Science, Curiosity and Life
I LOVE lavender as many of you will already know. If you need convincing just check out my previous post on “All things Lavender“.
Every year I like to make something new with my little lavender harvest, last year I started making lavender wands and they were such a hit I got a lot of requests to make more this year. It is such a calming activity that I didn’t need much persuading. You can follow this tutorial that I found on line.
Here are my silent snaps to show you how it went …
You would want to be living under a rock not to have seen them! Last week I was literally covered in them during an evening stroll; then it seems the infestation spread… yesterday it arrived in Dublin! Seagull invasions are so last week… we are all talking “flying ants”.
Ants with wings is this something new?
Not really. There is no one species of winged ants but many species will produce wings during a certain stage of the life cycle of the colony. As we all know, ants like to be busy so if all the chores are done, the larder is full, the young are being tended to and the queen is happy, well there is really only one job left to do…. procreate!
And it is a lot easier to get out there and find the right ant for you if you can grow a pair of wings for a while!
To put it a little more scientifically… in mature, thriving colonies, some eggs, treated under the right conditions, will produce winged ants, both male and female. The females are virgin queens with the potential to start a new colony of their own. The males, well, they have only one thing on their mind!
Why so many?
The newly produced winged ants will remain in the colony until conditions are right for what is referred to as the Nuptial flight. These flights are very weather dependant, requiring warm temperatures with little chance of strong wind or rain. The ants will all leave the colony together in one coordinated flight. This is also synchronised with the flight of ants for neighbouring colonies.
The large numbers serve two purposes….
What happens to the winged ants after the “deed is done”?
After mating both the male and female ants loose their wings.
The female will often mate with several males during the mating process but this will be the only time in her life that she will mate. She stores the male sperm in a pouch in her body called the spermatheca. After mating she will dig a nest to start her own colony… the sex on her offspring is decided by her. All fertilised eggs are female, all non fertilised eggs are male.
When she starts a colony she will produce only female ants, each of which will be infertile and wingless.The queen tends to the first set of eggs on her own but once the worker ants are reared they will tend to her every need and the needs of the colony.
The males? Well they actually die soon after mating… it is their sole purpose.. tough job but what a noble one!
I love this time of year when so many favourite flowers are in bloom and the air is filled with their heady scents. Although I love all plants I have always been drawn to those that have a particular function. The first thing I did once I got my own tiny patch of garden was to plant herbs, and I have kept that up ever since. From cooking, to scenting to health and wellbeing, herbs have it all.
Another function I enjoy in plants is their symbolism and meaning. A few years ago this led me to do some research on nosegays.
A nosegay is a posy of aromatic herbs and flowers that dates back to the sixteenth century. Originally these were a necessity for ladies, carrying them through the streets to disguise all unpleasant smells and protecting from plague and disease. Although they were created for aromatic and disinfectant purpose they soon became fashionable for a very different reason… the symbolic meaning of each plant contained within the nosegay. Suddenly a functional bouquet can become a personal and charming gift.
I have made many nosegays for friends and family over the years, often picking a theme and including the appropriate plants… maybe a gift for a friend who has been ill, containing herbs symbolising protection, health and a speedy recovery; or an array for the arrival of a new baby… containing wishes and virtues to bestow upon the infant.
Today I was drawn into the garden once more, the scents of herbs and flowers were just bursting into the Summer air.
So I gathered so many favourites, like a child in a sweet shop, unable to show restraint… I chose every plant I could think of, and I have compiled them into a very big bouquet as a virtual gift for all you lovely readers.
This one is for you…
I wish I could send all the lovely scents with this virtual bouquet but instead I will wish you all the virtues it bestows. As a thank you for reading, sharing, commenting and letting me know that you really do like what I write…
I am getting lots of questions from three and four year old children lately which I love, it seems they all hold a communal fascination with slugs and snails and the working of both.
I hear that a little lady who can often be found here wants to know….” Do slugs have eyes?” and two little ladies that can be found here want to know if they have ears and noses too. My own son asked me the other night as I put him to bed… “What are slugs made of?”
I thought it only fitting, among all this slimy fascination to dedicate the whole week to all things slug and snail like. I have been sharing some facts and photos on my face book page!
So in today’s blog I will try to answer some of these Junior Scientists’ questions and hopefully add a few more facts to further inspire them.
Slugs (and snails) do have eyes, two of them, they sit on top of two tentacles (called eye stalks) on the top of their heads! They do not see colour and form as well as we do but they can still make out shades of light and dark. Although the eyes are well developed they do not have a complex method of focus.
They can retract their eye tentacles to protect their eyes from potentially harmful touch.
Slugs and snails do not have ears and a nose like we do but they can still smell and they can detect some sounds through vibration. They use either their eye tentacles or two smaller tentacles below the eye tentacles for these senses. The lower tentacles are also important for sensing taste and touch.
If a snail or slug looses any of these tentacles they can regrow it!
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| Slug photo credit: [martin] via photopin cc ; Snail photo credit: sea turtle via photopin cc |
Slugs and snails are effectively the same except that snails have an obvious shell and slugs do not. Some slug species may have a small vestigial shell or an internalised shell but most have no shell at all. Slugs do not require calcium in their diet whereas snails do in order to maintain a healthy shell.
Both slugs and snails belong to a group of animals called mollusks. In fact they are very successful creature, being listed as the second most abundant species on Earth. Found in almost all habitats and temperatures, they are most affected by harsh winds and very dry conditions.
Slugs (and snails) are mostly made up of water! Their soft bodies are covered in a thick sticky mucous. They breath into a single lung through a pore on the skin and have a mouth part under the tentacles. They “eat” their food by extending a tongue like organ called a radula from their moth. The radula is very rough as it is covered in tiny tooth like protrusions. The radula breaks up the food by rubbing it.
Photo Credit: Betty Kehoe of aislingdesigns.ie
Although slugs and snails do not have complex brains they are still able to analyse and respond to stimuli through a series of nerves bundles.
Most land slugs and snails are noctural but they will often come out after rain as they prefer damp conditions. Not only do these conditions help them to move around but they also stop them from suffering dehydration.
Slugs and snails have no legs for walking, instead their bodies ripple and slide along on a film of slime that they make themselves. They have a “foot” on the underside of their bodies that rhythmically contracts and relaxes a series of muscles that provide the rippling effect. They secrete a thin light mucous to reduce the friction between the foot and the surface, allowing them to glide along. An efficient but slow method of getting from place to place.
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| photo credit: marianbijlenga via photopin cc |
Slugs and snails also produce a thicker mucous that covers the whole body, acting like a thin armour that protects the slug from severe weather as well as keeping dirt and harmful germs out of the body.
Despite their bad reputation not all slugs and snails are only out to eat your prize cabbages! Many eat dried organic matter such as dead plant parts and leaves, thus contributing positively to the ecosystem and returning all their nutrients to the soil. Some are carnivores or omnivores, eating small insects or even other small slugs and snails.
If you want to find out more fun facts about slugs and snails, such as “How strong are they?” and “Who would win in a race – a slug or a snail?” then check out the Facebook page for daily posts!
My nine year old daughter went a bit crazy on the butterflies and moths this Summer. It was great to see so many of them and herself and her friend spent hours catching them, minding them in the insect observer they have, identifying which type they were and eventually setting them free. To my knowledge none of them were harmed in the process and along with plenty of fresh air she also got to learn a lot about nature!
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| Clubbed antennae on buckeye butterfly photo credit: jjjj56cp via photopin cc |
Butterflies fold their wings together behind their back when at rest while moths tend to place their wings down their backs.
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| Wings folded back along the body of a tiger moth |
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| Wings folded together on a Queen butterfly photo credit: jjjj56cp via photopin cc |
The forewing and hindwing of a moth are attached together by a filament called a frenulum. This allows the wings to move together in flight. Butterflies do not have frenulums.
Moths tend to have hairy, plump bodies while most butterflies have more smooth, slim bodies.
There are, as I mentioned, plenty of exceptions to all these rules…. the Madagascar sunset moth (Chrysiridia rhipheus) is a good example. The bright colours of this day flying moth are more akin to the colours we expect from a butterfly rather than a moth! As always, Mother Nature likes to keep us on our toes!
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| The Madagascar sunset moth Image credit: Anaxibia via Wikimedia Commons |
(Apologies I am posting the Fun Friday blog a day late due to broadband difficulties yesterday )
We all thought we had been visited by a small tornado here in Galway yesterday, a photo of a waterspout just off Salthill was the talk of the town. Turns out it was just a hoax, but for any junior scientists that may be disappointed I thought I would share a great experiment with you explaining how to make your very own tornado in a bottle! There are plenty of fun and interesting tornado facts too.
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| photo credit: Niccolò Ubalducci Photographer via photopin cc |
A tornado is a rapid swirling column of air that stretches from a cloud (usually a thunder cloud) to the earth below.
A tornado that forms over water is often referred to as a waterspout.
If the column of air does not touch the earth it is referred to as a funnel cloud.
The formation of a tornado requires a combination of a number of specific weather features but usually tornadoes form when an area of warm, wet air meets and area of cool, dry air and alter the atmospheric conditions. When this causes the warm wet air to rise and cool rapidly thunder clouds are formed. Under the correct conditions of wind strength and speed the rising air starts to tilt and rotate and the tornado begins to form.
Most tornadoes have a wind speed of less that 160 km and hour (100 miles an hour), however, some extreme tornadoes can reach much greater speeds, up to 300 km an hour!
Did you know… the fastest recorded tornado was the Tri-State Tornado (Illinois, Missouri and Indiana) of 1925 had a forward speed of 117 km per hour (73 miles and hour)?
Tornadoes are detected using weather spotting and doppler radar. Tornado warnings may be issues for certain areas by observing the formation of developing weather patterns while radar can be used for more accurate forecasting once thunderclouds have developed.
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| Image credit: Wiki Commons; a category F5 tornado in Manitoba, Canada, 2007. |
It is not easy to determine Tornado strength and wind speed for two main reasons..
One of the devises used to measure wind speed within a tornado is called an anemometer. Doppler radar can also be used for this purpose. When these measurements are successful, wind speed will be expressed against the Beaufort wind scale, ranging from 0 -12 in wind speed.
In 1971 Dr. Tetsuya Fijita developed a scale to rank Tornadoes, this scale ranges from 0 to 5 and is expressed as F0, F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5. This ranking is retrospective, estimating wind speed and strength by examining the damage resulting from the Tornado. This scale has been further refined in the US leading to the Enhanced Fijita Scale.
There are certain places around the world that are “tornado hot spots” such as many central states in the US, South Africa, Canada and Bangladesh. However tornadoes can form almost anywhere and there are genuine cases of tornadoes in Ireland. If we do get visited by a tornado it is usually small and brief.
Did you know…the earliest recorded tornadoes in Europe occurred in Rosdalla, near Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath, on April 30th 1054?
The only continent where tornadoes have not been recorded is the Antartic.
Did you know that the UK has the largest number of tornadoes per land mass? Usually these tornadoes are small.
What to do… Fill one 2 Litre bottle 2/3 full with water, add a few drops of food colouring and about a teaspoon of glitter, if using. Place the O-ring on top of the bottle and tape into place with the duct tape, ensuring that you do not cover the whole.
Place the second (empty) bottle upside-down on top of the first one and tape securely into place.
If using the Tonrado tube you just twist the tube onto the first bottle 2/3 full with water and then upturn the second bottle and twist it securely into place into the other end of the tornado tube!
Once you are confident that the bottle is taped well enough to prevent any leakage you can turn the bottles upside-down so the one containing the coloured water is on top. Turn the upper bottle in a circular motion about five times and then hold the bottles steady and see what happens. You should a mini tornado forming in the bottle as the water drains. if this does not work for you first time don’t worry, it make take a few attempts to get the knack of turning the bottle correctly.
So what is happening?… When we turn the bottle we get the water moving in a vertical, circular motion, just like the air in a tornado. Once we stop turning the bottle and hold it steady the momentum created causes the water to keep turning and form into a “twister” inside the bottle. The food colouring and glitter or only present to make the tornado more visible.
You can change this around a little by adding different things to the water in the bottle and compare how the tornado looks; Some suggestions include adding grains of pepper, small pieces of coloured paper or a squeeze of washing up liquid. You can also try the experiment by adding some coloured oil to the water.
You can change this into a fun challenge for your friends and family and help them learn about air pressure while too. Give your friend the bottles all set up and ask them how long they think it will take them to get the water from the top bottle to the lower bottle, without squeezing the bottle. Let them have a go and time it. You can then ask if anyone else thinks they can beat that time and give them a go. Everyone should get about the same time.
Now it is your turn, upturn the bottle and start the tornado and time how long the bottle takes to empty now! They should be impressed to find out you have beaten their time!
So what is happening?
The hole in the O-ring allows air to pass into the bottle, producing a funnel of air within the column of twisting water. The movement of air from one bottle to the other equalizes air pressure and allows the water escape into the lower bottle much more quickly.
As hen keepers we have debated whether we should keep a rooster in the flock or not. Truth be told, they have usually ended up in there by proxy and we just tend to let them stay. We do try to keep it at just one rooster at a time though…. there is only so much crowing one neighbourhood can take!
So for the last year or two “Lord Farquaad” has ruled the roost that is our back garden. He is a very handsome Pekin bantam, small and round, charming characteristics of his breed. What he lacks in stature he makes up for in ego…. hence the name.
I do find that his presence keeps the social order of chickenhood at an even keel and as I sleep on the other side of the house, and the neighbours and children claim not to hear or mind his morning vocals, I’m happy enough to leave it all as it is. I am oblivious to his predawn declarations… “get up, get up the sun is coming!!” A living, screeching alarm clock…. but did you ever wondered…
why does the rooster crows?
Ultimately they crow to mark their territory! The sound levels are a throw back to the habitat of their wild ancestors… you need to have volume to be heard in the jungle!
If you are like me, you may have just gone along with the assumption that light is the overriding stimulus for the roosters predawn fanfare. However, recent studies in Japan have shown that this is not the dominant factor! By varying the amount of light hours roosters were exposed to a different picture emerged. One set of roosters were exposed to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness for 14 days. These roosters exhibited anticipatory predawn crowing two hours before dawn. Another group were kept in constant dim light for 14 days. This group settled into a 23.8 hour day cycle, crowing daily at almost the same time to declare to dawn regardless of the lack of light. This finding reveals that roosters actually have an internal clock in place. They will crow at a regular time each day due to their own circadian rhythm. Light and sound are contributing factors to their morning crowing, but the process goes on even in the absence of these stimuli.
Roosters don’t just crow to mark the start of the day, they can often be heard crowing at various other times. The frequency of these calls depends on local threats, the flock status and the breed and temperament of the bird in question. Of course they don’t just crow either, they can cluck too, just like their female counterparts. It never ceases to make me smile when Lord Farquaad struts around the food I have just put out, making a series of clucking noises that declare the provisions. To me his declarations appears to say “ladies, ladies come hither and feast on the bounty I have provided for you!” I mean really, you would think he cooked it all himself!
I feel I cannot discuss the rooster’s crow without looking at how it translates into other languages. So many animal sounds translate so differently and this is no exception… to us it is a Cock-a-Doodle-do but others hear it differently…
I came across this broomrape while cutting the grass today. Broomrapes are parasitic plants of the family Orobanchaceae.
The broomrape I found in my garden in a Common Broomrape, parasitic on the root of a number of specific plants, particularly clover (as seen in the background of the photograph). The stem of the plant is reddish brown in colour and the flowers are white and purple. There are no true leaves, instead there are triangular shaped scales.All broomrapes lack chlorophyl, the pigment necessary to allow a plant to generate its own food by photosynthesis. It is this lack of chlorophyl that makes these plants parasitic, needing to rely on other plants for all their nutritional needs. Broomrapes are parasitic on the root of other plants, often just one specific plant, this may be reflected in the name of the broomrape, for example Ivy Broomrape or Thyme Broomrape which are parasitic on the root of the ivy plant or wild thyme plants, respectively.
Although these plants are considered quite orchid like they are actually more closely related to the foxglove.
Week 8th to 14th July 2013
Week 1st to 7th July 2013
There were quite a few correct answers for this week’s Mystery Creature!
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| photo credit: Emily G. Round via photopin |
It was a Harp Sponge (Chondrocladia lyra)! This deep sea sponge was only recently discovered (2012) off the coast of California . It anchors itself to the sea bed (at depths of 3,300 – 3,500 metres) with a root like structure called a rhizoid. The “harp” like structures called vanes, consist of horizontal extensions (stolons) containing a series of equidistant vertical branches. The sponge can consist of one to six vanes. Each vertical branch is covered in velcro like hooks that ensnares the sponges prey. These carnivorous creatures feed on a range of small crustaceans, engulfing the captured prey in a thin membrane that slowly digests it, breaking it down to a size that can be consumed by the sponge.
