Where was Mrs Bear?

In Term 1 and Term 2, when you were all working hard in the classroom with Mrs Nolan, Mrs Bear was working on the Science Teaching Leadership Programme.  Instead of being a teacher in the classroom, I was a student scientist at Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua.
You can read about Mrs Bear's time at Landcare in her blog: A Foray into Fungi 

In February, I went to a Bioblitz at the National Wetlands Centre at Ohaupo.   A biolblitz is a scientific research project, where people find and identify all the living things they can find in a particular area in a particular time from.  This bioblitz lasted for 24 hours, so at night we went out looking for moths, spiders and other nocturnal creatures. I learnt all about how the bioblitz operates; where to look, and how to identify and record different bacteria and micro-organisms in the bush.

Next year Cockle Bay plans to hold a bioblitz in May or June, with some of the scientists at Landcare Research who will help us identify the specimens we find.

This is the Bioblitz HQ.  People assembled here first then brought the specimens they found in the bush back to HQ to identify them and record them on the Bioblitz database.

This is how many different plants, fungi, bacteria, insects, birds, earthworms and animals that we found on the Bioblitz. over a 24 hour period, from 12 noon Saturday to 12 noon Sunday.  

A Bioblitz is a great place to meet new people and make new friends.

Sorting micro-organisms in swamp water.

In May, Mrs Bear went on the New Zealand Fungal Foray in the Southern Alps.   65 scientists from around the world set up an HQ for a week at Moana by Lake Brunnar.  Scientists always want to learn more about fungi, and see what types of fungi they can find.  Every year a different location is chosen, and every year new fungi that have not been seen in New Zealand before are discovered.

Here is a group photo of the scientists at the New Zealand Fungal Foray 2108

Every day scientists went out in small groups to different locations to collect fungi.  In the afternoons, they spent time identifying and photographing the samples they had found, and sometimes taking cultures so they could grow more fungi back in the lab for further study.

Discovering fungi in the field.  It was always raining so you had to wear very warm, waterproof wet weather gear all the time when you were outside.

Two of the specimens Mrs Bear found near Brunner mine.  It was important to take the GPS co-ordinates and a photo of the fungi in the location where it was found before collecting your sample.

Here is a small selection of the fungi on the ID Table, waiting for verification.  Scientists, expert in fungi, checked people's identification and downloaded photos from the field before the fungi were recorded on the fungal foray database.

Mrs Bear also spent lots of time learning about bacteria; how to isolate them and grow them in the lab, so that they can be studied.  First she worked on the bacteria found on the Bioblitz, and then she investigated the bacteria found in fizzy drinks like Kombucha.

There was a lot to learn about lab procedures, so that you isolate cultures safely, and don't contaminate them.  You have to wash your hand ALL THE TIME and be very careful about how you handle the lab equipment and samples, so that bacteria do not get mixed up.  When you work with micro-organisms, you work under a 'hood' which keeps the air clean and free of other  bacteria usually found in the air, that might land, and spoil your cultures.

Finally Mrs Bear carried out her own independent research study to discover what bacteria were present in the Onehunga Lagoon.  Her dog, Tui, loves to swim in the water there and smells very 'swampy' afterwards, so it was interesting to find which bacteria made the smell.  It was amazing how many petri dishes Mrs Bear used as she isolated bacteria from three different collection points.  She found 31 different bacteria altogether.

After the DNA of the bacteria was sequenced, it was found that 14 were scientifically interesting enough (either newly discovered in New Zealand, or a particularly good sample) to be deposited in the International Collection of Micro-organisms from Plants (ICMP).  These samples are kept in special containers in liquid Nitrogen and can be ordered by other scientists from around the world, who want to conduct their own investigations.

Another job Mrs Bear did at Landcare Research was to make display cases for insects that were suitable for primary schools.  Here is the spider display case.  You have to use very sharp, pointy tweekers to place the insects (and all their legs or antennae) correctly.

On her last day, Mrs Bear made a presentation about her time at Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua to all the scientists she had been lucky enough to work with.