Field Visit - October 30

Will's Field Study

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Field Visit 4 on October 30

Field Notes:

• Time of Visit - 1:30-2:00
• Climate Conditions - Partly cloudy, a very light breeze
• Temperature - 59°F
• Length of Day - 10 hours, 23 minutes (Sunrise at 8:16 AM, sunset at 6:39 PM)

Observations:

This week I observed a ton of animal tracks. Both in the sandy area in my plot of land, and in the mud around the pond, there were lots of tracks. I have identified what I think to be deer tracks, dog tracks, and raccoon tracks. I have found these tracks in both places, as you can see in the images below. The raccoon tracks are on the top left and center, the dog track is on the top right. The deer tracks are on the bottom row.

Another interesting thing that I observed were leaf markings in the sand. In the sandy area of my plot of land, there are a lot of ferns and leaves, as you can see below on the picture on the left. In the sand surrounding these leaves and dead ferns, I found what looked like indents of the leaves in the sand. Sometimes they even looked like the stuck out of the sand, instead of being an indent. They looked super cool, and you can see one of them on the picture below on the right. 

Overall this week, I observed so many more creatures this week. As I walked into my area, chipmunks and squirrels dashed by, too fast for me to even get a picture. I could hear the fallen leaves crunching beneath their feet and the branches sway and shift as they leaped up trees and chased each other around. In one case, I witnessed a squirrel chase after a chipmunk for I want to say five minutes, rustling around in the undergrowth. I saw crows fly overheard, and heard them calling from trees in the distances. I heard tree frogs like normal, but was still unable to pin point the exact locations and take a picture. I saw a lot of little spiders, which I think to be jumping spiders, based on their moving patterns of jumping from leaf to leaf on the ground. I also saw more dragonflies, but this time, I only saw ones in the color blue. Below you can find a picture of one of the spiders on the left, and a dragonfly on the right.

One final observation that I had was the moss. In my area, there is a lot of moss. I find it almost everywhere I walk. In this season of fall, I guess that I automatically assumed that the moss would kinda change colors and die like the leaves do, around the same time. I could not be more wrong. I would say that 95% of the moss that I have observed has still been a bright and vibrant green, a nice change from the rest of the orange and browns in the forest right now. Below you can find some pictures of this moss, which really shows the contrast of colors.

Changes:

Below you will find my picture that I take in the same spot every week. I would say that there are a lot of dramatic changes, and when comparing they look very different. The colors are way different, as this week there is way more brown and less green, yellow, and orange. In addition, the area seems "less dense" with a lot more leaves and vegetation missing. Overall, it looks "more dead" this week.

One of the biggest changes is that the pond is back! There is water again, and I can already tell that it is changing to environment a lot. The ground feels mushier and there is a lot more mud. I think that the water source being back in this area is part of the reason that I am seeing so many creatures this week. Many of the tracks I observed were by the water, so it makes sense that the pond has played a big role in the animals coming back. 

Another change I noticed was that a lot of leaves were missing from the trees. There was very little vegetation overall, everything felt very bare. In my section below on leaf color and leaf fall, you can see some data of percentages with and without leaves, so more information can be found there. In the pictures below, you can see just how many leaves are on the ground, as well as just how bare the trees are in many areas of my plot of land. 

One other big change is the color of the leaves. Overall, it seems that the trees and either brown, or green. The green trees are normally different species of pine tree, which don't really have color change like the other species that I have observed in my plot of land. I thought that it is interesting that most of the leaves are just a brown color, and that there isn't as much variety anymore. However, there are still some trees that have brighter colors like orange and yellow. Below you can find examples of all of these things.

One final change I saw was the mushrooms in my area. I barely found any during this visit, which is very different in comparison to my past two visits, where I found a lot al throughout my area. I only found one this week, which was a shriveled up one in the sandy area of my plot of land. I wonder if the pond being back could have a played a role in this. Maybe more animals are being attracted to this area, and have been eating the mushrooms as a result. 

Stewardship:

If you read my blog post from a few weeks ago, you may remember that when walking to my plot of land, there is a section of moss that had an odd and sickly coloration. I thought that there was a possibility that someone may have poured alcohol on it, which would make sense, as we have found bits of glass in the area which seem like broken beer bottles. Last week, I wasn't able to tell if it was getting better or worse, but this week I think I know. When looking at it, it seemed much more green and healthy looking, so I think that it is getting better. In the following picture, you can see this (the sick moss is right in the center)

Questions:

• The pond is holding water again, so has that brought more animals into the area?
• If so, has that caused the fungi to be missing because the creature ate them?
• Do the different colors of dragonflies relate to natural selection?

Last week I asked this question after observing a lot of red and blue dragonflies. I wondered if there were more of these colors because they could survive better in this environment (red blends in well with the leaves that are changing color, blue blends in with the sky). After doing a quick google search, I discovered that generally, dragonflies get more vibrant in coloration as they get older, so the dragonflies I saw could have just been older ones. In addition, I found that the Desert Firetail is a species of dragonfly that lives throughout the US, and when comparing to the red dragonflies I observed, they matched super well. Also, the Blue Dasher is a species of dragonfly that lives in North America, and when comparing pictures, this species matched the one I observed pretty well. After doing this research, it seems that the different colors of dragonflies are just from the different species. However, these species could still be able to survive longer in this environment, which does relate to natural selection.

Source: The Color of Dragonflies

• Does moss ever die and change color like leaves do? If so when?
• What caused the leaf shapes in the sand that I found? Was it just the leaves sitting on the sand for a long while, or is something else the cause?

Leaf Color and Leaf Fall:

For my biology field study, I will also be looking at the leaves and vegetation in my area, to see how it changes throughout the semester. Below you will find my fourth set of data, showing the percentages of the different colors of the leaves in the north, south, east, and west.

Analysis - Once again, I am stumped. Overall, the colors between the four directions are very similar, all having a lot of brown and darker colors, with very little if any green. In the past, I thought that the north and south would have the most and fastest color change, based on the way the sun rises and sets, but I think that theory is out the window at this point. In my next two visits, I am going to get my last sets of data and then begin researching to see if the patterns I have notice match up with any others. I am also hoping to compare my results to those of other people in my class, so make sure to stay tuned. 

North:

• Green - 33%
• Yellow - 8%
• Orange - 8%
• Red - 0%
• Brown (Leaves on the ground/dead) - 35%
• No leaves - 16%

South:

• Green - 3%
• Yellow - 0%
• Orange - 15%
• Red - 0%
• Brown (Leaves on the ground/dead) - 43%
• No leaves - 39%

East:

• Green - 21%
• Yellow - 11%
• Orange - 24%
• Red - 0%
• Brown (Leaves on the ground/dead) - 26%
• No leaves - 18%

West:

• Green - 1%
• Yellow - 2%
• Orange - 13%
• Red - 34
• Brown (Leaves on the ground/dead) - 40%
• No leaves - 10%

Additional Pictures: