The Lichen Study

A few weeks ago our class completed a study on two different types of lichens that grow on maple and ash trees.  These two types of lichens are Physcia millegrana and Candellara concolor.  Physica millegrana is a lichen that is more blue and green in color.  On the other hand, Candellara concolor is more of a yellow colored lichen.  What is a lichen, though?  Well, according to the site http://www.decodedscience.org/little-lichens-more-than-a-plant/20893 , a lichen is basically a hybrid between a fungus and an algae.  Different types of lichen grow in different types of air quality environments, good and bad.  We are studying the relationship between lichen growth and pollutants in the air, specifically SO2 and NO2.  What exactly are sulfur and nitrogen dioxides?  Well, they are each linked to one of the six criteria air pollutants, those being nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides and neither are good for one's health.  So you may be wondering, where do these nitrogen and sulfur dioxides come from?  Well, according to the site http://www.epa.gov/airquality/sulfurdioxide/ , the major source of sulfur dioxides is a result of big industries burning fossil fuels as well as the burning of fuel that contains sulfur.  This is also where you find most of the sources of nitrogen dioxides.  These sources include motor vehicles and power plants.  This information was also found on the same site that is linked above.  So what kind of effect do these pollutants have on plants, say, lichens There are many different theories being said about this relationship, some saying that more pollution will lead to more lichen, others saying that more pollution will lead to less lichen in the area.  As a class it was being discussed that more pollution will lead to more lichen growth.  According to the site http://staff.concord.org/~btinker/gaiamatters/investigations/lichens/affectslichens.html , lichen will either be destroyed by the pollution or a different type of lichen more tolerant to the pollution will start to grow instead.  There are many different types of lichen, and some are more tolerant to pollution than others, so, a new species of lichen will grow depending on the type and the amount of pollution there is in an area.  So, how did we complete this study?  Well, our Professor gave us three areas to each find our own individual tree to measure lichen on.  It had to be either a maple or an ash tree, and you knew this because if you looked at the branches, they branch off in the same spot from the branch, they do not alternate which side of the branch a new branch comes off from.  They are mirror images on one side of the branch to the other.  Once we looked at the branches and found a tree, we had to measure the lichen around the tree in all four cardinal directions, using a wired instrument that consists of 4 vertically connecting quadrants which are each 100cm2.  We would hold this piece 1 meter above the ground to ensure it was a good area that air pollution might be affecting the tree.  Too low and your results might be inconclusive and too high the same.  That is why we measured around the middle area of the tree.  This is also where most lichen would usually grow.  So once you help the piece 1 meter above the ground, you had to look to see how much lichen there was present in each of the four quadrants, in all four cardinal directions.  This would tell you that if there was pollution present, which direction it was coming from more.  We would rate the amount of lichen present in each quadrant on a scale 0-3, 3 being a lot of lichen, 0 being no lichen.  My tree had no lichen present on it at all, so the standard deviation of my tree lichen was 0.  My tree was on East green, with GPS coordinates 39°19'33.22"N 82° 5'56.82"W .  The point of this study is to pass down the data collected for these trees from class to class so that lichen is being measured every semester.  Studying the lichen is very important to be aware of the air quality around the area, that is the purpose of this study.  Credit needs to be given to Beatrix Potter, a women from northwest England who was the first person in Britain who began to study lichens more closely and how they are like a fungus and an algae.  She painted them and noticed the similarities, so she began to study them once inspired by her paintings to begin her studies on how they are fungus and algae related.  Without her beginning the study of lichens, who knows if anyone would have ever started to study them and find out these things about them, like how they are related to air quality.  The pictures of my tree are posted on this blog.  I will have them labeled in it's respective cardinal direction.  You will notice that there is no lichen on my tree.  It was about ten paces away from the street, however, it was in the middle of a street.  Trees farther down the street in both directions had a lot of lichen on them, or more than my tree had, which was nothing.  Why do you think this is?  Well, as a class we were saying that it is due to more pollution that more lichen is present, say it makes sense that maybe when cars are stopped at the end of the street on both sides sitting idle at a stop sign that there is more pollution due to the idling of the cars?  That is very possible.  I hope this blog was helpful in describing how we completed the study, and also just how important lichen study is to air quality.

 

Here are the branches of my tree.  Notice how the branches branch out from the same points. 

 

North^

 

South^

 

East^

 

West^

Muddy Stream

Stream Erosion

What is stream erosion exactly?  You probably have heard what erosion is before.  According to the site https://sites.google.com/site/earthscienceinmaine/erosion-and-deposition-by-flowing-water , erosion is simply described as transporting sediments.  This can be caused by many different things, some of which include the flowing of water and gravity.  So, as you can most likely figure out, stream erosion is the eroding of streams!  Erosion from flowing water has a lot to do with how fast the water is moving.  For example, if the water is flowing very slowly, there will not be that much erosion because there is not that much energy to carry particles of erosion.  However, if the speed of the water picks up, then more energy is produced, therefore being able to transport bigger particles. When erosion occurs, particles and or minerals are transported from one place to the next.  According to the site http://www.alevelgeography.com/the-long-profile-changing-processes-types-of-erosion-transportation-and-deposition/ , there are four main ways in which minerals and particles are transported during erosion. We will only be discussing two of these four from this site, and a third from another site, totally three loads.  One of these ways is called solution load.  A solution load is that in which the particles are fully and completely dissolved in the water of the stream.  This means that there are no particles visible.  The second way of transportation in streams is called suspension load.  In a suspension load, the particles or minerals are not dissolved, however, they are very fine particles that are suspended in the water.  This occurs more frequently when there is a higher speed of the water.  These particles are lifted (eroded) and then carried from one place to the next.  A color change in the water is possible here due to the fact that the particles are not dissolved, so an example would be a muddy stream.  The last type of transportation we will be talking about is called bed load.  This type of transportation is a little bit different than the other two we have previously discussed, solution load and suspension load.  Bed load is the group of larger particles and minerals that have settled to the bottom of the stream.  However, even though they have settled, that does not mean that they do not move.  These particles and minerals do move across the bottom of the stream and according to the site http://www.earthonlinemedia.com/ebooks/tpe_3e/fluvial_systems/geologic_work_of_streams.html , there are actually two ways in which these particles and minerals transport from one place to the next.  These two ways are called traction and saltation transportation.  Lets discuss traction.  This is basically when the particles or minerals inch their way along the bottom of the stream.  The next way, saltation, is when particles or minerals that fall into the bed that are originally suspended dis-lodge minerals in the bed load.  The dis-lodged minerals then travel  a little ways until they too fall back into the bed load, dis-lodging more minerals, and so on.  I hope this article was helpful in describing how particles and minerals are transported through erosion. 

 An example of a wetland

Wetlands

When you hear the word wetland what do you think of?  Possibly something along the lines of a swamp, lake, river or any combination of these.  Well, any one of these areas described above are technically not wetlands because according to the site https://www.wetlands-initiative.org/why-wetlands/what-is-a-wetland.html , a wetland is defined as an area that is dependent and/or determined by the water, and the presence of the water in that area.  The biochemistry of this area is determined or dependent on this presence of water, and this area also must be covered in water.  The water is fairly shallow.  This water is also un-drained, standing water.  You may have an idea of what a wetland is now, but did you know that there are different types of wetlands?  That is correct, there is not simply one type of wetland, listed on the same site are different types.  These types include marshes, wet meadows which simply have soil that is moist and saturated all of the time, wet prairie, which is the driest wetland, but still considered a wetland, fens and seeps, which grow from groundwater that travels south from a hill or mountain, and lastly, bogs.  Bogs only get water for the wetland by precipitation.  There is no groundwater that comes into a bog.  The only source is precipitation.  So why are wetlands of any importance?  Do they do anything, or are they just a home for wildlife in that area?  Well, wetlands do a lot more than you would think.  They are a habitat to some animals, and according to the site http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/fish.cfm , there are animals that are endangered that live only in wetlands, one third of the endangered and threatened animals in the U.S. live only in wetland areas actually.  But what else do wetland do?  Well, according to the site http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/people.cfm , one function that wetlands perform that is helpful is filtering.  What exactly does this mean?  Well, when water runs through a wetland, it catches anything that would clog other water ways.  It also collects some pollutants during this filtering process as water moves through as well.  This saves money because without these pollutants being filtered, more money would have to be spent to treat more polluted water.  Also in this site, it is said that wetlands flow and may replenish the groundwater in dry seasons.  This groundwater is used by a lot of people as a source of drinking water, or just simply a water source for other water needs.  When you think about that, you start to realize how important that is for areas around the world.  If these wetlands do not replenish the groundwater during dry seasons, there would not be any source of water possibly for areas around the world.  That itself is a very important quality of wetlands.  On this same site, there is also another very unique quality of wetlands that I never would have thought of.  This is wetlands being able to protect against erosion on banks and shores because the roots of the vegetation in wetlands hold the soil firmly in place, as well as take the energy intake of crashing waves coming in on a shoreline.  I found this to be so interesting and unique.  Not a lot of people probably know about this and just how important wetlands are.  It is important to preserve wetlands.  This is very important to the RAMSAR Convention, also known as the Convention on Wetlands.  According to their homepage http://www.ramsar.org/ , they are "an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources."  If you visit the same site, you can find the list of every country that is a part of RAMSAR.  This convention's main purpose is to preserve wetlands and to maintain them and study their benefits and unique qualities that can do so many things.  While searching this site, you can click on a map of the sites everywhere around the globe.  We were asked to find what big country that does not have much affiliation with RAMSAR, and on the map you can see that the Republic of Korea is apart of RAMSAR, however, not any of the sites are located in North Korea.  They are all located in South Korea.  We were also asked about RAMSAR in Ohio, and there is RAMSAR in Ohio, it is called Ohio Wetlands Association.  There is a website for it, http://www.ohwetlands.org/contact-us.html .  You can become a member, make a donation to support wetlands and their conservation, or go on a field trip to learn more about wetlands and their importance!  They are located out of Amherst, Ohio.  I hope this blog was helpful in providing some information about wetlands and just how important they really are. 

Urbanization

Urbanization

My last blog was about how much embedded water you use and what kinds of things have embedded water in them, and it turns out there is a lot of embedded water you use that you may not have thought about.  So, how else is water being used?  Well, more people are using it, its as simple as that.  This is the result from urbanization.  What is this?  According to the site http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/urbanization , urbanization is when populated areas become bigger than they already are and more and more people begin to live and work in that specific area.  With that being said its no mystery that because there are more people in a city, more water is going to be used and supplied for all the new people.  Also, when urbanization occurs, there are a lot of things that happen to create housing and to populate an area that can pollute water as well, according to the site http://water.usgs.gov/edu/urbanpop.html .  This pollution is harmful to the water being used locally.  So, where exactly is urbanization occurring?  You can simply say "where there are cities" but that's not very specific.  According to the site https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/world-urbanization-prospects.html , the two main areas where urbanization is predicted to increase are Asia and Africa.  Also, the most populated city in the world is Tokyo which has 38 million people, the second largest being Delhi which has 25 million people.  New York has about 18.5 million people (for a reference of population and city size).  It is difficult to imagine just how much water is used around the world when there are cities that are home to millions of people.  The thought is simply incredible, however, water is a closed system, so that means there is no new water coming into the system to be used.  And that is why urbanization is very important to understand because where is more water going to come from for these increasing cities and areas?  That is the question being asked because it is a very serious topic that a lot of people may not be aware of.  In addition to this comment, urbanization occurs around the world and different areas of the world do not have access to fresh drinking water to use for their everyday needs, so what is happening to these areas?  Well, water is now becoming even more scarce than ever before due to urbanization.  So, urbanization is having a huge effect on many areas around the world in terms of water usage and it is not having a positive effect on many areas of the world.  In conclusion, what effect does urbanization have on drinking water?  Well, the whole process of urbanization can pollute the water supply of an area with all of the construction and development that occurs within the urbanization of an area, and also urbanization is using more water in the areas that are more populated because there are more people in need of water in those areas.  I hope this blog was helpful in providing some information about urbanization and its effects on water.