Category: Flooding

Problem:

Carp are an invasive species that eat and reproduce at rapid rates, eventually destroying their habitats and everything in them. Humans are on track to do the same thing.

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Bio-UN-mimicry Idea:

Don’t mimic a carp  !  How can we as humans, an invasive species, use carp as a foreshadowing of what is to come? Processes such as commercial fishing, production farming, and food transportation take a tremendous toll on our environment, our habitat. If we do not change our methods of existence, we will destroy our habitat, just like carp. Balancing our sources of food is a simple and effective way to do this. To help on an individual basis, one could:

• Grow personal gardens
• Shop at local farmers markets
• Reduce intake of commercially fished, production grown, or lot grown meat

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How do carp destroy themselves?

Carp eat everything. As an omnivorous species, they eat both plants and other wildlife. They reproduce at enormous rates. Carp shatter any food chain and ecosystem they invade. After they eventually eat all local species  to extinction, they inevitably end up destroying all aquatic vegetation. Carp kill lakes, streams, and other habitats, rendering them nearly completely lifeless.

Here is an example of a problem that carp have made in another Oregon lake, Malheur Lake:

“Carp are an aggressive species that eat almost anything: fish eggs, insects, waterplants, seeds. They’ve stirred up so much sediment that sunlight can’t penetrate the water.

The fish can withstand extreme heat and cold, and can survive even with very poor water quality. A single adult female can produce a million eggs.

Now the shallow Malheur Lake is mostly brown, open water, free of the plants that provide food, shelter and nesting grounds for the birds. This has presented an environmental problem for decades that’s been incredibly hard to solve, Beck said.

“Carp are so hard to eradicate because they’re the perfect invasive species,” Beck said. “They’re kind of like the feral pig of the waterway.”

source: http://www.opb.org/news/article/turning-around-malheur-refuge-one-carp-carcass-at-/

 

Problem:

Fishing boats make too much noise and ripples and cause noise pollution.

Biomimicry Idea:

Mimic a water strider who walks on the water’s surface, which has a lot of surface tension to support the strider. Striders have hairs on their legs that capture air and repel water.  We could build a fishing boat more like a catamaran that has four or more legs to spread out its surface area. Put hairs on all these legs and the boat will stay on the surface of the water, instead of making noise as it moves through the deep water.

xylem soaks up water from roots and the water can escape through little holes in the leaves that open and shut. When the holes open more water is pulled up the xylem tubes because there is less pressure at one end than then by the roots.

How does nature help water strider stay on the water?

They use the surface tension on the water and the air captured in the hairs on their legs to stay afloat.

Problem:

Getting rid of mosquitoes that carry dangerous diseases without the use of pesticides that hurt the environment.

One disease that can spread for the mosquitoes is the Zika virus; even the name is a little scary. We do not have the Zika Virus in Oregon. The Zika virus damages the brain and muscles with a disease called Guillain-Barre Syndrome(gee-lan-bur-ay syndrome)

Biomimicry Idea:

Mimic how a mosquito is drawn to CO2 to find it’s food from a mammal in order to catch the mosquito around people’s homes.

I will build a device that lets out carbon dioxide from a light hidden in a camouflage box. This will attract the mosquitoes to the CO2.  The box  will have a night vision sensor that doesn’t allow the top to move because like a frog it doesn’t move its neck. There will be a medium size gap in the middle so that it will attract mosquitoes.  When frogs blink they push down their eyeballs to squeeze the food from their mouth down into their throat. The box would do the same thing and trap the mosquito.  This should only be used in areas with a mosquito who carries a disease like Zika.  Mosquitoes who are healthy are an important food source to swallows and other insect eating birds.

 

This  trap will release CO2 to attract mosquitoes.  Mosquitoes are attracted to CO2.

Problem:

The Columbia River is so dirty that it’s not safe to swim in it.

Biomimicry Idea:

Use the cattail’s design to make a eco-friendly water filter for rivers and other bodies of water.

Solution:

Mimic a cattail’s filtering system. Cattail filter out pollution like nitrogen and phosphorous in a natural way. We will make a “Cattail Water Filter” that you can attach to docks, boats, and boat houses.  It will magnify the power of the cattails filtering by ten. The water that is surrounding the house boat or dock will be cleaner than the surrounding water due to the Cattail Filter. You will have to replace the filter every year for best performance. This will make our rivers a safer place to play.

How do Cattails help us ?

Cattails absorb toxins such as arsenic. Cattails take in the polluted water and absorb the toxins and use it as nutrients. OMSI, Portland’s science museum, has used cattails in their bioswales to help absorb  the pollution from cars in the parking lot.

 

 

Problem :

Flint river has to much lead.

Biomimicry Idea:

Mimic the mushroom’s way of filtering water. the mushroom has a underground part called mycelium.  The mycelium breaks down pollutants like E. coli.  Could we make water filters based on mushrooms? We could put them on water hoses on farming fields, scatter them on lakes that struggle with E.coli outbreaks and even think about using these mushroom filters to help our local schools filter out lead in their drinking water.

http://www.popsci.com/article/science/mushrooms-are-helping-purify-dirty-waters

Problem :

Some people don’t ride their bikes because the worry that the tires need to have more grip, so they don’t fall and cause an accident .

Biomimicry Idea:

Look at their toes !  They have round toe pads at the end of each toe.  You can find a Pacific Chorus Frog hanging on to blades of grass or on the side of a tree.  White tree frog toes are similar to Oak Island’s Pacific Chorus Frogs’ toes .  They are  covered with “nano pillars.” Each pillar has a small depression in the end that creates friction between the toe and the surface it is touching. The toe material is similar to the feel of silicone rubber and is able to bend around things.   There is a small amount of mucus between these nano pillars. The mucus makes a wet adhesive that helps to hold the toe pad to a grass blade or tree branch.  When the tree moves, little bits of dirt and dust fall off.  Once this ” cleaning ” happens the toes are more able to adhere to a surface.

What if we apply the structure of a chows frog toe to a bike tire?

Cover the bike tire with small nano pillar depressions to increase pressure between the bike tire and the road. This will increase road to tire friction and create a safer bike ride.  Now lets all get out and ride !

 

Source

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tree-frogs-hang-tight-but-how/

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-07/sfeb-ffc062811.php