mafief

I've been reading through science protocols for my class and I keep reading about Domestos. When I first read this I freaked out not knowing what the heck that was and worrying that I would not be able to find that reagent and complete the protocol. (You all in the know are probably laughing at me right now.)

Yahoo for helpful google telling me it's bleach. Bleach. And a bleach brand from the UK. Lo and behold that book and subsequent manuscript was published from UK labs.

So grrr the researchers who used brand names and not just calling it bleach with the name brand in parenthesis like you should. Yes, the concentration of sodium hypochlorite (active ingredient in bleach) is different. Domestos has 5.25% and Chlorox (US brand) has 6.05%. Which can matter when making solutions..... Or not much. But if I were to be a good scientist, I would convert the percentages of one to the other to make sure the solutions were exact. Or not because it's bleach and I'm not sure 22% and 20% are that different in their bacteria killing powers.


Also ran into another difference. What is the difference between an UK and US apple pie? Google did not provide a good answer for this. Apple pie that I make has flour, vegetable shortening, salt, water and cinnamon in the crust. The filling has apples (Macintosh or Cortlands), cinnamon, tapioca pearls (thickener), sugar, and butter.

In college, I took a herpetology class in the spring. The timing is important because that is when most of the amphibians in PA are doing something interesting instead of hiding. During the warm spring rains, salamanders and frogs come out en masse and breed. Thus, I spent my evenings in my rain jacket either walking up and down roads with a flashlight or hiking through the woods (with friends) to vernal pools (small ponds that flood in the spring and disappear by mid-summer).

During one adventure to a vernal pool in the dark, in the rain, in the woods, we saw hundreds of spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum). They were everywhere and it was an amazing sight to witness. In the water they would form these mating balls where the males would try to be the first one to grab a female with its back legs. Sometimes, the males are overly eager and drown the female in the process. (Side note: Some Ambystoma species don’t even need males. Two females can go through the process of mating but not actually exchange sperm and still lay viable eggs.)

I haven’t been able to figure out the timing to catch the great migration in NH nor do I have a good idea what pools are active. Last summer, I spent time scouting out the area for vernal pools to visit during the spring to hopefully catch this activity. I’ve done better and contacted the campus herpetologist and made plans. During the first warm (40F +) rains, I took the kids out (at 8:30 pm! In the woods! In the rain! In the dark!) to try and see this event. The first pool we went to only had Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus). You can hear their call here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_frog).

This was fine, disappointing, but fine because it gave me a chance to discuss the process of science and field biology with Mr Five. He told me once that he wanted to be a scientist, so part of that is explaining how much scientist fail and what to do when that happens.

We had to wait for our next attempt because the weather was silly and it decided to snow a few days after. Next warm rain, we visited another pool. This one included a hike up a rather steep incline (In the woods! In the rain! In the dark!) to reach three pools. This is also when my husband thinks I’m partially insane for taking children into this. I’ll disagree, but that’s another story. The part that excited Mr Three the most was holding his own flashlight.

This time we did better, but still no spotted salamanders. We saw wood frogs, spring peepers (Hyla crucifer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_peeper), a green frog (Lithobates clamitans), and redback salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). There was a large pond at the base of the hill we were on and the sound the spring peepers were making was deafening. For a frog that is about an inch long, they are super loud. Redbacks are extremely common, but the boys were excited that they saw a salamander that they didn’t care that it wasn’t a spotted. (Side note: redbacks don’t have lungs and breathe through their skin.)



The most exciting part of this trip, at least for me, was seeing the two redback salamanders above (bottom pic). I spotted two salamanders twisting around each other as they tumbled down the path. When we got closer, they froze and I was able to snap the picture above. What is hard to make out is that the smaller salamander has the larger one’s foot in its mouth. This behavior is new to me, and I’m not entirely sure if they are mating or fighting. Redbacks that need to mate around this time (female store sperm for over a year and lay eggs under a log on land) and the males are territorial. My other outdoor biologist friends had no idea. Mr Five asked if the salamanders were married and… I chickened out and said sure. So, he described to a group of church friends that he saw two salamanders ‘marriaged’. I’ll correct that later…

We are planning a guided vernal pool trip with this weekend, so hopefully I can get more connections to find better pools for next year.

So that’s what I’ve been up to! So yah, Come for the random things this scientist does, stay for the… salamander fighting/mating????