tweet: Did you know that cool and moist soil conditions are most favored by earthworms and rollie-pollies on the Purchase College campus? Find out more!What determines preferable soil for invertebrates at the Purchase college campus? Samples collected by Environmental Studies students help us understand these small creatures and their desirable habitat locations. Cool and moist soil conditions are the most popular areas for several species such as earthworms and rollie-pollies. These small species are just as particular as us humans when it comes to finding the perfect place to live. Field work on a small scale helps us better understand what is still to be discovered from past and present research opportunities. Think about all of the places in the world this study can be useful in discovering biodiversity of invertebrates! It is truly a treasure hunt. The unknown can be both scary, and interesting. The possibilities are endless, so go out and explore the soil near you and see what can be found! blog AuthorsMatthew Leichman and Danielle Barone
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tweet: Guess what? Most life on Earth is tied to soil, as is a key ecosystem driver! Invertebrate abundance and diversity is higher in cool/moist soils partially due to arthropods preference of cool environments and their gills, which allow them to breath in water. Moving forward, people need to see that we build ourselves up from the bottom. In order to have a healthy and productive ecosystem, we need healthy soil! #SOILISLIFEWhen looking at the environment around them, a lot of people fail to see the interconnected nature of all of its parts. It is common for soil to be overlooked for its seemingly simple appearance when in reality; it is one of the key drivers of an ecosystem determining the life built around it. This study preformed by Zachary Juman, Rob Lamarche, Amor Luciano, and Pearce Pedro sought to determine which out of four categories of soil on the SUNY Purchase campus, hot/dry, cool/dry, hot/moist, and cool/moist, held the most abundant and diverse number of invertebrates. In the end, they gathered that cool/moist soils had the most diverse and abundant number of organisms. This could be concluded based on an arthropods preference for cool environments and their gills, which allow them to survive in aquatic environments. This study leads to further evidence that soil health is key to a productive environment. When preforming their study, the group found the process of drawing conclusions and correlations based off of their data to be the most difficult step to the process. They found themselves wanting to do more and said that if they were to further their research, they would have preformed the tests in a different season. The unpredictable and cold weather could have altered their results. If further work were to be done, they would have preferred to preform more chemical analysis in order to draw more connections to soil composition and invertebrate diversity/abundance. This study teaches us a lot about life on Earth. Everything that grows and lives is tied in some way to the soil we walk on everyday. It is apart of out lives but we must strive to truly see it more because in the end, soil is life, literally! Read their full article here blog AuthorGenevieve Donovan tweet: BREAKING: Purchase students found that raccoons prefer dumpsters filled with food rather than those with random garbage. #EcoJournal #coonlifeStudents Matt and Danielle sought to understand raccoon behavioral habits in the sub-urban environment around SUNY Purchase College campus. Their observations were concerned with which dumpsters would be preferable to the raccoons. The observations were done at night with the use of night vision goggles because raccoons are nocturnal and pedestrian traffic was lower at those times. They found that the dumpster behind the cafeteria which contained a greater percent of food waste attracted a higher number of raccoons. Future scientific studies should include more sites at different times of night, and over a longer period of time preferably in different seasons of the year. Understanding raccoons’ response to urbanization may help developers better accommodate these animals so that humans can have a less negative impact on their natural environment. Read Danielle and Matthew's article here blog AuthorsPearce Pedro and Zachary Juman 12/7/2017 Species Diversity within the University: Sitting down with Jessica Lau and Luz Medina.Read Nowtweet: EDGE HABITATS DECREASE SPECIES RICHNESS AND DIVERSITY! IF YOU WANT YOUR FOREST FRIENDS TO LIVE, HELP STOP FOREST #FRAGMENTATION! A recent study done on the Purchase College campus highlights an environmental issue that we see on a daily basis, but rarely ever consider – habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation occurs when a road is built, or a soccer field is cleared, resulting in a loss of habitat for both plants and animals. When a habitat is fragmented, edge habitat is created; associated with edge habitat, are a number of effects that are not seen within an intact forest. Areas located deeper within fragmented habitat, or interior habitats, are less impacted by edge effects and have higher total plant diversity, species richness and have more shrubs and bushes present. Older, taller trees typically reside in interior habitats rather than edge. Consistent with their findings, overall plant density was higher within interior habitats. Future management projects should be made based on the composition of the individual habitat fragment. If any future researchers are looking to continue this study Jessica and Luz suggest that a larger sample size is used, and a more accurate method for measuring biomass. Read Luz and Jessica's paper here blog AuthorsMatthew Garafalo, Jon Matkowski, and Camille Rosiello Tweet: Dedicated threesome researches local water quality/nitrate levels to find out if we gone die or not. They concluded that we not gone die!This dedicated threesome (Alex, Brian, and Sam) researched water quality (specifically nitrate levels) in Blind Brook running into the Long Island Sound. They were like “I think the nitrate levels are really gunna suck in Blind Brook.” But guess what, it wasn’t. There wasn’t a substantial amount of nitrate to be concerned about. But they did find that pollution levels increased after it rained, which would be bad for the fishies and water quality. But the pollution did hit it and quit it by running into the Long Island real quick. They researched six sites around the same time of day for three days and found that during the dry days, nitrate levels were low and were higher during the last day it rained and nitrate levels were higher. They found this research important because without good quality water, everyone die. Read Alex, Sam and Brian's paper here blog AuthorsGeorgie Humphries, Isabella Wrobel, and Daniel Demopoulos tweet: IN the World of Fine Dumpster Cuisine.. The Hub is the spot Fort Awesome is soooo not.Similar to most of life, the goal of dumpster dining is to avoid people. The premier hotspot in the omnivorous night life is the Hub. With tasty treats such as left over cafeteria food and a semi private ultra-exclusive atmosphere the HUB is the happening spot. On any giving night you can see all the stars and VIPs there, including the greats like Rocking Raccoons, Off the wall Opossums and the ever secretive Striped skunk. For the dumpster diver on a budget there is the slightly more down to earth location, The Olde. While you won’t see any of the crowds that the Hub has, the food selection is much smaller. Regardless of your tastes avoid Fort Awesome, simply because no ever would be caught dead hanging out there. Read Gen and Patrick's article here blog AuthorsRob Lamarche and Amor Luciano tweet: Invasive Norway maples in edge forest habitats have a higher severity of black tar fungus infection than those in interior habitats. Black tar infection severity also increases when there is less tree diversity.Ever wonder what those weird little black spots on your Norway maple leaves are? They're a fungus called Rhytisma acerinum, or black tar, and they can damage your Norway maples if they're not taken care of. Black tar can spread quickly if you plant your Norway maples too close to each other in one area or if you don't clear the fallen leaves around it regularly enough during the fall, so make sure you do a good job with your landscaping. You can also plant any other kind of tree along with your Norway maples since they can't get infected with black tar, so you can even make your yard look more interesting this way. Next time you are about to go into the woods, notice how the first Norway maples you see have more black tar than the ones farther into the woods. You could try to plant your Norway maples similarly to the ones with less black tar in order to ensure they can be healthier. Read Camille, Matt and Jon's full article here blog AuthorsJessica Lau and Luz Medina tweet: If ur looking for the best bugs, go to the bushes. The diversity is YUGE. but low bushes AND high trees are the best. all of the bugs. Isabella Worbel, Georgie Humphries, and Daniel Demopoulos took what they learned in their ecology class and took it out on the field. They were looking at the different types of bugs and how often the bugs were found in three types of areas. (Even though Isabella is afraid of bugs… How can you do a project on bugs when YOU’RE AFRAID OF BUGS? That’s dedication. #respect) The three types of areas were areas with low bushes, areas with tall trees, and areas with a mix of both. They shook trees and dragged a sheet in order to catch bugs in these different areas. They found that low bushes had the most types of insects but the areas with a mix of tall trees and low bushes had the most bugs. BUZZ BUZZ. Read Isabella, Georgie and Daniel's full article here. Blog AuthorsBrian Doherty, Samanatha Robinson, Alexa Youre-Moses Tomorrow is our final lab meeting and the official launch of the first issue of the Purchase College Journal of Ecology!
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AuthorAll blog posts are written by students in General Ecology about work completed by their classmates. It's their chance to flex their science communication muscles - let us know what you think! ArchivesCategories |