Showing posts with label ecology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ecology. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Crayfish

My ecology class went on a field trip to sample invertebrates in Otter Creek. It was tons of fun! I got too excited with all the insect nymphs and larvae that we caught under the rocks. There were also many crayfish. It was my first time capturing crayfish with hands. I found they don't really pinch. It might be because the crayfish we caught were not very big.

The other species we found include mayfly, stonefly, caddisfly, dobsonfly, snail, and midges; they indicate that Otter Creek has good water. Well, too bad that we had to release them afterwards so I didn't have crayfish for dinner. I didn't have the chance to take a picture, so here's a picture from the Internet to show you what a crayfish looks like.


Saturday, September 28, 2013

剛開始看怪異,看久了可愛的龍膽

上次在植物園的戶外教學,我看到一些長著怪異紫色花苞的植物,問TA,TA說不知道是什麼。(照片不是我拍的)


回家查資料發現是龍膽的一種,bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewii),紫色的是花,不只是花苞。Wisconsin有紫的和白的近似種,紫的較常見,兩種還會雜交。我們很幸運地遇到它的開花期(8-10月)。緊閉的花瓣其實是植物的詭計,因為蜜蜂必須擠進去取花蜜,難免弄得滿身花粉!