Lab 4

This week we studied community gardens.  We saw eggplants, peppers, and snap peas along with various other plants.  We also looked at the various soils in the area.

To see the different components of the soil in the area, we took a shovel full of soil and placed it in the soil sieve.  We then passed it around shaking it to allow the soil to fall through the mesh until it was in the correct level.  When we opened the sieve, we could see the different roots, grasses, and soil types that were in the shovel of dirt.

We then took a few shovel full's of soil and placed in in a box and added water to make mud.  After mixing it up, we each took a handful of dirt and identified what kind of dirt it was using the dichotomous key.  We identified the soil as loamy sand.

In addition to identifying the soil we found, we also learned about the 12 soil orders of the world.

Aridisols is a type of soil that is common in the desert.  It is extremely dry and not useful for the growth of plants.  It commonly has such minerals as gypsum and calcium carbonate in it.

We also meet Mark Vanderhook who is in charge of www.maconroots.org.  He helps organize different community gardens around Macon and is helping to beautify Macon.



PART 2

Negative Feedback Loop- The output of the system opposes the input of the system.  This system helps to balance and stabilize the system.

In class we monitored Dr. Rood's blood glucose level before he ate a snickers and the resulting levels at five minuet intervals for the remainder of class.

 When we consume sugar the sugar level spikes.  A negative feedback loop reaction occurs because the insulin level rises in order to decrease the level of the sugar in the blood.