This will be primitive camping at its best… restrooms will be unavailable at Alcove Springs, so you might want to bring a shovel!!!

To reach Alcove Springs and waterfall from Blue Rapids, KS, take US-77 north to Schroyer Road. There is a small sign on the highway just before the Georgia-Pacific gypsum mine. Follow Schroyer Road 5 miles north to the park. Schroyer Road is gravel and can be rough in wet weather.

Motels and restaurants nearest to the campsite are available in Marysville.

On Friday evening, we will plan on feasting together at the Wagon Wheel in downtown Marysville at 6:30 pm.  Saturday’s lunch will be provided once we arrive at the Vogelsberg-Busch Farm.  You will be responsible for all other meals.

Friday’s events will include:

• Setting turtle traps in the early afternoon (if interested in helping, please let me know).
• Set up camp at Alcove Springs afternoon/evening.
• Setting small mammal track tubes in the evening.
• Supper at the Wagon Wheel at 6:30 pm.
• Rest of the evening – Sittin’ around the campfire.

Saturday:

• Break camp, check track-tubes, and explore Alcove Springs (we will be leaving Alcove Springs around 9:00 am for those of you not camping with us).
• Visit Ice Age Monument – Blue Rapids.
• Locate black squirrels – Marysville City Park.
• Rocky Bottoms – natural limestone waterfall.
• Vogelsberg-Busch Farm
• Lunch
• Birding w/ John E. Quinn (Postdoc Researcher in the UNL School of Nat. Resources).
• Check Turtle Traps
• “Rails To Trails” Bio-Blitz – Blue River north of Marysville

Any questions about this KABT field trip should be directed to the KABT Field Trip Coordinator. Enquiries may be in the form of email or a telephone call.

KABT Field Trip Coordinator

Noah R. Busch
Telephone (316) 259-5942
Email: nrbusch22@gmail.com

Speakers: Harry McDonald, member of Kansas review committee for NGSS

Date: May 8, 2012

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Coaches Bar and Grill, 9089 W. 135th Street, one block west of 135th and Antioch, south side of 135th St.

Harry will introduce the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the currently developing revision of the 1996 National Science Education Standards, their vision, what is necessary for them to make a difference in science education, and the chance for public comment. Harry wants this evening to be a discussion about where our country is headed with science education and what it will take to get there.

Besides serving on the Kansas review committee for these standards, Harry has 32 years experience in the science classroom and has consulted on science education for 8 years.

For more information: biologycctrack@hotmail.com

Here’s one of the Mead’s Milkweed sites at the KU Field station’s demonstration prairie at the Armitage Center.  The plot was recently burned and it is easy to see the marked sites.

Here’s two more sites.  Sorry for the photo quality–I still haven’t mastered my iphone camera….

I have become increasingly convinced that these plants and others like them are increasingly at risk due to the high deer population densities in KS.  Several years ago a group of about 8 flowering orchids I was monitoring in Johnson county were all nipped off during one night most likely by deer.  I’ve watch one group of plant decline over the last 10 years to where it has not flowered at all for the past 4 and this year there is only one leaf emerged where there used to be 5 plants.  I don’t know the normal cycle for these perennials but I am sure that repeated deer herbivory can’t be good.  Perhaps it is time to try out a bit of a deer exclosure trial.

A closer look reveals a carpet of Spring Beauties:  Claytonia virginica  What a cool lawn.  That is my kind of lawn weed.

Ever since I saw a similar photo in Kansas Wildflowers by William Chase Stevens of Spring Beauties colonizing a lawn in Pleasanton, I’ve wondered about planting my own seed to create a similar lawn.  Now I have to try.  To that end I have been trying to collect seed–they are very small and they shatter easily.  I found that each flower can produce several seeds and each plant can produce dozens.  I tried to collect a few days too early, decided to wait and now I think I’m too late but I won’t be next year.

Speakers: Andrew Jansen and Tim Urban, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks

Date: April 10, 2012

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Coaches Bar and Grill, 9089 W. 135th Street, one block west of 135th and Antioch, south side of 135th St.

Andrew Jansen will present a summary of the aquatic nuisance species (ANS) in Kansas, including covering the zebra mussel in greater depth focusing on findings from a recent zebra mussel study in Kansas. We will discuss KDWPT actions to prevent the spread of ANS. Tim Urban will cover sightings of mountain lions in KS as well as field identification and sign of mountain lions.

Andrew Jansen grew up in Iowa and became interested in the outdoors and fishing at an early age, receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Ecology with emphasis in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences from Iowa State University and a Master of Science degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from South Dakota State University.  He has worked as a fisheries biologist for KDWPT in Kansas City for the past 3 years.

Tim Urban grew up in central Kansas with a love for anything outdoors. He graduated from Barton County Community College in 1997 with an Associate’s Degree in Science and Arts, and then went on to Northwestern Oklahoma State University receiving a BS in Conservation Law in 2000. He has worked for the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and Parks since 2000. He worked at Cheyenne Bottoms and Dodge City, before moving to the Kanas City area in 2005.

For more information: biologycctrack@hotmail.com

Noah Busch – Biology Teacher – Junction City High School

Yesterday, along with my wife, daughter and granddaughter I got a chance to check out the status of the spring bloom at the Overland Park Arboretum.  Wow,  things have really advanced over the week of high 70′s and low 80′s.  We soon found “carpets” of spring beauty’s and false rue-anemone’s.

Spring Beauty

False Rue-Anemone

Naturally, Cady and her mom decided to capture the ephemerals in photos.

Cady struck out on her own.

I like her style:

The blood roots were just getting started but won’t last long.

Blood Root

The Dutchman Breeches were almost to peak as were the Toothwort’s.

Dutchman's Breeches

Toothwort

Like the Bloodwort’s the Erythroniums were just getting started but they won’t last long.

Erythronium

Last year I shared a post about spring wildflowers with most of these same flowers but the date was April 7th.  This year the flowers are much earlier.  In fact most will be past their prime by April 1.  If checking out woodland spring wildflowers is one of the signs of spring that you monitor each year, you’d best be getting out there.

BW

 

1. Algae are prevalent in basically all ecosystems on Earth
2. It is easy to tell when the algae have grown (Built in color indicator!)
3. Very small size makes it easy to use in a HS classroom.  Replicating trials is easier also!
4. Algae are cheap (free if you acquire it from a natural source), and hardy. [Something I have learned: It is always good to use an organism that is difficult to kill when dealing with HS scientists].
5. Algae = Plant = Producer.  Since producers occupy the “lowest” trophic level in any given ecosystem, it is easier to make predictions about the impact on the other members of the community.
6. Algae = Plant = No permission is necessary from an ethics board to experiment on algae.

Throughout the course of the semester, my students will be designing and implementing experimental treatments that will aim to test how algal growth responds to a number of factors, including:

• Changing climate conditions
• Acid deposition
• Fertilizer run-off/Eutrophication
• Invasive Species
• Population dynamics (addition of primary and secondary consumers)
• Oil spills and other point pollutants

If you have any questions, comments, or desire to collaborate with my students please email me at andrewising@usd475.org. 

***This post appears on our class’s blog, along with a few experiments.  We are currently analyzing the data from our climate experiments, and I will post the experimental protocols/data/conclusions soon.  Follow @Mr_Ising to know about any new updates first.***

White Cotyledons on One Seedling

My AP students are growing fast plants, and one of them got this for one of her planters.  The seeds were taken from a random pool that has both purchased seeds and seeds cultivated from past classes.  I don’t have any information on the underlying cause of the lack of color in this plant.  So I pose her question to you all… “What’s the deal?”