Monday, November 29, 2010


Experimental Design Diagram
November 29, 2010

A Re-look at my procedure:

  1. Go to your plot of land
  2. find a starting point right on the water and take a sample.
  3. Label the sample
  4. back up 10 feet and take a sample exactly 10 ft away.
  5. Label the sample
  6. repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have reached 40 ft away from water
  7. take all of your samples and put them into small cups
  8. measure the cups and record your data

  9. put the cups into the incubator  and leave there for a week








  10. remeasure the cups and divide your first data with the second data.








  11. Record your percents
  12. DO G-J of the EDD

    Conclusion 





















      1. Our Data does not support our hypothesis. We thought that in the woods there would be more moisture because the sun cannot reach the soil as easily, when in reality the field had way more water than the woods. The woods had a barrier between itself and the pond. This prevented flooding throughout the woods. The pond was on the same elevation as the field, so flooding happened quite quickly.













         If you look at the picture above you can see that my plot (#1) was for sure at one point a pond or lake. That would explain when my percents of water in the soil is so much hight than aubrey's (#2) which was a forrested area. The data table supports this because my data(the purple line) has way higher percents than aubrey's (the blue line.) This shows that my plot of land is way more susceptible for obtaining water. 
         If I were to do this experiment again I would have done it over a period of time instead of just one day. I would have done the trials once a week, instead of once. Another fun experiment would be comparing the moisture in the field on days it rained compared to days it did not rain.



         We also want to keep an eye on the field by the pond, and see it is considered a wet meadow. A wet meadow is a seasonal wetland that has water logged soil. This would change our conclusion because if it was a wetland it would have more moisture than a regular field.





    This whole underlining pazazz is making me mad! Why won't it ununderline?!?!?! I DON'T KNOW!






Monday, November 22, 2010


November 22, 2010 @ 5:00
(visit #7)
weather: overcast, rained earlier  
temperature:65 degrees F
winds: 5 mph
length of day: 9.31 hours
Today when I went to my plot it was very gloomy and dreary. There was no sun, and everything looked dark. There was a lot of mud from the rain, but I didn't notice any flooding from the lake, which I was expecting. I still heard some birds, although I did not see them, nor any other wild life. In the post below I answered my question for the EC, and also asked a few more. 


Me on my plot of land


Very dark and cloudy today :(

Sunday, November 21, 2010

A closer look at my plot:

sinks?



What is this? I noticed it has changed colors in the past few weeks 


Finally, our little bridge is above water!


Why is this branch red? What makes it red?

There's lots of random junk laying around...




EC: tannins: comes from the technical word 'tanning.' It is found in tree bark, wood, leaves, and roots. They are usually found in yellowish or light brown masses like powered, flakes or sponge. 



The website below describes tannins in an area a lot like mine. It looks like the "pollution" i saw could easily be tannins. The tannins most likely came from the wetlands around the pond, and made its way into the water. The tannins could also be from the neighboring woods. Tannins create a yellowish or brownish color in the pond. Tannins are most easily described as decomposing organic materials. 

http://pearl.maine.edu/windows/community/Water_Ed/Color/Co_whatisit.htm


Monday, November 15, 2010


November 15, 2010 @ 4:05pm
(visit #6)

weather: chilly, partly cloudy 
temperature:53 degrees F
winds: 0 mph
length of day: 9.45 hours
Woah! It has been a long time since i've last visited this place. It has definitely gotten colder. The air has a more sharp frigid feel to it than it has in the past. Getting closer to winter and the first real snow fall for sure. For as cold as it was the sun was sure shining. I got some beautiful pictures of the sun. The sun created a golden tint on everything; the ground, the water, and the trees. I didn't notice any wildlife, except a lone bird or two in the sky. I did notice that the water looked a bit polluted :(