The Thief of Always Comes to Terms with Ecology

This is a photo of the book The Thief of Always by Clive Barker and it was taken from www.fantasticfiction.co.uk.

When I picked up The Thief of Always by Clive Barker, I didn't realize the many connections it had with Ecology. In this piece of literature, the characters Rictus, Jive, Marr and Carna live on the roof of the Holiday house. The roof of the Holiday House is their habitat because that is where they sleep, live and eat food. Rictus, Jive, Marr and Carna are the four servants of Mr. Hood, so they all had a role in Mr. Hood's scheme of bringing children to the Holiday House. For instance, Rictus's role was that he was sent out in the real world to persuade kids that were bored with their lives (like Harvey) to come to the Holiday House. Another instance is that Jive's role in the story was to deceive children. This is because he tricks Harvey into becoming a vampire and sucking Wendell's blood by chanting that Harvey should suck Wendell's blood. However, his beguiling chant does not work. This connects with ecology because each of Mr. Hood's servants play a part in his scheme like how an organism play a crucial part in their ecosystem.

Another connection is that there is a population of fish-like creatures that live behind the Holiday House. These creatures are a population due to the fact they are all the same species. Thus, this connects with ecology because scientists often study populations of animals, plants and bacteria to learn more about the ecosystem of an area. As you can see, The Thief of Always by Clive Barker has a strong connection with ecology. For instance, Mr. Hood's servants play a key part in his scheme similar to how animals have their own crucial parts in an ecosystem. Additionally, there is a population of fish-like creatures that live in the lake because the fish-like creatures that live in the lake are the same species. So, the next time you pick up a book, think of the many connections it has to ecology, similar to how I dug deeper in my book and found connections to ecology.

A Tree's Niche

This beautiful picture shows the tree located in the front of my house. Although this tree may not seem important to you, it has a crucial position in its community. As a piece of evidence, this tree's niche or function in its community, is that is provides as a shelter for many animals, such as birds and squirrels. This is important to its community because without this tree, several animals would not have a home. In addition, this tree lets out oxygen and absorbs the carbon dioxide humans let out. This as a result purifies the air around us by adding oxygen and eliminating carbon dioxide. Moreover, this tree also shades the plants growing below it, so that the plants can receive the proper amount of sunlight and grow successfully. As you can see, this tree's niche is very important in its community because it provides as a shelter for many animals, purifies the air and provides shade, so the plants living under it can grow successfully.


This beautiful picture above was take by Brownies 97- the author of this blog.

Abiotic Limiting Factors

Above is a picture of the afternoon sky which represents the atmosphere that shields the Earth. The atmosphere is an abiotic limiting factor because it limits the amount of sunlight brought to Earth. This as a result, makes sure each organism on Earth receives the proper amount of sunlight to grow and develop. Additionally, this abiotic limiting factor makes sure that no organism on Earth dies of intense heat.


This picture was taken by Brownies97.

Website About Blizzards

This is mine and ThingsForgotten4's website about Blizzards. Check it out!

www.blizzardsrock.webs.com.

Lit Poems

Light to Darkness

Hope

Bright, optimistic

Shining, guiding, enlivening

Encouraging, light, obscurity, melancholy

Grieving, depriving, losing,

Gloomy, absent

Death

By brownies97

Black

My eyes are brown,

Red is how I feel about my mother;

Black is the color

Of the loss of my brother.

Yellow is the color of a comrade,

White is the color of a new daughter;

Black is Hitler taking

Away my father.

Tan is the empty ground,

Gray is the loss of love;

Black is having all

Your loved ones sent above.

By Liesel

What's that smell?

This is a picture of the corpse flower.

Phew! What's that rotten smell? Well if you are near a 44.5-inch plant in the Western Illinois University Botany Greenhouse, you are probably near a corpse flower. The corpse flower was first founded in 1878 by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari who collected the seeds and offered the seeds to England's Botanic Gardens in Kew. As a result, the corpse flower planted in these gardens marked the first successful cultivation in history.The corpse flower has a foul-smelling flower that smells like rotten meat. Its stench becomes more ghastly during blooming process because that it when the plant heats up. Secondly, the corpse flower's bloom is not made up of one flower, but is actually made up of thousands of flowers.

The corpse flower just bloomed last week in the Western Illinois University Botany Greenhouse, releasing a powerful wretched odor. In addition, it was tended by greenhouse gardener Jeff Hillyer. He says this Titan never bloomed in the past 8 years, but only grew a leaf that looks like an umbrella.

To sum it up, although the corpse flowers is foul-smelling and takes years to grow, with a little patience, Jeff made it bloom. This can teach us a lesson that if we want to achieve a goal, we should put in time and have a little patience to make it bloom.

Information taken from http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/corpse-flower-blooms-100503.html.
Picture was taken from http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID8294/images/corpseflower.jpg.

Young Sun Paradox

Even though there are many hypothesises about the why the Earth's oceans did not melt in the prehistoric times. I think Dr. Rosing's hypothesis is true. Rosing's hypothesis says that the Earth's oceans did not freeze due to thin clouds. This is thought to be true because at that time, clouds lacked condensation nuclei. As might be expected, this made the clouds more transparent to the sun. Thus, allowing more sunlight, keeping the Earth warm. Another factor, is that there was less continental area at that time. This meant less sunlight was absorbed.

Hence, Rosing's hypothesis is true due to huge factors. One factor is the thin clouds at that time. Another factor, is the less continental area in the prehistoric times.

Information taken from http://www.livescience.com/space/young-sun-paradox-solved-100331.html.

Images taken fromhttp://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/img/web/backgrounds/space-sky/cartoon-clouds.jpg.