Restoration Ecology Field Trip, Firas

I believe that the field trip to Glacial Park was educational and fun. While there we planted seeds, watered plants, and we cut down plants that are harmful to the native species. More communities should get together and help the native species. Most forest are being harmed by invasive species, so it it is our job to protect the native species that should be growing in our forests. By restoring native plants, we bring back animals that have left the forest becuase of lack of food. Another reason we should restore is becuase when animals come back they are able to reproduce  which can help with species becoming endagered.

Restoration ecology field trip, Naomi

Naomi's Reflection 

I personally felt that the restoration trip was something that was not only impact full on the area we were helping to restore but, on myself and hopefully my peers as well. The process, I learned, is an arduous one and there are copious ways in which one can help in restoration. My class and myself was given the opportunity to aid in both biological remediation, being using organisms to detoxify polluted ecosystems by removing harmful substances from said ecosystem, and biological augmentation, being using organisms to add essential materials to a degraded ecosystem.
The first was done by our physically removing invasive species such as thorn brush that is beginning to take over the endemic species of plants native to the area. Using various tools and brute strength powered only by the love to learn, it was down in the brush we went to do our part in spreading up ecosystem to get back into its natural state. The removal of the invasive species was pertinent to restoring the area as the invasive species is harmful to the native plants and inhibits their natural growth and contribution to the ecology in that area.
All our work down in the thorns and branches paid well as we managed to
clear a good section of the area which will help in the increased remediation of the ecology.
The trip also allowed us to participate in our share of biological augmentation. We were given acorns to plant around a field as well as buckets full of water to water budding trees in the surrounding area. We then scattered about and dug up as many new homes for possible future trees to inhabit. Though we were given a generous amount of acorns, not all will flourish which is why the great number of seedlings were planted, to ensure a higher rate would survive at the least.
Restoration ecology is so critical to the survival of species plant and animal alike. It impacts our daily lives as well. Species that begin to inhabit conflicting areas non-endemic to themselves disrupt the natural habitat and creatures native to that area much like the new Asian carp that is becoming problematic in the Great Lakes. Nature requires balance and when that balance is thrown it should be our responsibility to restore back to its natural state. Restoration ecology is an ongoing effort and as the field director informed us, it will require the efforts of multiple generations but the product is something worthwhile.

Restoration ecology field trip, Billy

Billy's Reflection

It is awesome to go to Glacial Park and actually do some real science. I don't have that opportunity in my other science class. In Glacial Park, I get to do many thing. I water the plant and plant some acorn into the ground. I also have the opportunity to remove some invasive species and allow more native plant to grow. At first I thought that this is actually a lot of work. I eventually learn the important of why I am doing this. I am doing all of this because I wanted to learn more about restoration ecology. Restoration ecology is crucial. Without it many organism would died. There are many benefit to restoration ecology. It help by reintroducing the native plant to the area. An example of this is by planting an acorn into the ground. Through restoration ecology, invasive specie can be remove so that the native plant can have some to grow. I really like to spend time outside and explore nature. Restoration ecology is way to fix thing that other people have done wrong and appreciate what nature have to offer everybody around the world. In the end, all road will eventually lead to detritus. Matter will then recycled itself and restore the environment to the way it is. This is how nature operate. It is just a biological soup of mixture that will lead to something new and what is to come.

This is the process of planting acorn into the ground

This is the process of removing invasive specie

Restoration ecology field trip, Danica

Danica's Reflection

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the McHenry County Glacier Park. The first thing we did was water plants that were planted by last year's students who went on the field trip. After irrigating the plants, we planted acorns to help speed up the seeding process that would naturally happen through chipmunks or squirrels. The second half of our visit consisted of helping take out unwanted trees and shrubs in order to clear out some area. At first it seemed counterproductive, having to cut down and remove species in order for more things to grow, but I soon learned that that's a natural process. We cut down smaller trees that were overcrowding the bigger ones as well as weeded and trimmed. We learned that this process allowed new, native plants to flourish and as a result, attract more native wildlife. How do these creatures know to come back? It's not certain, but we do know that because of our hard work clearing out that part of land, that we would be able to attract different kinds of creatures. Looking at the pictures was very satisfying. Knowing that we helped Mother Nature speed up a process was very fulfilling. The trip as a whole served as a good hands-on learning activity as well as a benefit to nature itself.

Restoration Ecology Field Trip, Steph

Steph's Reflection             

This field trip was very eye opening. It felt weird killing off so many living things, but it was nice to know that by getting rid of the invasive plants, we can help good and healthy ones grow. It's very rewarding to know all our cuts, bruises, and sore backs resulted in a more beautiful place. Ecology restoration is a strange concept because killing one thing to help another grow seems wrong, but it's still very necessary. Considering Mother Nature takes a long time to do the restoration process herself, we need to help speed up this process as much as we can to help many other organisms that benefit from this be able to live. It takes a lot of work and time, but it's more efficient than if we let it do it itself. Being able to have good plants brings back their native animals that can help with the cycle of life. However, sometimes the restoration takes too long even with human help, so it can be destructive and not as helpful as people would like it to be. Over all, ecology restoration is a very good thing for our environment since it helps animals and plants be able to survive sooner rather than later making the world a more beautiful place to be in.

Before restoration

 

After restoration

Acids and Bases Lab

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Acids and Bases Lab

Mr. Filipek, early bird

Purpose:
The purpose of this lab is to test the buffer range of different substances. What this mean is that different substances will be tested to see which one have high resistance in pH level. In the lab, the independent variable will be the number of drop of acids or base put into the substance. The dependence variable is the pH of a substance. Water will be the control group in the experiment and the other substance will compare their pH level to water.
Introduction:
Acids and bases are classified through numerical value on a pH. A pH scale measures the hydrogen ion concentration in a solution. Anything ranging from a 1 on the scale to a 6 is considered to be an acid whereas anything from an 8 to a 14 is basic. A 7 represents neutrality and an even concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution. More specifically, an acid is a substance with more [H+] than [OH-] and vice versa with a base where it has more [OH-] than [H+]. pH declines as [H+] rises, which explains how acidic solutions, such as a solution with a pH of 2, have a higher [H+] concentration. There are substances that are used to resist pH change. Buffers are substances that minimize changes in [OH-] and [H+] concentrations.
Methods:
We started by labeling one beaker acid and one basic because we wanted to measure how certain solutions react to change when introduced to a more acidic or basic liquid. We then used the awesome new Lab Quest probes to be able to measure the change the solution went through. Our group used the buffered aspirin solution to measure the change. Slowly, we added 5 drops of acid (HCL) to one beaker and base (NaOH) to the other. Thankfully the Lab Quest graphed and charted everything for us, but it allowed us to see the change of the solution becoming more basic or acidic. We did this five more times to get a wider range of data.

Data:

Graphs and Charts:

Discussion:
Basis of the Experiment:
We did the lab to measure the acidity and the base of water. We first started by using two 50 ml beakers of water. We then labeled one beaker acid and the other base. After labeling we took the probes and rinsed them with distilled water. After cleaning we took the probes and measured the acidity and base of water. After taking the initial measurement we started to add 5 drops of acid to beaker labeled acid and 5 drops of base to the beaker labeled base.
Results of the Experiment:

o   Initial measure of water: PH  = 6.33 for the acid beaker and PH = 9.02 for the base beaker

o   After 5 drops of acid resulted in PH  = 5.71 for the acid beaker and PH = 8.98 for the base beaker

o   After 10 drops of acid resulted in PH  = 5.07 for the acid beaker and PH = 8.96 for the base beaker

o   After 15 drops of acid resulted in PH  = 4.59 for the acid beaker and PH = 9.22 for the base beaker

o   After 20 drops of acid resulted in PH  = 4.29 for the acid beaker and PH = 10.05 for the base beaker

o   After 25 drops of acid resulted in PH  = 4.09 for the acid beaker and PH = 10.44 for the base beaker

o   After 30 drops of acid resulted in PH  = 3.88 for the acid beaker and PH = 10.55 for the base beaker

Summary:

-      The results of the measurements from the base beaker were inconsistent, since the pH level dropped for the first couple of measurements and then it started to increase again.

-      The results of the measurements from the acid beaker were linear with the addition of acid drops throughout the experiment.

-      The measurements from the base beaker should have been linear just like the acid beaker. This might have been due to dirty base beaker or probe.

-      Lastly the outcome from the experiment was as predicted. The results from the acid beaker showed that the pH level went down with every addition of acid. The base beaker results became consistent after the third addition of acid.

 Conclusion:

In our experiment, we first had to test how acids and bases reacted with water. We did this so we could have a reference point during our later experiments. Since water was neutral, it started with a pH of around 7. Each time we recorded data, we added 5 drops of acid and base. We noticed that every time we added acid drops, the pH went down consistently until it reached a pH of about 2.5. The same thing occurred when we added base, only to increase pH until it reached about 11.5. This showed that the way didn't resist much to the change in pH. After that, we decided to test the same thing but with dissolved aspirin. The same results followed; a decrease in pH when acid was added and an increase in pH when base was added. However, we saw that aspirin resisted change more than water, for the change in pH as we added drops was not as significant.

References:
We did not use any references.