Wizard of Dunes
By: Chris A & Wafiyyah S.
Chapter 1 Gleichorothy, a teacher, at Lincoln Hall middle school. While talking to a teacher about succession, they got into a disagreement. They kept bickering, until the teacher left Gleichorothy. Gleichorothy vowed to prove that she's right.
The next day, Gleichorothy wakes up and gets ready to go to school. When walking to school, she always sees a beautiful Green House. This time she was in for a surprise. While on her way to school, she suddenly drops her bags and starts running; the Greenhouse wasn't there!
There was a tornado! She ran as fast as she could, but she couldn't out run it. She got caught in it and after a few seconds she was in the heart of the tornado. She looks around and then her jaw drops wide open. The Green house was coming her way! Then BAMMM she's knocked out
Chapter 2 Gleichorothy wakes up and notices that she's at a beach and she sees a sign that says “Welcome to the Dunes of Oz�. Her heads pounding like crazy, almost as if something hit her. She looks to her side and sees the greenhouse.
She notices red ruby slippers and and some legs under the green house. She takes the slippers off and puts them on her.
All of a sudden, a cloud of CO2 forms, and out of it a green bitter old witch comes out. It was the Wicked Wasp of the West. She told her that Gleichorothy killed her sister and that she will have her revenge.
Right when Gleichorothy was in trouble, the Good Beetle of the North appeared. She told the witch to go away, because she has no power here. The evil witch was insulted and then she made another cloud of C02 appear. However she didn't leave without giving a threat; “I'll get you my pretty and your little Biological Degree too.�
Chapter 3 The Good Beetle of the north told her not to worry. Gliechorothy was worried, because she wanted to go home. Therefore, she asked the good beetle how to do so. She told her that the only way to do so is to follow the Golden Sandy road, which starts at the beginning of the beach. The road will lead her to the Wizard of the Dunes and he'll grant her a wish.
However she must prove that she is worthy of attaining knowledge regarding how to return back home. The only way to prove that she's worthy is to make observation of the world around her and to present it to him---->and she was told that the best way to do it is to percolate as she goes down the sandy road. She said “ok� and she started her journey down the sandy road.
She goes all the way down to the beach and starts observing the wet margin. She sees a lot of driftwood that washed up on the shore, sedimentary rocks, and dead bugs. As she gets further away from the shore she sees a huge amount of sand around her. She bends down and looks at the driftwood and sees: small scavengers, insects, and other things that help create organic matter.
She then hears someone crying. A dark and bronzed man was on the beach and crying. She approaches him and asks what's wrong. He tells her that he's too dark and the woman he wants to marry is too white and she won't accept him unless he's white
He told her that he wants to go to the wizard so that the can grant his wish, but he doesn't know the way there. He asked if she did and she said yes. He said that if she takes him then he will help her percolate the area. She agreed. So they went off singing on the road
As they get further away from the shore, they see a huge amount of sand around them. They bend down and look at the driftwood and see yet again:small scavengers, insects, and other things that help create organic matter. They percolated and noticed that it took 18 seconds for the sand to absorb the water. This is expected because sand absorbs water very fast.
Chapter 4
They approach the dune builders and observe two types of plants: sand reed grass and marram grass. They came to the conclusion that these are pioneer plants. Pioneer plants are plants that go into an area with barely any organic matter and help make a suitable environment for other organisms. And then they percolated. It took 20.59 seconds for the water to be absorbed.
As they walk, a huge gust of wind hits them. At the same time they notice that the wind pushed the sand and the builders back. It seems as though the wind pushes the builders back and and it adds on to the next level. Then Gleichorothy notices that she has a sunburn. There's a lot sun exposure, which means plants will be able to survive.
They also see other plants like: cottonwood and sandcherries.
Chapter 5
They continue through the path and she sees little bluestems, which are in large clumps. They have entered the Leeside stage. They conclude that the stems hold the dunes once they are established. There's a good amount of sun exposure and this helps them go through photosynthesis and grow. However, it has less sun exposure and wind currents, than the beach and dune builders. They percolated in this are and saw that the water was absorbed in 46.3 seconds. It takes a longer amount of time for the water to be absorbed, because the soil has so many minerals
They eventually entered the Jack Pine stage. Gleichorothy notices a bunch of plants in the following order :bearberries, jackpines, and junipers. They are having problems percolating in this area. They needed help. Coincidentally, they notice some dude without a shirt in his swim shorts.
He told them that he's a college student and that he got to the dunes with a bunch of other college students (through different tornado). They ended up on another beach. They were on their way to Miami,for spring break,and the tornado stopped them. Then they decided that they should just have a party on the beach. They eventually got fed up with partying and wanted to go home. So they tried finding a way back home. Unfortunately, everybody got lost and he didn’t know what to do. Gleichorothy and the tan man offered to take him with them. However, he had to tell them about the are they were in and help them percolate. He agreed!
He already knew how to percolate in that area so he did it. Then he went on to tell them that in this area there's a good amount of wind and sun exposure. This was very good for the junipers (plants) that reside here. Unfortunately, it's harder for the small plants to receive any sun light, because the juniper blocks it.
They continue on the path and eventually get to the blowout stage. They see sandy depressions in the sand dunes ecosystem. They inferred that the wind had something to do with this. The college student then remembered what he learned in biology last semester. It was a bit hazy because he usually fell asleep during class. It turns out that the depressions are caused by the wind removing sediments. They eventually unbderstood how pioneer plants grow.
From this info they formulate an conclusion: a large gust of wind came removed the vegetation and formed a depression in the sand. It may also be caused by human disturbance. Gleichorothy included this in her hand dandy notebook.
Chapter 6
Then she reminds herself what the definition of succession is:
Primary succession: pioneers come in to an area where there is no organic matter and they build a suitable environment for other organisms
Secondary succession: a blowout is an example. It's when an area is disturbed and this causes there to be a disruption in vegetation. And then plants are going work again in order to bring it back to normal. It will take less time to do when compared to primary succession.
They also see that there is barely any vegetation because there isn't that much sun exposure. They go on to percolate in the blowout. It toke them 23.7 seconds to percolate in the blowout. It's similar to the ebach stage because there is sand present.
Further down the trail they see the following plants: hickory, oak,elm, sassafras, ash, and any other trees. Gleichorothy looks up and observes that there isn't much sunlight coming through. The big trees are taking most of it and there's barely any wind. She percolates and measures the time to be 330.1 seconds. It took a long amount of time in this stage because there was a lot of soil that had a lot of minerals in it
Gleichorothy arrives at the next stage (sandmine stage). She notices a flat landscape that stretches. She knew in advance that this area was leveled and hauled by sand miners.
She expected that since many years have passed since sand was removed from the site, it too has begun a process of succession. Small mounds of sand are building around everywhere; and marram grass, little bluestem grass, and sand cherry shrubs.
She percolates and gets 132.33 seconds. There's a lot of sun and a lot of wind. Therefore, she comes to another conclusion. Since these two things are present, and the area still doesn't really have a lot of plants, then it's all due to the sandminers.
Interdunal Pond Stage They come to the next stage (interdunal pond) and they notice that there's a lot of wind and sun exposure. They didn't know how exactly it was created so they asked a scientist that was observing the pond. He said, “It was created by the wind’s violent force, carving a channel through a low spot between the dune and lake, and scooping the sand out down to the water table.”
They approach the end of the path and see the castle of the wizard. All of a sudden ,the witch appears with her flying enzymes, and they try to take Gliechorothy's notes. This way Gleichorothy won't have anything to present to the wizard. .
Just when they're about to take the notes a huge dragon appears, he threatens to breathe fire on them. The enzymes floated away because they didn't want to get denatured and the witch disregarded his warning. She ran after Gliethorothy and the rest of them.
They run back to the pond and she's about to cast a spell on them. Dorothy then pushes the witch into the pond, thus melting her. They went back and thanked the dragon. He told them that that he couldn't really do anything because he doesn't know how to breathe fire. They told him to come with them so that the wizard could teach him how. He happily obliged.
As they were walking down the sandy road another tornado appears. Gleithorthy closes her eyes and when she opens them she see children walking into school. She configured that it was all a day dream. She goes into her classroom and teacher her kids about succession, as well as proves herself right to the other teacher.
The End