Friday, January 16, 2009

Time for Some Fresh Food!


Exciting activities are in store for the coming months- first up is our living food experiment. Colleen Kearns from Cornell's Lab of Evolutionary Biology & Ecology is ready to bring in zooplankton samples for trout feeding experiments. (Daphnia pulex is pictured to the right. Click on the image for a video link!) Will our trout recognize living food? What will affect their feeding rate? We need to schedule classes anytime after January 25 and before the winter break, so please contact me.


We'll have a chance to study the plankton, themselves, and get up-close and personal with the foodweb. It a great opportunity for projects that your students might want to share at upcoming events, such as Ithaca Fishing Day, in late March, or Earthday. There is even talk of creating a marching aquatic foodweb for the Earthday and Ithaca Festival parades!


Finally, we're seeing some high mortality rat a couple of schools. From what I've read, this is not unusual- and the benefit of having a network of schools is that we can help each other out. So, if any class feels they can spare a few trout fry, I will be available to facilitate the re-adoption process. Let's share the wealth!


-Bill

No comments: