
Endangered Species Nurtured by ES Students
December 31, 2006by Daniel Saulnier
The biggest project the Sophomore Environmental Science class takes part in is the raising and releasing of their Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) and Plymouth Red-bellied Turtles (Pseudernys rubriventris bangsi). Both of these species are on the State and Federal Endangered Species list. Several of the students have
commented that they enjoy raising these fascinating animals.
Six Plymouth Red-bellied turtles were received from the “Head Start” program, run by the Mass Wildlife’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species program, near the beginning of the school year.
For the past
six months the Woodlands and Wetlands ecology class has been working hard, taking care of these turtles by cleaning their tank once a week and feeding them regularly. In addition to this, the class has been measuring the weight and shell length of each turtle each week. Each student record
s this data into their own personal log book where they later calculate the weight change as well as the change in size. At the end of every month, this data is sent to Mass Wildlife. This data from the first twenty-three weeks will be found here. Mr. Saulnier’s Sophomore class is proud to say that none of their turtles have died or been injured and that our turtles are well above average weight and size when compared to the rest of the state’s data.
As of February, the sophomore ES class has been raising five-hundred Atlantic Salmon eggs. The class received these eggs from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Nashua Fish Hatchery when they were on a field trip.
When the salmon are released into the stream they will be in the fry stage of their life cycle. This stage can be compared to the tadpole stage of the frog life cycle. It is unlikely that all five-hundred eggs will hatch or even survive by the time they are ready to be released, just as not all salmon would survive if they were bred in the wild. But the Sophomores are hoping to beat the current Junior’s record of 475 salmon survivors. As of March 21, only four eggs have not hatched. Every week,
measures are taken to ensure the salmon’s survival by ridding the tank of bacteria and chlorine. Once a week the water is checked for ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) levels and the pH. It is obvious that this class is doing all it can to help preserve and protect both of these endangered species.
The salmon were released back into the wild by the Sophomore ES classinto the Souhegan River in Milford, New Hampshire.
Eragon is a fantasy novel of a 15 year old boy hunter, who is ironically called Eragon. He discovers what he thinks is a rock as he wanders the nearby mountains, only to find the rock is actually an egg. When he had the thought to actually pick it up, all he was thinking about was going into the market to sell it. The egg hatches and turns out to be a dragon’s egg. Eragon bonds with this beautiful, blue dragon who he names Saphira. When his uncle is killed by agents of the Empire he sets out on an adventure to avenge his uncle’s death. He realizes that he has to take sides with either the Empire or the rebel group trying to overthrow the Empire. The book follows Eragon’s struggles and obstacles that get in his way. Eragon is the first book of the Inheritance Trilogy. The next book in the series is called Eldest. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of fantasy novels such as the Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.