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2023-2024 Common Read - Braiding Sweetgrass: A Mother's Work

"A good mother grows into a richly eutrophic old woman, knowing that her work doesn’t end until she creates a home where all of life’s beings can flourish." p. 97

Algae covered pond

Nigel Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Ducklings

Tulumnes, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Canada Geese and goslings

USFWS Mountain-Prairie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Spirogyra

Bob Blaylock at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Cladophora glomerata algae from Lake Michigan

Image courtesy of Great Lakes Science Center

Ten-day-old tadpoles

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Setting and Hauling a Purse Seine Net

Image courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica

Predaceous Diving Beatle

Image courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Crayfish

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Willow

Antilived, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

Eastern Cottontail

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Yellow warbler nest with small clutch

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Male Yellow Warbler

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Hydrodictyon reticulatum on a hand.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Keywords

Arbiter: a person or agency whose judgment or opinion is considered authoritative. (MW)

Chloroplasts: the structure in plant cells that contains chlorophyll and in which photosynthesis takes place.  (MW)

Cilia:  hairlike projections found on the outside of certain cells and capable of a whipping motion. Some microorganisms use cilia to move themselves. (AH Student Science Dictionary)

Debacle: A complete failure.  (MW)

Demise: a cessation of existence or activity.  (MW)

Dubious: questionable or suspect as to true nature or quality.  (MW)

Exponential: characterized by or being an extremely rapid increase (as in size or extent).  (MW)

Filementous: An elongated thin series of cells attached one to another or a very long thin cylindrical single cell (as of some algae, fungi, or bacteria).  (MW)

Flocculate: resembling wool especially in loose fluffy organization.  (MW)

Gyre: a circular or spiral motion or form.  (MW)

Invertebrates: lacking a spinal column.  (MW)

Mandibles: a lower jaw consisting of a single bone or of completely fused bones.  (MW)

Oligotrophic: having a deficiency of plant nutrients that is usually accompanied by an abundance of dissolved oxygen.  (MW)

Pastoral: pleasingly peaceful and innocent.  (MW)

Pinfeathers: a feather not fully developed.  (MW)

Placid: serenely free of interruption or disturbance.  (MW)

Predaceous: living by preying on other animals.  (MW)

Protazoan: Very small living things, usually with only one cell, that can only be seen under a microscope. (OED Learners Dictionary)

Provisioned:  the fact or state of being prepared.  (MW)

Scow: a large flat-bottomed boat with broad square ends used chiefly for transporting bulk material.  (MW)

Sediment: the matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid.  (MW)

Tentative: Hesitant, Uncertain.  (MW)

Zooplankton: plankton that are very small forms of animal life that live in water. (OL)

Additional Resources

Microscopic Organisms in a Drop of Pond Water

Contact

James A. Cannavino Library

3399 North Road
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
(845) 575-3106

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