Chaparral Field Collection (jasperridge001)

Applause IconAug 29, 2015 • 3:22 PM UTC
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epatrick

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As part of a foldscope workshop at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (JRBP), we assembled foldscopes and then took them out into the field to create slides and take pictures. We spent our time in a chaparral area, collecting samples from this dry ecosystem. We first found a grasshopper and mounted a wing and a leg by taping these parts flat on a glass slide. The firs two pictures above show (in order) the wing and the leg. There is also a video of the wing below. You can see the intricate vascular pattern on the wing in the picture and video. Unfortunately, we mounted the wing from a dead grasshopper, but if you are able to secure a live grasshopper (or insect in general) you will be able to see circulation through these tubes, with some delivering fluids to the wing and some coming back to the body. The leg is interesting because you can see small hairs along the edge. These could be hairs that the grasshopper uses to create sound when it rubs its legs, however we did not confirm this for this sample. Additionally, we looked at a spider exoskeleton, which we prepared in the same way as the grasshopper samples, and recorded a video of its hairs, shown below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsFh6__H0HQ
https://youtu.be/l-XceWJLui0

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