Field Visit - October 9

 Will's Field Study

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Field Visit 3 on October 9

Field Notes:

• Time of Visit - 3:00-3:40 PM
• Climate Conditions - Partly cloudy with quite a bit of sun, 13 mph winds
• Temperature - 60°F
• Length of Day - 11 hours, 21 minutes (sunrise was at 7:50 AM, and the sunset was at 7:11 PM)

Observations - 

This week, as part of my observations, I decided to create a sound map. A picture of it is right below. I noticed a lot of insects from all around me, especially in the tall grass where the pond normally would be. I heard a tree frog over in a tree near the sandy area (I guessed the general area, and then pinpointed the location after the time was up, and it matched up well). I never realized until know how many sounds you could hear that weren't natural. I heard people talking, footsteps, and a lot of cars, which makes sense, as the trails are right next to M31. I also heard quite a few birds, which I identified as some crows and a hawk (I think).

Other observations include the leaves. I noticed that generally, there are a ton more leaves that have changed colors. I will elaborate more on this in my Leaf fall/Leaf Color section below, but I noticed a lot more reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. The ground was covered almost completely in a lot of different areas, as seen in the picture below on the far right. The other pictures just show the leaf colors (picture to the far left isn't all in my area, I just thought it was a good picture that showed the range of colors currently in this area. 

(A picture of the leaf color, and me observing mushrooms -> in the changes section)

As far as organisms go, I saw, and heard, quite a few. I noticed a lot of bugs that I hadn't seen before here (picture on the right, top row, and a zoomed in version in the center) sitting on top of a yellow flower that was shriveling up and dying, which was in the forest, right off of the main trail by the sandy area. The most similar thing I can compare it to is a water strider (There is also a question about this bug in the questions section below). In addition, I saw a little black beetle-like creature that kinda looked like a poppyseed sitting on top of a dead pink colored flower, which is mixed in with the grasses next to the pond. I think that it is some sort of black aphid (picture to in the left, top row). Like I mentioned above by my sound map, I heard lots of birds and insects, and the locations of them can be found in the sound map drawing. I also observed lots of dragonflies this week. Most of the ones I saw were mating, so I couldn't get a picture as it didn't feel appropriate, but I found that most of them were either blue or red, with more being blue. I observed these everywhere, but specifically in the grass where the pond is.

I found more moss this week, and I also noticed a lot more acorns than I had before. These acorns where everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I found them in the front and the back of my plot of land, and everywhere in-between. I think that there has to be quite a few big oak, which makes sense as I have seen quite a few fallen oak leaves. Many acorns were cracked and missing their insides, so I am guessing that a lot of critters have been eating them. As many plants are dying, maybe creatures are beginning to rely on these for food. I will have to see if the amount of acorns changes in my next field study. I also observed a lot of fallen branches right in the middle of my area in the woods, as well as some interesting black rocks. These black rocks were found mainly in the forest part of my area, but I found a few laying in the trails. They were scattered quite a bit, not being clumped up together ever. For the pictures below, the top row has acorns, while the middle row has the moss (left), the fallen branches (right), and the black rocks are in the third row.

For some final observations, I noticed more tracks in the sandy area, just like I did during my last visit. I found bird scratches again (picture on the right), another dog-like print (picture in the center), but this time I also found a deer print! It is pretty difficult to see in the picture on the right, but it is there. I actually found three of these, and it seemed that the deer was moving towards where the pond is. I wonder why. The pond is still dry, so it can't get a drink from there. Perhaps it was just passing through. I will continue to keep an eye out for deer or their tracks, to see if a pattern of some sorts develops. 

I also have this picture, which I am taking in the same location each field visit. Overall, there are quite a few changes when comparing to my picture from my last visit, on September 27. The biggest change is the color of the leaves. There is a lot more color in the leaves, which I talked about more above in the observations section. One other change I found is that I would say that there is a bit less ground cover by the bank of where the pond normally is. A bit more grass and vegetations seems to have died, so overall it looks less "dense." Overall, there aren't a lot of huge changes, but some subtle ones with the plants, and a lot of color change.

Changes - 

Overall, I saw many changes in my area during this field visit. The most obvious upon first glance being the leaf color changes. I talked about this in the observations section, and in the leaf color/leaf fall section. Another change that I saw was a change in the "density" of the vegetation. It was much more cleared out and not as lush. You can see this in the picture below with the grass where the pond normally is, as there is more separation between clumps, and you can see some of the dead parts of it (picture on the right). Also, you can see much further in the actual woods area, as there isn't as many leaves on the lower branches blocking you view (picture in the center). Finally, this made me notice the amount of thorn vines much more. I don't think that they have actually grown more of them, but I noticed a lot more as they don't blend in with the rest of the surroundings anymore because there is less green. They are in the woods area, towards the center, just a few steps off of the main path mostly. They are still pointy to the touch, but some of the tips are starting to brown and possibly die a little bit. You can see these in the picture on the left.

The last change I will be talking about is fungi. Last field visit, I noticed a ton of mushrooms that grew both inn the sandy area, and off of some of the trees. When I got to my location, I went right to check on them. The mushroom growing off of the tree was missing (picture to the left, top row). I wonder if a critter might have eaten it. The mushrooms in the sand were still alive, and there were a lot more of them. I counted about 6 in my little sand area, but in the rest of the sand outside my plot of land, there were a lot more (pictures in the bottom row). When I got up from kneeling down in the sand to take some pictures of the mushrooms, I noticed that the knees of my pants were damp and a little wet. I then touched the sand and found that it was pretty wet as well. I wonder if the sand has been able to retain moisture allowing for more mushrooms to grow in that area, compared to the forest area. There were also some new mushrooms that grew in the forest, just about 5 feet straight back from the tree that used to have an orange mushroom. You can see these in the picture on the top row, to the left.

Stewardship - Last visit, I noticed some moss outside of my area that looked sick. It didn't seem natural though, it looked as though someone poured a substance like alcohol on it. This week, the color of the sick-looking part is a bit darker. I am not a moss expert, but it seems like it is drying out and dying. It could be healing, I am not quite sure. We will have to wait to see during my next visit.

Questions (Many of these questions correspond with changes and observations, so picture can be found in those sections of the blog post) - 

• It seemed that there were a lot more creatures out and about during this visit? Was it because I came earlier in the day? Was it because the conditions were relatively nice?
• What type of rock are the blacks ones that I found? Coal?
• When I come next week, will there be more acorns on the ground because more fell, or less because more animals are gathering and eating them?
• I noticed that most of the dragonflies I saw were red and blue, with more blue. Could this somehow be related to natural selection? Do blue dragonflies blend in with the sky better, so it is harder for predators to eat them? Do red ones blend in better with the leaves and ground color generally? Is it just a coincidence? Are those just the colors of the species of dragonfly that live in this area?

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 third set of data, showing the percentages of the different colors of the leaves in the north, south, east, and west.

Analysis - I am a bit stumped this week. In the past, I thought that the south and north had the most color change because the get the most sunlight. I thought this because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so those two directions only get "part" of the sunlight, while the other two directions get full sunlight all day. However, this week, all of the directions have had quite a bit of color change. The north and south still have the most, but maybe this hypothesis is incorrect. Maybe there is a different causes. I will have to wait to gain more evidence in my next three field studies, either to prove, or disprove this idea. 

North:

• Green - 66%

• Yellow - 6%

• Orange - 3%

• Red - 1%

• Brown (Leaves on the ground/dead) - 13%

• No leaves - 11%

South:

• Green - 38%

• Yellow - 9%

• Orange - 5%

• Red - 2%

• Brown (Leaves on the ground/dead) - 16%

• No leaves - 30%

East:

• Green - 60%

• Yellow - 4%

• Orange - 0%

• Red - 0%

• Brown (Leaves on the ground/dead) - 20%

• No leaves - 16%

West:

• Green - 46%

• Yellow - 4%

• Orange - 2%

• Red - 0%

• Brown (Leaves on the ground/dead) - 34%

• No leaves - 14%

Additional Pictures -