Tag Archives: Ohio
Peter’s Winter Project
Peter, an undergraduate student in my lab, is interested in winter ecology – a little studied field that is more or less assumed to be of limited relevance in temperate systems, at least in comparison to warmer seasons. In the winter, ecosystem and community functions slow or stop all together. For example, primary productivity halts in deciduous trees, yet likely still occurs in microorganisms, and invertebrate community interactions (i.e., predation) are simply slowed due to an overall decrease in metabolic rates. Of the multitude of processes or interactions open to investigation, Peter decided to assess decomposition dynamics of leaf litter under the snow, and address effects of snowfall on these dynamics. To do so, five blocks with three treatment plots each were marked and sampled by removing subsamples of leaf biomass from each of the three treatment plots within blocks. Within each block, snow from one treatment plot was removed and added to another, so that there was a treatment plot with ambient snowfall, snowfall removed, and snowfall added. Now, if we could only find enough freezer space…
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Kent State University Snow Day
On the way to Cunningham Hall on Kent’s finals week snow day…
First Christmas Cookies
My first attempt to make my mother’s Christmas cookies turned out well. Although, since we only had two cookie cutters, many of the cookies ended up being ‘Holiday Gift Card’ shaped.
Merry Christmas
| Merry Christmas from snakes 1 and 2 (left and right, respectively. Or right and left… I don’t remember). |  |
Dermot
While dog-sitting several years ago, I took Dermot for a walk at Brandywine Falls in Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Immature Lepidopterans
I’ve accumulated a few photographs of caterpillars and pupa in my ‘to publish’ folder for Montegraphia, so I’m putting them up now. They’re not the greatest works, but they were all cool finds in the field. The pupa was attached to the wall of the field station in San Ramon – there are most likely several photos floating around the Internet of this pupa given that it was pointed out to the course while at the station last winter.
The green caterpillar was one of a few on the hiking path in Zaleski State Forest. It was peculiar the number of caterpillars we encountered, presumably searching for a good, safe place to pupate.
The yellow caterpillar was common in Palo Verde this summer, and would inevitably be crawling down my shirt after walking through some brush. The yellow hairs cause a rash, as shown on Mahmood’s arm, and were quite bothersome when combined with the heat, humidity and mosquitoes….
Perhaps I’ll be able to speculate on identifications after I’ve taught that section in Entomology this semester…
Some final Zaleski State Forest Photos
A couple more from the ground
Just missing the green already.
