Joshua's+Journal+Page

Journal entry one

10/04

Observations:Manoa stream we noticed that there were many ducks their until we came and scared them all off. Altogether we saw 23 ducks, though at the end there was a big gathering of them to the left of the bridge there. Manoa streams water is a dirty brown under no sunlight, which tells u something about the condition of the stream. In the water, the only aquatic plants we could find were river moss and a few fruits floating in the water. On land though, there was an array of plants, hale trees, fruit tress, grass, and all sorts of plants. However land animals were almost nonexistent. Only ducks, insects, and a glimpse of a mongoose were all that I found. In the water however, a multitude of fish were found, from minnows, to tadpoles, to these fish with suckers on them. The fish were extremely hard to catch because all we had where these plastic buckets. However, if u were quick u would be able to catch some of them, which we caught 18 minnows. As the day wore on though, and it got darker, the suckerfish came out and we found that they were very easy to catch because they just lay there. Of course they were in deeper water so we had to get wet in order to catch them. We once saw this monster fish about 6 inches, and attempted to catch it, but it was smarter then the other fish and mover before we could get it securely inside our plastic buckets and moved into deeper water where we couldn’t get it.

Journal Entry 1#: There are many various niches in Manoa stream. Strangely enough, i don't think that any signifcant predators were to be found. Ducks seemed mostly tame and vegetarian. Feeds off plants and bread that people throw at them. Can be considered top of the food chain here as nothing threatens them and the might eat fish. Next come the guppies. They probably eat small shrimp and other tiny organisms in the river. Only thing that might threaten them is competition between species, and possibly the ducks. Then come suckerfish. Mostly found stuck on rocks just staying there. Extrodinarily fast when you try to catch them. Eats algae off the rocks, grows to very big sizes, sigificantly bigger then guppies. Probably has no lack of food. Also, has very sharp spines that might be able to defend itself against whatever wants to eat it. Tadpoles were found, but none of them bigger then half and inch. Dead frog was found on road, was run over. not sure of the niche that frogs take, though they must eat insects. No clue whatsoever of the nightdwelling creatures here at the stream. 10/11 it was sunny weather today and mad it much harder to see and catch the fish, saw moby dick when we got there, but it immediately swam into deeper water when we tried to net it. Caught minnow about 4 inches in length and encountred two other science groups working over there, none were prepared so we lended nets to them. Noticed some of the sucker fish there were white colored and others were dark colored, some kind of connection there? When taken outta water, white fish turned more darkish, what is the reason for this? Built a dam so we could catch fish easier, dam half compelete when we left, and ben managed to swipe a huge sucker fish about 6 inches in length, but we let it go. This was a very productive trip.

Journal entry 2#: i would say that not many relationships happen in Manoa stream. Sure a duck might accidently eat a fish or two, or could actually prey on the fish, though we saw none of that. Only saw the ducks eat plants and bread. Going to assume that the ducks are vegetarians. Then there are the suckerfish. they prey on the algae once more. Its the only thing that their sucker mouth is good for. Guppies, probably eat algae and some kind of other tiny organism. Maybe other smaller fish or microscopic things. Fish is a predator and probably not prey. Basically, the algae is the base of the food chain at Manoa stream. There is no shortage of it, and therefore the residents of Manoa stream have no fear of starving to death.

10/18 Pretty bad weather today, raining, and the other groups made a giant dam that doesn't work very well and made access to the interior of the lake much much harder. Was very windy, so surface of the lake was filled with ripples that made it very hard to see. Not that many ducks were to be seen and a sediment seems to have formed near the water under the bridge. Water under the bridge is very disgusting, it smells really bad, and very polluted, with lots of garbage on the bottom that has been cemented there. Ben claimed to have seen mutant fish there, such as fish with three eyes, and such and such. Why is the water under the bridge so dirty compared to the rest of the stream. 1. If we put sucker fish into a tank with no algae, but with lots of shrimp then they will die because they won't be able to adapt to the new food source quickly enough. 2. If we put fish from the manoa stream into clean water, and fish from the fish store into the manoa stream water, the fish from manoa stream will survive longer because they are used to the dirty water while the fish form the fish store aren't used to the water from manoa stream. 3. If we put sucker fish and guppies inside the same tank with a limited amount of algae, then the the suckerfish will survive longer because they are better adapted to find and eat the algae then the guppies. Journal entry 3# Some enviormental pressure that could be driving on Natural Selection in our ecosystem is the pollutiont that is happening in Manoa Stream, with all the pesticides, herbicides and waste runnign off into Manoa Stream. This drives the creatures there to become immune to those posions that are entering their body, or they will die from them. I think that this is the primary factor that is drving them all, as well as the disease factors, with strains of virus that attack there body because they literally swim in water that has animal pee in it, mostly rat pee and we all know that rats are very dirty animals. This drives natural selection on because of the fact that food is not a problem here because of the humans that throw in food and the almsot endless supply of algae that is avaliable in the stream.

11/8:

journal entry 4# the carbon cycle in our ecosystem mainly comes form algae. Basically, the algae photosynthesizes the suns energy and a byproduct of this is oxygen. then all the organisms in the river use this oxygen and give out carbon dioxide. then the trees and other green matter around the area take in this Carbon dioxide and make it into oxygen. This cycle continues on, only broken when the decomposing organism give off carbon dioxide. other then that, the cellular respiration of all living things is what mainly happens in this ecosystem.

Hypothesis: If we put fish from the manoa stream into clean water, and fish from the fish store into the manoa stream water, the fish from manoa stream will survive longer because they are used to the dirty water while the fish form the fish store aren't used to the water from manoa stream.

Day 1: Some of the fish from the store are dead, their bellies are bloated, stinking up the bucket where the store fish are kept, removed dead bodies form water. Fish from manoa stream are doing fairly well so far. Day 2:The fish from store are not doing so well, most of them are sluggishly swimming around, not very active in there, but no casulties today. Form manoa stream, a guppie died, reason for death is unknown Day 3: ON this day, the bucket with the fish form the fish store experienced mass extinction, only one fish is left, al other fish are floating dead around it. The suckerfish from Manoa stream aren't very active kinda sluggish, but still well. Lone fish in fish store bucket still alive. Day 4: Buckets smell horrible, fish literally fishing in their own waste. Removed the dead bodies from the buckets. didn't clean water as i don't have anymore more Manoa Stream water left. Day 5: Still no change, no fish dead yet, going to observe for one more day to see if any change will happen. Day 6: Experiment ends, threw out the fish, smelled very very very bad. Fish from Manoa stream are mostly alive. Proves my hypothesis is right. One fish from fish store is alive. Probably has an immunity the other fihs don't have.