Composting; A Subpar Attempt in Suburban America

Compost, in most of America, is a farfetched-radical-granola-mom hobby that only those who would be willing to abandon western civilization and go live on a deserted island while living off the earth and singing kumbaya before every meal would even consider. Growing up in the liberal, northern town that we have fortunately been blessed with, composting wasn’t all that odd. We both had several friends who composted and, besides that, were pretty normal. Only 5% of American food waste makes it to compost instead to landfills and after taking a survey of 100 students in our junior class we estimate that about 31% of Montclairians compost. A recent study by the National Waste & Recycling Association found that 67% of Americans would be willing to compost food waste if it was more convenient to do so and if they knew what it really entailed.

This is an example of a type of compost 

The answer is simple, composting is an easy way to recycle expired foods and old plants in order to add nutrients back into the environment. We, as in our first period AP Biology class, have decided to join the 67% of Americans and start our own compost in Rand Park.  Admittedly, neither of us would probably start our own compost if it weren’t for this project but the last week has been an exhilarating experience. Our compost section is located underneath a tree, the location was chosen for its convenient proximity to the dead tulips we were going to compost. You’ll learn later that this was part of the number of mistakes we made in the 44 minute period.  As many Americans could probably relate, we had no idea how to begin our pile so we just piled the dead tulips on top of each other under the designated tree. With hindsight, that was probably not the best tactic but half of being an expert composter is trying, so clearly we are already halfway there.

 

Famous people aren’t always smart but sometimes they say intelligent things and the epitome of fame, Shia LaBeouf, once said “You can prepare all you want, but if you never roll the dice you'll never be successful.” Clearly, our failure stemmed from the fact we ignored Shia and didn’t do any research into composting before we began. Our hope is that you will find humor and lesson in our compost attempt, along with the inspiration to start your own. We wish you all the luck in your future composting endeavors.
If you want to learn how to compost correctly read Cristi's next article!

Noa and Cristi (us) Adding to Our Compost Pile :)

- Noa and Cristi

Birds Beware: Unexpected Discoveries in Rand Park

For the past two weeks, my class and I have been working on clearing out the tulips planted against the wall of the Atrium in Rand Park and discussing what should be planted in place of the tulips. While we decided that rosemary would be a good addition to Rand Park instead of the tulips that had begun to brown and die, the process of cleaning out the tulip boxes and ensuring that the rosemary would be placed in soil sustainable to their growth has not been an easy task. Among the treasures I found while pulling out the tulips were various insects, weeds, candy wrappers, plastic bottles and dirty papers, but there was one unanticipated organism I came across that I had never seen before.

My first reaction to a small red creature that I saw in the soil was fear, then disgust, but eventually I learned that this arthropod is typically harmless to most mammals. While I am not totally sure what creature I found crawling in the tulips, I narrowed the possibility down to three different mites, small arthropods the belong to the subclass Acari. Mites prefer to live in an environment with high organic matter content and moist conditions. The three possible mites that I could have found in Rand Park are: red mite, spider mite and clover mite. Most likely, the mite that I came across was Dermanyssus gallinae, or red mite, an ectoparasite to poultry. While red mite may occasionally cause skin irritation for humans, birds in Rand Park may have legitimate reason to fear for this small red parasite typically found among the cracks and crevices of concrete. Red mite are blood feeders and attack birds at night, staying in the cracks and crevices of concrete until the sun has gone down. They are typically white or gray, but after feeding become engorged with blood and turn red. Red mites are vectors of diseases, indirectly affecting the health of birds. Spider mite spin protective silk webs on the undersides of leaves, where they generally live. They can cause damage when they feed by puncturing plant cells. Bryobia praetiosa, or clover mites, were my second guess for the red creature I discovered in the soil in Rand Park. They are reddish-brown, most prominent in the Spring and prefer habitats with thick vegetation (one reason I believe they are a contender for the creature I found).

Assuming my prediction is correct and the arthropods I came across were red mites, they may not affect the rosemary that will soon be planted, but they can cause indirect harm to the birds living in Rand Park. Stay tuned for a post about the adventure and difficulties of planting rosemary! 

It's Not Too Late For Corals

 

There's something about the ocean that has always struck me as magical.  As a certified scuba diver, one of my favorite things to do during a dive is to take a moment to focus solely on the fact that I am in another world that most people will never get to see.  It's something so serene and beautiful, and when I first took interest in the ocean I thought "finally, something so far from humans that we can't possibly manage to destroy it."  And boy, was I wrong.

There is currently a massive coral bleaching event sweeping across the world's oceans and you'll never believe whose fault is it. (HINT: it's humans).  It is estimated that by the end of 2015, 38% of the world's coral will be impacted by the event.  So- you might ask- what even is coral bleaching? When corals are stressed, they release an algae called zooxanthellae that lives in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white and die.  When corals die, the organisms that live and thrive in coral reefs either die off or are forced to migrate to other areas.   
 

The current massive coral bleaching event is caused in part by El Niño, which is unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific (heat is a huge stressor for corals).  Another big reason for the massive bleaching of corals is global warming.  Oceans absorb 93% of the increase in Earth's heat from climate change, which causes a significant amount of damage to the ocean's ecosystems.  Despite the attempts of scientists and politicians to raise awareness for and begin the battle against global warming, only 9% of Americans see global warming as a serious issue.  With a majority of American people failing to see the greater effects of climate change, the ocean and all of it's inhabitants are in grave danger.  The rising temperature of the ocean is the main cause of coral bleaching, and is an issue that needs to be halted.      

Fortunately, it's not too late for corals. Some ways you can help to slow the bleaching of corals are to recycle, support reef-friendly businesses, learn more about coral reefs and the organisms that they support, never buy coral jewelry, and support conservation organizations.

If you are visiting somewhere with beautiful coral reefs and are planning to dive or snorkel, do not do anything that can stress out the corals.  I repeat, DO NOT stress out the corals.  I know they're really pretty and cool, but touching them can and will cause bleaching to occur.  Also, try to stay off of the ocean floor because stirred-up sediment can be a stressor for corals.  One of my favorite songs/videos on the internet talks about the dangers of touching coral and can be found here.  It's really fun and informative, so I suggest you check it out.

Last summer, I had the incredible opportunity to work with Coral Restoration Foundation Bonaire, an organization based in Bonaire.  There, I learned all about corals, coral bleaching, and the process of coral restoration.  I also got to participate in the three stages of coral restoration, working specifically with staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis).   Here's a picture of me working on the first stage; cleaning the trees.

The first part of coral restoration is learning how to clean the manmade trees on which corals are being regrown and the strings which attach the corals to the trees.  The corals hanging from the trees were tips of healthy corals and were removed in order to be safely grown for 6-9 months and then be relocated.  It is important to clean the trees because the algae that grows on the trees not only competes for nutrients with the corals, but it also weighs down the tree, causing it to sink towards the ocean floor.

The second part of learning coral restoration is learning how to attach little corals to strings and then onto the tree.  (I know, the steps seem slightly out of order; I'm pretty sure it's because they don't trust first-time coral restorers to handle the corals) Both steps are fairly simple but are made difficult by the abundance of fire coral growing on the trees.  If you make it through the rest of this blog post, I promise to show you a picture of me right after being stung by fire coral.

The third and final step of coral restoration is relocation of the larger corals.  The larger corals are removed from the trees and are brought to a nearby area to be added to a new colony.  The corals are secured in a new colony and are allowed to grow and thrive into a colony which can support marine life.  This step was interesting because while we were securing the corals, several fish began to take interest in the new colony, showing us some immediate results of the project.

  

Coral restoration is extremely important because it gives us the opportunity to help corals adapt to a rapidly changing environment and hasten their recovery from disastrous events.  Restoration allows for assistance to be given in areas not only affected by bleaching, but also areas that have been affected by disease, development, watershed-based pollution, overfishing, destructive fishing or damage from ships.

  

If there's one thing that I could leave you with, it's just how cool corals are.  There are over 2,500 species of corals; half of which are hard corals and the rest of which are soft corals.  Coral reefs support about 4,000 species of fish, 800 species of hard corals and hundreds of other species.  Getting to see organisms interact in coral reefs is one of the most magical things I have ever witnessed, and I hope that my descendants will never have to know a coral-free world.

Aaaand as promised, here is a picture of me seconds after being stung by fire coral (which, by the way, isn't even a real coral; it's more closely related to Hydra).  Fire corals have the evolutionary advantage of  having stinging cells that inflict burn-like stings on human skin, which is a useful form of protection.

I hope you can take this information and use it to make a difference in the wonderful world below sea level :)



MHS’ Contribution to Garbage Island: Part 1 Look into the Litter Epidemic

By Genevieve Basso 

Monday-it’s only first period- students already sit in their classes, under slept and overwhelmed like another other first day back to school; the May weather calls from window to outside. Today we’ve begun examining the litter at Rand Park. A quick glance at the first trashcan by the west facing descending, entrance gives us a good indication of the exact scale we’re dealing with here- and it’s greater than what was originally hypothesized. We count more than 5 pieces of trash happily sitting on the ground- directly next to that trashcan- a further examination of the park leads us to the realization: most individuals passing through prefer to throw their waste on the ground rather than in trashcans. Since it’s the morning every trash bin is relatively empty, yet that’s not the same for the rest of the land paralleling the Freshman building. Below is a series of pictures compiled during the search for litter displayed in a collage, all photos we’re taken within 5 minutes of entering the park to give you an idea of just how much we’re dealing with. 

Now imagine how long all the garbage would collectively take to completely decompose. When estimating long term rates of decomposition scientists can use respirometry tests to measure the rate or carbon dioxide production of oxygen consumption of organic matter or an organism. This is done by placing the object being sampled in a container containing soil and microorganisms, followed by ensuring there is an oxygen supply and allowing for circulation. In the days to follow the microorganisms slowly digest the sample while producing carbon dioxide which levels serve as a indicator of degradation rate.

If you'd like to calculate how long your garbage would take to decompose check out this handy chart: 

(Special thanks to http://sciencelearn.org.nz/ for the data)

That’s all for now, check back for an update on a “Look into the Litter Epidemic "