Community Service
For my service I helped set up the blood drive for both times. I cleaned and helped set up everything for the machines and the people.
CSI Project
This project was were we were put into groups and assigned a crime scene out of three. The first one was a suicide that had a twist to it. The second one was a skeleton found bushes and they had to solve who did it. The third one was the one my partner Ben Clark and I did which was a hit and run case involving someone hit by a car and killed and we had to find out who did it. For our crime scene we first took pictures and looked at the evidence. There was alcohol bottles, footprints, the body, and tire tracks.
After that step, we analysed the foot prints and the tire tracks. With the tire track we searched to see if the car was in the parking lot of the crime. We soon saw a car with a tire track matching the one at the crime scene. we investigated the car and found blood on the bottom of the car and suspicious finger prints on the car as well. we then found out that the car belonged to Jon Peterson. We looked at him and his family and questioned them to see what they were doing the night of the crime.
After that looked at the blood on the car and the blood on the victim and started analyzing the blood. This is broken up into four steps. First we separate the DNA in the blood. Then we put it into a machine to separate the molecules. After that, we get the DNA and charge the DNA with batteries. with the positive charge the negative DNA separates to make the DNA strands. We then matched the DNA together and the blood on Mr. Peterson's car matched the blood of the victim. Mr. Peterson wrote a confession letter saying he did and the case was closed.
This project was really fun. I found it really interesting and I feel like I learned a lot. I really like the DNA processing and I thought it was really cool how investigators do that to see the DNA. I also liked analyzing of the tire and foot print. That was also really cool and it was interesting who investigators did that too.
I thought I did really good at this project, I think I participated a lot and I also learned a lot. My partner and I did a good job and we did good at getting this project done.
My partner and I collaborate really well. We separated the evidence logs equally and did good on the project.
After that step, we analysed the foot prints and the tire tracks. With the tire track we searched to see if the car was in the parking lot of the crime. We soon saw a car with a tire track matching the one at the crime scene. we investigated the car and found blood on the bottom of the car and suspicious finger prints on the car as well. we then found out that the car belonged to Jon Peterson. We looked at him and his family and questioned them to see what they were doing the night of the crime.
After that looked at the blood on the car and the blood on the victim and started analyzing the blood. This is broken up into four steps. First we separate the DNA in the blood. Then we put it into a machine to separate the molecules. After that, we get the DNA and charge the DNA with batteries. with the positive charge the negative DNA separates to make the DNA strands. We then matched the DNA together and the blood on Mr. Peterson's car matched the blood of the victim. Mr. Peterson wrote a confession letter saying he did and the case was closed.
This project was really fun. I found it really interesting and I feel like I learned a lot. I really like the DNA processing and I thought it was really cool how investigators do that to see the DNA. I also liked analyzing of the tire and foot print. That was also really cool and it was interesting who investigators did that too.
I thought I did really good at this project, I think I participated a lot and I also learned a lot. My partner and I did a good job and we did good at getting this project done.
My partner and I collaborate really well. We separated the evidence logs equally and did good on the project.
Dissection
For this dissection project, we got to choose what animal we got to do. A shark, a pig, or a cat. I chose the cat; I chose the cat because the cat was the hardest out of all the animal dissections. Our cat was pretty cool and interesting, it was pregnant with four baby kittens and we got to take them out and observe them. It was a little sad but I learned a lot from our cat. When we dissect the cat completely we see all the parts and then have a final on the parts of the cat. This was a really fun thing to do and I learned so much about dissection and the inside of things.
Monkey Food Planner Project.
This Project was a nice fun project that we got to do where we made our own recipes for chimps or monkeys done at a ape and monkey sanctuary down in Tennessee. The hard thing about this was that we had to measure every little thing that goes into our meal. Like carbs, fat, and proteins. We had to make it perfect for the chimps so they would get the right nutrition and not get overweight or loose a lot of weight. We got to choose who we can give the meal to, I chose chimps. I named my recipe the Super Duper Food Pile. Which had a waffle, Greek yogurt, turkey bacon, a sausage, blueberries, a banana, apples
Super Duper Food Pile Created by Max Ickes
Category: High Carb meal for chimps
Total Carbs: 351grams
Total Fat: 82 grams
Total Sugars: 123 grams
Makes: 106
Serve In: Cups
Prep Time: Around 15 minutes
Ingredients:
Category: High Carb meal for chimps
Total Carbs: 351grams
Total Fat: 82 grams
Total Sugars: 123 grams
Makes: 106
Serve In: Cups
Prep Time: Around 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 10.5 frozen waffles
- 4 tbsp of peanut butter
- 2 bananas
- 6 cups of plain fat free Greek yogurt
- 1 apple
- 8 turkey breakfast sausages
- 3 cups of blueberries
- Get a big bowl.
- Chop the toasted or microwaved waffles, sausages, bananas, and the apple.
- Then pour the the chopped food in the bowl.
- After that put the blueberries in the bowl and mix the food.
- Then put the Greek yogurt in with the food.
- Get the table spoons of peanut butter and mix it in with the other foods.
- Then after fun food making, serve the food in cups to the chimps.
Field Executive Form
This is a form on frogs that we saw at Durango Nature Studies and we took data and recorded it in our field executive form. When we cought the frogs we would label them so we don't catch them again and we put the data into our paper. We also did field work, we measured vegetation, dissolved oxygen levels, got samples of the feces in the pond and river, and cought microinverdabrates witch are bugs. After we got all of our data and put them all together onto tables used in exel. excel was really fun because it seemed really professional and nice to use. we got all of the data on tables, added graphs and put some equations in there as well. It was a really nice learning experience. The technical writing in this was harder than I thought. You couldn't use we or us in the writing along with other words and you couldn't put your self in the paper so it was hard to talk about it without an opinion on the project. I am satisfied with this work but I could have done better. I didn't use as mush technical writing as I should have and I didn't feel into it at some parts as was suppose to. Even though it was tough, it was a great learning experience and it was fun to learn about technical writing.
Field Condition Form Max Ickes
Executive Summary
For this experiment we went to Durango Nature Studies, DNS helps populate native species like the northern leopard frog; but with invasive species such as the bullfrog that is now in Durango, DNS is trying to remove the invasive bullfrog before it takes out the leopard frog and other native species. DNS also hosts school programs for the kids to learn about nature and for other programs to have experiments about plants and and other things.
The objective at DNS is to see what's happening to the amphibian population because 30% of amphibians are endangered. how to catch frogs and see how the leopard fog is effected by the new environment and the invasive species. Plus, DNS takes the data and uses it for their property. There is data for plants, water and life forms tor the data for their research that they use to measure the environment.
At DNS there was an objective to do a series of tests for water, animals, plants, and bugs. At DNS, one person would stand in the pond and look at the banks of the water and look for frogs while the other person would walk through the grass and stuff to push the frogs into the pond so the other person could catch them. After that we spreed out to do individual experiments. The experiments were dissolved oxygen I the river and pond, getting Coliform cont', finding poop samples in pond and river, catching bugs in the pond and river, measuring plant location, and more.
DNS annual budget is around 139,529; it is all used very well. It is used to research all of the living things and non living things so they can see how the environment. With all of this data will help the community with the environment and living things. The closure has a lot of ferns and small trees. There is a lot of tall grass and nice plants.
Species overview
Rana pipiens:
Rana catebeiana:
Diversity in an ecosystem is essential for stability. In order to quantify diversity the Shannon-Weiner Index was used. Macroinvertebrates are low on the energy pyramid and they are reliable indicators of the presence of pollution in aquatic systems, therefore they were used to determine biodiversity in the river and pond. Plants were used to determine diversity because they are low on the energy pyramid and the more diverse the plants are the more diverse the primary animals are.Our Shannon-Weiner indices indicate that the pond and river have adequate biodiversity which means the ecosystem is stable because the Shannon-Weiner indicates that the biodiversity is greater than one.
We did not find stoneflies in the river, which suggests the water quality is too poor for the stonefly to thrive. Stoneflies have the lowest pollution tolerance of all macroinvertebrates. Presence of coliform in the river, might be one reason why stoneflies are not present. Also high levels of phosphates found in mammalian poop can be the reason why stoneflies can't live there.
Phosphate is made from materials and go into plant growth. The plant dies and animals eat the dead plants and then it keeps going around in a cycle. Possible sources of phosphate are animal manure, pesticides, and detergents. What people can do is stop using pesticides and detergents, with all of this phosphate there is more animals that eat the dead plants and cause more phosphate.
When the elevated phosphate levels enters a algal bloom, there is a rapid growth of plants (algae) and it grows to crazy populations of plants. With all these plants, the plants take all of the dissolved oxygen in the algal bloom. After there is not enough dissolved oxygen, the plants die. When there is no dissolved everything in the algal bloom, everything dies.
Within these three years there has never been a bullfrog captured but they are out there. With no success, there can be some improvements to help catch the bullfrogs. We can have more people on nets to help get a good sweep of the pond. Also a improvement is for the people getting frogs into the pond to start farther out. Also while there are individual tests going on, there could be little traps so we can see or catch the bullfrogs. With these extra things, we may be able to catch bullfrogs.
Trying to catch the leopard frogs has been getting harder. It seems like the experiment is getting a little bit unorganized when we do it. I think we need to count more of the leopards frogs that we need to have a better system of how to get the leopard frogs in the nets. I feel like there needs to be more people close together than spread out. Plus we might want to look farther around the perimeter to see if there are also leopard frogs out there.
The modification we can use to remote the leopard frog population is to add more leopard frogs into the population and monitor it more. There could be more tests done to see if there's any other species and to see how the leopard frogs are doing and if they need more help. Plus, there can be some modifications to make the pond more suitable for only leopard frogs. DNS could make the pond more safe for the frogs so that birds and other predators, for the pond to be safer, they could add more vegetation for the frogs to hide and to find shade on a hot day.
Due to visual data done on the frogs, the mark recapture would be more efficient because with the mark recapture method, frogs can be marked so they aren’t counted again so it's more accurate. With the marking they can be put on the data sheet without mess ups on the data. This will be better for the DNS property and good for the leopard frog population to make sure they are thriving in the ecosystem.
Bibliography:
animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/northern-leopard-frog/
marshall.edu/herp/toads_frogs/leopard_frog.htm
Executive Summary
For this experiment we went to Durango Nature Studies, DNS helps populate native species like the northern leopard frog; but with invasive species such as the bullfrog that is now in Durango, DNS is trying to remove the invasive bullfrog before it takes out the leopard frog and other native species. DNS also hosts school programs for the kids to learn about nature and for other programs to have experiments about plants and and other things.
The objective at DNS is to see what's happening to the amphibian population because 30% of amphibians are endangered. how to catch frogs and see how the leopard fog is effected by the new environment and the invasive species. Plus, DNS takes the data and uses it for their property. There is data for plants, water and life forms tor the data for their research that they use to measure the environment.
At DNS there was an objective to do a series of tests for water, animals, plants, and bugs. At DNS, one person would stand in the pond and look at the banks of the water and look for frogs while the other person would walk through the grass and stuff to push the frogs into the pond so the other person could catch them. After that we spreed out to do individual experiments. The experiments were dissolved oxygen I the river and pond, getting Coliform cont', finding poop samples in pond and river, catching bugs in the pond and river, measuring plant location, and more.
DNS annual budget is around 139,529; it is all used very well. It is used to research all of the living things and non living things so they can see how the environment. With all of this data will help the community with the environment and living things. The closure has a lot of ferns and small trees. There is a lot of tall grass and nice plants.
Species overview
Rana pipiens:
- Leopard frog
- The Leopard frog is 5-13 cm
- The Leopard frog lives in North America and is most common in Nebraska and South Dakota (animals.nationalgeographic.com)
- The leopard frog lives in cooler climates and live through the Rocky Mountains
- Leopard frogs eat insects such as ants, beetles, flies, and worms
- The leopard frog goes into hibernation for the winter and when they sleep, they have an antifreeze helps them from freezing to death.
- The breeding season starts in March and ends in June
- The females lay around 6,000 eggs at a time
- The leopard frog is beginning to be an endangered species
- The threat for the Leopard frog is any frog bigger than them especially the Bullfrog and birds
Rana catebeiana:
- Bullfrog
- They Grow to be around 10-18 cm
- The Bullfrog is mostly native to eastern North America
- They are found invasive to countries such Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain, etc.
- Adult Bullfrogs eat what ever they can manage, they eat fish, other frogs, rodents, reptiles, and birds.
- Bullfrogs lay low in they winter, adults are inactive and eggs won't hatch in the winter
- Bullfrogs breed in June and July, when everything is warmer.
- Female Bullfrogs lay up to 20,000 eggs at a time
- The Bullfrogs are very territorial, anything comes in, the Bullfrogs are very aggressive
- The Bullfrog has started to invade Colorado but in south Colorado, Bullfrogs are not common
- They species that are threatened by Bullfrogs are all native amphibians that are smaller
Diversity in an ecosystem is essential for stability. In order to quantify diversity the Shannon-Weiner Index was used. Macroinvertebrates are low on the energy pyramid and they are reliable indicators of the presence of pollution in aquatic systems, therefore they were used to determine biodiversity in the river and pond. Plants were used to determine diversity because they are low on the energy pyramid and the more diverse the plants are the more diverse the primary animals are.Our Shannon-Weiner indices indicate that the pond and river have adequate biodiversity which means the ecosystem is stable because the Shannon-Weiner indicates that the biodiversity is greater than one.
We did not find stoneflies in the river, which suggests the water quality is too poor for the stonefly to thrive. Stoneflies have the lowest pollution tolerance of all macroinvertebrates. Presence of coliform in the river, might be one reason why stoneflies are not present. Also high levels of phosphates found in mammalian poop can be the reason why stoneflies can't live there.
Phosphate is made from materials and go into plant growth. The plant dies and animals eat the dead plants and then it keeps going around in a cycle. Possible sources of phosphate are animal manure, pesticides, and detergents. What people can do is stop using pesticides and detergents, with all of this phosphate there is more animals that eat the dead plants and cause more phosphate.
When the elevated phosphate levels enters a algal bloom, there is a rapid growth of plants (algae) and it grows to crazy populations of plants. With all these plants, the plants take all of the dissolved oxygen in the algal bloom. After there is not enough dissolved oxygen, the plants die. When there is no dissolved everything in the algal bloom, everything dies.
Within these three years there has never been a bullfrog captured but they are out there. With no success, there can be some improvements to help catch the bullfrogs. We can have more people on nets to help get a good sweep of the pond. Also a improvement is for the people getting frogs into the pond to start farther out. Also while there are individual tests going on, there could be little traps so we can see or catch the bullfrogs. With these extra things, we may be able to catch bullfrogs.
Trying to catch the leopard frogs has been getting harder. It seems like the experiment is getting a little bit unorganized when we do it. I think we need to count more of the leopards frogs that we need to have a better system of how to get the leopard frogs in the nets. I feel like there needs to be more people close together than spread out. Plus we might want to look farther around the perimeter to see if there are also leopard frogs out there.
The modification we can use to remote the leopard frog population is to add more leopard frogs into the population and monitor it more. There could be more tests done to see if there's any other species and to see how the leopard frogs are doing and if they need more help. Plus, there can be some modifications to make the pond more suitable for only leopard frogs. DNS could make the pond more safe for the frogs so that birds and other predators, for the pond to be safer, they could add more vegetation for the frogs to hide and to find shade on a hot day.
Due to visual data done on the frogs, the mark recapture would be more efficient because with the mark recapture method, frogs can be marked so they aren’t counted again so it's more accurate. With the marking they can be put on the data sheet without mess ups on the data. This will be better for the DNS property and good for the leopard frog population to make sure they are thriving in the ecosystem.
Bibliography:
animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/northern-leopard-frog/
marshall.edu/herp/toads_frogs/leopard_frog.htm