Hello from Acadia!
I have been having so much fun here and have not had a chance to write.
A couple thousand years ago, most of Maine (along with Canada, Greenland, and many other places near the poles) were covered by ice a mile high. The glaciers moved and shaped the land in so many cool ways! The weight of the ice pushed down on the land, making sea level higher. Rocks and boulders got caught up in the flow of ice and ran over the earth, shaping and denting it. There are three kinds of glacial erosion: polishing (when the ice rubs the rock to a perfect smoothness), plucking (when pieces are yanked off of a bigger rock, creating jagged, uneven surfaces), and chatter marks (when rock or ice creates claw like marks in the rock). How cool is that?
Everyone at AIO shares an aquarium tank with a partner. You collect things to put in your tank and then you have to go study your tank and make sure everything stays alive. This includes checking temperature, density, and salinity (the amount of salt in the water, which is usually measured in parts per million, or ppm.) It is important to make sure that the food chain in the tank is sustainable. You have to make sure that you have the right amount of producers (phytoplankton and algae), primary consumers (organisms like periwinkle snails, limpets, scuds, barnacles, and mussels), and secondary consumers (whelks, sea stars, and crabs). Arguably the most important organism in a tank is algae. Algae is defined as a unicellular or multicellular autotroph (something that photosynthesizes). They live in water, close enough to the shore to receive the sunlight they need. Algae are living organisms but are not defined as animals or plants. Algae are commonly known as seaweed. Algae is at the bottom of the food chain. It also provides oxygen through photosynthesis and gives many animals a place to live. As you can see, algae are very important to the ocean, but you need algae too! Sushi is wrapped in a layer of algae, and some toothpaste and soaps have algae in them too.
Lastly, the other day we went on a crab survey. Before we left, we learned about native crabs (those that are made for the area they live in) and also some invasive species of crabs (those that have traveled into an area and adapted to live there). They are called invasive because, much like the Romans, they take up a lot of space and push the native crabs out. We collected as many crabs as we could in two minutes within a two and a half meter area. We then moved down a little bit and found thirty green crabs and only two Jonah crabs along our fifteen-meter piece of the rocky shore. Green crabs are an invasive species and have clearly invaded the area. Jonah crabs are native to the area, and we were surprised that they only represented a small portion of our data. We measured and identified all he crabs before setting them back in the rocks.
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| Lobstering! |
There is so much to learn, and I will try my best to fit everything in this post. Every morning after an amazing breakfast cooked for us by Chef Dave, we go on an activity. After we come back and eat lunch, we go out again, on an entirely different activity. The activities vary, including everything from tide pool ecology to geology hikes. We have graphed shorelines and studied amounts of species in a square foot of a tide pool. I have used a dichotomous key to identify different types of algae and created food chains and webs of specific ecosystems. At 5:00 PM, there is an optional seminar about something concerning the ocean and another lecture after dinner. Everything is so much fun!
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| Hard at work! |
A couple thousand years ago, most of Maine (along with Canada, Greenland, and many other places near the poles) were covered by ice a mile high. The glaciers moved and shaped the land in so many cool ways! The weight of the ice pushed down on the land, making sea level higher. Rocks and boulders got caught up in the flow of ice and ran over the earth, shaping and denting it. There are three kinds of glacial erosion: polishing (when the ice rubs the rock to a perfect smoothness), plucking (when pieces are yanked off of a bigger rock, creating jagged, uneven surfaces), and chatter marks (when rock or ice creates claw like marks in the rock). How cool is that?
Everyone at AIO shares an aquarium tank with a partner. You collect things to put in your tank and then you have to go study your tank and make sure everything stays alive. This includes checking temperature, density, and salinity (the amount of salt in the water, which is usually measured in parts per million, or ppm.) It is important to make sure that the food chain in the tank is sustainable. You have to make sure that you have the right amount of producers (phytoplankton and algae), primary consumers (organisms like periwinkle snails, limpets, scuds, barnacles, and mussels), and secondary consumers (whelks, sea stars, and crabs). Arguably the most important organism in a tank is algae. Algae is defined as a unicellular or multicellular autotroph (something that photosynthesizes). They live in water, close enough to the shore to receive the sunlight they need. Algae are living organisms but are not defined as animals or plants. Algae are commonly known as seaweed. Algae is at the bottom of the food chain. It also provides oxygen through photosynthesis and gives many animals a place to live. As you can see, algae are very important to the ocean, but you need algae too! Sushi is wrapped in a layer of algae, and some toothpaste and soaps have algae in them too.
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| The lab, where all the tanks are |
Every night, we listen to at least one lecture, sometimes two. Each one focuses on a specific topic, such as whales, world fisheries, Jacques Cousteau, or birds of prey. I promise to post about what I've learned from some of these lectures later.
On Sunday, we went on a whale watch but, unfortunately, didn't see any whales. We went back yesterday, and after looking at some puffins, seals, and porpoises, we were lucky enough to see a humpback whale mother and calf. We watched the whales surface, and the not-so-little baby whale really put on a show. We saw at least three full body breaches, as well as several other half body breeches. The whales also showed off their tail flukes for us! The crew of the boat was able to identify the mother whale as Fundy, a whale they had seen before. She was first spotted near the Bay of Fundy, which is how she got her name. They had never seen the calf before, and they are very glad to know that the whale population is still on the rise. The Humpback whales, or Megaptera novaenglae (which means giant winged New Englander), are a recovering species. The whales were so wonderful to watch and I am so glad to hear that we will be able to see them for many years to come.
On Sunday, we went on a whale watch but, unfortunately, didn't see any whales. We went back yesterday, and after looking at some puffins, seals, and porpoises, we were lucky enough to see a humpback whale mother and calf. We watched the whales surface, and the not-so-little baby whale really put on a show. We saw at least three full body breaches, as well as several other half body breeches. The whales also showed off their tail flukes for us! The crew of the boat was able to identify the mother whale as Fundy, a whale they had seen before. She was first spotted near the Bay of Fundy, which is how she got her name. They had never seen the calf before, and they are very glad to know that the whale population is still on the rise. The Humpback whales, or Megaptera novaenglae (which means giant winged New Englander), are a recovering species. The whales were so wonderful to watch and I am so glad to hear that we will be able to see them for many years to come.
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| Crabs that we collected |
Lastly, the other day we went on a crab survey. Before we left, we learned about native crabs (those that are made for the area they live in) and also some invasive species of crabs (those that have traveled into an area and adapted to live there). They are called invasive because, much like the Romans, they take up a lot of space and push the native crabs out. We collected as many crabs as we could in two minutes within a two and a half meter area. We then moved down a little bit and found thirty green crabs and only two Jonah crabs along our fifteen-meter piece of the rocky shore. Green crabs are an invasive species and have clearly invaded the area. Jonah crabs are native to the area, and we were surprised that they only represented a small portion of our data. We measured and identified all he crabs before setting them back in the rocks.
I have been having so much fun here, I can't believe how quickly it's coming to an end! I'll miss it here!
Next week I'll be at hockey camp, but when I come back I'll be blogging about many more details of things I studied at AIO, including "some things you didn't know about Jacques Cousteau, and some things you did."
