Our mystery seeds this week are from a common plant.
The seeds have a collar-like structure around them.
They are found in these delightful seed pods.
Do you recognize what plant these seeds are from? If you choose to, please leave a comment with your ideas.
Mystery seed answers and new Mystery seeds are posted on Tuesdays.
Edit:Â The answer is now posted.
Anna’s mystery seeds last week were from an American chestnut, Castanea dentata.
(Photograph by Anna at A Life Inspired by Nature.)
Anna found the American chestnut seeds on the ground at the Goodwin State Forest in Connecticut. Aren’t those burs that surround the seeds fascinating?
(Photograph by Anna at A Life Inspired by Nature.)
The story of the American chestnut is a sad one. The majestic trees were once common throughout Eastern North America, but they virtually disappeared due to the chestnut blight fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica. The trees Anna found are part of ongoing research by Dr. Sandra L. Anagnostakis at the Connecticut Agricultural Research Station, who is conducting investigations into resistant varieties and the potential use of a biological control agent to control the fungus.
Have you ever seen a living American chestnut tree?
I have never seen one in flower, like this public domain image by Doug Goldman, hosted by the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA-NRCS-NPDT.
The long, pale yellow fuzzy parts are the male catkins.
This is what the male catkins (flowers) look like up close (photograph by Doug Goldman, hosted by the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA-NRCS-NPDT)
Female flowers are much less conspicuous. Although male flowers and female flowers are found on the same tree, the American chestnut does not self pollinate. Successful pollination requires two trees to be in near proximity. (Photograph by Doug Goldman, hosted by the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA-NRCS-NPDT).
Wouldn’t it be grand if the American chestnut tree could once again be part of the landscape in North America?
A great big thank you to Anna for suggesting the topic and sharing her photographs. Congratulations for finding these special trees!
Today we were inspired by two books about sea turtles. The first is Sea Turtle Scientist (Scientists in the Field Series)
For younger readers, we found Leatherback Turtles (Reptiles)
Sea turtles are pretty amazing creatures. There are currently seven recognized species:
The leatherback sea turtle is in a separate family from the other species. It is the largest turtle, and it is also unique because it lacks a hard shell. Baby loggerheads hatch out of eggs laid in the sand on beaches. The little loggerhead turtles crawl to the sea where they live for 20 to 30 years before they reach maturity. Amazingly, once they are fully grown, the females return to the same beach where they hatched out to lay their eggs.
The Kemp’s ridley and olive ridley also return to the beaches where they hatched to lay eggs. These two species, however, are a little different because many, many females return to the same beaches, all at the same time. These mass landings of female sea turtles are called “arribadas.”
This video shows a sea turtle arribada from Costa Rica. WARNING for little viewers:Â The video does show eggs coming out of the female’s body. There’s also a graphic scene of vultures feeding on a dead sea turtle around the 2:20 minute mark (near the end).
Scientists are studying how sea turtles can remember the beaches where they hatched and how they know which way to swim to return. One thing they found is that sea turtles can sense the Earth’s magnetic field and use it as a guide.
Like whales and dolphins, sea turtles must return to the surface to breathe.
Ways to help sea turtles:
Light pollution is a hazard to sea turtles. Newly-hatched sea turtles use light from the stars and moon and reflections on the water to navigate to the sea. If there are bright lights from human sources around their hatching sites, the sea turtles become disoriented and head inland instead of out to sea, which is usually deadly. Efforts are being organized to cut down excessive lighting along beaches while the sea turtles are hatching.
Finally, sea turtles mistake floating plastic bags for their natural food, jellyfish, and swallow them. The bags are not digestible and can cause death. Protect sea turtles and other animals by making sure plastic bags are properly recycled, or even better, use reusable cloth bags instead.
Related activities and links to lesson plans:
Download the discussion and activities guide for Sea Turtle Scientist at Steve Swinburne’s website, as well as posters, leaflets and find links to other great websites.
See Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Plastic in the Water Column lesson (scroll down to see link to .pdf lesson) as well as their open sea cam where you might spot a sea turtle.
For more information about related creatures, see our previous week of ocean-themed books and activities at Growing with Science.
Why not combine your STEM lesson with some great art by creating a watercolor sea turtle? Drawing and painting animals requires the same close observation skills so useful to scientists.
Sea Turtle Scientist (Scientists in the Field Series)
Age Range: 10 – 14 years
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers (January 7, 2014)
ISBN-10: 0547367554
ISBN-13: 978-0547367552
Leatherback Turtles (Reptiles)
Reading Level:Â K-1
Publisher: Capstone Press (January 1, 2012)
ISBN-10: 1429666463
ISBN-13: 978-1429666466
Disclosures: Sea Turtle Scientist was provided by our local library. Leatherback Turtles was provided by the publisher for review purposes. I am an affiliate for Amazon, and if you click through the linked titles or ads and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Proceeds will be used to maintain this self-hosted blog.
Come visit the STEM Friday blog each week to find more great Science, Technology, Engineering and Math books.
For more information, see Roberta Gibson Writes.
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