Your Questions...

Thanks, Melissa, for reading the entire blog. (Also, thanks for your post, Jasmine.) I know there was a lot to take in! You're right, it was a very busy two weeks; but so rewarding. The two things I will miss most are the new friends that I met there (It's surprising how quickly people grow on you!) and being out in nature every day knowing that I would be learning new things.

I really loved learning how to trap and safely handle the small mammals. Even though I felt a bit timid in the beginning, by the end of the two weeks, it felt very natural and I looked forward to checking the traps twice a day. It was a great experience for me and I felt that I made a some small contribution to science and the environment.

By the way, Room 106, I forgot to answer your tree question the other day. If you get a chance to read this, the reason that the roots grew on top of the boulder was that the hemlock tree started to grow in the moss and soil on the top of the boulder.

The Invincible Team V: Mammals of Nova Scotia

Below is the photo of my Earthwatch team and a bit of biographical information, provided by my new friend Jen Griffith. Thanks Jen, for all your wonderful photography!

• Drs. Christina Buesching and Chris Newman—Principal Investigators, University of Oxford
• Jennifer Griffith—2nd Grade Teacher, Chicago, IL
• Amy Andrews—3rd Grade Teacher, Chicago, IL
• Bob Minoff—5th Grade Teacher, Long Island, NY
• Sharon Avis—Bank Compliance Manager, England, U.K.
• Carole Bradley—Retired Music Teacher, Richmond, VA
• Elaine Clubley—OR Technician, England, U.K.
• Lyman Davenport—Radiologist, Providence, RI
• Karen Elder—Telephone Co. Compliance Manager, England, U.K.
• Catherine Harkness—Physician, England, U.K.
• Cheryl Liddiard—Midwife, England, U.K.
• Jane O’Shaughnessy—Civil Servant, Ireland, U.K.
• Joan McBain—Retired, Hartford, CT
• Lycos—Chris & Christina’s dog and team mascot

Day Eleven, (Wednesday) Last Day in the Field

We are almost at the end of our journey! Checking our traps for the final time, we realize once again that out of the five that are closed, all are empty. A few other teams were still catching new red-backed voles, mostly in the clear-cut area.

Chris and Christina inform us that there will be no Deer Pellet Inventories today (oh, shucks!) but I will learn how to do a "Botanical Survey" under the direction of Christina and five other team members who are already experts. Cheryl scribed the results as the rest of us identified and counted the trees in 1o meter x 10 meter areas (just like in the DPIs.) The types of trees we found are birch, maple, service berry, various spruce species and white pine. It was enjoyable activity and we returned to base camp after surveying seven areas in the same woods in which we had been trapping.

When we got back to base, the gazebo was gone! The other members of the team had broken down the camp as we were completing the surveys. So we enjoyed our last picnic lunch and admired the work of other team members (like Bob and Carol) who were up in the trees installing bat boxes constructed by the team that had worked this site before us.

The final activity was Survival Training, taught by Chris (Dr. Newman) as Christina (Dr. Buesching) secured the rest of the site. During this training we learned about the four main survival points called PLAN: 1. Protection, moving way from danger and guarding yourself from the elements, 2. Location, figuring out where you are and where you can find help, 3. Acquisition, finding water and food sources you need for survival, and 4. Navigation, moving towards civilization with the sun as your guide.

After Chris demonstrated how to build a tree trap (very cool!) he showed us a device that can be used to make a fire. Several of us took a turn at it to see if we could create the smoke needed to make a fire. It seems I need a bit more practice, but it was certainly fun trying!

Another full day's work, and a very productive one at that. It was time to pack up the pickup and the Earthwatch bus for the drive back to Cherry Hill--but not before Jen took a team photograph--it took awhile but was well worth it!

Day Ten, (Tuesday) Field Work and "Chataway"

This morning we repeated the same sequence of trapping and then completing several rounds of Deer Pellet Inventories. My team (Team B: Jen, Bob and I) each captured and released one vole. Once again, though, we had several more traps that were closed, but turned out to be empty. We are finding that the majority of voles were being caught in the areas that Christina and Chris referred to as "clear-cut" and not the heavily forested area where you might think they would be more prevalent. This is definitely worth looking into, to find out why. Our results, so far, were different from what our P.I.s had hypothesized. Perhaps we can email Chris and Christina to find out more about what they think is happening here and why.

The latter part of the day included a trip to the "Chataway" Cafe for the teachers, so that we could go over our field notes, make contacts to the school and do some posting to our blogs. Bob took some pictures of the cafe and surrounding area. As you can tell by the photo, I was beginning to feel just a little bit tired. Our work is almost done!

In your Science Notebooks...

Did you get a chance to answer any of the journal questions in your science notebooks? Hopefully you did. First the question, “What makes a mammal a mammal?” Some of the characteristics that distinguish them are: mammary glands, sweat glands, a covering of hair, jaw articulation, ear anatomy, live birth, (or reproductive specialization), a diaphragm, and a soft palate for breathing and chewing. Some other important features are: specialized teeth for grinding and highly developed brains.

Now another important question…Why look for scat (poop)? There are many reasons it is important to locate and identify mammal droppings. The most obvious reason is that it tells us which animals reside, or at least “use” a certain area. Another reason is that it gives us an idea of population size, based on how many droppings (or piles of droppings in the case of deer) that we find. One more reason is that it can tell us about what an animal eats, and where it falls in the food chain. If scientists take a closer look at a scat sample they may also examine DNA or possibly parasite detection.

One interesting thing I learned about (white-tailed) deer is that they often contain a parasitic brain worm called a nematode. Although this parasite is not lethal to the deer, it is often lethal to the moose with which they compete. They way the moose contract the nematode is a bit complicated, but I would be happy to explain this further if anyone is interested.

Let's Talk about the Weather...

Lucy, Nicole, Devon, William and several others of you asked about what the weather is like here and more specifically about high and low temperatures. (See the picture of the weather station that is checked daily at Cook’s Lake.)

This is an interesting question because all of last week the temperature hovered around 20 degrees Celsius (which is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit) which Christina said was atypical for this time of year. As of this past Sunday, though, the temperature dropped significantly. The thermometer on our weather station read 12 degrees Celsius (which is about 54/55 degrees Fahrenheit.) So you can see that between the two weeks there has been a big change. This is, of course also having a dramatic effect on the flora, and the many deciduous trees in the area. The leaves are changing to their full fall colors right before our very eyes. Each day when we ride the Earthwatch bus to Cook’s Lake we are in for a treat of gorgeous new scenery.

This idea of temperature is very important to the science of this project. The question of the missing mice (or at least very low numbers of mice) could possibly be directly related. Isabella asked about which mammals could be affected by climate change. Could the decrease in numbers of mice be a result of change in climate? Why would this be?

One thought is that it has something to do with last year’s reportedly cold winter. The temperatures last winter here in Nova Scotia were significantly colder then average. The amount of energy that mice need for survival is directly dependent on temperature. Remember that mice have very large ears, eyes and a long tail, which means that they lose heat (energy) quickly. Voles, on the other hand, are largely adapted for colder conditions with their smaller orifices. In addition, Chris and Christina told the team that there was a snowstorm here in the late spring, which may have made it difficult for the mice to find food at a time that was crucial for them to find nourishment.

Think then of all the other animals in the food web that depend on the mice for energy. How would all of this affect them? This is a question that Chris and Christina hope to answer through their research in years to come.

Compared to Chicago

Mr. Hall and Room 202 asked about how Nova Scotia compares to the Windy City.

I have included some things about location and climate earlier in this blog, but generally Nova Scotia is considered a Canadian province and the city of Halifax is located within this larger region. Halifax has a population of about 372,000. (Remember that Halifax is where my plane flew in last week). To learn more about Halifax, please see the link at the right of this page. Much of Nova Scotia is located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and so you will see a lot of fishing villages, lighthouses, harbors and marine animals Actually 4,750 miles (or 7,600 kilometers) of Nova Scotia is seacoast. Unfortunately, you can’t find lobster in Lake Michigan! Nova Scotia is generally much cooler than Chicago. Their currency (money) is currently about equal in value to the American dollar right now.

I believe it was Charlie and Joseph who asked about the forest. I found out that 87% of Nova Scotia is actually forest landscape. Good question! And yes, most of the pictures (of forested area) were taken at Cook’s Lake, which was our work site.