Biosphere resources by yours truly!

You may remember that during the last week of term I referred to some resources for the Biosphere Unit which I helped to produce in conjunction with the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute in Aberdeen. ...

They can be downloaded in PowerPoint or pdf format from the LTScotland website (click image above to link to the soils resources and the image below to link to the sand dune succession resources.)

Psammosere fieldwork!

"WHAT kind of fieldwork?", I hear you saying. OK... this won't make a huge amount of sense just now but it will later in the year when we are doing the Biosphere unit but as it happened last week and you can link to it anytime from the labels in the side bar, I will post it now.

Psammoseres are the succession of vegetation which develops across sand dunes and last Sunday, the AH Geography and Biology groups did a bit of associated fieldwork. While most of you were still enjoying a Sunday morning lie in, we were out at Tentsmuir setting up transects, measuring slopes and noting plants.

Laying out quadrats and counting species...

Measuring the slope angle of the dunes using a clinometer...

Admiring a slack where the relief intersects the water table........
producing a whole different community of plants...

and avoiding the Buckthorn which is well named!

China's one child policy again and more on sand dunes too!

The 'chatroom' where I network with other Geography teachers (sad but true) has been busy today and I have picked up a couple of links to pass on to you.

Firstly, there is a good article on the BBC website today (click image above to link) describing the effects that increasing wealth in some sectors of Chinese society is having on their one child policy. It seems that the nouveau riche, mainly to be found in urban areas, can easily afford to pay fines for flouting the policy. It is estimated that 10% of the rich and famous in China have three children!

The second link is to a website produced by the Field Studies Council (click on the logo to link). You will find excellent material on sand dune succession which will reinforce the work we have covered in class. What I particularly like are the good close-up images of plant species with very detailed adpations to the environment listed for each.

Here, for example, is what it has to say about sea sandwort

Succulent leaves store water
Waxy cuticle helps to retain water
Tolerant of short periods of immersion
Prostrate habit protects against wind (and sea).

This is exactly the type of explanation you have to give when explaining why particular plants are associated with the various stages of succession.

Further to the NAB......

Here's what you could have written. It's not a set of answers, more a set of revision notes.....



NB Remember - study leave does not begin until Thursday!

Sands of Time...

G day minus 27... the grains of sand are slipping through and time is running out!

However, as we have been completing what is absolutely the last topic of the Higher Geography course - sand dune succession - I am reminded of some very good materials on psammoseres which you might like to take a look at. They are produced by Liverpool Hope University and describe the well developed sand dune system at Sefton bay near Liverpool (click on the banner to link). You will find information about the origin and development of the dune system but more importantly, if you look at the side panel at the left, you can follow the sucession in photo and description from the strand line inland .

There are also two posters on sand dune succession which have been produced by the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen in conjunction with a teacher consultant (modesty prevents me from telling you which particular teacher consultant!) As with their soil posters which I flagged up in earlier postings here and here , you can download coloured A4 size versions to add to your notes.

Click on the banner to link to the first poster and then here for the second one.

And finally, a luxuriant community of annual plants and Sea Lyme grass growing on the foreshore at Tentsmuir...... first stage of the succession..

Da Vinci's code!

"We know more about the celestial bodies than the soil underfoot"

Hopefully, as we continue our work on soils, you can say 'speak for yourself' to da Vinci! Here are some extra resources to help you get to grips with that stuff beneath your feet.

Firstly, you might like to revisit the Macaulay Institute website which I flagged up last term in this posting ..
It is now time to follow up the links to Podsols, Brown Earths and Gleys and to download the materials which are available there.

This second resource also has a wealth of soils-related information and activities....
If you click on the image above, you will link to the secondary pages where there is a list of relevant topics in the left hand side bar.

Finally, here is a school website which I haven't told you about yet..
It is probably one of the best Geography Department websites around with vast quantities of information relating to all the courses they run. You should be aware that although the structure of the curriculum differs in England, most of the topics taught in Geography departments are the same as north of the border. So, if you browse the Wycombe High website(click banner above to link) you will find much which is familiar. You might like to start with their comprehensive list of soils animations . (1-7 and 10 are most relevant)

I started this posting with a quote about soils so here's a few more with which to conclude...
"There can be no life without soil and no soil without life" Charles Kellogg (of Corn Flakes fame)
"The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself" Franklin Roosevelt (US President in the wake of the Dust Bowl events)
"Dirt's a lot more fun when you add water" Dennis the Menace (Dundonian juvenile delinquent )

Soils resources

Over the last few years, the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen has produced a number of excellent resources to support Higher Geography. Of particular relevance to the work we have just started on soils are the following 'posters' on soils which were produced for the classroom but which can also be downloaded as A4 pdf files.

In class this week we have been looking at ways of studying soils, the terminology of pedology (soil science),the factors which influence the development of soils and the processes by which soils are formed. The following would be good resources for you to download and add to your notes:
1. An Introduction to Soils and Soil Forming factors
2. Terminology of Soils including Processes

After the holidays we will be looking at three types of soils - Podsols, Brown Earths and Gleys and there are also materials for each of these which you can download by clicking on the links.

Higher Pupil Conference.

Almost 300 pupils from schools across the central belt attended the Higher Geography Pupil Conference run by the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers at Dalkeith High School today. If you were there, you should be pleased to know that those of us who were lecturing/presenting were particularly impressed with our audience today!

I am hoping that having given you the link to the HigherGeogBlog, you are now going to become regular visitors and I thought you might like to be able to access the presentations I gave today.
Firstly, for the Biosphere Unit and on the topic of sand dune succession......


Secondly, for the Rural Land Resources section of Paper 2, my afternoon workshops were on the topic of Farming in the Yorkshire Dales.....


Sorry, no music on the on-line version.... you'll just have to hum....it was 'Emmerdale' and 'Last of the Summer Wine'!

Although it is now the 24th, I am going to edit this post rather than add a new one for today. Ollie Bray, Deputy Head at Musselburgh GS was one of the presenters at the conference on Friday. He has also kindly made his presentation on Population available to you.
On his own blog, he apologises for the first slide! However, it is only the title page and the rest more than makes up for it!

AH Fieldwork

The AH Geography and Higher MER classes joined forces with the AH biologists today to study plant succession on the sand dunes at Tentsmuir. This is an important topic within the Biosphere Unit which we will be studying in the Higher course later in the year. The photos should give you a flavour of what is involved in this type of fieldwork. .... Firstly, you persuade the guys to carry all the gear!!

Then you set up transects using ranging poles and measuring tapes and record the changes in slope by using a clinometer. This lets you draw an accurate profile of the dune system.

Then you lay out quadrats systematically along the transect and record some abiotic factors like soil moisture and pH.......

... before recording the % abundance of individual species

Always assuming you can identify them, that is!

Back at school the data will be used to construct accurate cross sections of the dunes and kite diagrams will be drawn to show how the abundance of different species changes with distance from the high water mark.