Durres is an active Albanian port from which we took to ferry to Bari, Italy.
Month: January 2006
Elbasan
Elbasan is a historic town in Albania, still possessing evidence of its ancient cultural heritage.
Ohrid: Near the border of Albania
Ohrid is a lovely gem of a town located near the border of Albania. It hosts a famous music/arts festival in the summer. It possesses an ancient fortress and a Roman theater. Ohrid’s pedestrian way ends at a beautiful waterfront.
Bitola: Southern Macedonia
Bitola, in southern Macedonia, is home to our wonderful cheese making friend Nicolce. He gave us the grand tour which included Macedonian dancing with a live band, with some beautiful and talented young women from a local performance group.
The stoves for sale on the streets of Bitola are used to grill paprika peppers to prepare them for winter storage.
Istanbul: Ancient Churches & Mosques
We flew to Istanbul and spent a day enjoying this fabulous city with its ancient churches/mosques.
The bus station from Istanbul consists of more than 200 different offices, each with its own little bus route or two…
Istanbul to Rome: Images of Macedonia
These pictures were taken during a whirlwind ten days traversing through Macedonia from Istanbul to Durres Albania, then by ferry across to Bari Italy, and train to Roma.
We will have MUCH more to say about our experiences, but I must first say that we continue to be impressed and gratified at the hospitality and generosity of people we meet around the world. Macedonians have a rich cultural history and have done well at preserving it.
Click on the image to enlarge it OR click on the text to reveal an additional photo gallery:
Istanbul: Ancient Churches & Mosques
Biological Aspects of Making a Salad
Nutrition is the outstanding biological consideration which makes salads important. Raw dark green leafy vegetables are superb sources of vitamins A, C, E, (the anti-cancer vitamins) and K, as well as possessing respectable quantities of the B complex. Vitamin C is particularly difficult to obtain in adequate quantities in winter months, making the consumption of salads at that time even more valuable. In addition, one’s susceptibility to colds and infection increases when supplies of C and A are diminished. An excellent supplementary source of fresh salad makings during the winter months are sprouted seeds (alfalfa, broccoli, etc). See a previous handout on sprouting seeds.
Often, a simple salad can be both elegant and delicious especially if made with fresh ingredients. Darker greens such as kale, spinach, arugula, etc, are especially rich. Darker leaved lettuce such as romaine, Bibb, and leaf lettuce are far superior to iceberg lettuce which is nutritionally relatively poor. Garlic is a mainstay for many salads. If you wish to add variety to your salad, you might add one or two of the following: red bell pepper, grated carrots, grated apples, parsley, onion, grated or cubed cheese, or even anchovies. However, combining too many different ingredients can detract from its enjoyment.
A salad is “dressed” with oil and an acid, usually lemon juice or vinegar. Important to proper dressing of a salad is to remember to use relatively dry makings so that the oil will stick to the leaves. After the greens are properly coated with oil, then add the acid, usually in the proportion of 1:2 or 1:3 parts acid to oil. Do not add the acid until shortly before serving since the acid will draw out the liquid from the greens by osmosis, resulting in a wilted salad.
For four salad eaters:
1 medium-large clove garlic minced
1 cup. coarsely chopped, deveined kale, spinach, and/or dark green lettuce.
1 cup fresh alfalfa sprouts
1/3 cup finely chopped parsley
2 carrots grated
1/2 small onion thinly sliced
4 Tbl virgin olive oil (other oils can be used, but the flavor may lack richness)
1 1/2 Tbl fresh lemon juice (2 Tbl wine vinegar or apple vinegar will do.)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1. Rub bowl with garlic, crushing pieces against side of bowl.
2. Add dry greens, distributing the sprouts.
3. Gently distribute carrots throughout salad (do not mash). Add onion, toss gently.
4. Drizzle oil over, toss to completely coat. At this point, the salad can wait several hours in the refrigerator for the last steps.
5. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper, and toss to disperse. Serve as first course for optimum pleasure and digestion.
Some people may miss the sugar found in prepared salad dressings. In that case, you may wish to add additional grated carrots or apples. For a hearty salad, small cheese cubes, ham cubes, bacon, toasted sunflower seeds or other addition can be considered. More elegant salads have relatively few ingredients however. Bon Apetito!
See also: Sprouts, Ester Munroe, Steven Greene Pr., Brattleburo, VT. (1974)
Chromatographic Isolation of Photosynthetic Pigments
Chlorophyll and accessory pigments are used by leaves to collect energy from light and transduce it to chemical energy be used to synthesize sugar. These pigments can be separated by chromatography in which a solvent system travels through paper by capillary action, carrying the pigments with it. Because each pigment has a different solubility and/or affinity for paper, they move at different rates, and separate along the paper. We will use this technique to detect a variety of pigments, and separate them for further analysis.
Supplies:
- Fresh, unfaded leaves (spinach, etc)
- Solution of 90% petroleum ether + 10% acetone
- Whatman #1 chromatography paper
- 95 or 100% EtOH
- Parafilm®
Equipment:
- 250 mL d flask
- #8 rubber stopper
- T-pin
- A penny
- Forceps
- Scissors
Protocol:
- Place 20 mL of 90% petroleum ether + 10% acetone solution in a stoppered 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask. Replace stopper and allow the “fumes” to equilibrate at least 20 minutes in the flask while the next steps are performed.
- Cut a strip of chromatography paper slightly longer than the distance from the bottom of the stopper to touch the solvent. Handle only by the edges. The bottom edge of the paper should be cut as straight as possible. Mark the origin with a pencil line 1.5 cm from the end of the paper.
- Lie the chromatography paper strip on a clean piece of paper, and place a fresh spinach (or other) leaf across the origin line. Use the edge of a penny to crush the leaf into the origin line to make a green stripe. Repeat several times until the stripe is quite dark. Allow to dry.
- Hold the paper strip up to the equilibrated flask, and adjust its length by folding at the top so that the bottom will reach just below the surface of the solvent.
- Flip the stopper over to cover the mouth of the flask (keeping flask covered), and attach the paper strip to the center of the stopper with a T pin. Quickly invert the stopper and lower the strip into the center of the flask, so that it hangs straight down and just touches the solvent, drawing it up by capillary action.
- As the solvent moves up the paper by capillary action, it carries the various pigments up from the origin. When the upper most band is about 1.0 to 0.5 cm away from the top of the paper, remove the paper strip and replace the stopper. The chromatogram should be observed and drawn, especially noting the colors of the various bands that are visible. How many bands to you see? Calculate the Rf for each band, by dividing the distance the band moved by the distance from origin to the solvent front.
- Label a clean 10 × 130 test tube for each band observed according to Rf s color. Cut out your different pigment bands with clean scissors and add to the appropriate tube. Once the class specimens have been collected, add 5 mL of 100% ethanol to each tube. Cover with Parafilm® And place in the designated rack for storage until the next lab period.
- Return “clean” chromatography solvent to the reagent bottle for reuse/disposal.
Field Hike Protocol
PURPOSE:
Field hikes are a valuable way to learn biology because the flora and fauna being studied are by definition part of your environment, and therefore should be of immediate interest to you. We will take advantage of our semi-rural location to take an average of one field hike per week to a variety of ecosystems: College woods, fields and streams, the East Fork Reservoir, the East Fork of the Little Miami River, and Nine Mile Valley.
CLOTHES AND EQUIPMENT:
Dress comfortably and informally, with sturdy shoes. You should bring your notebook or 3 x 5 cards on which to take notes. Leave room in your notebook for supplementary information. If you use cards, the actual cards should be mounted in your notebook, with expanded notes supplied after the hike. Bring field guides appropriate for the subjects of the hike and binoculars for studying birds.
NOTES:
When a specimen of a new species is encountered, record its common name, its family (and other mentioned taxonomic info) its scientific name, and note the page in a field guide where it is described. Make a quick illustration to indicate important family and specific traits. Title the notes from each hike with a title that reflects that specific hike (i.e., not 1st hike, 2nd, etc). Cross reference the first page of each hike to its map and specimen.
SPECIMEN:
You are required to collect a specimen from each hike which is unique to that hike. Label with common and scientific names and mount in your book with contact paper. Cross reference to initial field notes page. See Contact Paper protocol.
MAP:
Draw a full page map for every hike showing: the route, unique features, and locations with direct labels for each new species were observed. Indicate north. Cross reference the map’s location and beginning of notes. We will pay particular attention to:
WILDFLOWERS:
Note carefully the family traits, specific traits, interesting information, date first seen blooming, and location on your map where the first specimen was observed. Brief illustrations will help immensely in learning these wildflowers.
TREES:
Most of these trees should be familiar to you from Fall and Winter quarters, but we will continue to review them this quarter. They will appear on quizzes and tests.
MUSHROOMS:
As the days warm up, especially after soaking spring rains, we will identify mushrooms, and note those which are edible. NEVER eat a mushroom which has not been positively identified in a book, and even then, eat very small quantities the first time you try them. Report all sightings of mushrooms to the group leader.
BIRDS:
Several hikes in the spring will concentrate on birds as they return or pass through on their migration north. Often a bird is first detected through its song, and therefore discussion should be kept to a minimum, in low tones or whispers. Look for tell-tale movement in foliage. Identify every bird you see, and if you see a new bird for the day, or one which you cannot identify, bring it to the group leader’s attention immediately. Binoculars will be used, with care (see binocular protocol).
OTHER ANIMALS:
Insects will be identified as they are encountered. Pay attention to the characteristics of each class, and the species. We will see occasional reptiles, amphibians, or mammals. Record identifying traits for these organisms as well.
CUMULATIVE LISTS:
Each time a new species is seen, add it to your cumulative list at the back of your notebook. Use of a computer to compile this list is strongly urged. See handout on format for details.
Format for Cumulative Lists of Fauna and Flora
Format for Cumulative Lists for Herbaceous Plants, Woody Plants and Birds
These lists should be single spaced, numbered chronologically, giving the common name, the scientific name (in correct format and in italics or underlined), the family name, the date first observed, and the page number in your notebook where information about its sighting is to be found. Look up the scientific and family names in the field guides listed in the syllabus (on reserve in the library). Spring wildflowers should be entered into the list when they are first observed blooming so that the list is a record of blooming times.
[tabs: 1.31″ 2.75″ 4.38″ 5.38″6.13″]
Herbaceous Plant Cumulative List
Notebook
No Common Name Scientific name Family date page
1 Dandelion Taraxacum officinale Compositae 3/27/00 p. 2
2 Queen Anne’s Lace Daucus carota Umbelliferae 3/27/00 p. 2
