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I took this picture on Thursday the 23rd of March at my apartment. This is a picture of a common wolf spider which can be found in a wide range of habitats. Spiders display a Type 1 functional response. This means that they consume prey at a constant rate and wolf spiders sometimes ambush their prey by sitting and waiting. The linear regression of a Type 1 line means that they consume food until they cannot consume anymore. If the wolf spider is continually provoked then it can inject venom which could lead to inflammation of the skin, itching, and mild pain. This is a defense mechanism used to protect the species.
A River Cooter (Pseudemys concinna) basking in the morning sun on the banks of a pond at UNCW. Turtles are poikilothermic, meaning their body temperature varies greatly. The solar radiation is essential for the turtle to maintain a steady metabolism, it is also required for the turtles ability to process the large amounts of calcium needed for proper shell formation.
This picture was taken this past Sunday, Easter, at crystal pier on Wrightsville beach. Coastal ecology and processes is something that I am passionate about and enjoy observing. This photo was taken at roughly 6:30 in the morning and as you can see there are already an abundance of people on the beach. With the abundance of individuals also came with an increased amount of trash which is very harmful to not only the terrestrial species but also the marine ones. It is also interesting to see how individuals interact with this aspect of the natural world and how it is able to attract so many people from a variety of different places.
I took this photo of a Venus flytrap (scientific name Dionaea muscipula) on Wednesday, April 5th during my last Ecology lab session that we spent in the Bluethenthal Wildflower Preserve on UNCW's campus. This carnivorous plant is native to North and South Carolina and uses its small "hairs" as a trigger to close in on and then ingest any insect or arachnid that makes contact with the plant's "mouth." It takes several different triggers for the "jaws" to eventually shut, though, to ensure that the plant is ingesting something that's worth the expended energy, i.e. a crawling critter that would be a sufficient source of protein for the flytrap. Different prey of Venus flytraps include ants, beetles, flies, spiders, and so on. The National Wildlife Federation has classified the Venus flytrap as "vulnerable," and theft of any naturally growing Venus flytraps is considered a felony in some North Carolina counties. Also, I found it interesting that Venus flytrap extracts are used in medicine and, despite hard proof of medical benefits,
they are thought to help with certain illnesses such as Crohns' disease and skin cancer ("Venus flytrap," n.d.).
I took this picture Friday the 24th of February behind Friday Hall on campus. There are over 2,500 different species in the Arecaceae family of palm trees around the world each having there own living conditions. This can make identifying individual palm trees difficult. One of the easiest ways to narrow down the type of palm tree is by analyzing the type of leaves. A palm tree will have either palmate leaves in which case all of the leaves fan out at the end like a hand such as in the photo above or pinnate leaves which are like feathers growing along each side of the stem. This fan palm thrives in warmer climates because it is able to out compete other trees and shrubs based on the characteristic of its palmate leaves.
www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/10...
This picture is of the white spotted bamboo sharks and epaulette sharks that are in the shark touch pool at North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. They are both benthic sharks but from different parts of the world. The epaulette shark is the spotted shark and has a native habitat of New Guinea and the northern coast of Australia. They have received their common name from the false eyes behind their spiracles which look like military epaulettes. They are fully grown at 3 feet and have paddle shaped fins. They are a nocturnal species which inhabit coral reefs and tidal pools. Instead of swimming, they wriggle their bodies and "walk" on their paired pectoral fins. This species feeds on a wide range of benthic invertebrates and bony fishes. They are of least concern due to only being wanted for the small aquarium trade. White spotted bamboo sharks are native to the IndoPacific. They can grow up to 3 feet and have long dorsal fins. Their dorsal fin can be altered due to where they choose to live and how they move. They are nocturnal and prey on small fish and invertebrates. Both of these species are oviparous which means they lay eggs. White spotted bamboo sharks are also popular in the small aquarium trade as well as used for human consumption in Taiwan and Madagascar. This picture is demonstrating coexisting because these species are not used to living near each other and now are living in harmony in their tank together.
This is the most famous water tower in the city of Mannheim, Germany. It was bulit in the 18th century to give water to the city.- Photo by Assad Sharifi @ www.assadshadsharifi.com
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This photo was taken in Huntersville, NC. You can see large established trees lining a four lane road with a car dealership in the background. Ten years ago trees and fields dominated this area, but urban sprawl necessitated their removal. Many animals were forced out of their habitat. When they moved to new habitats many found new stronger competitors. Their niche may already have been filled in this new area. This is a daily problem in the world where humans continue to build further out and take space that other life forms used to inhabit. What will happen when we run out of space?
This photo was taken February 12, 2017 at the south end of Wrightsville Beach. I took this photo on a jetty, where I found these arthropods and mollusks. A jetty is a manmade structure which serves a very important ecological purpose on coastlines; they are long, narrow structures which serve to protect the shore from erosion due to tides, waves, and currents. They can be made of different substances such as stone or wood, this one appeared to be made of stone. I was interested in this picture because I had never seen mussels in person and instantly thought of zebra mussels which are known to be an invasive species. Zebra mussels are native to water bodies in Russia and have been an invasive species in North America where they have completely covered substrates they were attached to and damaged them. They have completely covered other species of mussels to the point they cannot survive and have even clogged water pipes which their free-swimming larvae form can easily enter and grow to be extremely dense. Invasive species are species which are not native to the area and are likely to cause economic damage, environmental damage, or damage to human health upon introduction. These mussels however were missing the characteristic stripes of zebra mussels and instead were little black mussels, musculus niger, which are native to North Carolina. Little black mussels range from North Carolina to as far south as the Arctic Ocean and are also found in Greenland and Britain. Their shells are oval-shaped, thin, and smooth in the center with ridges on the outer portion of the shell. These guys are filter feeders and most likely get food in the high tide when the jetty is completely submerged. Their color can range from brown to black and many different shades are present in this picture. The barnacles seen around them in this picture are rough barnacles, Balanus balanus, which often cluster on hard, rocky surfaces, are very small, and are normally grayish in color. These barnacles had very sharp shells, they even cut up my foot a little bit. These barnacles, like the mussels, are filter feeders. Perhaps there is some interspecific competition taking place here between these two for filter food and space on the jetty.
Lizards (Lacertilia) are ectotherms meaning they need to get their heat from the external environment. When I saw this lizard in the beginning of April in the Bluethenthal Wildflower preserve on campus, I knew it was trying to regulate its body heat by laying in the sun. The surface of the trashcan it's laying on was also warm from being in the sun so the lizard is being warmed from the sun and the heat from the trashcan. If the lizard were to get too hot it would go to a shaded area to cool off. The body temperature of this lizard changes with the temperature of its environment.
Shown here, a long leaf pine tree, Pinus palustris, is host to an atypical angiosperm, Tillandsia usneoides. Known commonly as "Spanish moss," it has evolved to live on larger tree species, usually inhabiting live oak and bald-cypress. It’s common name is something of a misnomer, because although it bears the resemblance of overgrown moss, it is in fact a flowering plant (angiosperm). It prefers a warm climate, where there’s humidity that is relatively high on average. It is likely natural to North Carolina, as it is thought to be over much of the south; in other instances it has been introduced to similar locations across the world. Though it tends to thrive more on larger trees, it’s fundamental niche extends to many smaller trees where the climate is accommodating. It is possible that its realized niche (larger trees) is what it is because, although its relationship with the tree is largely commensalistic, it has been evidenced that with greater Spanish moss growth, comes reduced tree growth. As both the tree and the Spanish moss would be competing for light, with the Spanish moss covering enough of the tree’s actively photosynthetic areas, its growth would come at the expense of its host’s. Therefore, the potential for excessive growth on small trees would be all but diminished (with less surface area to grow on), but would also have created a mutually unfavorable condition, wherein the host tree would experience a reduced growth rate and the Spanish moss, in the process of limiting its host’s growth, would too share in its fate should it die.
(This picture was taken the morning of the 29th on UNCW’s Campus).
Marbled fabrics. There will be a intensive one-day workshop teaching fabric marbling techniques at Bluseed Studios in Saranac Lake, NY, on June 25 with an option for additional studio time the following day. Participation limited to 15; registration information at the link above.
This is a local anole lizard. As I was walking I saw this lizard on the ground eating some ants. That shows that this lizard is a secondary; ants are primary consumers and since the lizard was eating the ants it is a secondary consumer. The lizard also has predators of its own that it needs to look out for though. Birds, small mammals and even snakes could eat these lizards, which is why they have evolved to be masters of camouflage. This lizard stands out on the brown reed but if it were hidden back amongst the green leaves it would be virtually invisible; a very well adapted trait so that it can survive and pass on its genes to the next generation.
This picture was taken near Fort Fisher in North Carolina on March 21, 2017. It depicts tidal pools formed by the only coquina outcrop on the North Carolina coast. Coquina is a type of sedimentary limestone made of a mixture of whole shells and shell fragments. This outcrop is only fully exposed at low tide. The tidal pool environment is regularly covered and uncovered by the ebb and flow of the tide. This creates a very unique habitat that is can be difficult for organisms to live in. Some organisms have adaptations that allow them to live in this harsh environment. Many organisms that live in tidal pools are sessile (permanently anchored to the rock). Some organisms in NC that are adapted to live in tidal pools are whelks, crabs, sea stars, and many species of bivalve. Mobile organisms are able to move out of the tidal pools when necessary. Sea stars and some crabs are able to occupy the pools when they are filled with water. The have also over time adapted to be able to burrow in sand effectively. When the tidal pools are no longer filled with water, sea stars and crabs will bury themselves in sand (either on the beach face or in the ocean) as a way to be protected from both sun exposure and predators. Whelks and bivalves are examples of organisms that anchor themselves to the coquina in the tidal pools. The most common bivalves found in tidal pools in NC are mussels and clams. These bivalves are adapted for the tidal pool environment, as they are filter feeders. This allows them to gain nutrients from water that flows over their siphons. This is an effective adaptation in tidal pools because new water and nutrients are brought into the pool whenever the tide changes. Over time many species have adapted to life in tidal pools, and this creates are very unique and diverse community in the coquina outcrop tidal pools.
Works Cited:
UNCW Oceanography Lab Manual
Coquina Outcrops- Island Ecology 2011
I believe this to be an Atlantic Brief Squid. This animal was caught during a trawling excursion as part of BIO 362, just off the coast of Wrightsville Beach. Squid and other cephalopods have chromatophores that allow them to change color. This comes in handy when mating and evading predators. The chromatophores allow the squid to be camouflaged with the surrounding environment. Another defense squid have, which is prevalent in this photo, is ink. When threatened, squid can expel ink to distract predators while they escape quickly. The squid in my hand wasn't a huge fan of being held, and started releasing ink. You can see this by the dark color of the mantle, which is filling up with the ink.
This is my backyard in Scott's Hill. This has been my favorite place to live since I moved to Wilmington. I wake up the Quercus virginianas every morning that stay green year around. These southern live oaks always have leaves and are also always green because they are a breed of evergreen tree. Looking at the water it is in the process of switching from high tide to low tide it is moving out of the channel. This is due to the moons gravitational force. I also find it funny how my yard is both green and brown. I found that it is because the brown grass is Bermuda grass which turns dormant in the winter. The green grass is a breed of grass that does not go dormant in the winter.
Above is a video that I took in Cozumel, Mexico during spring break of pigeons courting. At the very beginning over the video you can see a male pigeon courting a female around the tree. Pigeons exhibit a monogamous mating system, meaning that they generally come together and form a pair. A monogamous system is rare among animals but very common in birds. It requires cooperation to raise young and the two partners usually are known to stay together their whole lives. A monogamous mating system is the most similar to human's marriage system. The male pigeon courts a female and usually begins cooing (if you listen closely you can hear the cooing). Observing a male pigeon court a female is rather comical. Male birds are known to have a vast amount of behaviors and displays when courting. Some of these include things such as fanning their tails, entwining necks, singing, kissing, and dancing around the female to what looks like chasing them. Courtship is important in ecology because it helps assure that breeding will occur. In order for a species to survive, the organisms within the species must successfully reproduce. Most birds, such as these pigeons, exhibit inter sexual selection when looking for a mate.
Do you ever wonder why pelicans fly in a line?
Well, I saw these guys and asked myself that question. Upon research I found that while flying, an updraft is created by the upstroke of one birds wings. The bird behind the previous can take advantage of the wingtip vortex. The outcome being it is saving energy.
Another place pelicans usually fly is right over top of the water. I always thought this was to spy for fish, however they are taking advantage of something called the "ground effect". The pressure is lower where the air is moving faster, above the wing. This lower pressure causes lift. Just above the water, air gets trapped beneath the wind. It slows down the air making it a zone of higher pressure further increasing lift.
This picture was taken in downtown Wilmington near-ish to low tide. The reeds shown are decaying, as are any microorganisms left on the rocks from where the water receded. This decay is an important step in the biochemical cycle of elements like carbon, hydrogen, and sulfur.
Squirrels are a very important part of the forest ecology. They assist in dispersing seeds among the forest. This helps spread around new trees to grow in a forest. Squirrels are also a very important role in the food web. They are a source of food to many carnivores such as: snakes, foxes, owls, cats, and coyotes. Due to recent bad weather, such as thunderstorms, many baby squirrels have been thrown out of nests due to the high winds. It is best to place the squirrels back into their nests. However, these babies were brought in by a woman who could not locate their nest. It is not good to hand raise squirrels and release them back into the wild because the lose their innate fear of humans, cats, dogs, and other predators. This can lead to death very quickly.
Is that a mushroom growing from behind the ironing board in the laundry room?! Yes, yes that is in fact a mushroom from some sort of mold feeding off of a water leak from a water line connected to your refrigerator. This was a slightly disturbing find for a friend of mine in the past few weeks. Needless to say, her first thought was "Is this some toxic black mold that will kill me and my pets?" According to the mold remediation professional who tested this lovely bunch of parasitic gunk feeding off of the cellulose and other building materials under the floors, in the wall, and under her house, no. This is not the awfully scary toxic black mold (Stachybotrys atra) that tends to condemn whole buildings. Because this parasite could have come in at any time on clothing articles, with bags, or whatever other items pass through a laundry room, there was no way to prevent this little opportunistic parasitic mold from growing when its niche requirements for food, water, and temperature was fulfilled by a leaky water line. When my friend told me about her issue, I asked if I could come over with a mask on and snap a quick photo. There was another peculiar interaction going on that this photo does not show. The dogs that live in this house have been acting strange any time they passed the door to the laundry room. One of the dogs would even act as if there was a mysterious hallway ghost set to attack him every time he passed this area. Senses are a wonderful defense against predation and in that dog's case, a mold's toxins. This could be a stretch to relate to defense mechanisms in typical predator/prey models. My hypothesis is that the pets living in this home were built with some innate defense (sense of smell) against mold toxins. Mold toxins related are called mycotoxins and can cause pulmonary hemorrhages, flu-like symptoms, and dizziness. Thank goodness this was only an Aspergillus. These molds still produce mycotoxins, but tend to be less toxic than Stachybotrys molds. My hypothesis is that the dogs could smell the mold and altered their behavior to avoid the area where the mold was most highly concentrated months before the mushrooms popped up from underneath the baseboards in the laundry room.
This is a photo of a 3.5 year old juvenile horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus. He is one of the three new additions to the invertebrate side of the touch pool at North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. They have a light brown shell that is in an iconic horseshoe shape giving the animal its name. The average size of this animal is 24 inches long and 12 inches wide. The females are larger in both spectrums than the males. They are not true crabs but more closely related to spiders, ticks and scorpions as they are in the Arthropoda family. They use the shell for protection from predators. They have a spiny tail which they use as a device to flip themselves over when stuck on their backs. They have five pairs of legs with four pairs being their walking legs and the last pair is called swimmerets which they use to aid their walking. The front legs are how to tell the sex of the animal. If they are curved like boxing gloves, the animal is male and if the claws look the same as the others, it is a female. They use book gills to both breathe and moving when they are flipped onto their backs. In the late spring, the horseshoe crabs migrate from deep water to spawn. They crawl onto the beach and make long chains with the female in the front and males attached. Horseshoe crabs grow larger by molting their exoskeleton and growing a new one. They mature at 9-11 years old and can live for many years. They have blue, copper rich blood that is used in medical testing. The blood contains a clotting agent that reacts to bacteria echo is harmful to humans which allows this to be a good testing agent before medicines and vaccines are used to humans. The horseshoe crab feeds on small clams, bivalves, worms, detritus and other invertebrates.
I took this photo of a fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) on Wednesday, February 15th in the Remnant Forest on UNCW's Campus during my afternoon lab period. I spotted it while my lab group and I were walking to part B from part C of the forest. It was a fairly quick encounter: the squirrel scurried around my group members and I for a bit, close enough to observe us but far enough away to maintain its safety. At one point, as shown in the photo, it had a quick snack (their diet varies, but I think at the time it was eating an acorn, or something of the like), but soon after it fled into the thick of the forest away from us. My lab instructor spoke briefly in one of her recent lectures about fox squirrels and how we might be fortunate enough to see one in the Remnant Forest, and we were! Fox squirrels are unique in several different ways, but I find their larger size particularly interesting. Aside from being very cute and cat-sized (they are identified as North America's biggest species of tree squirrels), fox squirrels are also known to dwell on the ground more so than other tree squirrels and have distinct geographical fur coloration phases. Fox squirrels in the Southeast tend to be brown/black with white accents. In some areas they are more brown-yellow with orange-ish undersides, which can sometimes cause people to mistake them for American red squirrels. Fox squirrels do not have any sexual dimorphism in size or coloration, so I am unsure whether the squirrel I photographed was a female or male.
Sources:
This photo was taken March 9, 2017 on my GoPro while my friend Emily (the one in the photo) and I were snorkeling in Nassau over spring break. Coral reefs form a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae. It is specifically mutualistic since the coral reefs provide a protective environment for zooxanthellae that live within the tissues of the coral. In return, the zooxanthellae photosynthesize and provide food for the coral polyps. Both recycle nutrients in nutrient-deficient tropical water allowing an important factor for growth and productivity in coral reefs. Zooxanthellae are also responsible for the unique, colorful appearance of the reefs. Without the zooxanthellae, the coral turns white. It is referred to as coral bleaching and occurs when the corals are physically stressed and expel the algae.
This picture, taken on February 26, 2017, represents one habitat out of many places on the human body that microflora or "good bacteria" live. One common example of normal skin bacteria is staphylocci. The first line of immunological defense for humans is the skin, which provides a physical barrier against harmful agents. The normal bacteria have a mutualistic relationship with the human body. This means both the bacteria and the human benefit from each other. The human skin provides a stable environment, nutrients, protection, and transport for the good bacteria. In return, the microflora partake in scramble competition with harmful bacteria by occupying as much space as possible. This creates an uncomfortable environment and delays growth of bad bacteria. This is beneficial for humans by preventing any harmful agents growing/ entering the body. Microflora are part of the reason we stay healthy, so you could say they come in pretty "handy". As long as the microflora stay in a normal range, both individuals will continue to benefit, otherwise it could be classified as a parasitic relationship.
Additional source: textbookofbacteriology.net/normalflora_2.html
This picture was taken at Lily Pond at the Carolina Beach State Park on 4/14/17. This frog is Acris gryllus (a southern cricket frog). As frogs can breath through its skin it can also lose water through its skin. Water loss can be a big problem for frogs in general and they have several strategies to deal with water loss. They can secrete lipids through their skin that can slow the process, and can also form cocoons from layers of dead skin cells with a small hole for gas exchange.
I took this picture during my spring break trip to Belize. One of our excursions was cave tubing in ancient Mayan limestone caves!! The Mayans believed the caves were entrances to hell, but they are really just a result of the biogeochemical cycle! This is how they form: First carbon dioxide is captured in rainwater and brought to Earth's surface. Then, the carbon dioxide is transformed into carbonic acid in the groundwater. It is this weak acid that erodes away the limestone and creates the caves! The byproduct of this reaction is calcite. Calcite is removed and transported through the cave system by being dissolved in water. It is the dissolution of calcite in multiple different ways that forms stalactites and stalagmites. Cave formation is just one example of a cycle within the carbon cycle!! (www.kids-fun-science.com/limestone-caverns.html) (www.bgs.ac.uk/mendips/caveskarst/caveform.htm)
This picture is taken at my job. We planted cilantro, mint, bee bomb, lavender, and some other plants. The rosemary has been there for a long time. It is always green and recently bloomed with purple flowers. They went away as soon as we had that small cold snap at the beginning of this month. This year the flowers are ahead of schedule by at least 20 days. My flowers died because of our jet stream dipping a little lower than normal giving us a wonderful experience with a touch of snow and the cold weather at came with it. We could save all our plants by cover them with a sheet and plastic to keep the ground heat in so the air temperature wouldn’t hurt them.