Friday, March 29, 2013

Facebook

I was just scrolling through my newsfeed on Facebook, before starting on this blog post. I just had a realization; that Facebook is similar to the pieces, processes and patterns in ecosystems and the environment. Individual people or pages for organizations and such are the pieces. The processes are methods with which we can interact with each other - a poke, wall post, private message, or group message - and the patterns are the continuous ways in which we interact with the same people. For example, if there's one friend that you always post comments on their wall versus someone else where you share memes in private messages.

In addition to that rather basic connection between the two systems, I was considering how interesting it is when you look at someone you're friends with or accept the friend request of someone, and then examine the mutual friends you two have. It's crazy when you find someone who knows the same people as you do, but you didn't know that they knew each other. It gets weird when it's a mixed bag of people that you both know because then you get to wondering how the other people met, how they know each other and how well, etc. Maybe this makes me sound a little bit creepy, but I think it's a natural reaction to have; I'm just curious. I like understanding how and why things work or go together, and that's especially true with people.

All of these ideas can be linked back to ecology though. I think we don't fully understand the processes or pieces or even have note of the species in an ecosystem. They have so many interactions that we probably have no idea about at all, which complicates restoration, or even basic understanding of our role and effect on the environment. So crazy, but still so true.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Jellyfish or syrup?

The two project ideas that I threw out when we discussed possibilities in class were jellyfish and maple tree movement.

Both of these ideas are only in the formulation phase; I haven't solidified anything. For jellyfish, I would need data on current jellyfish locations and the habitats that jellyfish would need - perhaps certain water depths, presence of jellyfish prey, and water temperature. These limits would be set on the initial map, which hopefully would be a time step map from like 1980 to 2000, which could then be used to progress jellyfish progress into the future according to climate change. I predict that climate change will have a large impact on aquatic organisms in general, as temperature of water is a determining factor for survival. In terms of jellyfish, I think the temperature of the water will decide how far and to what extent they spread. Jellyfish succeed in warmer temperatures, and invasive and nuisance species like the Portuguese Man of War (shown below) will extend their range to waters further north.





Picture source: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/portuguese%20man%20of%20war

The second idea was to examine the movement of maple tree species further north, again an effect of climate change. In order to produce maple syrup, maple trees need freezing nights and warm days in order for the sap to flow and be collected. The problem with this idea is that Vermont is seeing fewer of these days compared to the past; the land and climate further north will be more suitable for harvest and production of maple syrup. Thus, I was curious to explore the economic effects of this shift in maple syrup production as climate change occurs. 

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Snow and Sun

For blogs this week, the topic is looking at spring break through an ecology lens.

With that in mind, I first thought about the weather while I was home, and the climate of the mid-Atlantic region. I call Maryland my home, as I've lived there all my life, and right now it's going through that awkward in between phase of winter and spring. Although there are four seasons in Maryland, there really isn't much of a winter; if we get snow it's usually temporary and the forecast consistently predicts more than we get. In fact, I've even had school closed because snow was forecast, but never actually came.

I bring up the snow because it snowed while I was home, on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning so that there was about a 1/4 inch by 8 AM or so, not even enough to cover the grass. People in DC called it the Snowquester after the recent economic developments from the White House. It's crazy to think that there was snow Wednesday, yet this weekend yielded sunny skies and 60 degree weather. All within the span of a week. But that's part of the beauty of Maryland really; you just have to take it day by day.

What was most interesting about this situation, is that the birds and critters seemed slightly confused by the warmth and sunshine - thinking it was spring. On Saturday and Sunday morning, birds were chirping happily in the morning and throughout the day, despite the fact that colder weather will probably come again shortly. Some of the tulips in my front yard had already sprouted and started to grow, but cold weather will stop them in their tracks. Crocus, typically a small purple or white flower, is one of the first flowers out in very early spring, verging on the end of winter (pictured below). Small patches of the small flowers could be found here and there throughout the neighborhood, but this is a flower that can withstand threatening colder temperatures.

The temperature and climate are one way in which ecology was witnessed over spring break.

Crocus, image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crocus_group.jpg