Trees, Hellbenders and Fireflies Oh My!
Topic: Biodiversity
Monday 6/16
In the morning, I chose to do tree identification.  I felt like I needed to learn more about our native trees.  Personally, I am an animal person.  I always have enjoyed critters over green but I do find trees important.  So we went on a “scavenger hunt” for trees.  We went in and id 18 species of tree.  It was fun and I think it would be a fantastic thing to do with students at school.  We will probably do it as a transect.  The hemlock trees  that I saw were a sad reminder of the problem with invasive species.  Our hemlock trees are seriously suffering.  I know that we do need to do some class discussions and journals on the effects of a single species disappearing and how it can cause problems with other species.



Tuesday 6/17
Today we went in search of hellbenders.  We went just north  of the “Y”.  I bet those tubers don’t even know that they are floating over these big salamanders.  We are lucky to have one of the two species of giant salamanders in the world.  The other is in Japan.  They can grow up to two feet in length.  The group caught four total.  We measured them and tagged them with pit tags.  It was amazing to hold one of these creatures. They spend their time under rocks and come out at night.  They can be very aggressive to each other over rocks.  They can bite off each other’s legs and leave nasty wounds.  They do bite, so we had to be careful.  That evening, we listened to a workshop given by Lynn Faust, a local firefly expert.  The amazing thing about Lynn is that she is not a scientist.  She is just a person who became interested in fireflies.  Her interest lead her to find out more.  She recorded her observations and these observations have lead to many discoveries about them.   She was the first to discover we had Sync Fireflies in the park.  She told scientists about it and they “proved” their existence.  I believe we will look at fireflies this coming up school year and discuss the chemical reactions that occur to cause them to light up.  I learned so much today.  I cannot wait to use this in class.  For more info on hellbenders go to http://www.hellbenders.org/index.html

Insect Trap Collecting
Topic: Biodiversity
Today, myself and another teacher working at Tremont went to collect insects at three locations in the Smokies.  We are doing this to assist in trying to see if the Emerald Ash Borer has made its way into our park.  The Emerald Ash Borer is a Buprestide that is native to Asia.  It is considered and exotic envasive species.  It has already done condierate damage in Michigan, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio.  The study we are helping with is designed to find the insect before it gets out of control.  When an envasive species is introduced to an environment, it can cause A LOT of damage because it does not have any natural predators.  So it reproduces without a way to balance the population.  If this species is found in our park, it has the potential to completley destroy our ash trees.  We collect and Bruprestide beetles we find (we do have some that are native) and place them in a vial with a label to be analyzed.  Then we scrape the sticky stuff off the board and reapply fresh goo.  Unfortunatly, this trap attracts species we are not looking for. This is unfortunate but the only way we have to attract these beetles at this time.  Hopefully, we will not find any fo the Emerald Ash Borers!

Salamander Collection and Insect Traps
Mood:  smelly
Topic: Biodiversity
Today was another fantastic day full of adventure.  We started by collecting data on Salamanders.  We found a lot of larvae, which was exciting.  We traveled up stream and check around 22 salamander "hotels".  The most amazing thing about our Smokies, is the peacefulness  of everything.  It is so serene and even magical to be far away from cars, tv and radio.  Everytime I go, I feel rejuvenated.  I was able to look at and take data on almost every salamander we found.  Their undersides are almost transparent and I could see their hearts beating.  I think we need to remeber what we are protecting.  It is never just a tree or a leaf, it is an entire ecosystem that works together.  We cannot do anything better than nature.  Everything is perfectly laid out.  We need to protect what is around us.  This is definitly an on going topic for the next school year.  In the afternoon, we learned about wood boring beetles and moths.  I will make a special entry later describing some of the things I learned.  Then we checked some insect traps for these beetles.  We were able to recover some.  So it was a positive endeavor. Overall, another fantastic day.

Canopy Transects and Salamander Data
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Biodiversity
Today we hiked up to two sites to do data collection.  At the first site, we checked the salamander "hotels"  We classifed, measured and weighed the salamanders we found in the traps.  It was amazing.  We classified the following:  Santeetlah, Seal, Black Bellied, Imitator, Spring and Blue Ridge Two lined.  We were surprised to see such a diverse population.  At the second site, I did Canopy Transects.  This is where we measure and classify the trees that provide shade for the stream.  We classified Birch, Beech, Tulip Poplar, Hemlock, Dog hoggle, and Rhodehedron(I need to check my spelling on this one.  This was amazing and I have decided that we will do a Biodiversity Inventory at school this next year!

ATBI Teacher Intership
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Biodiversity

May 27th 

I will focus on my critter interactions of the day. First, we searched for millipedes. I found 3 different species in 2 minutes. Amazing! I picked up a Polydesmida. It smells like cherries and it pooped on me! Yes, I have been pooped on by a cherry smelling millipede. Then, I got a Apheloria virginiensis. This one did not poop on me!  My favorite was the Narceus americanus. This one had the cutest face. Next, we went to catch butterflies and inventory them for the ATBI. This is where I discovered that I am the moth whisperer. I didn't need a net. I just raised my arms and began to sing. They just flocked to me. Well, it almost happened that way. What really happened was I caught two moths and they would not leave me. They walked around my shoulders. I tried to put them on trees and they came back. What can I say? I am very moth charismatic. We checked the snake tins after butterflies. Well, we found a milksnake. We checked the insect traps and the canopy trisects. Overall, it was a good day. I am very excited and can't wait to see what the next day brings!

 May 28th

So, this will be short. Don't pick up a ticked off millipede. As nice and sweet as they were yesterday, they were equally ticked today. And, well that little booger excreted hydrogen cyanide (HCN) all over my hands. Now my hands are stained and stinky. It looks like I have purple birthmarks on my fingers.

 

May 30th

Today we checked insect traps for the Emerald Ash Boring beetle.  This is important work because we are trying to catch it early, if it is indeed here, to prevent the decimation of the park's ash trees.  We checked two sites, Cades Cove and Foothills Parkway.  The traps consist  of Bright pruple boards covered in sticky goo.  Researchers have found that these beetles are attracted to that color.  The first site was difficult to get to.  We had to go through barbed wire and more poison ivy than I have ever seen.  The Foothills Parkway site was interesting. It was off an abandoned road.  In addition to insect traps, we took nets to catch butterflies. They are currently being researched for the Biodiversity inventory.  We always bring a GPS system to record our coordinates.  This way we can find our way back if we need to research the area further and to identify where the species have been found.  The Appalachian Brown is the butterfly we are most interested in now.  It has not been officially recorded int he park but we have our suspicions that it is here.  This is all very exciting.  I feel like a treasure hunter.