kevincomerford's Journal

I failed, I did not find 5 animals but I had a great experience anyway. I started my walk because I needed some calm time after a long day of travel and a nature walk made sense. I went to Houghton Gardens again to find some insects and animals. I immediately grabbed a stick and started moving the piles and piles of leaves, which ended up being a problem, the leaves. I did see a pill bug as well as a high-jumping flea larva, but taking their picture was impossible. These insects have adapted to NOT be found, why would they be out in the open? The two worms and two small flea-like animals looked like larva, which made me think about how these must be r-selected species as there were many of them and easily found, therefore could be easily killed. I also saw a black lab that I couldn't not snap a picture of. Before giving up I decided to snap a few pictures, the one of the leaf and the tree is to show what my arch nemesis was, and the dicots just looked super cool. The eastern hemlock was growing out from under the tree trunk the one worm was in. I literally was scraping away leaves and needles, turning over rocks and trunks, and still didn't have five pictures to show for it. Either way it was fun and relaxing and I felt connected to nature and the animals, if only they weren't so well adapted to avoid predators.

Today I went back to Houghton Garden right as the sun was setting around 5:30. I tried to look for the four main groups of plants, Byrophyta (mosses), Polypodiopsida (ferns), Gymnosperms (pine trees), and Angiosperms (flowering plants) and was easily able to find all of them. I also saw many chipmunks, birds, and squirrels. My friend Chloe and I went and had a great time climbing on trees and throwing things into the water. Seeing the mosses I noticed they were in damp areas, as water retention is more difficult. The ferns were also low lying but were able to be higher up than the mosses. The Pine trees seemed less abundant than other types of trees but were still present and their needles were waxy and and hard. Finally the flowering plants were very abundant and spread across every area of the forest showing they have the most current adaptations to this environment. Overall it was a great walk where I saw a variety of organisms (including some fungi!) and really enjoyed meandering along the trails.

This rainy afternoon I paid a visit to BC's Pine Nature Preserve. I had been here before but I never paid so much attention to the nature there. I found a large hole in the ground that seems like it could house some sort of animal. I found many fungi but it wasn't easy, and I'm pretty sure one of them was moss. But keeping my eye extra open made me notice so many more things. It held true that there are microbes everywhere, every fallen branch, every tree, and every stone had something growing on it even if it was minute. The organisms I found growing on the rocks and the tree had interesting textures and made me think of class with colonies having unique shapes. It was cool seeing different colonies next to each other forming slightly different shapes based on the contour of the rock or tree. I look forward to going back!

Today I decided to go to Houghton Garden. The scenery was beautiful and the still water creek really tied everything together. I saw all different types of plants and animals. While I did take pictures of only plants it was only because the animals eluded a still shot. There were so many chipmunks and they were chirping and scurrying all over, a hummingbird feeding, a blue jay, and many water bugs. Of the plants the flowering ones were my favorite and made me think about class the most. The flowers were vibrant and beautiful and I wondered what evolutionary purpose this color held. To scare predators away? Is it it attract certain pollinators? How did it get selected to be this way and what selection pressures led to that? I think seeing the chipmunks interact and chirp to each other was a great example of a social evolutionary trait that seems to lead to some understanding amongst them. All in all a great space that I can't wait to visit again.