Adaptations of Stream Organisms

1). Jonathan and myself researched the leech, a creature whose name usually makes most people shudder. However, though leeches in other countries can reach staggering sizes, those found in the Sheandoah are barely the size of a fingernail. They are born with the same physical structure as an adult, only smaller in size.They can live up to several years but their lifecycle only lasts a couple months. Leeches hunt their prey by using their sense of smell and touch because they cannot see of hear, which I thought was fairly interesting. Leeches are feared as being solely bloddsuckers though they eat small invertebrates as well. In order to avoid predators, they swim away quickly, play dead, or curl into a ball and sink to the bottom of the water they accompany.
2). Riffle Beetle- can make an air bubble and keep it in its exoskeleton and molts 6-8 times in order to reach maturity.
    Water Penny- they are nocturnal and lay their eggs in a plant stem to hatch.
     Caddis Fly- its eggs are laid in a gelatanous mass and they mate during flight producing around 800 eggs. 3). I enjoyed getting to work with both Jonanthan as well as Play-Doh, and the fantastic color we created. I also liked the uniqueness of each group's presentation.
4). I tend to stutter and turn red when addressing a group, so getting over the fear of speaking to more person than usual was slightly nerveracking but fortunately it went better than expected.