היומן של jcjavier
I went to the Eucalyptus Grove area next to VLSB. There were large trees and vast patches of seemingly disturbed grasses and foliage. I wasn't quite fond of the greenery.
I encountered this photographed plant with small, white flowers that were budding but still had dormant buds and leaves all throughout. It didn't look like a garden plant because it was the only one I saw in the area, and it happened to be growing under a tree stump.
I wasn't able to go to last week's field trip, so I decided to explore around the greener areas of the campus to find five different things. I found that photographing animals is not as easy as it looks. At one point, this bird caught on to my antics and played cat-and-mouse with me as it jumped from tree to tree. Camera-shy, I suppose. I found this exercise to be quite enjoyable, minus the salamander experience. I'm not quite fond of slimy, worm-like organisms..
Mammal: Fox Squirrel
Fungus: Xanthoria parietina
Bird: Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Arachnid: unidentified species
Amphibian: unidentified species
Moist Evergreen:
This past weekend I went to the upper fire trail. I found that this region was more moist than the chaparral area, and therefore had a far more of a diversity in plant species. Trees were significantly taller and slightly thicker trunks. There was a greater range in the hues of green evident in the foliage throughout the area compared to the chaparral as well. The plants that I found exemplify the moisture availability that the nice provides. Leaves were broader, larger, and various in color, given the combination of sunlight and moisture.
Chaparral:
For this niche, I went up the Stonewall Trail. Elevation was various here, it was quite a steep hike most of the time. The first thing I noticed were the trees--they weren't the tallest, average at most, and very slim at the trunks. Overall, I noticed much of the shrubbery was mostly short in height and was situated very close to the ground. There weren't a lot of flowering plants, and if there were, they were very small flowers. Leaf structures from the plants I observed were also small and often waxy to preserve water. The soil isn't as rich or moist compared to the evergreen niche, which explains why leaves were not rich in color.
For this assignment, I took a hike up to Inspiration Point and found some interesting interactions going on. The fox squirrel sighting was of course found right on campus, near Mulford Hall.
What's going on:
