The Wonders of Weekend Wildlife

By Johnica Morrow 

Saturday morning was a bit dreary after Friday’s rain. The fresh smell that comes after such weather filled the air, while the sleepy setting kept most of us from wanting to rise from our beds. By all accounts, that morning should have been a lazy Saturday morning.

But it wasn’t. Not for me, and not for many excited students who were happy to greet the dreary morning. Why? You ask. Because at 8:00am Dr. John Faaborg stood out in the morning mist with students to set up a large mist net around our station’s bird feeders, that’s why! Students were eager to wake up early on a weekend to catch the early birds and to learn about them from an actual ornithologist. 

A little after 8:00am, we began to see a few birds zipping around the net. The mist lifted and the morning brightened just as we watched our first bird get caught. This bird was a lark sparrow. Students were taught how to carefully remove the bird from the mist net before checking the sex of the animal, and learning how to place a band around its leg. This particular lark sparrow was a second year male. A group of students gathered around as how to properly band a bird and take down important data before releasing him back into the wild was demonstrated.

  

The morning also yielded a second year male warbling vireo and a second year female orchard oriel, which were already banded so data were collected and the birds were released, as well as a house wren and a house finch.

 

Later that morning, some of the students in Life 121 took a trip to a nearby prairie dog colony to observe these animals. The students sited only 2 prairie dogs, but were able to listen to these animals communicate back and forth with one another. Later on, the students were able to collect some interesting plants for their collections and learned a little about two types of fungi that were encountered along the way. The fungi included a puffball and a small cluster of earth stars ready to release spores into the air.

Sunday evening, students were able to experience the joys of light trapping to collect a wide range of insects. Eyes were filled with wonder as the first few hemipterans were spotted followed by multiple caddisflies (order trichoptera) and a surprising number of earwigs (order dermaptera). We also encountered various beetles (predominantly scarab beetles), a few crane flies, and a plethora of midges. By the end, the midges were so thick, that students decided it was time to call it a night and shake off their hair and clothes that were loaded with the small flies. 

All in all, the first weekend of first session was full of fun, optional activities that further engaged the students in various aspects of studying biology in a field setting. Students took great delight in watching everything from invertebrates to birds and mammals. It was wonderful to see students immersed in fascination with the biological world. That’s not something you get in a traditional classroom. THAT is the Cedar Point experience!

Biology Comes to Life (121)

By Johnica Morrow

Life 121 (formerly known as Bios 103) is one of two field courses being taught here at CPBS during our first summer session. The course investigates big-picture biology with an organismal focus. Students are expected to work on a plant collection, an insect collection, and a crayfish physiology project in addition to running lab experiments and taking field trips to observe a wide range of organisms in a variety of habitats.

In this first week of the session, students are already hard at work collecting a diversity of plants and insects while mastering the art and science of curation. Butterfly wings are being spread and plants are being pressed with great care. It is satisfying as a teaching assistant to see the faces of students when I tell them that their specimens look nice (and I’m certainly not lying to make them feel good…this group of students is really doing an excellent job of specimen preservation). These students are truly experiencing local biodiversity in the most hands-on way possible by taking the time to look for specimens, identify those specimens, and save those specimens for future researchers. 

Many students will chose to take their collections home, but those who leave their specimens behind will be making permanent contributions to our herbarium and entomological collections here at the station.

Earlier this week, the students conducted experiments to determine light quality preferences of flesh fly larvae. Eyes grew wide in the room lit only by small flashlights as the maggots squirmed their way along a moistened racetrack. The mass of data collected from these experiments will be turned into group lab reports, giving the students experience doing collaborative work that terminates in “publication”. Students seemed enthralled with understanding how and why these organisms respond to light in the way that they do.

Students explore light quality preferences in flesh fly larvae.

No class here at CPBS would be complete without field work. Life 212 is no exception. Students have already been led up to the Nutrient Network site on the hill to the southeast of the station with our Associate Director, Jon Garbisch, explaining local geology on the way up. Once students made it to the site itself, Director, Jean Knops, spoke with the students about the Nutrient Network and its importance. A few days later, students walked the high and low roads near the station and learned about various trees, wildflowers, insects, water management strategies, and even a bit about spiders.

Jon Garbisch explains the Ogallala formation to Life 121 students.

On Wednesday, students traveled to Bekius Ponds in search of odonates (damselflies and dragonflies). They found both larval and adult forms of these organisms in addition to honing their dip-netting skills. (Many also experienced the thrill of sinking into mud and trying to get back out!) From the murky water came predacious diving beetles, mayfly larvae, backswimmers, water boatmen, midge larvae, snails and their egg cases, and zippy little whirly-gigs. They were also able to find tadpoles as well as an adult Woodhouse’s toad (Bufo woodhousii) in addition to seeing lots of wolf spiders (Family Lycosidae) scurrying amongst the low vegetation carrying their egg sacs behind them.

 

Students explore Bekius Ponds.

It is early in the session, but students have already experienced aspects of biology in ways that traditional classrooms are simply incapable of delivering. The ability to truly immerse oneself in studying the organisms of western Nebraska and tying those involvements into a broader view of biology as a discipline makes taking Life 121 at CPBS an experience that is totally unique.

Inaugural Summer 2014 Seminar Presented by Dr. John Faaborg

By Johnica Morrow

Last night we kicked off our 2014 summer seminar series with an excellent talk by Dr. John Faaborg and some tasty air-popped popcorn. Dr. Faaborg is teaching Ornithology for the station during this first summer session. He has been teaching this class for many years and has introduced students to all kinds of local birds. His talk was titled: Technology and Traveling Birds. 

Dr. John Faaborg just before his presentation.

It begins...

Dr. Charles Brown, a long-time cliff swallow researcher here at CPBS, introduced Dr. Faaborg with a brief summary of the ornithologist’s educational background and research interests.

Dr. Charles Brown introducing Dr. Faaborg.

Dr. Faaborg began his presentation by discussing tried and true methods for tracking birds. He then launched into a discussion of new and exciting technologies that are being used to more precisely trace the migrational patterns of all kinds of birds. From bird bands and radio transmitters to geolocators, stable isotopes, and Doppler radar, we have come a long way in understanding where birds go and how they get there.

Students wait anxiously for the
first presentation of the summer.

Students wait anxiously for the
first presentation of the summer.

Faaborg and Brown reminisce about previous years at CPBS.

This first seminar of the summer had a great turn out. Students from both of the classes that are currently in progress here at the station took a break from studying and working on projects to attend. We also had professors, researchers, and staff members present.

Next week’s seminar will be given by yours truly (Johnica Morrow in case you missed the author line) and will cover behavioral modification in hosts of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

Ready and Waiting!

By: Johnica Morrow

Greetings All!

Today's the day. Today we will have our first blood students arrive here at the station. Though a few may trickle in early, we expect most will not arrive until just before dinner is served. No matter when they (you) arrive, we are excited to have them (you) here!

The day started off with yummy bacon sticky buns. Mmmmmm! This is a taste of what's to come with the delicious new array of menu items being prepared in our kitchen even as we speak. Meals have been small over the past week since students have yet to arrive, but they have all been tasty and far from disappointing! 

Sweet, Savory, and Satisfying!

Because we as a station are constantly looking for ways to be "greener", we recycle everything that we can. This includes non-meat/bone food items. We have a compost area maintained by our wonderful maintenance man, Roy, and by our amazing kitchen staff. Last year, our compost buckets got a nice paint job, but the paint has since chipped off and left the previous works of art unrecognizable. This year, a different type of plastic-specific spray paint was used as a base coat prior to decoration with paint pens. Take a look at our newly decorated compost buckets. (For those of you who are unaware, we call the compost buckets our "compost monsters" as they eat almost anything, though they are vegetarians).

Please feed our monsters well this summer!

We have also spent quite a bit of time preparing for student arrival. Our library got a bit of a makeover this year. We now have a large lounge space in the computer room portion of the library with two new couches near outlets so that students can utilize their own personal laptops. Additionally, we have some new tables and bookshelves in the library itself. We also have some new chairs to surround the new tables. 

The library as always been a great place for students to study and read about biology. This year, it will also be a site for hosting our seminar series. Wednesday nights at 7pm, we will have guest lecturers (professors, researchers, and graduate students) presenting on a wide variety of biological topics. The seminars are free and we encourage everyone to ask questions to keep a discussion going after the presentation is complete! Below is the line-up for first session this summer. We will post more information about presentations in the future.

This session, we will be offering two courses. These include Ornithology taught by Dr. John Faaborg and Fundamentals of Biology II taught by Dr. Bill Glider. Both courses are sure to be filled with field trips and interesting information for students belonging to a variety of majors. We've got classrooms set up and gloves ordered in anticipation!

We can't wait to get this session started! See you all soon!