For our first group meeting, we met and discussed the causes of the excess phosphorous. The main pollution causes we found that were agriculture related where discharges from farmsteads & production areas, poorly managed crop land, and poorly managed pastures. There may be more reasons for the phosphorous pollution so the search continues. The image shows phosphorous pollution in different sections of the lake. So the next step is to find reasons for the pollution in those areas.

First Group Meeting: The Lake Champlain Basin Atlas

For our first group meeting, we decided to look at the surrounding area of Lake Champlain to kind of get a general idea of what surrounds the lake. Lake Champlain is surrounded by numerous watersheds, which are areas of land where all of the water under it or drains off it eventually reaches the same location. The Lake Champlain Basin is what the area of watersheds are called that surround Lake Champlain. All of the watersheds act as a drainage area for Lake Champlain, which means any rain, snow, sleet or any kind of precipitation that falls on one of these watershed regions will eventually enter Lake Champlain. The image shows the watersheds as hydrological units. The solid color images are known as 8-digit watersheds, which is used in modeling the influence of major river systems, particularly in terms of land use and phosphorus loads. Eleven digit watersheds are used for research which benefits from a more detailed examination of the landscape.

Phosphorus Loading by Land Use

Trends in phosphorus dumping by area in the Lake Champlain region

(edit: Posting the image broke the blog's tables. Posting link instead. ~dm)

First Group Meeting

For our first meeting, our group met in the library to discuss what we had found about phosphorus. We found that phosphorus comes from point and no point sources. The point sources are easier to control, because we know where it is coming from so we can try to stop it. Some things that are being done to help with the excess phosphorus are storing manure in pits and the laws created about when farmers can use manure as fertilizer. Everybody showed up to the meeting on time and provided information bout the project.

FRIDAY 2/11/2011 - GROUP ASSIGNMENT 1

GROUP PROJECT ASSIGNMENT FOR 2/11/2011 - THERE WILL BE NO FORMAL LECTURE ON FRIDAY 2/11, SO YOU CAN USE THIS TIME TO MEET WITH YOUR GROUP IF A MORE CONVENIENT TIME IS NOT AVAILABLE.

BY THE BEGINNING OF CLASS on 2/16/2011 Groups must have completed the following:

1.       Met and discussed some initial data findings
2.       Made your first group blog post (with a data rich image).
3.       Followed up with the instructor with at least 2-3 questions you need help on.
4.       Provide documentation on your group effort. (attendance at a physical meeting, e-mail thread showing participation by members, chat room history, etc.)

****This assignment will be worth 20 points. Failure to participate in your group’s efforts will lead to a zero on this part of the project.

1. Explain the lake shore protection picture(pg. 444)..... And explain why or why not it helps runoff from getting in the lake.

2. Explain nutrient cycles and how we can relate our problems to it.

3. What would be more beneficial: Bioretention or Storm water ponds?

Native Mussels in the Pacific NW

---------- Extra: a fish that uses a mussel to complete its lifecycle

Hmmm.....

(Click to enlarge image)

Aspens, Mice, and Possible Epidemics Oh My!!!

Sometimes we make assumptions about living organisms on our planet that are based in the context of the human lifespan or maybe even a few generations of human life. However, we now know that some forms of life (individual plants for instance), have life spans that are exponentially greater than humans.





Additional Challenges Currently Faced by Pando.

The first hint for your group project.

On most Vermont dairy farms purchased feed was the largest import of P; fertilizer was the largest on others.

(several studies have been conducted that indicate this (the results from one are available here), don't get lost in the details; take a look at slides 17 and 18 for important clues)