Holiday Fun

As of today we have complete most of our final assignments, including: four final presentations, two final papers, three final exams, and one herbarium. It has been a stressful past few weeks, but with one final left we have almost finished this semester. It does not feel like we have been here since September. As a way to get everyone together and take a break from studying we organized a holiday secret santa, so that everyone had to buy a gift for someone else in the program. Amazingly we all managed to keep it a secret from most of the group. This afternoon after we all finished our experimental design final we gathered at the Vernon house for some baked goods and presents. We went around and opened them so that everyone saw what was given. The gifts included great dive gifts, pets, warm weather clothes, and helpful things for Panama. It was a great break from the studying, and was great to see everyone together before we split up for winter break. Tomorrow we have our last final in Botany and then we move out of these houses to meet up again soon in Panama. This semester has gone by really fast.

Marine Invertebrate Presentations

Today we gave our presentations in our invertebrate class. Each student presented an invert of their choosing. Some of the animals included the the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai, the elephant snail Scutus antipodes, the common octopus, the nudibranch, the seastar Pisaster ochraceus, and the nautilus. Presentation styles included powerpoint talks, movies, or a combination of the two. Many students included short videos of their organisms in action, either eating, moving, or attacking. The focus of the presentations was to discuss problems facing invertebrates having to do with global change, from climate change or human involvement. Each student also had to give possible ways that the organism would deal with the problems, adaptations or changes in behavior that would have to occur in order for the organism to respond.

My organism of study was Pisaster ochraceus a keystone sea star found in the northern Pacific Ocean. Although the sea star contains calcium carbonate spicules, when exposed to higher temperatures and higher concentrations of carbon dioxide the tissue mass doubled in size, showing that this organism has to potential to respond positively to the warming sea waters. Problems that this organism may face would be declines in its prey species, which are calcified organisms who may not be able to make shell material when carbon dioxide concentrations rise.

Overall, it was a great experience to learn about many different species, and to see how global change is affecting them currently and in the future.

Where we come from the blancmanges are all this size

Today in botany, we had the opportunity to make blancmange - a traditional Irish pudding made from Chondrus crispus, more commonly known as Irish Moss. Although you may not want to make it in a beaker like we did, here's a traditional recipe from lovetoknow.com so you can make it at home.

Ingredients

• 1 quart milk
• 1/3 ounce (a small handful) Irish moss
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Prepare the moss by soaking and washing it in four changes of cold water, allowing it to soak about fifteen minutes the first time and five or ten minutes the succeeding times, picking it out of each water into the other with the fingers, carefully looking it over, and removing any sand or dark spots.
2. Put the milk into a double boiler to heat.
3. When boiling hot, put the washed moss into the hot milk and cook thirty minutes.
4. The milk will not seem much thickened, but it will be solid when cold.
5. Strain through a fine sieve, stirring the moss to allow all the milk to drain out.
6. Add the remaining ingredients to the milk.
7. Stir well to dissolve the sugar.
8. Pour into a mold wet with cold water or pour into individual molds.
9. When cold, turn out of the molds, and serve with cream or with sliced bananas and cream.

Seaweed Buffet