Our names are Sierra Reich and Matthew Konopelski. We volunteered at Rock Hollow pulling wineberries and picking up left over trash from when the place was a landfill. We did our research on how pollution effects the reproduction of birds. We learned a lot about the effects our forefathers had on our environment and how we are still making it worse. We also learned first had how hard it is to reverse that damage ravaging our slowly dying planet.
Research Project; Birds and the New Generation:
We explored how pollution affects the reproduction of birds. We saw how the pollution we are creating affects how efficient the sex hormones of various birds are affected. A lot of waste has steroids that alter the way the estrogen and androgen receptors operate. Even the noise and light pollution affects their reproduction. If a bird sees lights that they are not supposed to see, they can begin nesting early which causes them to mate early. This leaves the babies more susceptible to predators. The noise pollution has the opposite effect. this leaves them open to more unfavorable seasonal factors. These things can be found in ither species as well, including humans.
This is a table of just a few of the pollutants and their effects on birds.
Service Project at Rock Hollow:
We volunteered at Rock Hollow. We worked with their volunteers to remove wineberries. Wineberries are invasive species that grow at a much faster rate than the native species. Their berries are good okay for some birds to ingest, but others can’t digest them properly. We spent about 3-4 hours ripping them out of the ground, using shovels when necessary. Now, while Rock Hollow is a nature reserve now, it wasn’t always. The previous owners had used it as a dumping ground where one could find cars, washers and driers, bottles and much much more. We spent a good 4-5 hours digging and removing dozens of pounds of scrap and glass out of the ground just around on cluster of 3 trees. We filled about three wheelbarrows with this scrap from the earth.
