Of Amoebas and Turtles

Due to the snowstorm last night and the -40 wind chills, school was cancelled today. Unfortunately we did not get to the library to work on our history research on Third Avenue Pond, which was a shame, but hopefully I'll be able to get some time in on it tomorrow while PG is in classes. We did however, do some basic research on one of the indiginous species of our pond, the Common Snapping Turtle. Our particular snapping turtle is named Bob, and is (as described by others) "the size of a car door".

Bob has been a matter of concern to us not only because of what type of turtle he is, but because the pond is his home. The last thing we want to do is disturb him or worse, cause him to think about choosing a new territory. He's a true staple there, known for scaring the begeebus out of the high school students who use the pond for their canoeing lessons, as well as LATI students out in the kayak. Though we know they are omniverous, the turtles in the Upper Big Sioux watershed appear to have developed a taste for goslings, based on my observations (note to self - try to take body counts while surveying the pond this spring). As such we wanted to know if turtles who had becomed accustomed to more aggressively hunting live prey were more prone to attacks on people or other intruders into their territory.

Thankfully it appears that snappers who prey upon waterfowl have generally been known to attack ill animals; this would fit in very well with the goose populations that tend to congregate around the river, in numbers that I would consider to be overly dense for the size and depths of the waterbodies. That goslings would have a propensity for becoming sick or injured in that environment would only make sense. On top of that, the Third Avenue Pond is also close to the waterfowl pond at Bramble Park Zoo.

This video (I hope it works!) is of a snapper climbing the fence from the marsh behind the Third Avenue Pond into the Bramble Park Zoo goose pond. This pond is often used as a recovery area for injured geese and other waterfowl, so it could be seen as prime hunting ground. (Another note to self - contact zoo for evidence the turtles are hunting the goslings or injured birds.)


Anyway, back to our interest in the turtles. It turns out that there has been no substanciated attacks by turtles on swimmers unless they are cornered or poked at. They usually exhibit either curious or bored characteristics, like most reptiles would. Looks like we have nothing to fear from Bob, and I hope he chooses to hang around and swim with us. We'll still try to keep our distance from him in his home, though.

Since we were largely stuck at home, we spent a lot of time watching "House". There was an episode on about Naegleria fowleri, which first struck my interest after that poor fellow died from exposure at a Florida waterpark. Naegleria is also known as the "brain eating amoeba"; they crawl in through a swimmers nose and - well, eat your brain. PG and I talked about the possibility of these creatures living in our pond, and while they are mostly known to exist in temperate to tropical areas, there has been at least one case of them infecting people from imported water. Now I'm curious if they could survive in our environment at all, even though they likely do not naturally. I'm going to speak with my Microbiology teacher, Mona, next week to see if I can't grow and experimental colony in the lab at LATI.

A New Semester, A New Blog

For those of you who do not know me (which is probably anyone), my nickname is The Lion. I'm a non-traditional student at Lake Area Technical Institute in South Dakota, starting my second semester out of an 18-month Associates program in Environmental Technology. I'm a divorced mom and live with my boyfriend and research partner, known here as PG, who is starting mid-year at the same school going into the same program.

So why the blog? PG and I are working on a very specialized and long-term course of study, one that in our opinion is very underrealized in not only our own country but also around the world. We are pursuing an education that will prepare us to protect archaeological sites and artifacts against damage from the natural enviroment; in some cases, we may also be protecting the environment from damage from the artifacts and locations themselves. As a simple example of the types of things we would like to work on, here in the Black Hills of South Dakota are several old and abandoned gold mines. Mercury was used heavily in the mining process, and now that mercury is leeching into the Black Hills streams. Obviously something must be done about the mercury contamination, but at the same time, the mines are a major part of the Black Hills and American history, and should be preserved as well. As it stands right now, there are very few people who have the education and training to be able to work on this problem. We would like to do that.

Our dream vocation would be working for Woods Hole as researchers and advisors for preserving raised artifacts from shipwrecks and flooded civilizations, as well as preserving these sites when still left underwater. But for the meantime, we have our education to worry about, of course! We have already chosen our internship location: we will be taking an archaeological course in Mitchell over the summer under the supervision of Augustana College in Sioux Falls (and I am so thankful that my professor, Chad, was able to consider it and is as enthusiastic about our chosen career path as we are!). Technically PG does not qualify to complete an internship this summer as he is only taking his electives this semester, but no harm in getting off on the right foot.

We have also chosen and begun preliminary planning for our capstone project: mapping a flooded quarry known as the Third Avenue Pond. What makes this site interesting is that it is the optimal practice site for us to hone skills that will come in very useful in our further studies. It is small, cut off from other waterways, and is known to have in its depths everything from mining equipment to 50-gallon drums of who knows what substances. The pond construction is completely documented, and is on the private land of a watershed research facility. But there is so much unknown about the place . . . it will be amazing.

Looking forward, we're also trying to determining where we are going to go to continue our education. With PG one year behind me technically, I will have to spend an additional year at LATI, which is not enough time to receive a second AAS, so I will have to choose carefully from the available courses for choices that will suppliment my career and enhance my chances of being useful in the field. Right now I am leaning toward Robotics so that I may help with ROV maintenance, which would be backed up by PG's already completed AAS in Electrical Engineering Technology. A constant concern is that the only college who is guaranteed to accept our AAS's (as we are attending a tech school) is SDSU, South Dakota State University. They are a wonderful school, but are lacking in the courses we want to continue with. We are hoping that we can impress another college enough to get them to accept our credits even if they traditionally would not.

Tomorrow is PG's first day back at school in almost 20 years. Sleep is definitely needed right now.