Seasonal Changes on My Plot

September 3
A patchy yet substantial algal mat covered the surface of the pond; all trees' leaves were green. The forest floor was a tangled web of thick green vegetation.

September 12
The algal mat thinned noticeably, but the trees were still vibrantly green, and the soft forest floor still supported fresh plants.

October 8
Another view of my plot shows that the trees are beginning to change colors brilliantly; however the leaves have not yet begun to fall.

October 8
A picture of the pond view, done on my sporadically functioning webcam, reveals more of the beautiful fall colors on the trees surrounding a pond which now has very few algal growths on its surface.

October 8
A clearer picture taken on my phone reveals the clearer state of the pond and the colors of the trees as they enter the fall season.

October 21
The transition from summer to fall to winter is very evident on my plot as trees go from vibrant green to stunning colors (yellow, red, orange) to brown and seemingly lifeless. Here, just a few trees are clinging to their bright leaves still.

October 22
As the season progresses, the frost takes a toll on the ground as it begins to harden. Forest foliage is replaced by fallen leaves, which begin to rot and get decomposed.

October 22
At this point, there is almost no algae on the pond. The pond appears deeper and murkier than ever after the rains come and there is no more algae to mask its depth.

October 23
The brief "Indian summer," heavy rains, frosts, sunshine, and cold weather have combined to have an extraordinary effect on the plot, an effect that happens every year but was more graphically illustrated for me this year.

October 23
Scrambling for one last picture of the seasonal changes on my plot, I encounted a deer and a large heron. Because the underbrush was no longer lush, but rather brittle and crunchy, they both fled very quickly.
The pond remained nearly algae-free, and most trees were skeletal or nearing that stage. It was a big difference from a mere month or two earlier. The air was a little crisper, the trees less showy, the forest quieter, the ground harder and less populated by plants.

Plot Study Response

How I felt about the plot study project:
     Trekking over to my plot each week was not necessarily something I looked forward to after a hard volleyball practice or writing an American history paper, but every time I ventured over to my plot I discovered something new and intriguing that I had not previously expected to be a part of my plot. "How Great Thou Art" was always running through my head as I examined the fallen leaves, delicate spider webs, fishes' dainty air bubbles, and even the quick lope of a deer after I had surprised it. I don't consider myself a nature girl, but rather a city girl. However, this project allowed me to access that side of myself, if only for a few brief moments each week. Were the bug bites, mudstained sweatpants, and scratched arms worth these peaceful times? Yes. Although I admit to being skeptical of the project at times, at the very least it's an experience that will make for interesting conversations around the dinner table.

5 things I learned from the plot study:
1) I learned about purple loosestrife and its negative effect on communities, but I also learned to identify weeds such as purple aster, which benefit ecosystems as insects pollinate them.
2) I learned that pond water, soil, leaves, and grass are much more complex than they are often credited for; God created them to serve their purpose in an ecosystem perfectly. I was astounded by the beauty of some of the pictures captured with the microscope camera.
3) I learned that littering is a widespread problem that can affect the environment even deep within the woods. It's not confined to the roadside, and it's an issue that should be addressed because such trash as the plastic tarps and bags I found can damage habitats and even kill organisms when they become embedded in the muck or are handled by unsuspecting animals.
4) Both biotic and abiotic factors can drastically affect an ecosystem. I saw the abiotic factor of precipitation level bring a creek in a ditch on my plot from thin and shallow to nonexistent to wide and deep throughout the early to mid-fall.
5) The inner workings on my plot were much more complicated than it first appeared. Between the competition, predation, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism on my plot, there were a ton of interactions going on in my plot than I would have ever imagined just walking around in it. Food chains and webs built on the concept of trophic levels would've gone right over my head if I had gone traipsing around my plot before this class, but after our class discussions a small plot of woods and pond surface turned into a complex network of survival.

What I will do with new knowledge about my plot and ecology:
     With new insights and information gained through my plot study, I will have to make a few notable changes in lifestyle. Regularly recycling and picking up and disposing of litter are two habits of action that I can build. Also, I have a greater appreciation for the complexity and beauty of God's creation and His established order in the natural world, including levels of organization, trophic levels within food chains and webs, the details within each tiny organism as viewed by a microscope, the hundreds of factors that work together to make conditions balanced in an ecosystem, the different interactions between species, and even the sheer number of species that God made and put on the Earth, from the tiniest insects and phytoplankton to fascinating fungi to the hawk and deer. The adaptations that organisms make to survive changes in weather (observed throughout these two months) and the organisms around them is incredible, and through watching other organisms cope with these things I see how humans must cope and change. I don't plan on having a career in biology, but the fresh viewpoint the project gave me is something I can and will use.

The Producers and Consumers of My Plot

Producers

1. Grass
2. Goldenrod
3. Purple loosestrife
4. Queen Anne's Lace
5. English daisies
6. Maple
7. Oak
8. Sassafras
9. Purple Aster
10. Algae
11. Black-eyed Susan
12. Ferns

Consumers

1. Squirrels (omnivore)
2. Fungus (decomposer)
3. Rabbits (herbivore)
4. Raccoons (omnivore)
5. Deer (herbivore)
6. Frogs (carnivore)
7. Mosquitoes (carnivore)
8. Hawk (carnivore)
9. Fish (herbivore)
10. Dragonflies (carnivore)
11. Butterflies (herbivore)
12. Spiders (carnivore)
13. Geese (herbivore)
14. Snake (carnivore)
15. Woodchuck (herbivore)
16. Mice (herbivore)
17. Chipmunks (omnivore)
18. Snapping turtles (carnivore)
19. Moths (herbivore)
20. Bats (carnivore)

Source for verification of consumer type: www.nationalgeographic.com

Biodiversity on My Plot: Identification of 5 Weed Species

English Daisy Bellis perennis
http://www.msuturfweeds.net/id-tool/broadleaf/

Purple Aster Aster novae-angliae
http://www.perennials.com/seeplant.html?item=1.085.180

 Goldenrod Solidago virgaurea
http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_goldenrod.htm

Queen Anne's Lace Daucuscarota
http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/bi/2000/Ethnobotany/queen_anne_s_lace.html

Purple Loosestrife Lythrum salicaria
http://www.nalusda.gov/aquatics/loosestrife.shtml

Note: The web addresses beneath each label are the locations at which I matched my picture to an online picture and found the weed's scientific name. The pictures are not of the best quality because my laptop webcam reacted strangely to the lighting and environment of my plot, and quality was lost when I tranferred pictures from my phone to the computer. I can show you a few of my pictures in person or even go out and pick samples of the weeds if that would earn me more/better credit for this project; technical struggles inhibited me from giving the best portrayal of weed biodiversity on my plot.

Plot Community: Interactions that Occur Among Species

COMPETITION
1. Different species of trees compete for sunlight and water with their branches and leaves and roots.
2. Squirrels compete for nuts/food and locations in which to store them.
PREDATION
1. Some birds are predators of insects.
2. Frogs predate on flies.
SYMBIOSIS: Mutualism
1. Pollination benefits both the pollinator (bees, butterflies) and the pollinated (flowers, flowering weeds). It's a necessary process that allows the plant to cross-pollinate, strengthening its species' reproductive power, while the pollinator receives pleasant nectars or other satisfying nutrients in return. (Pollination)
2. When birds eat seeds of plants, they have a meal but also are able to spread the seeds of the plant when they unload their excrement, thus aiding the plant.

SYMBIOSIS: Commensalism

1. A mosquito draws blood from a deer, rabbit, or other creature; it has a meal while the animal barely notices (aside from possible itching symptoms).
2. Deer feces become a source of nutrients for flies and other insects, while the deer remains unaffected.
SYMBIOSIS: Parasitism
1. Ticks lodge themselves into the bodies of mammals.
2. Raccoon roundworm may affect raccoons, birds, squirrels, and rabbits by progressing through their life cycle within a host animal's small intenstine and other body parts. (Raccoon Roundworm)
3. Fungus attaches to and lives off of trees, dead or alive.

1. Raccoon Roundworm (Baylisascaris). DNR, n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2011. <http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12150_12220-27261--,00.html>.
2. Pollination. Missouri Botanical Garden, 2009. Web. 1 Oct. 2011. <http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/pollination.html>.

Biotic and Abiotic Factors of My Plot

Abiotic

1. Water Temperature and Quality
2. Air Temperature and Quality
3. Rocks
4. Air Pressure
5. Sunlight and its Intensity
6. Soil (minus the biological, decomposed content)

Biotic

1. Rabbits
2. Squirrels
3. Deer
4. Frogs
5. Mosquitoes
6. Grass
7. Goldenrod
8. Woodchuck
9. Trees
10. Fungi
11. Algae
12. Flies
13. Purple Aster
14. Queen Anne's Lace
15. Snapping turtles
16. Hawk

Looking Closely: My Plot under a Microscope

At first, I wanted to look at a clod of soil I found in the stream bed by my plot. However, it was uninteresting and, to be honest, barely discernible as dirt with  both types of microscope available.

Mrs. Kitts suggested that I remove one of the small green plants beginning to grow in the soil with a tweezers and view that. So I did, and here's the result under 4x. It was much more interesting than textured brownish black blobs, although difficult to focus.

Using a higher power and increading clarity, I began to see the small walled plant cells that were a part of these tiny green strands growing in the sod. I was fascinated by the colors and structure. I hoped to see actual cells in more detail, but seeing the layers of the plant was interesting.

The structure of the fern was interesting to me because of the crystallized appearance of the cells. They looked like beautiful, tiny glass beads scattered across a perforated paper.

At a higher power, I didn't get a whole lot more detail, but the round, glassy look of the fern cells remained. This image is probably my favorite out of all those I captured and posted because of the diversity of color and the intricacy of the forms in it.

Here's another picture of the fern leaf at 10x on the microscope.

Overall, this wasn't exactly what I expected because only the 4x and 10x magnifications would focus for me (in other words 40x wasn't cooperating), but what I was able to see was astounding and made me appreciate the order of God's creation, down to the tiniest cells of the tiniest plants. He made things that may go unnoticed with the naked eye, but are truly unexpected, functional, and beautiful.

My Plot is an Ecosystem!

Level of Organization (Simplest to Most Complex)	Example 1	Example 2
Atom	Hydrogen	Oxygen
Molecule	Water (H20)	Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Cell	Pond Algae Animal Cell	Tree Leaf Plant Cell
Tissue	Tongue Tissue of a Frog	Cardiac muscle tissue in the heart of a deer
Organ	Moist skin of an amphibian (frog)	Lungs of a squirrel
Organ System	Integumentary system	Respiratory system of a squirrel
Organism	A Mosquito, a Frog, a Spider, a Butterfly, a Fern	A Deer, a Tree, a Rabbit, a Squirrel
Population	the huge concentration of Goldenrod along the pond edge	Deer
Community	The pond scum, rushes, frogs, butterflies, mosquitoes, and other insects and animals that live together in/near the body of water	The deer, squirrels, fungi, trees, shrubs, mosquitoes, birds, and other insects and animals that call the woods their home
Ecosystem	Pond--all the living things above plus the water, soil, mud, and other non-living things that are the home of living things	Forest--all the living things above plus the soil, nutrients in the soil, water, and other non-living things that exist side-by-side with the living things
Biosphere	All the ecosystems of Earth together	All the ecosystems of Earth together

Taking Action on the Plot: Trash Removal

Typically, Sunday is not trash day, but on this beautifully warm Sunday I grabbed a pair of gardening gloves, two large plastic trash bags, bugspray, thick boots, and my laptop, and headed off to my plot for an afternoon of trash pickup. I expected to find some pop bottles and cans, and maybe a discarded cigarette pack or two but what I found was much more diverse than that. From the pool of standing water I pulled a tarpaulin, plastic shopping bag, and styrofoam takeout box. From the forest floor, I picked up a receipt, several Gatorade and soda bottles, a Ziploc bag, a golf ball, a brick, a cinder block, a Big Gulp cup complete with its green straw, and various other soil and moss-covered items. The oddest object I removed from the plot, however, was a medium-sized iron and plastic chair. How it ended up on the plot, I don't claim to know, but it was quite the hassle to yank it from its position in the ground and heave it over fallen branches, down a small hill, over a shallow water-filled ditch, and across the field to the dumpster in my garage. My plot looks very clean though, and that's all that matters. It's all nature now, no unnecessary additions of plastic garbage. Below are a couple of pictures from the rendezvous.

 

2 Full Trash Bags+1 Chair=A Lot of Heavy Trash!

The Trash-Free Clearing and Woods

A Poetic Expression of My Perspective on the Plot

The forest is my classroom:                        Learn

A fallen branch my desk,                              Settle

Animal prints my textbook,                        Read

The wind my whispering classmate.         Listen

The pond is my classroom:                          Seek

Mired edge my notebook,                           Open

A thick reed my pen,                                      Write

Clear sky the blackboard,                             Watch

And God is my Teacher.                                Heed

Meet The Plot: Location, Features, and My First Impressions

September 3, 2011

Selecting my plot for this study was a no-brainer. Almost exactly a year ago, my family moved from the west side of Grand Rapids to Ada. We built our new home across the street from a soccer field and church which was bordered by a thick weed field, woods, and a pond. This seemed to perfectly fit the criteria for a plot, and it was very conveniently located, so I went for it. When I first ventured over to my chosen plot, I faced the first of many predicaments: crossing a relatively thin band of standing water. However, it was not quite thin enough to jump over at the place where I had come upon it. So I bumbled along its muddy edge, looking for a safe place to leap across. During this little mission, it quickly became evident to me that this water feature, and therefore my plot, is home to a number of very vicious, very hungry insects. Apparently sophomore biology students are very appetizing to Ada mosquitoes, because I became very well acquainted with them while fumblingly attempting to access my web cam feature (which decided not to cooperate at the time, though it operated perfectly fine once I returned to my nice bug-free bedroom). Along the way, I also encountered animal tracks in the mud (which may have been a raccoon’s) and a number of skittish frogs leaping in and out of the water. Finally I reached a section thin enough to jump over, which I did without incident. Once I had traversed the water, I scrambled up a small hill to a large forest area where recent storms had felled many small trees and limbs. Completely alone—barring the insect and animal populations—I began to explore what would be my project site for the next few weeks. One of the things I immediately noticed was the perpetual sound of bugs: a raucous symphony of clicks, hums, rasps, and buzzes. Another noticeable factor was the feel of the air: it was a humid, hot day but beneath the trees the air had a fresher, cooler, crisper quality that I really appreciated after sweating in the field adjacent to the forest. Very close to my entrance point to the woods, I became intrigued by a tall, thick tree that had white, plate-looking fungus on it. Since my webcam was still not operating at the time, I snapped a quick picture of it with my phone camera, then moved on. As I crunched deeper into the trees, the growth of thin weeds and grasses on the floor turned into a thicker mass of shrubbery, and then into a barely navigable tangle of greenery as I came upon a gorgeous, algae-dotted pond. I circled the rim of the pond, briefly scoping it out. I say briefly because by that time I was still being attacked by the relentless bugs and was ready to run back through the field of weeds, a short ways down the residential street, and up my driveway. It was a short but successful first visit to my plot, I reflected. The area was ideal for soil and water samples, weed and fungus collecting, observation of insect and animal interactions, and even trash pickup. Apparently we had very poor golfers in the neighborhood, because a few of their balls were lodged in the forest floor. Overall, I was excited to return and discover more, provided that I brought bug spray along.

The links below show where my plot is located in relation to main roads and then the plot itself in greater detail.
Location: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Keystone+Community+Church,+Spaulding+Avenue+Southeast,+Forest+Hills,+MI&aq=1&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=39.729049,86.572266&vpsrc=6&ie=UTF8&hq=Keystone+Community+Church,&hnear=Spaulding+Ave+SE,+Forest+Hills,+Kent,+Michigan&ll=42.950957,-85.542383&spn=0.035935,0.084543&z=14
Plot: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Ada,+MI&aq=3&g=Ada,+Forest+Hills,+MI&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Ada,+Forest+Hills,+Kent,+Michigan&ll=42.949748,-85.541868&spn=0.002246,0.005284&t=h&z=18&vpsrc=6