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INQUIRY CIRCLES IN ACTION at Judson University

Harvey “Smokey” Daniels - smokeylit@aol.com

What Makes Reading Easier?

When the text is shorter than longer

When the reader has chosen the text, vs it being assigned

When the reader has relevant background knowledge

When the text embodies familiar settings and cultural values

When the topic has personal interest or importance

When the text evokes curiosity, surprise or puzzlement

When the text has high coherence, meaning that it explains itself (e,g, “the

pleisiosaur, a Mesozoic period dinosaur…”)

When the text makes ample use of pictures, charts and other visual and text

features that support and add meaning

When the teacher evokes and builds the reader’s background knowledge

When the teacher teaches specific strategies for visualizing, inferring, questioning,

rereading and more

When readers can mark, write, or draw on text as they read

When readers can talk about the text during and after reading

When readers can hear text read aloud by the teacher, by a classmate, or in a

small group

When readers have experience writing in the same genre

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Pythons Strangling Everglades

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY Posted 1/31/2012 1:10:36 AM

It sounded like a joke when the news first hit in 2000: Giant Burmese pythons were invading the Everglades. Now scientists have measured the real impact of the arrival of this voracious species, and the news is troubling.

In areas where the pythons have established themselves, marsh rabbits and foxes can no longer be found. Sightings of raccoons are down 99.3%, opossums

98.9% and white-tailed deer 94.1%, according to a paper out Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"What if the stock market had declined that much? Think of the adjectives

you'd use for that," says Gordon Rodda, an invasive-species specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) who published research in 2008 showing that

Burmese pythons could conceivably expand across the southern portion of the United States.

"Pythons are wreaking havoc on one of America's most beautiful, treasured and

naturally bountiful ecosystems," says USGS Director Marcia McNutt.

Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia, but accidental and deliberate

release of snakes kept as pets in Florida have allowed them to find a new home there. They can grow up to 16 feet long and weigh up to 150 pounds. The first reports of Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades began in the 1980s; a

breeding population wasn't confirmed there until 2000.

Since then, the numbers of pythons sighted and captured in the Everglades have risen dramatically. According to Linda Friar with Everglades National

Park, park personnel have captured or killed 1,825 pythons since 2000.

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Now researchers have shown that just as python populations established themselves, the native mammals of the regions began to decline -- severely.

People working in the Everglades knew they were seeing fewer mammals, but only when the hard numbers came in was it clear just how devastating the

decline has been.

"These were once very common animals in the Everglades, and now they're gone," says Michael Dorcas, a professor of biology at Davidson College in

Davidson, N.C., and lead author on the paper.

The pythons aren't a danger to humans. The only known python attacks on

humans in Florida have involved snakes kept as at-home pets, says Dorcas, who also authored a recent book, Invasive Pythons in the United States. Now coyotes and Florida panthers are believed to be affected, as well as birds and

alligators.

The decrease in mammals is highest where python populations have been

established longest, and more mammals are being sighted in areas where the pythons have only recently been documented.

Although scientists can't say conclusively that the decline is a result of python

activity, there's good anecdotal evidence. "Last October, we found a 15-foot snake with an 80-pound doe inside it," Dorcas says.

The researchers base their findings on systematic nighttime road surveys done in the Everglades that counted both live and road-killed animals. Ten researchers traveled a total of nearly 39,000 miles from 2003 to 2011 and

compared findings with similar surveys conducted in 1996 and 1997.

Mammals in Florida have no natural fear of large snakes because they haven't

existed in the area for about 16 million years, when a boa-like snake that used to live there became extinct.

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The loss of the mammals is devastating not only to those populations, but to all the animals that rely on them. It's possible that the decline in bobcats, foxes,

coyotes and panthers is linked to the disappearance of their typical prey: rabbits, raccoons and opossums.

Pythons also are eating lots of birds. More than 25% of pythons found in the Everglades contain bird remains.

They also happily eat pets, including cats, dogs and some farm animals.

Roosters and geese have been found in their stomachs.

And there's not much that can be done. These snakes are "notoriously hard to

find and very secretive," Dorcas says. Because much of South Florida is a vast wilderness, the possibility of exterminating or even suppressing them doesn't seem promising, he says. "It's an ecological mess, and exactly what's going to

happen down the road remains to be seen."

On Jan. 23, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service started the paperwork to ban the

importation and interstate transportation of Burmese pythons, northern and southern African pythons and the yellow anaconda because they threaten the Everglades and other sensitive ecosystems.

These snakes are being listed as injurious species under the Lacey Act. Some reptile breeders and collectors, along with Republican lawmakers, argued the

restriction constitutes job-killing red tape.

How far the snakes might expand their range is unknown. Research in 2008 showed they could possibly survive across the entire southern United States.

And research this month showed they could survive in saltwater, which had previously been believed to be a barrier to their expansion.

"All of Florida and much of the coastal plain of the southeastern United States is suitable habitat," Dorcas says.

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR A WRITE AROUND

► Form a group of four, pull your seats together and introduce yourselves or

discuss the assigned warm-up question. (Threes or fives are OK, but push for as

many groups of four as you can get. Yes, your kids already know each other, but

we always believe in quick warm-ups, even with groups that have been together for

a while. Learn more about this in Nancy’s book Reading and Writing Together

(2003))

► Each person please get a large blank piece of paper ready to use. Put your

initials in the upper left-hand margin.

► As we work, please follow these two rules:

1. Use all the time for writing.

2. Don’t talk when passing.

You will probably need to reiterate these rules as you go along, especially with

students who are new to silent discussion.

► Ready? OK. Write for one minute. Write your thoughts, reactions, questions, or

feelings about our topic (Fill in the blank. Keep time not by exact minutes and

seconds, but by walking and watching kids write. When most students have filled

1/4 of a page, it is time to pass).

► Pass your papers. Decide which way the papers are going to go and stick to it.

Here the teacher reiterates instructions by saying: Now read the entry on the page,

and just beneath it, write for one minute. You can tell your reaction, make a

comment, ask questions, share a connection you’ve made, agree or disagree, or

raise a whole new idea. Just keep the conversation going!

Walk the room, looking over shoulders to get the timing right.

► Pass again, please. Reiterate the instructions if needed. Especially about “no

talking” while passing. Remember, we are having a silent discussion here!

Repeat and continue. Four times, total, if that’s the number of kids in your groups.

If there are mixed group sizes, no problem, the threes and the fives will still do four

trades. Important: You need to allow a little more time with each entry because

kids will have more to read with each successive exchange. Again, don’t time this

activity by actual minutes, but by watching how kids are coming and calling

“Pass” only when most people have written at least a few lines.

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► Now pass one last time and most of you (not the three and five groups) will get

back the paper that you began with. Now read the whole thing over and see the

conversation that you started. You won’t write an answer this time.

As soon as kids are done reading and start talking – and they will – say:

► O.K. Please feel free to continue the conversation out loud for a few minutes.

Use your writings however they help you.

Option: At this point, you can announce a more focused prompt (“Do you think

that blacklisting could ever happen again in America? Why or why not?”) and

send kids back into their now warmed-up groups to discuss it. Or you can shift

directly to whole class discussion.

► Let’s gather as a whole class and see where this silent discussion took us. Will

each group please share one highlight, one thread of their discussion? Something

you spent time on, something that sparked lively discussion, maybe something you

argued about or laughed about. Who’d like to share? And here’s the beauty part,

there will be plenty of volunteers

Don’t forget that you now have two things to discuss - the topic you’ve just dug

into and the process the kids have just used. It is important to reflect upon the

activity itself, because you want this write-around tool to enter your kids thinking

repertoires for repeated use.

► Let’s discuss this process. What worked for you and what made it hard? How

could we make it better next time?

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Asian Carp and the Great Lakes (from the U.S. EPA)

Asian carp have been found in the Illinois River, which connects the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan. Due to their large size and rapid rate of reproduction, these fish could pose a significant risk to the Great Lakes Ecosystem.

To prevent the carp from entering the Great Lakes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. EPA, the State of Illinois, the International Joint Commission, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are working together to install and maintain a permanent electric barrier between the fish and Lake Michigan.

How did Asian carp get so close to the Great Lakes?

Two species of Asian carp -- the bighead and silver -- were imported by catfish farmers in the 1970's to remove algae and suspended matter out of their ponds. During large floods in the early 1990s, many of the catfish farm ponds overflowed their banks, and the Asian carp were released into local waterways in the Mississippi River basin.

The carp have steadily made their way northward up the Mississippi, becoming the most abundant species in some areas of the River. They out-compete native fish, and have caused severe hardship to the people who fish there.

The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, where the barrier is being constructed, connects the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes via the Illinois River. Recent monitoring shows the carp to be in the Illinois River within 50 miles of Lake Michigan.

What effects might Asian carp have on the Great Lakes?

Asian Carp are a significant threat to the Great Lakes because they are large, extremely prolific, and consume vast amounts of food. They can weigh up to 100 pounds, and can grow to a length of more than four feet. They are well-suited to the climate of the Great Lakes region, which is similar to their native Asian habitats.

Researchers expect that Asian carp would disrupt the food chain that supports the native fish of the Great Lakes. Due to their large size, ravenous appetites, and rapid rate of reproduction, these fish could pose a significant risk to the Great Lakes Ecosystem. Eventually, they could become a dominant species in the Great Lakes.

What are EPA and other agencies doing about it?

Federal and state agencies completed construction of an electrical fish barrier as a demonstration project to study the effectiveness of preventing species migration between the River and the Lake. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed the temporary electronic dispersal barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal near Romeoville, Illinois, at a cost of approximately $2.2 million. It was activated in April, 2002. Simulated tests in a fish hatchery and field monitoring of tagged fish have also shown that the barrier was extremely effective at preventing the movement of fish into Lake

Michigan. --

Chicago Area waterways map showing location of carp barrier (Illustration courtesy of Phil Moy, University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute)

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Killer Bees

ORDER: Hymenoptera GENUS: Apis

FAMILY: Apidae SPECIES & SUBSPECIES: mellifera scutellata

Description: The general appearance of Killer Bees (= Africanized Bees) is the same as common Honey Bees, but there are some distinctive physical differences between the two. To analyze the differences, a laboratory has to measure and compare some 20 different structures. Another way to check is to analyze the specimen's DNA and enzymes.

Distribution: Honey bees are not native to the Western Hemisphere. European settlers brought most honey bees to the Americas approximately 400 years ago. In 1956, some colonies of African Honey Bees were imported into Brazil, with the idea of cross-breeding them with local populations of Honey Bees to increase honey production. In 1957, twenty-six African queens, along with swarms of European worker bees, escaped from an experimental apiary about l00 miles south of Sao Paulo. They've been spreading ever since. These African bee escapees have since formed hybrid populations with European Honey Bees, both feral and from commercial hives. They have gradually spread northward through South America, Central America, and eastern Mexico, progressing some 100 to 200 miles per year. In 1990, Killer Bees reached southern Texas, appeared in Arizona in 1993, and found their way to California in 1995. They are expected to form colonies in parts of the southern United States.

Damage done: Africanized Honey Bees (=Killer Bees) are dangerous because they attack intruders in numbers much greater than European Honey Bees. Since their introduction into Brazil, they have killed some 1,000 humans, with victims receiving ten times as many stings than from the European strain. They react to disturbances ten times faster than European Honey Bees, and will chase a person a quarter of a mile. Africanized Honey Bees and European Honey Bees may be similar in appearance, but not in behavior. Africanized Honey Bees will attack when unprovoked, and they respond rapidly and in large numbers to disturbances that European Honey Bees would ignore. Like European Honey Bees, Africanized Honey Bees can sting only once; they deliver a venom identical to that of European Honey Bees. Both types of bee die shortly after leaving their stings and ends of their abdomen in their victim.

Other concerns with Africanized Honey Bees are the effects on the honey industry (with an annual value of $140 million dollars) and general pollination of orchards and field crops (with an annual value of 10 billion dollars). Interbred colonies of European and Africanized honey bees may differ in pollination efforts, be more aggressive, excessively abandon the nest, and not survive the winters. Further, beekeepers may not continue their business of honey production if faced with aggressive bees. The packaged bee and queen rearing industries are in the southern United States, which would affect the honey industry across the continent.

Control: Many authorities have been working on the problem of Killer Bees in the United States. Two primary solutions have been considered. The first is termed drone-flooding, which involves maintaining large numbers of common Honey Bees (originally from Europe) in areas where commercially-reared queen bees mate. This process would limit the mating possibilities between Africanized drones and European queens. The second strategy is requeening frequently, where the beekeeper replaces the queen of the colony, thus assuring that the queens are European Honey Bees and that mating has also occurred with European drones.

Prepared by the Department of Systematic Biology, Entomology Section, National Museum of Natural History, in cooperation with the Public Inquiry Mail Service, Smithsonian Institution

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Zebra mussel

The Zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, is a bivalve mussel native to freshwater lakes of southeast Russia. Zebra mussels are filter feeders. When in the water, they open their shells to admit detritus. Zebra mussels get their name from the striped pattern on their shells, though not all shells bear this pattern. They are usually about the size of a fingernail, but can grow to a maximum length of nearly two inches. [1] Its native distribution is Pontic and Caspian Sea. Zebra mussels are considered an invasive species in North America, in Spain and in Sweden.

Effects: Zebra mussels are a great nuisance to people. Since colonizing the Great Lakes, they have covered the undersides of docks, boats, and anchors. They have also spread into streams and rivers nationwide. In some areas they completely cover the substrate, sometimes covering other freshwater mussels. They can grow so densely that they block pipelines, clogging water intakes of municipal water supplies and hydroelectric companies.

Zebra mussels and other non-native species are credited with the increased population and size of smallmouth bass in Lake Erie. [3] Zebra mussels are also believed to be the source of deadly avian botulism poisoning that has killed tens of thousands of birds in the Great Lakes since the late 1990s. [4] They also cleanse the waters of inland lakes, resulting in increased sunlight penetration and growth of native algae at greater depths. This proves beneficial for fish most of the time, helping the fish live in better conditions. They may also decrease the recreational value of inland lakes as they become clogged with weeds.

Reproduction: An adult female zebra mussel is one of the most reproductive organisms in the world. It may produce between 30,000 and 40,000 eggs per year. Spawning usually begins in the months from late spring to early summer by free-swimming larvae (veligers).

Spread: In the U.S., they were first detected in the Great Lakes in 1988, in Lake St. Clair, located between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario. It is believed they were inadvertently introduced into the lakes in the ballast water of ocean-going ships traversing the St. Lawrence Seaway. Another possible often neglected mode of introduction is on anchors and chains, although this has not been proven. Since adult zebra mussels can survive out of water for several days or weeks if temperature is low and humidity is high, chain lockers provide temporary refuge for clusters of adult mussels that could easily be released when transoceanic ships drop anchor in freshwater ports.

From their first appearance in American waters in 1988 zebra mussels have spread to a large number of waterways, including the Mississippi, Hudson, St. Lawrence, Ohio, Cumberland, Missouri, Tennessee, Colorado, and Arkansas rivers disrupting the ecosystems, killing the local unionid mussels, (primarily by out-competing native species for food}

[citation needed] and damaging harbors, boats, and power plants. Water treatment plants were initially hit hardest

because the water intakes brought the microscopic free-swimming larvae directly into the facilities. The U.S. Coast Guard estimates that economic losses and control efforts cost the United States about $5 billion each year.

A common inference made by scientists predicts that the zebra mussel will continue spreading passively, by ship and by pleasure craft, to more rivers in North America. Trailered boat traffic is the most likely vector for invasion into the North American west. This spread is preventable if boaters would take time to thoroughly clean and dry their boats and associated equipment before transporting these to new water bodies. Since no North American predator or combination of predators has been shown to significantly reduce zebra mussel numbers,

[citation needed] such spread

would most likely result in permanent establishment of zebra mussels in many North American waterways. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_mussel

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Fire Ants (from www.fireant.net)

Who Are These Fiends? Fire ants are known for their lively and aggressive behavior, swarming

over anyone or anything that disturbs their nest, often attacking wild animals, baby animals, pets or

people, in some instances, even killing them. Their painful stings affect about 40 percent of people in infested areas each year. 20 million people a year are stung by fireants!

When these pesky critters invade an area, they do it with a vengeance. There will be enormous

numbers of them which can dramatically reduce populations of native ants, other insects, and even

ground-nesting wildlife. Watch out. They invade homes, school yards, athletic fields, golf courses,

and parks. They will damage crops and electrical equipment, costing humans huge amounts of

money each year in repairs and eradication.

Red Imported FireAnt (RIFA) The red fire ant was accidentally introduced into the United States in

1929, when a cargo ship that had used soil as ballast arrived in Mobile, Alabama from South

America. (Thanks a lot!) But South Americans don't have nearly the problem that the United States

does. They only have 20% as many fireants as we do, probably because North America lacks the

natural enemies of the pesky critters.

These guys are aggressive! They initially spread throughout Alabama and Florida, but it didn't take

them long to invade twelve of our southeastern states and Puerto Rico. In recent years, the fireant

has spread as far west as California and as far north as Kansas and Maryland. Today the fireant

habitat in the USA covers 300 million acres and it is growing all the time. Although fireants keep

marching farther and farther, northerners don't have to loose sleep over it because researches

predict that they will not be able to survive in areas where soil temperatures drop to near freezing

for more than 2 to 3 weeks.

Facts About FireAnts

Fireants are not picky eaters. They are omnivores and will eat almost any plant or animal material,

including other insects, ground-nesting animals, mice, turtles, snakes, and other vertebrates, young

trees, seedlings, plant bulbs, saplings, fruit and grass. When foraging for food, the oldest and most

expendable 20% or so of the colony’s workers (so much for retirement) explore within 50 - 100 feet

of the nest in a looping pattern.

Even though worker fireants can chew and cut with the mandibles, they can only swallow liquids.

When they encounter liquid food in the field, they swallow it to one of their two stomachs, one to

share with the colony (isn't that nice of them) and one to digest themselves. Solid food is cut to

carrying size and brought back, also. Fireants prefer protein foods (i.e. insects and meats) but will feed on anything and everything.

By regurgitating their food, fireant workers are able to share their food with the nest. Others lick or

suck up the liquid (yuck) and the nest is fed equally. This food sharing is also why slow-acting poison

baits can be used to eradicate the nests.

Fireants are extremely organized. Every fireant has a job to do. They go about their job day after

day, never stopping. Young fireants help the queen deliver her eggs and tend to the larvae. Tunnel

diggers dig new tunnels as the population grows, making room for increased traffic and new rooms

for eggs and larvae. Guard fireants stay near the entrance of the mound, blocking strangers from

entering. (With a population of 100,000 - 500,000, how do they know who lives there and who

doesn't?) Winged male and female fireants go on mating flights in the spring and summer and start

new colonies. Shortly after mating, the male dies and the female becomes a queen. She flies anywhere from 100 feet to 10 miles to start a new colony. And foragers, the oldest of the colony, search for food

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Feral Pigs in Hawai’i American University Biology Department

In 400 A.D. Polynesians arrived in Hawaii with a vast range of alien species

including dogs, pigs, rats, jungle fowl, snails, lizards and dozens of new plants. Until the Polynesians arrived Hawaii's only mammals were one species of bat and one of seal.

Captain James Cook, the first European to discover Hawaii, arrived at Kealakkekua Bay in January of 1779 where he presented natives with taro,

feral pigs, fresh fruits, and vegetables. Today, the descendants of Cook's “gift” of pigs continues to have dire effects on Hawaii's fragile ecosystem.

Feral pigs will eat almost anything. They have endangered many of the native plants by overgrazing in the rain forest. They knock down tree-ferns,

eating the starchy centers, leaving holes that attract mosquitoes. The mosquitoes then carry diseases to native Hawaiian birds whose immune

systems are unfamiliar with the new germs. Half of the 140 original species of birds in Hawaii are now extinct.

The pigs also gnaw at tree bark and devour valuable nutrients from the forest floor. Pig droppings also allow aggressive alien plant species to grow rapidly while the pigs continue to feast on the native plants.

The pigs love to dig up the forest understory to find worms and roots and such.

And when there are a lot of pigs doing this, whole chunks of land and mountain slopes are stripped of vegetation. And guess what happens when it rains? Mud and muck, normally filtered by vegetation on mountainsides and

forest floors, are swept downslope into streams. And the mud-filled streams flow to the ocean. And the mud settles into offshore bays, onto coral in these bays, stunting coral growth and in some cases killing it. And when the coral

dies, the fish go away or die, too.

The pigs have no natural predators. So the Hawaiian government has encouraged humans to shoot the feral pigs. In fact, all legally hunted game animals in Hawaii are alien species.

Feral pigs harm the Hawaii’s forests.