Ecology is 'eeww' - fun

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

Dr. Barron Rector points to the water that is being trapped in a plastic bag, during a process plants go through, called transpiration. Dr. Rector taught kids at the Williams Trace Apartments in Cameron about ecology. He, along with 4-H kids, talked about rain, plants, animals and water. -- Photo by Mindy Poehl

July 20, 2004 -- Learning about ecology turned into fun when Dr. Barron Rector presented different demonstrations about animals, plants and rain at Williams Trace Apartments in Cameron on Tuesday, July 13.

Rector, an associate professor and Extension specialist in range ecology and poisonous plant management, was a speaker at the Fun with our Environment Youth Camp. The camp was sponsored by the Milam County Extension Office, Texas Cooperative Extension and Milam County 4-H Clubs.

"The purpose of this event, which we have each year, is to teach kids about ecology," said Cheryl Walker, family and consumer sciences agent, in Milam County. "Dr. Rector is a huge help. We couldn't do this without him."

Williams Trace Apartments are newly-built apartments in Cameron and the camp was held there to teach the residents' kids, along with 4-H'ers, about ecology. The 4-H Plant I.D. Club promoted the event, explained Clint Perkins, Milam County agricultural Extension agent.

In a segment called Animals on the Land, Rector presented different birds to the kids. After looking at their beaks, he related the shape of the bird's beaks to what the birds eat. A hawk, which is a predator and eats small rodents and snakes, has a strong, hooked beak that tears its' prey apart if it is too big for them, Rector said.

During a section called What's in the Box, children stuck their hands inside of covered boxes, felt around and had to guess what was inside. A turtle shell is an example of what was found in one box.

Next, in Something Fishy, "we had computers set up and the kids learned about fish and how to filet them," Perkins said.

Rector also spoke about plant transpiration. Transpiration is the process of a plant giving off moisture through it's leaves. Rector wrapped plastic bags around different plants throughout the yard of the apartment complex and, after 20 minutes, checked the amount of water that had collected in the bags. Transpiration accounts for 10 percent of evaporating water.

In a demonstration called Rain Maker, three different stations were set up to show the rate of erosion on different types of landscapes. The first station included a cactus on bare soil. The second station had a medium amount of vegetation. The third station was like a rainforest and had a lot of vegetation growing. The barren land had the most erosion and the runoff water was dark. The plot with good vegetation had the smallest amount of erosion and the runoff water was clear.

The last event of the day was the Plant Press. The children were given different types of leaves and pressed them between paper and boards to preserve them. The leaves were Yaupon, Post Oak, French Mulberry, Brown-eyed Susan sunflowers and Green Briar, which Rector took a bite out of, because the leaf is edible-just like a leaf of spinach. As a few kids tried taking bites out of the leaves, with their reactions as "Eeww," Rector warned them that most plants are poisonous, so do not go around eating them.