Insulin response: a negative feedback loop

So from what I can gather, blood sugar levels are regulated by a negative feedback loop in order to keep the body in homeostasis. Your hypothalamus has glucose detecting neurones. When your blood sugar level is high the hypothalamus stimulates insulin production. Insulin converts glucose to glycogen. This decreases the blood sugar level and the change is detected by the hypothalamus. It then stops stimulating insulin production. This 'switching off' of the hormone is negative feedback. I think this is how it works but it was difficult to put it all together.


  

  Yo u can see the negative feedback loop in this graph. The graph displays how Dr. Roods Blood sugar reacted after consuming a candy bar and a soda. You can tell by the upside down U shape of the graph that while the sugar first made it go up the change was then leveled by the insulin response. Through this process the body is able to reach homeostasis.  

Lab #4 Dirt aka Soil

In this lab we first spent time in the community based garden. It was really cool because the garden had all kinds of food growing in it including peppers, okra, lima beans, lettuce, eggplant, beans and herbs. I love fresh vegitables and it reminded me of my moms own container garden. All the gardens were in boxes because the planters were concerned about the levels of lead the soil may have in it due to old houses that rested on the land 30-50 years ago.

A community based garden.

We met Mark Vanderhoek who helped get Macon Roots started, which "is non-profit established in 2010 to promote a sustainable food system in Macon and Middle Georgia by celebrating the local food cultures, supporting food and garden education programs, creating networking opportunities in the local food system, and increasing availability of locally grown food for all Middle Georgians," (as stated on their website->.Macon Roots). Mark is also working with creating composts with local businesses such as Jittery Joes and Francars, another cool way to get the community involved in a positive outlet. I found the idea of a community based garden really interesting and a really cool idea of how to bring a community together and educate them on the science of growing their own food. It is something I would definitly like to become a part of in the future. Website to help one start up a community garden

Mark Vanderhoek.

A community based garden short clip.

During the lab we also ysed a soil dichtomous key to discover the type of soil we found in the area. The soil we found was actually Loamy sand, so we did not get very far down on the flow chart.

This is the chart that we used to identify the soil

We also used a Sieves to sift the fine particles of the soil through and seperate them. The finer particles like those of clay sifted further to the bottom of the sieves due to their fine matter.

This is what the a sieve looks like.

In class we also learned tha there are 12 soil orders of the world. Here is a chart listing of all them. 

Type	Description	Type	Description
Entisols	Little, if any horizon development	Inceptisols	Beginning of horizon development
Aridisols	Soils located in arid climates	Mollisols	Soft, grassland soils
Alfisols	Deciduous forest soils	Spodosols	Acidic, coniferous forest soils
Ultisols	Extensively weathered soils	Oxisols	Extremely weathered, tropical soils
Gelisols	Soils containing permafrost	Histosols	Soils formed in organic material
Andisols	Soil formed in volcanic material	Vertisols	Shrinking and swelling clay soils

One interestng soil type is Ultisols which is found all over the beautiful state of Georgia. Ultisols is commonly known as red clay soils. Ultisols "are strongly leached, acid forest sols with pretty low native fertility. They are usually found in humid temperate and trpoical areas. Ultisols vary in color from purplish-red, to a blindingly bright reddish-orange, to pale yellowish-orange and even some subdued yellowish-brown tones. It usually quite acidic, having a pH level of less than 5. Ultisols usually support very prodcutive forests.

Suborders of Ultisols

• Aquults - Ultisols with a water table at or near the surface for much of the year
• Humults - well-drained Ultisols that have high organic matter content
• Udults - Ultisols of humid climates
• Ustults - Ultisols of semiarid and subhumid climates
• Xerults - temperate Ultisols with very dry summers and moist winters

Maps of the distribution of Utisols:




Ultisols Website

Ultisol.

Lab #3: Trees, Plants and etc

On this lab we walked around campus identifying trees, plants and shrubs. It was cool to learn their genus names and how different species of trees were similar and different.
Trees

1. Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera ) Birches are distinct because of their flakey like trunks.

Paper Birch

2. Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) A prehistoric tree (OLD). There are male trees and female trees. The female trees are cheaper to buy than the males because the females give off a fowl smell.

3. Willow Oak, Quercus phellos- Different than other oaks due to its willow like leaves. Foliage is light to bright green in summer and yellow, yellow-brown and russet in fall. 

4.

Sycamore (

Platanus occidentalis)- Leaves grow sticky green buds. Has flowers that bloom around May. Makes a great shade tree.

5. Crape myrtl (Lagerstroemia )- Fast growing tree. Has colorful and long lasting flowers. Its barks sheds throughout the year. 

Plants

6. Junipers (Juniperus)- of the cypress family. Ever green with needle like leaves. Has distinct female seed cones. 

7. Monkey grass (Ophiopogon japonicus)- Native to Japan. An evergreen, sod-forming perennial plant. 

8.Mexican petunia, (Ruellia brittoniana)- new, nonnative cultivar to America. Evergreen with trumpet shaped flowers. Dr. Rood loves these.

9. Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans)-  well known for its production of urushiol, a clear liquid compound found within the sap of the plant that causes an itching rash in most people who touch it. I am SOOOO allergic to this. Can grow as a shrub, a trailing vine and as a climbing vine. Not actually a true ivy. 

for more info on poison ivy http://www.poison-ivy.org/

10. Elephant Ears (Colocasia)- Very large leaves. There are edible types of this plant that are eaten like potatoes in the South Pacific.

Shrubs


11.Chinese Fringe (Loropetalum)- Shrub, native to Japan and China. Stringy pink or white blossoms. 

12. Angles Trumpet (Brugmansia)- Known to be a hallucinogenic, however it is highly toxic and deadly. Long lived bushes. 

Tree Hugger.

Lab #2

For this lab we went to the Olcmulgee River by the Heritage Trail to find out a few things about the site. We wanted to see how claim populations compared in different levels of water. We did this by shoveling sand through a sifter and counted how many living claims were left behind in the sifter. We did this at several locations in the river (as can be seen on the map by the numbered thumbnails) and compared the results. We found that at deeper locations that had faster currents such as Clam sites 7 & 8 there are not many or any clams there. This may be due to the clams being swept away by the current or other speculative reasons. We also found a lot of dead clams on the surface of sand bars and really shallow waters. This may be do to the effect of clams being the prey of birds or the clams not being able to withstand the heat of sun, or other speculative reasons.

Olcmulgee River. White shaded areas represent the very shallow parts of the river and the sandbars. The blue shaded area represents an area in the river where is very deep and has a very fast current. The purple line represents the transect path across the river. The numbered thumbnails are the clam locations.

Site of Clam Location	Number of living Clams
1	5
2	2
3	2
4	5
5	9
6	2
7	0
8	0
9	3
10	7
11	9
12	0 (but 20 dead)
13	2

Site of Clam Location

Number of living Clams

1

5

2

2

3

2

4

5

5

9

6

2

7

0

8

0

9

3

10

7

11

9

12

0 (but 20 dead)

13

2

We also wanted to trace the elevation levels from one side of the river to the other. We did this by using two marked poles connected by a string that could easily be moved up and down the poles to the different markers. We would set the poles 10 feet apart and then attempt to make the string be at a 90 degree level with both poles. We would then measure the difference in elevation by the difference of where the string was placed on the markers on the two poles. We would continue to move across the river doing this is in 10 foot increments. 

This lab was really cool for several reasons. One, it was really cool to be so hands on and actually get in the river. It was also cool to actually measure the elevation, I had no idea it could be so simple. It was also cool to see some students ride a log down the river and see Dr. Rood fall into the river (sorry!).

Ocmulgee River Path Through Georgia. 

Picture of the Ocmulgee River in Macon, Ga.

Video of "bigfoot" knocking over a canoe in the Ocmulgee River.

lab 1 scanned map