friday and 4 on Saturdays and Sundays (two per team on each weekend day).
• In general, the 12 volunteers will be divided into teams based on their availability (whole day vs half day), and whether or not they are meeting us at a particular site or leaving from SERC in the vans.

If you plan to volunteer the whole day, we recommend riding with us, vans will be leaving SERC at 8am on Saturday and Sunday and returning by 4pm (or sooner). If you’d like to visit a particular site, maybe one near your home, please let us know and we can arrange to meet you there. Contact Monaca Noble (noblem@si.edu or 443-482-2467) for more information.

Sign up to volunteer online:

• Check the table below for the sampling schedule.
• Use the Doodle Poll to sign up for this event.
• Contact Monaca Noble (443-482-2467) and provide your contact information, we’ll be sending you updates regarding sampling and notifications of time changes.

Sampling locations by day, time, and sampling team.
Day and team	Morning	Afternoon
Friday, teams 1		SERC dock
Friday, teams 2		SERC, Corn Island
Saturday, team 1	Queensland	Deale
Saturday, team 2	Centerville	Oxford
Sunday, team 1	Aqualand	Combs Creek
Sunday, team 2	Brooms Island	Harrington Harbor

Sampling will not occur in inclement weather, rain or excessive heat. Rain dates are June 22-23 and August 24-25, contact Monaca for scheduling changes. Water will be provided, but volunteers should provide their own food and sun protection. Volunteers may get slightly wet or muddy, please wear appropriate clothing. We will be sitting on buckets, if you have a cushion that you don’t mind getting dirty, please bring it (your butt will thank you).

Upcoming Events and Pre-Class Prep for Planktology

Just a reminder of upcoming events:

SERC Evening Lecture Series, TONIGHT (Wed. May 15th)

7-8 pm (FREE, meet at the Schmidt Center)

Amy Fowler, SERC Research Associate

Home and away: Investigating the causes and consequences of introduced marine species

SERC Family Days

Saturday and Sunday, May 18th and 19th (10 am-2 pm)

$5 to register online for a front gate pass (http://si.doubleknot.com/event/space-available/serc-family-days-spring-2013/24057) , $10 drop in

• Chat with SERC ecologists about their work on the Bay while kids enjoy science-themed games and activities
• Enjoy a boat ride down the Rhode River aboard the Richard Lee, for $5/person (kids under 4 ride free)
• Visit an oyster bar on our docks
• Watch a live K-9 search and rescue demonstration (Saturday only)
• Go seining for fish and crabs in the Rhode River. Waders provided: No experience or swimwear necessary!

PLANKTOLOGY (Class 3 of the Ologies Block) Pre-Class Materials

Vocabulary:

• Plankton (singular Plankter)
• Phytoplankton
• Zooplankton
• Holoplankton
• Megaplankton
• Primary producer
• Consumer
• Veliger
• Larvae
• Photosynthesis
• Food Web
• Marine Snow
• Diatom
• Dinoflagellate
• Flagella

 

Links:

All Ages:

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/plankton-revealed/?ar_a=1 start here with the National Geographic page and watch the video. Try your hands at the questions under the “Questions” tab.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFQ_fO2D7f0 this is a great introduction to plankton, it’s a TED talk (6 min) and very well done.

http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep6d.htm visit this page for a nice introduction to the different types of plankton.

http://www.chesapeakebay.net/discover/bayecosystem/plankton read over this page and watch the short video clips from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/plankton-migration-haiku-creation/?ar_a=1 watch this short video about how plankton migrate, from National Geographic (2 minutes). OPTIONAL HOMEWORK: complete the activities suggested and answer the questions #5 and make a haiku poem in #7.

http://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/20593268249 here is a wonderful short video (2 min) about how sea urchins develop from plankton. The images are breathtaking.

Just for Fun: Learn to draw plankton from Spongebob: http://www.wikihow.com/Draw-Sheldon-J.-Plankton-from-SpongeBob-SquarePants

Paleo Block Field Trip Information

Dear Parents,

This is just a reminder that our first optional field trip is coming up this Sunday at 2 pm.  If you have not RSVP’ed for the field trip and would like to come, please email katetclark@hotmail.com to sign up.  Please include “field trip” in your subject line so I know it is not junk mail.  I will send an email by Friday afternoon to all the families that have signed up with a handout that you should print out and bring along to the museum.  I will also send a “cheat sheet” for parents so that you can help your children out if they have trouble finding the answers.  Here are a few reminders for the field trip:

1.  Parents must stay with and supervise their children at all times.  We will be splitting into small groups to examine the collections.

2.  We will meet at the elephant at 2 pm for the first part of the field trip.

3.  In the packet that you print out, your child will have a variety of things that he/she needs to find in the Ancient Seas, Early Life, Fossil Amphibian and Reptiles, Dinosaurs, and Fossil Mammal rooms.  Kate will be circulating through the rooms to answer questions and help the students out.

4.  At 3 pm we will meet back at the elephant and head upstairs to the rocks and minerals collections.  We’ll spend about half and hour up there, so that you will still have 2 hours after the field trip to tour the museum or catch an IMAX before the museum closes at 5:30.

5.  The museum is free but parking can be hard to find.

6.  All bags are inspected at security- if you’d like to move faster through the line, pack lightly.

7.  You will need your field trip packet, something to write with, and possibly a clipboard or notebook to give you a hard surface to write on.

8.  Food is available in several cafés.

This field trip is a fantastic follow-up to the things we did in class today – rock and fossil identification.  I am hoping that our students will be able to spot and recognize some trilobites or notice some ammonite fossils that have been beautifully permineralized.  Both the fossil and geology collections at the Smithsonian are outstanding, and it is a nice opportunity for them to see both bigger and better invertebrate fossils and to check out some dinosaurs and fossil mammals, which, sadly, are too rare and expensive for us to use in class.

 

Please contact me with any questions.

 

Kate Treatman-Clark

katetclark@hotmail.com

New Summer Classes (5-7 year olds): Color and Light and Mass and Buoyancy 2 Class Block

Home School Parents,

Kate will be around a bit longer before her journeys to Europe, and she’s offered to host a two block section of classes for 5-7 year olds. One class will meet 9 am-10 am and another from 10:15-11:15 am. Cost is $18 for both classes. These will be running at the same time as the Wildlife Biology class (for 2 classes). Here is the link to register: http://si.doubleknot.com/event/space-available/home-school-classes/16444

Color and Light: June 6th- We will learn about the visible light spectrum, how different species perceive color, and about ultraviolet and infrared light.  We will focus on summer sun safety.

Mass and Buoyancy: June 13th- We will learn about mass and surface area and how each affects buoyancy. We’ll be doing some simple buoyancy tests to determine what floats and what does not, and some demonstrations using large pumice and metal spheres.

Paleo Block: Class 3 Prep Materials

Paleontology Class 3 – Rocks and Fossils

Here are the prep materials for the 3rd class in the Paleontology Block of classes. There are PDF’s attached (click on the links) handouts to help you prepare for our upcoming Rocks and Fossils lab. PLEASE COMPLETE THESE BEFORE YOU COME TO CLASS AND BRING THEM WITH YOU.

1.  The first pdf (1 Rocks and Minerals)  is full of information on rocks and minerals, including how they form and how to identify them.  We will be doing some rock and mineral identification in class, so I encourage you to look over this information and to print out the handout to bring with you to class.  Be prepared to:

• identify minerals based on physical properties (such as color, luster, hardness…)
• identify sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks and explain how each forms
• describe how rocks and minerals are important in paleontology
• read a geologic map and identify good locations to search for fossils

2.  The second pdf (2 Fossilization) is a brief overview of how fossils form and types of fossils.  Be prepared to:

• identify body and trace fossils
• know the difference between a cast and a mold
• understand and explain different ways that fossils form (permineralization, replacement..)

3.  The third pdf (3 EarlyLife) is a brief review of early life on Earth and is review from our last class.  In next week’s class we will be moving into the Cambrian and later periods.

 

4.  Invertebrates

Most of the fossils we’ll be looking at are invertebrates. For class, I’d like you to be somewhat familiar with different groups of invertebrates.  You can learn about different groups of invertebrates here:

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/invert_main.html

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/kids-only/earth-space/fantastic-fossils/

http://www.onegeology.org/extra/kids/fossils.html

http://www.trilobites.info/trilobite.htm

 

5.  Fossil Preparation

Learn about some of the techniques that paleontologists use to analyze and preserve fossils.

http://paleobiology.si.edu/fossiLab/index.html

 

Vocabulary:

Body fossil

Trace fossil

Cast

Mold

Permineralization

Replacement

Coprolite

Mohs Hardness Scale

Rock

Mineral

Clastic Sedimentary Rock

Chemical Sedimentary Rock

Igneous Rock

Metamorphic Rock

Invertebrate

Mollusc

Trilobite

 

Websites: REVIEW – If you haven’t yet visited these sites or if you want to refresh your memories, check them out again.

1.  Geology

For Younger Students- Kids Geo has a comprehensive, picture based, light reading website on all aspects of rocks, minerals, and geologic processes

http://www.kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/

 

This is a website for browsing- it has lots of great pictures of rocks and minerals that you can click on to learn more about.

http://geology.com/rocks/

 

An interactive site with quizzes

http://www.learner.org/interactives/rockcycle/index.html

 

An animated explanation of the Rock Cycle

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es0602/es0602page02.cfm

 

2.  Plate Tectonics

This dynamic earth- a comprehensive overview of the theory of plate tectonics

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/dynamic.html

 

3.  Fossil Record and Geologic Time

 

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explotime.html

Be sure to check out the following sections:

• Getting into the fossil record
• Understanding geologic time

http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/fs/fs10.html

• the geologic time scale at the Smithsonian- explore each period in detail

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/help/timeform.php

• geologic time scale at University of California Berkeley

Paleo Class Block Update

In the Paleo/Taphonomy class we attempted to reconstruct some prehistoric animals from fossils we discovered.  As all paleontologists know, we very rarely discover complete specimens with all the parts arranged neatly as they were in life.  And so in our expedition, we discovered bones 3 or 4 at a time, and attempted to make sense of what we had found. 

In the attached pdf file, you can see some of the interesting reconstructions of your classmates (click here).  The first two pages are different reconstructions of fossil set 1, and the last page is different reconstructions of fossil set 2.  They are amazing to look at and think about how different paleontologists with exactly the same material can reach such different conclusions.  Some take home messages to think about:

1. The order in which different paleontologists discovered their fossils had an impact on how they made their final reconstructions.  That is, some paleontologists decided on the basis of just a few bones what animal they thought they had, and then tried to fit the new bones into what they had already decided on.  Other paleontologists completely revised and changed their designs when they discovered new bones.  In general, the second attitude is preferable for paleontology.
2. It is much easier to make an accurate reconstruction when you have some guide or reference.  Looking at bat, bird, and pterodactyl skeletons helped many of the paleontologists to better decide where and how to place the bones.  Looking at mammal skeletons helped the paleontologists in our second group understand how vertebrae and limb bones fit together.  In order to be a good paleontologist, you need to know a lot about the anatomy of living animals!

I hope that you enjoy looking at the reconstructions of your classmates!

When I get the chance, I will be posting some updates on the taphonomy project (SEE BELOW).  For now, remember to record daily temperature and rainfall (you can check the daily weather report for Mayo, MD) on your project worksheet.  You can start new pages if you run out of room.  If you live nearby and visit our project at SERC before our next class, please remember that you may look but not touch.  Do not attempt to rebury anything that has been dug up.  But feel free to take pictures or write down your observations.  Don’t forget to bring your taphonomy project outlines to each class meeting.

UPDATE: Click here to see some pictures of what’s happened to your taphonomy class. We have sited some critters “helping” in the process. Today we found two racoons at the site and later on a turkey vulture. Notice how things are scattered and dug up!