7. The Most Interesting Part of Our Site
The bird eats a dragonfly which tells us about the food
chain.
Tadpoles swimming in the pond.
Algae in the pond which becomes the food for the
tadpoles and other living organisms in the pond.
15. Solenopsis invicta
It is one of the 280 Solenopsis species around the world.
It originated from South America.
It has become a pest in some countries such as U.S,
Australia, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong
and Southern part of China.
It is also known as the Red Imported Fire Ants (RIFA).
16.
17. This is a picture of the Solenopsis invicta (Red Imported
Fire Ants) I took from my site.
18. Characteristics of RIFA
This ants are known to have a strong, painful and persistent sting
and often leave scars or swells on the skin.
Its appearance varies from red to dark red and the size is around 3 to
6 mm.
It has 4 distinct teeth and 10 segmented antennae.
19. Life Span and Defence
Minor Workers can live 30 to 60 days while media workers can live
60 to 90 days, the major workers can live 90 to 180 days and the
queen can live two to six years!
Ant defend themselves usually by biting and stinging chemicals like
formic acid.
Solenopsis invicta have a poison sac containing piperidine alkaloids.
Their sting is painful and can be dangerous to some hypersensitive
people.
20. Trametes versicolor
Trametes versicolor is one of the
species that belongs to the Fungi
Kingdom.
From the word ‘versicolor’ we
know that it means several colours
and as we can see from the picture
beside, there are different shades
of colours on the surface of it.
21. Characteristics of Trametes versicolor
The flesh is around 1 to 3 mm thick.
Usually its appearance is brown to dark brown. In some cases, it
appears green because algae grow on them.
Its commonly called Turkey tail because of its appearance that have
different layers of colours.
Research in China shows that Trametes versicolor is a medicinal
mushroom. It can be use as a therapy for cancer. But in the opposite
side, The U.S seems to disagree.
22. Defence system
Fungus defend themselves by producing chemicals that are
poisonous, therefore when predator eat them, the predator itself will
feel ill and it may be deadly.
Fungus produce an odour smell to move the predator away from
them and that they will not eat the fungus.
Some fungi are poisonous to protect itself from being eaten by
humans or animals.
23. ecosystem
There are rubbish in the pond, this shows that people
are unaware of what will happen next.
As there are rubbish on the surface of the pond, it will
pollute the pond and it will cause the living organisms
in the pond to gasp for breath.
If they don’t receive sufficient oxygen, it will die and it
will definitely affect the food chains.
24.
25. Reflections
After this site visit, I understand more about the
ecosystem, how animals and plants survive. And also
how they adapt to their surroundings.
We are the one who is responsible for the ecosystem,
therefore we need to take care of it.