EcoAddendum

By Cecilia Marrero

When you see a frog swiftly snatch an insect for a quick meal, a squirrel clutching a nut, or a colony of critters eating away at a piece of dead wood, they are all contributing more to our environment than many of us realize. The goal of the Food Web activity is to give the kids an understanding of the intricate web of relationships in the natural world as it focuses on the community of animals found at the Outdoor Activity Center and the food web they sustain.

In this activity, the delicately balanced energy exchange that exists between the different species found in the natural world is simplified by starting off with an interpretive hike at the OAC followed by a hands-on demonstration of what we see and hear in our local environmental communities. In the classroom, we gave the kids a specific animal or bacteria typically identified as having a major role in the food web as one of the following: producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, and decomposer. This activity allowed the children to imagine what animal occupies which trophic level in a food chain.

Trophic levels are the feeding positions that an organism occupies in a food chain. As producers, plants form the first trophic level.  Herbivores, animals that eat only plants, are primary consumers that form the second trophic level. The third and fourth trophic levels are formed by carnivores, animals that eat other animals, and omnivores, animals who eat both plants and animals. Bacteria and fungi are decomposers and they feed off decaying matter breaking it down further into fine organic material.

After working so diligently, the kids compiled all of their artwork to create a webbed layout of their interconnected food web. This activity taught us to see animals and bacteria from a different perspective and to understand that each living organism plays an important role far beyond our general scope of the environment.

Phase I:

First Phase of the Hammonds House Museum “garden greening” will be a Native Plant Sanctuary Garden at the back, or third tier, of the Hammonds House Museum property, with the intent to create a peaceful natural environment for meditation and communing with nature. An additional purpose of the Native Plant Sanctuary at Hammonds House Museum is to provide an aesthetically appealing and educational garden space composed of native plants and shrubs. This tranquil green space will expose the thousands of visitors, who frequent the Hammonds House Museum through museum visitation, programs offered and facility rental to the benefits of native plants, what they do for us, as well as the historical cultural and pharmacological uses of the plant species. Educational benefits also include identification of species, symbiotic support of the ecosystem and environmental conservation and what they do for the birds, butterflies and pollinators. These plants will serve to re establish our ecological connectivity.

Ecoaddendum’s model for a Georgia native plant garden located at Hurt Park has been thriving throughout this year’s seasons. Its mid summer now and we’ve gone through a selection of very charming blooms. The ever so vibrant Black-eyed-susan, Rudbeckia fulgida, has been the garden’s main attraction for passer byers this time of year. There is more than meets the eye when it comes to this drought tolerant species. This plant serves as a nutritious meal for the birds and bees and shelters little critters hiding from intimidating predators.

The female is about twice the size of the male, and swollen with eggs.

This week two adult Royal Walnut Moths emerged in our back yard. This moth is related to the silkworm moth family, or Saturniidae.  The female was about 6 or 7 inches long, from her furry head to her gorgeous wing-tip.  Several of us wanted to “pet” them. They looked so soft, so plump and furry. But that would have been rather rude, don’t you think? The markings on the body are remarkable. The moths hung together on the plant stem all day long. In the evening the female left to lay her eggs in the tree tops.

Last year's photo of the Hickory Horned Devil. This is one of North America's biggest caterpillars.

Late last summer, we saw the amazing caterpillar of the Royal Walnut Moth (photo right).  The caterpillar’s common name is Hickory Horned Devil.

What competitive advantage do these carnival face markings confer to the moth? There’s a reason in all of this glorious color and pattern, somewhere… I still want to pet them.

By Cecilia Marrero

What’s blooming at Hurt Park? These perennials are in the their second year  with a showcase of blooms  for all three seasons.   For this spring, the vibrant red explosions are the Scarlet Beebalm, Monarda didyma.   A pale purple bracketed spike, host to butterflies, is the Purple Giant-Hyssop, Agastache scrophulariifolia. Eastern Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, a host to pollinators, has drooping brilliant lavendar petals surrounding a spiny dark center.  Still on it’s way showing yellow bud heads is the Black Eyed Susan, Rudbeckia fulgida.   Come take a look at this glorious scene in downtown Atlanta, across from the Georgia State University’s Florence Kopleff Recital Hall.  Too beautiful to miss!