And it rained, It was nothing really new And it blew, seen all that before And it poured, the Earth began to strain…
…Don't try to explain it just bow your head Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On... Thank you Jimmy Buffett for these most beautiful lyrics
***** Important note:** Jose Luciani is a senior at FIU in Miami. He is working on the project this summer and will be helping to answer the Ask the Team questions. Thanks to Jose – he is brilliant.
**The Chamber and the Li-Cor Portable Photosynthesis System Li-6200 **
Much of the learning at this point is how to hook all of the tubes from the Chamber to the Li-Cor system, when to turn it on, how to turn it on, when to turn fans on and how to log or record the data. Recording the data in the machine is so important, but just incase something goes wrong we also write it down in a waterproof notebook. I think that it will take several practice runs before I have it down. The good thing is there are plenty of plots to practice on. – Say that three times fast!
plenty of plots to practice
plenty of plots to practice
plenty of plots to practice
Meet my new best friend - the chamber. We shall walk together and it shall give us the answers of the tundra ecostym - well at least the rate of photosynthesis and respiration. Photo Kimberly Miller
We hook the chamber to the Li-Cor machines with tubes, then we place the Chamber on the** plot** – there is big plastic ring to place the chamber over. This area is called the plot.
What’s in the plot? Lots of plants- the over story or canopy (the top layer of plants) contains grasses and sedges. It also contains many microbes like bacteria, fungi, and **invertebrates (things with out a back bone) **– little bugs and spiders.
We cover our plot with the chamber. And get the machine going.
Taking temperature readings of the ground at 2 and 10cm surrounding the plot - where we put the chamber. Photo by Kimberly Miller
What does the machine measure? **CO2 exchange. **WHAT? Good question. What is CO2? It is Carbon Dioxide. Where does it come from and where does it go?
It comes from the your breath… ah now we are getting somewhere – right? We are measuring the breathing system of plants! **We exhale CO2 and plants take it in. **
So where else does CO2 come from? The atmosphere, when we burn fossil fuels or use energy we release CO2.
So where else does CO2 come from? All of those microbes release it too. Where do they get it? It comes from the plants.
The plants take the carbon from atmosphere, the microbes and us; with the help of the **big OLD SUN **they make energy or food for themselves and for us (photosynthesis). But when plants die the carbon is left behind in the soil. The microbes in the soil eat the dead plants and turn that carbon into CO2. Are you with me?
So back to the field we go… We are measuring amounts of CO2 over time- only a minute and coming up with a number that represents whether there is a decrease or increase in CO2.
If there is less CO2 then we know that photosynthesis is occurring – right? And we know this because plants use (take in) that C02 in photosynthesis to make energy.
One more thing, because you head may be spinning now. What would it mean, if photosynthesis was occurring and C02 was super low? Think for a second.
It would mean that we wouldn’t have tons of CO2 going into the atmosphere and adding to the warming of our planet.
Just for fun Photosynthesis 6CO2 + 12H20 → C6H12O6 +6O2 + 6H20
All said, my mind jets back to a summer biology class I took with Mrs. Becky Jones at Faulkner State, in Fairhope, Alabama. She explained the process of photosynthesis and how we get oxygen from plants and then Mrs. Jones looked over to the corner where a plant lived and said "thank you, thank you GREEN PLANT.” Thanks for that Mrs. Jones, I use it with my students to this day. My gratitude to plants has increased now that I realize that those green plants also take away the potentially dangerous CO2
So go ahead, what the heck Thank a Plant Today!
Bird of the Day
Isn't this Eider striking… there is nothing common about this bird!
Thank you Green Plants from the Top of the World!