Geoff+Journal

Makiki Stream Post 1 Makiki stream lies in a mini valley close to the nature center. There is a certain place past Punahou where I am able to climb down into the stream with the use of a ladder and to observe the stream more closely. I found many interesting things when I was down there. The shrubs that grow on the sides of the stream are all green and seem to mostly be all the same, which stems grow upwards and fan out leaves. They keep the hill from eroding and destroying the stream, which isn’t that big, but has mini waterfalls created from jutting rocks. The stream also has big rocks laden everywhere, which are big enough to be stepping stones. These rocks are covered by lots of moss, which makes them slippery, green, and gives them a weird texture. There is a lot of life in the water. There are little shrimp, fish, and some crawdads living in the water, which is a little murky. The aquatic life seems to hang out where the water is still, and there are no ripples to carry them away, or disturb their fragile homes. In the air over the water, there are many mosquitoes flying about. They thrive because they can lay their eggs in the water, and the temperature is warm. I observed mosquitoes seemed to hang out more in the shade. There are some holes in the leaves of plants, so I can assume that beetles or some bugs are eating them. The holes are about a centimeter long and wide, and show up more on the ones exposed to the sunlight. There are also many leaves in the stream, as it is turning fall and the plants’ leaves are coming off.

This will be a good place to study for the rest of the semester because it has a long strip that is untouched by man. It also has a variety of water and land animals and plants. The stream is very easy to get close to and to observe, as there are rocks on the water. There is also a ladder that I can use to get down into the stream if needed. The stream is also very close to school, so I can access it after school or during breaks if it is needed. I am also to able to catch organisms with a net, because I can go down into the stream. Overall this is a very convenient place filled with lots of organisms and biotic factors.

P.S. I was not able to add pictures.

Assigned Journal Entry 1 There are many niches in Makiki Stream. With a variety of aqua and land habitats, there are quite a few organisms that live in the eco-zone. Some creatures that live in the stream habitat include crawdads, mosquitoes, little fish, shrubs, and grass. First I’ll talk about the crawdads. They are red shellfish with pincers about the size of their heads, and they live in the watery part of the stream. Their habitat includes whatever plants and rocks live in the stream, and the grass that surrounds the water. They have no predators, and feed on the little fish in the stream, who are quite abundant. Whenever they are frightened, they will run to hide in the grass. The water is warm, and quite murky. The temperature changes with time of day. There are many leaves in the water also that the crawdads hide under, and you have to be quick to find them. Another creature is the mosquito. They are insects with wings that allow them to fly. They are very small, and live off of other animals. This means that they are parasitic. Things that they suck blood from include people and mongooses. The air in the stream is quite warm, and it helps them maintain body temperatures. They have mainly one predator, which is the frog. However, sometimes the humans they feed on turn on them and kill them. They also need the water to lay eggs. A thing to note is that only females can suck blood, so we will see them more often than the males, who cannot. The last organisms I will talk about are the shrubs. I am not totally clear on what type they are, but I do know some things. First, they are producers, which means they create their own food through photosynthesis. They do not have any competition because they create their own food. However, they do have a variety of predators. Bugs and beetles enjoy eating the leaves of shrubs, and as I could see there were many holes about a centimeter wide in many of the leaves. For abiotic factors, leaves are in sunlight during certain times of the day depending on where they are located on the hill, and the temperature stays quite warm due to humidity and sunlight. Water is collected from rain, and the roots that go to the stream. There also are as mentioned above, bugs and beetles. These creatures tend to hide under leaves, as well as eat them. Their potential predators include birds and possibly fish. They also compete with each other for food, however, there are so many plants that they are able to grow at an exponential rate (unlimited resource). I can tell they eat plants because of holes in leaves. They are affected by the temperature of air a little, which generally stays warm. They do not get killed or affected by rain. These are four organisms that live in my eco-zone. They are all very different, and have thrived in the zone for a while. Their niches are different, but share many of the same abiotic factors.

Free Post 2 For my grouping at Makiki Stream, I’m in charge of the aquatic life. This includes frogs, shrimp, crayfish, and guppies. These different animals create quite a diverse amount of things to write about, and there are many questions spurred. One question that I found was about the fish. In the upper part of the stream, I found translucent shrimp with mostly blue bodies. However, when I went downstream, I found the shrimp to be red in color. I want to know how this happens. Maybe natural selection favored blue in the sun, and red in the dark? Or maybe the shrimp could camouflage themselves, or change color due to senses. As I was asking myself these questions at the stream, something interesting happened. Over time, the red shrimp that I had put in a white bucket changed color, exactly resembling the blue ones at the upper part of the stream. Therefore, I hypothesized that the shrimp changed color due to their environment. Another question I had is about the guppies. In the lower part of the stream, I found clear and small fish. However, when I traveled upstream from that point, I found a few orange fish, which were about double the size of the guppies downstream. I wondered if the orange fish were the same species as the clear ones, just more mature. I also wondered why the orange were only in one place, and why the smaller ones were everywhere. I also think that the frogs and crayfish might be connected. The in my first visit, I went in the early morning, and I saw three crayfish. Today, I went in the day and I saw one frog. I wonder if one is the predator to the other, or if they eat same things at different times to avoid each other. My last question is why the organisms spend time in the still water more than the waterfalls. When I used my net and just stuck it in still water, when I pulled it out, it most likely had a couple of shrimp or fish. However, under waterfalls, I caught only one. I would think that they wanted to be under rushing water to be harder to catch, instead of in the open and easily visible. There are many questions to ask about Makiki Stream’s aquatic life, and I am able to hypothesize about many of them. I believe with more research, I will be able to answer all these questions.

Assigned Post 2 Natural Selection is happening in Makiki stream in all of the organisms. If the species is a plant, maybe it’s getting thorns over generations. Fish are changing color. Mosquitoes are smaller. All of these creatures have genetic variations, and their populations are changing to become more fit for their environment. One creature that is changing is the shrimp. Their skin has traces of blue or red on it, so I can assume that it was once that color. However, the shrimp are now more clear and are translucent. I think that this is happening because they are harder to see if they are clear, and the colored ones are getting eaten and are not reproducing. Therefore, only the clear ones get to reproduce and pass on their DNA, creating new clear shrimp, and that type is going to become the only one after generations. Another variation I saw was that some plants had small thorns on the stems. These thorns probably make the plants more fit. They are red and about a centimeter long. Birds might get annoyed by the constant pricks, and would fly away to a different plant. Humans might not want to touch the plant. The red color also might alert organisms to stay away. Something that could be bad about thorns is the energy needed to make them. Possibly, there are no predators for them, so it is a pointless use of energy. The mosquitoes that live in the stream’s habitat are also evolving. I think that they are getting smaller. This change will make them harder to see, which is huge in their environment. Their predators, which could be frogs and humans would kill the ones that are easy to see. The ones that are smaller might go unseen, and would get what they need while reproducing. If an organism is smaller, it doesn’t need as much food and nutrients to survive, which leads them to need less energy. Mosquitoes are advancing to become harder to kill. A variation that I saw that wasn’t beneficial was the shorter tail length of some fish. I think that this wouldn’t help because the fish need the tail to be quicker. The tail propels the fish in the water, so the longer the faster. They could race to food faster, and escape from predators more often. The ones with the shorter tails might use less energy, but would die out because they wouldn’t survive as long and reproduce as much. These are all notable variations in Makiki Stream. With a little more research, I will be able to find out which variations are helpful and not.

Free Journaling Post #3 For my group, I’m in charge of the aquatic activity and organisms in Makiki Stream. Through my two visits, I have been recording the observations about the fish, shrimp, water color and murkiness, temperature, and other attributes of the stream. I have gotten many inferences from my visits. For both visits, I found that the shrimp in the upper part of the stream were a different color than those in the lower. One was a reddish hue, while the other was greenish. I think this is an effect of being in different temperature water. Maybe the red will reflect light, and the one in green will absorb the light. I think that the shrimp change color when suspected to different heat levels. My 1st hypothesis is that if the shrimp are put in hotter water, then their color will be more red. If the water is colder, the shrimp will turn blue. Another observation I found was a correlation between the shrimp and the plants. In areas of the stream with heavy weed, plant, and grass growth I scooped my net into the stream. I would almost always come up with at least 5 shrimp. The shrimp tended to hide in those areas, which is probably why they were so plentiful. However, when I put it into a cleared out area, where there was no growth, I found there to be almost no shrimp. My 2nd hypothesis is that if there is more plant growth in an area, then there will be more aquatic organisms in that place. I found another key part of the stream to be the moss covered rocks everywhere. Not only did they serve as stepping stones, but when they jutted out like cliffs and changed the course of water, they were like mini rapids. Where I found there to be many rocks, and rushing water, fish and shrimp were scarce. I can infer that because fish and shrimp are so small and are fragile, they tend to be in still water, where they are able to move around freely. Rapids are also harder to live in because it makes food harder to get at, and makes less of it. My 3rd and last hypothesis is that if there are more rocks in an area, and more rapids, then there will be less fish in the area. I will test all of these hypotheses throughout my next visit. For my first one, I will take shrimp home, and put them in temperatures with small difference. For the second, I will make a data table and randomly scoop my net and record how many I get. For my third, I will randomly scoop my net in the rapids and calm and see how many shrimp I get, and record that number. I will do this multiple times, so I can have more accurate data. These are all easily tested hypotheses, and I will do them next week.

Assigned Pyramid 3



Free Journal Entry 4 This week, there had been no rain for a while, so I found the stream level to be quite low, and this allowed me to observe the organisms more closely. First of all, all the shrimp were of the color green, which was different from last time’s red and green. I also caught sight of a giant black crawdad, about 5 inches in length with 5 inch pincers. As predicted from last time, I found there to be many more shrimp in the bushy areas, because that is where the shrimp resided and hid. There were many fish hanging around in the still water, and the orange fish found upstream last time were everywhere on this visit. They were mostly in the little pools created by rocks. There was a smaller amount of waterfalls and rapids, as the stream’s level decreased. Even with the small rapids, I found there to be much less shrimp and fish in the area. There were many more mosquitoes about everywhere, as the temperature was higher, and it was more humid in the area. For the first time, I also saw bugs crawling about such as cockroaches and potato bugs. There was a lot more moss on the rocks, as they were greener. The water was also very clear this time, as I could see everything. The hypothesis I chose to test this time was the one where I said if there are more bushes and grasses in an area in the aquatic part of the stream, then there will be more shrimp there. My procedure was to: 1. Get materials (net, bucket, pencil, folder paper) 2. Scoop net in clear open water of stream 3. Put catchings in the bucket 4. Count the amount of organisms and record 5. Throw back organisms caught 6. Do this five times 7. Scoop net in grassy area of stream 8. Put catchings in the bucket 9. Count the amount of organisms and record 10. Throw back the organisms caught 11. Do this five times 12. Average out the five trials for each category 13. Compare results My results for the clear water were 3, 2, 2,1, and 3. This is an average of a little over two organisms per catch. For grassy areas, my results were 7,9,9,8, and 7. This is an average of 8. Therefore, I can conclude that shrimp and fish live more often in the grassy areas than others. I can also conclude that the shrimp and fish live there and are there because it is easier to hide in grass, and it would be harder to catch an organism.

Assigned Post 4

House Sparrow - Kingdom - Animalia - Phylum - Chordata - Class - Aves - Order – Passeriformes - Family - Passeridae - Genus – Passer Species – P. domesticus Common Ditch Shrimp - Kingdom - Animalia - Phylum - Arthropoda - Subphylum - Crustacia - Class - Malacostraca – Order - Decapoda - Family - Palaemonidae - Genus – Palaemonetes - Species – varians (opae kala`ole) – Hawaiian Name Pineapple Swordtail – Kingdom – Animalia - Phylum – Chordata Class – Actinopterygii - Order – Cyprinodontiformes - Family – Poeciliidae Genus – Xiphophorus - Species - X. hellerii

American Cockroach – Kingdom – Animalia Phylum – Arthropoda – Class – Insecta – Order – Blattaria – Family – Blattidae – Genus – Periplaneta – Species - P. americana Wild Guppy – Kingdom – Animalia - Phylum – Chordata Class –Actinopterygii - Order – Cyprinodontiformes - Family – Poeciliidae Genus – Poecilia - Species – P. reteculata