Tree of Life exercise
I've observed species from across 5 different iconic taxa.
- Plants: Least exciting to me is the Coast Live Oak. The tree is in the plants taxa and is a member of the kingdom plantae.
- Birds: Nearby a group of sleeping sea lions, I found a Western Gull trying to rest as well. The gull is in the birds taxa.
- Mammals: The California Sea Lion, seen here drying itself on San Francisco's Pier 39, is a member of the mammals taxa. The sea lions I saw were very cool and interesting to observe.
- Insects: I found a water strider in Strawberry Creek. It was very hard to take a good picture of the water strider as I was photographing it in very low light conditions with a pocket camera. The water strider is an insect.
- Chromista: Most interesting was the instance of phytophthora ramorum, the progenitor of sudden oak death. P. Ramorum is a member of the chromista taxa, a taxa of which I have not seen many examples.
Observations
Photos / Sounds
What
California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus)Observer
ericandersenDescription
This male Californian Sea Lion appears to be drying himself under the sun as he rests on Pier 39 at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.
Photos / Sounds
What
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)Observer
ericandersenDescription
This Western Gull is resting at Pier 39 in San Francisco immediately adjacent to a large group of Californian Sea Lions.
Photos / Sounds
What
Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia)Observer
ericandersenDescription
This tree is near Moffitt Library at UC Berkeley.
Photos / Sounds
What
Typical Water Striders (Subfamily Gerrinae)Observer
ericandersenDescription
I found this water strider in Strawberry Creek on the UC Berkeley campus.
Photos / Sounds
What
Fungi Including Lichens (Kingdom Fungi)Observer
ericandersenDescription
I found an instance of phytophthora ramorum growing on the bark of a Coast Live Oak on the UC Berkeley campus. This affliction causes sudden oak death and is quite prevalent on the Western United States.
Comments
Nice job Eric - I'm impressed you got Sudden Oak Death in there!
Thanks! A few years back, one of the oak trees in my backyard died because sudden oak death. I recall that when I helped my dad cut up the tree into logs and, later, when I was splitting the logs into firewood, I noticed that a lot of pieces of bark had this weird white stuff growing on it. When I saw the oak tree bark yesterday, I thought back to what I saw a few years prior.
Cool - Maggi Kelly in ESPM at Berkeley does some cool research on sudden oak death you can check out here: http://kellylab.berkeley.edu/oakmapper/
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