Obseervation #8

Location: Snake River behind Evan’s Trailers
Date: May 29, 2008
Time: 6:30
Temperature: Not Recorded
Weather: Cloudy, rainy in some parts
Winds: Chilly winds, slightly breeze
Soil: Mostly dry
Although it was raining in a few places, it stayed dry in my study area. My house was drenched when I got home, yet my study area stayed dry through the rain, maybe the rain didn’t reach it, or was traveling away from it when it began raining. The constant rain has probably affected the water level of the river. It’s has probably risen, but it’s not that clear if it has or hasn’t without measurements. The forested section of my area was full noises and, indicating life. A lot more insects and other small animals, such as spiders, grasshoppers, flies, were present, but finding them was harder than just following sounds and movement. They were very well adapted to this area, blending with their environment, the ability to fly, all which are anti-predator adaptations. Life in this area seemed to be almost absent when I started this project, but as I watching it grow week after week as diversity grew and it came to life, as winter faded and spring takes over and rejuvenates everything, was very refreshing.

Works Cited

Websites
Canada Goose. Wisconsin Hunter Waterfowl Section. May 13, 2008. http://www.wisconsinhunter.com/Pages/geese.htmlv
Purshia tridentate. January 2000. Rangeland Ecosystems and Plants. May20, 2008. http://www.usask.ca/agriculture/plantsci/classes/range/purshia.html
Images
Mark Robinson. Canada Goose. May 15, 2008. http://www.critterlight.com/Canadian-Goose-1-12802.jpg
David C. Reed. Purshia tridentate. May 21, 2008. http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/pic1/Pursh-trid-0023.jpg

Antelope Bitterbrush

The antelope bitterbrush is a shrub with crowded branches that grow up to three meters in height. It’s leafs are dark green on, underneath is very fuzzy white. It gets its common name by its very bitter taste, yet, it is a preferable food for browsers. Rodents such as pocket mice, deer mice, kangaroo rats, pack rats and yellow pine chipmunks eat the seeds which are high in fat and protein. The bitterbrush, or Purshia tridentate, depends on rodents to expand and reproduce. A symbiotic relationship happens here with the bitterbrush and rodents. It would be mutualism because the rodents get a food source from the shrub and the seeds are spread around by the rodents, helping it reproduce. Its niche lies in succession; it creates more soil for other plants to grow in. Purshia tridentate is a pioneer plant, its partly fire dependent; in case of fire the seeds will open up because of the heat. It is common in recently disturbed areas such as road cuts, gorges, eroded areas, and volcanic deposits. Seedlings are poor competition with other plants, but when a bitterbrush has matured it is difficult for it to die. It has very long tap roots; therefore it can obtain access to water when other plants cannot. Competition among its own species, intraspecific competition, helps with survival. This is because a group of seedlings stand a better chance to survive than a lone seedling. Although they may compete for space, water, among other survival needs, it’s harder for any weed, or any other threat, to overtake a community of shrubs than a single fragile antelope bitterbrush.

Observation #7

Location: Snake River behind Evan’s Trailers
Date: May 27, 2008
Time: 5:50
Temperature: 56 Degrees F
Weather: Partly cloudy, clearing
Winds: Chilly winds, slightly breeze
Soil: Mostly dry, few patches of moist soil
I thought the ground would be a lot more moist from the constant rain over the last few days but amazingly it was mostly dry. In exception of a couple of places under the trees where not much sunlight gets to, the water has been completely dried up by the sun and the soil. The plants are starting to rejuvenate from the harsh winter. They are starting to bloom; trees are getting much of their leafs back, shrubs are blooming, most of the ground is now covered with grass. Even in the part of my area undergoing succession there is a lot more green. The small trees are getting their leafs, making the place look a lot more lively than a few weeks ago. As I walked into my area there were a few white figures in the water. I believe that they were ducks, they were too small to be geese; the young geese I’ve seen in this area have a different colored feathers.

Observation #6

Location: Snake River behind Evan’s Trailers
Date: May 22, 2008
Time: 3:30
Temperature: 42 Degrees F
Weather: Very cloudy, slight continuous drizzle
Winds: Not too windy
Soil: Very damp, puddles everywhere
The sky is covered with clouds, and it has been raining endlessly since yesterday. The rain has made all of the soil into mud. I didn’t see any worms rising from beneath but I believe they will and this will help to provide the countless birds in this area with another source of food. An animal that eats the plants is called a primary consumer. Any animal that eats it is called a secondary consumer. These birds eat any insects or worms in the area, transferring energy from their pray to them making them a secondary consumer. They are consumed by other larger animals. such as an eagle, transferring energy to them. When the eagles die they decompose and return the energy to the earth by becoming nutrients for plants. That is only one of the examples of food chains and webs and how energy is transferred from the plants to the animals and back.

Observation #5

Location: Snake River behind Evan’s Trailers
Date: May 20, 2008
Time: 4:30
Temperature: Not Recorded
Weather: Mostly clear, few clouds
Winds: No wind, very still
Soil: Most soil is dry
As I walked into my study area I immediately noticed a drastic change. The water level of the Snake River has risen; completely covering the few small ‘islands’ that were visible only a week ago. Melted snow and other sources of water intakes have made the very quick rise in the amount of water flowing in the river. There is also a few other noticeable changes. Leafs are starting to grow back on the trees. Even in the desolate area in between the tree line and the river has what looks like succession. New, young trees are growing by the dozens in the area. I believe that it is secondary succession because there are signs of previous plant life beneath the rock in the area. There are also many more visible insects and other small animals. The air around the trees are infested with flying insects, while only a week ago there was no sign of them. I also found a black spider with a red back. Diversity is growing even bigger now. The increase in insects with probably stop the competition for food between the birds. The birds have been in my study area well before their food source, they relied on a human invention for food. And even though they competed for food they stayed, the birds did not fly to another area to find food. This may be because they knew that the insects and spiders would eventually come to inhabit this area.

Animal Report

The Canada goose, or Branta Canadensis, is a large bird, averaging 6 to 10 pounds in weight, and 29 to 38 inches in length. The geese in my study area belong to the Branta Canadensis interior, one of eight goose species. Their body feathers are gray and brown, while its underside and cheeks are white feathered, and its neck, bill, legs and feet webbed feet are black. The different feather colors are an anti predator adaptation. The white underside is camouflage when in flight, the light colored feathers blend with the sky for any predator looking up at it. While the dark feathers blend with water or the ground when looked at from above. These geese mate for life, and stick together as a family. The pair chooses a nesting site near shores, small islands, or in fields and marshes. The female lays four to eight eggs, while the male patrols around the nesting area. They diet on the plant life around them, from wild rice to aquatic plants. They keep the population of the vegetation they eat to a level where it won’t compete for survival needs.
The Canada goose is a migratory bird; therefore their environment is much larger than the ecosystem they currently live in, my study area. When the geese migrate they travel in a ‘V’ shaped formation. The bird at the tip of the ‘V’ leads the geese and the leader changes as they fly. This is done to break up wind resistance and conserve energy. Hunting is responsible for most Canada Geese deaths, but they are hunted by more than humans. Their eggs are often stolen by a number of animals; such as coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, crows and gulls. Predators, however, is not the main reason for loss of eggs, most eggs as most young are killed by a drastic change in weather; flooding or a storm for example. Adult geese are also rarely attacked, but bald eagles and great horned owls do hunt these geese occasionally.

Observation #4

Location: Snake River behind Evan’s Trailers
Date: May 14, 2008
Time: 3:30
Temperature: 48 Degrees F
Weather: Clouds cover most of the sky
Winds: Slightly windy
Soil: Moist from the drizzle
The same goose I see every time I visit my are was swimming in the water, but there was no sing of the possible goslings. The plant life is mostly unchanged, but I assume that there will be more green around the area, taking place of dying plants that survived the winter. There seems to be some competition for food and space, two of an organisms survival needs, among the community of birds. They are not aggressively fighting for them, but they do huddle around the bird feeders. They compete among each other as a population, intraspecific competition, for food. The populations also compete among themselves for space in the trees; birds fight for space among other races, interspecific competition. When I walked close to a tree where they would be resting an entire flock of more than a dozed of birds took to the air. The light rain might make the worms underground come up. I would suppose that this would decrease the competition between birds for food. Although a bird’s niche is usually to spread seeds around, but they also keep down the populations of insects and worms.

Observation #3

Location: Creek behind Evan’s Trailers
Date: May 12, 2008
Time: 3:40 p.m
Temperature: 45 Degrees F
Weather: Mostly clear, dark clouds rolling in
Winds: Slightly windy
Soil: Dry on top, a bit moist deeper under
Because the clouds that were rolling in are black I expected some rain, but I didn’t see any later on during the day. As I arrived on the site there were a few black figures swimming in the creek not too far from the goose that I have seen in my last two observations. I believe them to be goslings, but they could also be small ducks. Their size and the proximity at which they were with the goose implies that they are goslings. Yet their plumage is black, not likely if they hatched not to long ago. Also, they were able to fly, something that takes some time for a gosling to do. Along with the geese in the area there is also a large community of birds, sparrows among them. There are a few bird feeders placed on the trees near the trailers. That is where most of the populations of birds are located. Because there are very few insects for the birds to feed on so they depend on the bird feeders for food. I will continue to observe these birds more closely and see if they compete for any of the necessities of life.

Observation #2

Location: Creek behind Evan’s Trailers
Date: May 5, 2008
Time: 12:30
Temperature: 46 Degrees F
Weather: Few clouds, mostly clear and sunny
Winds: Very windy
Soil: Most soil is dry
In spite of the fact that it snowed the previous night and part of the early morning the ground is relatively dry and most of the snow is gone. Only the ground under the trees that is shaded by it’s branches remain wet or even covered in a small amount of snow. Besides the large biodiversity of plant life around the trees and the trees themselves, there is little vegetation around, yet the whole place is a bit greener since I last observed it. There is still a limitless amount of birds flying around the trees, I didn’t see any nest yet, but when the leafs start to grow back on the trees I expect them to nest on them. In both of my visits here I have seen geese. I research the geese, to do my animal report on them, and found out that they nest around these times. They might have nested a few weeks earlier and are waiting for their eggs to hatch. Maybe the next time I observe this area there will be a few goslings swimming around in the creek.

Observation #1

Description of Area: The area that I have chose to observe is the creek behind Evan’s Trailers. The river and it’s surrounding area is full of life, from the tiny ants crawling under the rocks to the dozens of birds nesting near the top of the trees. The river goes on further than the eye can see so I have narrowed it down to an area of approximately a football field around the creek. The river itself is not very large, I estimate around forty feet, but it does support all of the plant life around it. Plant life like the small grasses and shrubs, surrounding it, to the countless trees only feet away from the river. The fifteen feet from the tree line to the river is almost barren, it’s covered in rocks. This makes it hard for plant life to grow, but there are small trees and grasses breaking through the space between the rocks. The river is separated by a small island in the middle of the river. A section of the river flows into shallower ground, forming a small creek in which geese and ducks bathe in, moose drink out of, an plants feed from. Hiding in trees are countless birds that are very commonly heard, but not so commonly seen. The tree branches provide perfect coverage from the eye sight, and the most of the trees are leafless. I believe that when the trees are full of leaves, the birds will be scarcely seen. This area seems to be very promising and already I have made some interesting observations on how animals and plants interact with one another.