Will's Field Study

Monday, November 14, 2022

Field Visit 4 on November 13, 2022

Field Notes:

Time of Visit - 12:50-1:20 (afternoon)
Climate Conditions - 7 mph breeze, light snow falling (flurries), chilly
Temperature - 35°F
Length of Day - 9 hours, 49 minutes (Sunrise at 7:33 AM, sunset at 5:23 PM)

Observations:

The biggest (and most obvious) observation that I noticed was that everything was covered in snow. This was new this time, as it was one of the first days of the year that we got any snow. Below you can find pictures that really show how snow covered everything in the forest was.

I also observed that the pond has not frozen over yet. This make sense, as it has only just gotten cold enough to start snowing, and it doesn't just freeze immediately. It still had a layer of slush over the top, and I think by maybe my next visit, if it continues to get colder, the pond might freeze over. Below is a picture of the pond that shows my observations

I also observed that there were almost no animals or tracks. In the past, especially last week, I have seen lots of insects, squirrels and chipmunks rummaging around, birds flying overhead or chirping, but this week I didn't see anything. The only thing I saw was some squirrel tracks, where it looked like a squirrel was digging up some acorns and jumping across the snow to get back to the tree. There is a picture below. I also saw a track that looked possibly like a deer track, but it easily could've been something else. A picture of this can be found below on the right.

Changes:

One change that I noticed was there were little to no leaves in my area. The only trees that really still had any were beech trees (pictures to the left). There were still some leaves on a few oaks trees, and some other species had just a few, but very little numbers generally. Everything was dead and covered in snow. Even all of the ferns and most ground cover was completely dead, and hidden under the snow.

One other change that I noticed was that there were a lot of fallen trees in my area. Below you can find a couple pictures that show this super well. In the past, there have been clumps of logs and fallen branches, but this field visit I found a lot of new/newer spots where this occurred. I did notice that a lot of branches were hanging much lower than usual, weighed down by all of the snow, so perhaps that is a cause. Perhaps that caused the branches to snap. However, this seems kinda unlikely, so maybe it was a storm we had at some point during this time frame.

One final change I saw was that the ground cover near/in the pond was finally starting to die. It was all starting to become, or being, a darker brown color. The snow also weighed down the grasses/weeds, which can all be shown in the pictures below. Perhaps the snow/frost was a cause that killed the plants quickly. I think that it is very interesting that this is only just occurring, when leaves have been falling for at over a month.

Finally, I have one picture that I take from the exact same location each time I visit my area for my field study. The picture can be found directly below. There are changes here too that I will talk about. The first and most obvious one is that everything is completely covered in snow, which is new this week. Secondly, there is way less leaves than last time, and if there are any left, there are either dying or on the verge of dying, or they are the "leaves" from a type of pine tree, so they will stay green all year round. Another change is that you can't see the leaves on the ground at all because they are all covered by snow. I found all of this to be very interesting, but very expected. I am excited to come back next time and see if there is more snow and any big/new changes.

Questions:

Was the snow/frost what caused all of the grass/ground cover near/in the pond to die suddenly?

Why does the ground cover "survive" so much longer than the leaves on trees generally?

Does the cold and snow cause tree branches to fall, or is something else the cause?
Has the snow scared away all of the creatures?
How long until/will the pond freeze over?

Connections to Awe:

In Biology, we have talked a lot about Psalm 8 and its connections to awe and stewardship. This visit, when I went out to complete my field study, I was in absolute awe of God's creation. The snowy woods look just stunning, as flurries of snow swirled around me with the gusts of wind, and the ground was covered with a fresh layer of soft snow. It was amazing to look around, and even see the bright bursts of color just peaking out from the white snow. It reminded me of this verse from Isaiah 1:18, which reads, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” I was reminded that Jesus washes our sins as white as snow, and I was really just in awe of his creation.

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

Analysis - After looking at the colors, it seems that relatively all of the different directions have had the same pattern this time. There is very few leaves left, and therefore very little color. The only green I observed came from pine trees, and they don't have their "leaves" fall, so they will stay like that all year round. I observed mainly browns and oranges, which makes sense, as they are the "last colors to go through" before the leaves die and fall to the ground. However, there were way less brown leaves because the snow has covered up the ground cover ones, which makes sense. I think that my original idea of the North and South having the most leaf color change and fall the fastest was supported by this visit, as when looking at the East and West, specifically the West, there is still a lot of leaves left, or at least more than the other directions.

North: