What's a Watershed?

King City, Ontario

Depending on where you live, "watershed" may be a term you hear often. However, many people do not know what a watershed is, or how it is relevant to them.

Not long ago I had the opportunity to learn all about watersheds, but from the start found myself asking what constitutes as a watershed.

What is a watershed?

"the area of land that catches precipitation and drains into a larger body of water such as a marsh, stream, river, or lake" (SEAWA, 2014).

"A watershed is a topographically bounded area... that possesses a measurable drainage area (eg. 100 hectares), where all runoff from a precipitation event will be conveyed downstream, ultimately reaching the outlet of the area" (Introduction to Watersheds, 2020).

Imagine you are sculpting a shallow bowl with gently sloped sides. Now, if you were to add little peaks and indents on the inside of the bowl, you have just modified the topography of your bowl. After the bowl is finished, if you were to leave it out in the rain any rain that fell along the sloped edges would be funneled through the indents down to the lowest point in the bowl, maybe leaving other little pockets of water here and there.

topography: the physical appearance of the natural features of an area of land, especially the shape of its surface. - Cambridge Dictionary

In this analogy, not only middle pool of water but the entire inner surface of bowl is the the "watershed". It is an entire area of land that collects precipitation such as rain and drains it to a common place.

Watersheds exist in many different shapes, and can drain into many different types of water bodies. They are not limited to inland water bodies either; amoung water bodies such as lakes and large rivers, precipitation may also drain towards an ocean (Missouri Botanical Garden, 2002).

References:

Cambridge. (n.d.). TOPOGRAPHY: meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/topography

Missouri Botanical Garden. (2002). Retrieved from http://www.mbgnet.net/fresh/rivers/shed.htm

SEAWA. (2014). What is a Watershed? Retrieved from http://seawa.ca/our-watershed/what-is-a-watershed/

Introduction to Watersheds. (2020). Introduction to Watersheds. Slide 3.

American Psychological Association 6th edition formatting by BibMe.org.

edited 2020-02-11

A Brief Intro to Matter and Energy

  Whether it's examining the wing of a butterfly or becoming enchanted by the pulsating waves on a lake a love for nature that comes from the heart is something precious. This appreciation serves as a source of inspiration for arts and creative pursuits, physical exploration and activities, and later intellectual understanding as to why we not only enjoy it, but need it.

As many of us come to realize as we age, while simply a love for the natural world can be enough to spark many peoples' interest in science, coming to understand the technical aspects is sometimes required to reach other people, going from head to heart.

A very young friend of mine is curious by nature and is very eager to move on to more abstract concepts in science, so sometimes we'll discuss science together. I am no science teacher, but recently I've decided to type out a few things to help in explaining some things. In case you or someone else would like a small introduction, here is the first sheet. Stay tuned for more in coming posts!

MATTER AND ENERGY

Everything we can measure in our physical world is made up of matter or energy.

Matter takes up space and has mass.

Mass is the amount of matter an object has, and is can be measured by weighing an object. Our physical bodies use matter in different ways: we use it to build things and we consume it, but humans cannot create matter (it must already be there for us to use).

Matter comes in different states: solid, liquid, and gas, and a fourth state, plasma.

Example: Water is mass. At freezing temperatures, water is in solid ice. At room temperature water is a liquid. At very warm temperatures, water is vapor. No matter what state it is in, solid, liquid, or gas, it is still water.

Energy is power, or the ability to make things work and happen.

There are different kinds of energy.

Example: Heat is thermal energy. Heat is not made of matter, but it can interact with matter. It can melt ice and warm you up.

Everything that happens in nature is because of the way matter and energy have been designed to behave, or move around. Matter and energy can move fast or slow, in different directions, and can interact with other matter and energy. It all works together because matter and energy follow specially-designed for the physical universe.

Here are some examples:

Item	Is it matter or energy?
A tree
Orange juice
The air we breathe
Electricity
Light

Next post for young scientists: http://naturenimbus.blogspot.ca/2014/11/a-brief-intro-to-3-states-of-matter.html 

The Real Costs of Parathion

     The conflict of human convenience and the wellbeing of ecosystems is a repeating issue. Parathion (usually  referring to ethyl parathion, sometimes methyl parathion), is an effective insecticide and one of the most toxic organphosphates, proved to be sometimes fatal to humans and other animals. The original intent for producing and using parathion as an insecticide are not malicious, however with more recent information the risks have become more apparent. The convenience of using parathion is not worth the consequences to natural ecosystems and human health.

An Effective Method

     Parathion is an effective and relatively cheap insecticide. It kills unwanted insect 'pests' by disrupting their nerve impulses. Pest control has played a large role in farming and the mass production of food to feed millions of people, and is also part of the monetary success for individual farmers and overall economies. Pesticides are especially needed for monocultures of food that resulted from the Green Revolution of mass factory farming, as an entire culture would be susceptible to unwanted insects. The method of factory farming has helped humans avoid Thomas Malthus' prediction that starvation would overtake the world by the year 2000, however, the use of pesticides is among the many rising issues associated with factory farming, and there are safer options than parathion such as introducing a natural predator or genetically modifying crops so that they are less susceptible to the pest. Many organic farmers have successfully raised crops without the use of any pesticides, as all pesticides do have the potential for adverse side effects. One of the reasons parathion is used is because its high toxicity makes it highly effective, but it also highly effective on other non-targeted species.

A Toxic Threat

     Other living things are not immune to the devastating effects parathion has on an organism, Parathion has proven to be especially toxic to birds such as grouse, pigeons, red-winged blackbirds, and sparrows. Amounts of dermal exposure may be fatal for birds such as house sparrows, which have 50% mortality rate after 24 hours of dermal exposure of 1.8 mg / kg on their feet. Not only do they receive exposure through the air when it is sprayed, but also because of what they prey on. Ethyl parathion has been pinned as the direct cause of death for birds in numerous instances, for example the death of fourteen Mississippi kites from insects that were contaminated by parathion in a nearby cotton field in 1994. Another occurrence was in 1982, New York, when almost 3200 birds of various species were found dead in a field containing scattered rye seeds contaminated with ethyl parathion. As birds consume contaminated seeds and insects, bioaccumulation and biomagnification occur and the buildup of parathion in their systems often kills them, and can also impair some birds exposed to nonlethal doses in terms of ability to avert predators, and reproductive behavior (such as with the mallard and bobwhite) though it is unknown whether or not parathion affects reproductive ability.

     Parathion also has the potential to damage ecosystems by damaging other wildlife. Damage to aquatic invertebrates with ethyl parathion occurs with an EC50 at less than 1.0mg/L. On an acute basis it is also toxic to fish, with the potential to throw off the delicate balance of many aquatic ecosystems with water contamination. This would have a negative impact on entire ecosystems and communities whose economies and jobs depend on the fishing industry. Honeybees also play important roles in their ecosystems as pollinators, and they too are highly susceptible to the toxicity of parathion. Pollinators are necessary for growing plants in both natural ecosystems and in growing crops for humans in farms.

     Humans are also vulnerable to the health hazards of parathion, especially those who work with the chemical or live near landfills where it is disposed of. Parathion is a carcinogen and endocrine disruptor, and has been reported to have cause an influenza-like state and has also been associated with indirect brain impairments, such as disorientation, memory loss, decreased ability to concentrate, confusion, and delayed reflexes. It has also been linked with emotional disorders such as severe depression and insomnia. Nerve damage occurs because parathion is a cholinesterase-inhibiting chemical, which prevents the breakdown of acetylcholine when it is no longer needed to trigger physical reponses to nerve impulses. The buildup of acetylcholine causes the impulses to be repeated uncontrollably, with potential direct symptoms such as muscle spasms, trembling, paralyzed breathing, irregular heartbeat, convulsions, involuntary bowel movement, and in the most extreme cases, coma or even death.

     Considering evidence proving a direct link between various adverse effects parathion has on the health of other animals such as birds, aquatic invertebrates, fish, pollinating insects, and humans, the risks are obvious and severe. The potentially risks outweigh the benefits of convenience as the real cost goes beyond monetary values, but takes a toll on health of natural ecosystems, humans and other animals.

Sources

Bird Conservancy. (n.d.). Pesticide Profile - Ethyl parathion. abc birds. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/toxins/profiles/ethyl_parathion.html

EXTOXNET. (n.d.). Cholinesterase Inhibition. EXTOXNET. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://extoxnet.orst.edu/tibs/cholines.htm

The Encyclopedia of Earth. (2008, August 1). Health effects of methyl parathion Edit Classification Publishing Workflow . The Encyclopedia of Earth. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153408/

Pesticide Information Center. (n.d.). Parathion. EXTOXNET. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/parathio.htm Reuber, M., & Cooper, S. (n.d.). PARATHION (Ethyl parathion). Beyond Pesticides. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/parathion.pdf

Sun Pillars

    Sometimes above the sun (or occasionally below), you may see a vertical beam of light stemming from the sun.

Sun Pillar

     This vertical light is an optical phenomenon called a light pillar, sun pillar, or sun dog.

     The most common occurrences of light pillars are avove the sun when it is close to the horizon, although it can also occur with other natural light sources such as planets or various artificial light sources.

     Certain conditions are necessary for a sun pillar to appear because the appearance of a light pillar is created by the reflection of light on horizontal ice crystals in the Earth's atmosphere. When the light reflects off the bottom of the horizontal ice crystals down to the eye or by total internal reflection (the same concept as bike reflectors), it creates the appearance of an upper light pillar (above the sun). This is why it is more common to see a light pillar when the sun is closer to the horizon. When it reflects off the top of a lower ice crystal and up to the eye, you would see a lower light pillar (under the sun).

     The visual result is a towering vertical line of light extending through the sky, of the same colour as the light source.

Sources

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/platpill.htm

http://optics.kulgun.net/SunPillar/

http://earthsky.org/earth/what-is-a-sun-pillar

(originally posted 19/11/2013)