Life at Toolik
A common question people often ask about the light in Alaska is what is it like to live with 24 hours of sunlight. Your body loses track of time easily and its easy to push yourself into working from the time you get up until the time you go to bed (11pm- midnight). You can get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom without turning a light on. It helps tremendously if you can make the place you sleep dark so that you can get those important hours of sleep!
Lesson Plan Ideas Brainstorm
1. Reading Scientific Papers - Reading scientific papers is often a struggle for undergraduate and graduate students. In STEM Biology this year, I'd like to spend part of the year having students learn to analyze scientific journal articles to support their research and classroom activities. I feel this will be an invaluable skill for the students to have as they pursue higher education.
Possible Resources:
3. Soil Biodiversity Studies -
5. Examine Green Up and Green Down with potential use of courtyards and 6. Explore International Tree of Life - phylogeny studies
Possible Resources:
- Science in School: Exploring Scientific Research in the Classroom.
- Science Buddies: How to Read a Scientific Paper
3. Soil Biodiversity Studies -
- Nematodes - University of Nebraska
- Springtails in the Classroom
- Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative
- Globe Pedosphere
5. Examine Green Up and Green Down with potential use of courtyards and 6. Explore International Tree of Life - phylogeny studies
Another Lap Around the Board Walk
Stomatal Slide Prep and Leaf Mass Area (LMA)
While the direct counts continued, Mary and I helped Charlie with the preparation of leaves for leaf mass analysis and stomata density counts. For leaf mass area (LMA) we punched holes in 15 leaves of each species. These samples will be dried and then weighed to determine the dry weight per given area (hole punch) of each leaf. We then took five eaves from each species and painted a thin coat of nail polish on the left upper quadrant of the leaves. Tape is then used to lift the nail polish off the leaf and a slide was made. The slides can then be used to calculate the size and density of the stomata in a square millimeter.
Stomata are openings on the underside of a leaf that control gas exchange. Plants take in carbon dioxide through this opening and water may be lost through the opening. Stomata densities are important because it is thought that plants with a high stomatal density will be favored in times of low carbon dioxide atmospheric concentrations while low stomatal density will be favored in times of high carbon dioxide concentrations. Images below are from University of California Museum of Paleontology's Understanding Evolution (http://evolution.berkeley.edu). These images and website may be helpful when teaching students about stomatal density.