Sam Is Out Standing!

I had a lovely time investigating the York River this semester. The structure of my semester made me take the time to do the things I like, and remember why I am pursuing environmental science and natural resource management in the first place. I returned to some of my favorite spots, like Yorktown Beach, Colonial Parkway, and York River State Park and although I might have changed since I was there last, I still love to be out standing in nature! Working to give back to the environment and connect people with nature is what it is all about. Identifying specific threats to biodiversity along the river and exploring tools that can be used to asses/address them was such a nice way to turn passion into productivity. I am proud of the work I have done this semester, but more importantly, I am proud I pushed it out on this blog. I can get so stressed out about things and a desire for perfection prevents any forward momentum. I often let perfection be the enemy of good, but having a deadline...

Virginia Iris are a gorgeous species of wetland flowers. They grow in brackish water (less salt preferred) and can be found in areas like the marshes along the York River. I love love LOVE Virginia Iris, but my knowledge of the species would go deeper. Let's look into the taxonomy! Iris virginica by Eric Hunt First - Levels of Taxonomy and How to Remember Them The different levels of classification are used to organize species in to categories based on shared characteristics. These groupings start off extremely general get more specific as you go, until one species remains. The categories are as follows: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species In high school, I leaned the mnemonic "King Philip Came Over For Good Spaghetti" to help remember the levels. These levels also give us scientific names by combining the genus and species names. Why are scientific names important? I've heard people say Virginia Iris, Virginia Blue Flag, Southern Blueflag, or Caroli...