Site Introduction

Objective: To further understand what changes occur at our areas over the
course of eight weeks in terms on how plants grow and on how animals
affect our location.
Site Description:
Observation descriptionsSun pattern(sun vs. shade)- In the morning my site was filled
with mostly shade and dappled sunlight because the leaves of the trees
were blocking the sunlight. During the late afternoon the site was almost all
shade.
Animal sightings- There isnt many animals at my site besides
domesticated ones and insects. There is a lot of insects because there is
horse manure near my site and the insects are attracted to it.
Smells, sounds and anything else- My site smells a lot like
horse manure because of the equestrians riding on the trails, but also there
a lot of birds that chirp.
Prediction- I think that my site will experience little change. I think a
lot less moisture will be in the soil and because of that we will see different
insects. Also if someone has flowers they will start to blossom a lot more
and maybe the plants will start dying because there probably wont be any
rainfall. Finally since the day is getting longer our site will experience a
longer duration of sunlight and that will cause some new plants that dont
need as much water to sprout. I need to keep many observations on how
the specific plants will grow, shrink, or maybe even change color.

Measurem
ent

Intro

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Plant 1height

10 inches

10 inches

10

10

10.5

10.5

inches

inches

inches

inches

Plant 2height

24 inches

24 inches

24
inches

24
inches

24
inches

24
inches

Plant 3height

15 inches

15 inches

15.1
inches

15.1
inches

15.2
inches

15.2
inches

Average
Day
Temperatur
e

72
degrees

68 degrees 63
64
66
70
degrees degrees degrees degrees

Tree 1- %
of leaf
coverage

70

70

70

70

70

70

# of Deer
footprints
or
droppings

# of spiders
or
spiderwebs
seen

Average
Evening
Temperatur
e

63

58

48

52

52
53
degrees degrees

Length of
Day of
Wednesda
y

12.5 hr

13 hr

13 hr

13.5 hr

13.5 hr

13.5 hr

Estimation
of flying
insects
(almost all
mosquitos)

22+

10

12

% of Leave
Coverage
on Ground

60

60

60

60

60

60

Map:

Original Photos:

Plant 3

Plant 1

Plant 2- Unknown species at this point

My site during the day

Site during mid-afternoon

Focus Questions: The biome that my site is categorized in is temperate
woodland and shrubland because geographically this biome is found on the
western coast of North America. Also there are a lot of trees but also other
plants. The organisms in my area eat small plants in which is on the ground
of the biome. Also since there is horse feces and decaying trees there is
small insects. Since there is trees specifically bay trees there might be
birds or squirrels that live or nest somewhere in the tree. The trees also
dont allow much sunlight so plants cant develop much. The food chain is
pretty simple. The insects eat some of the decaying trees and or leaves.
Birds eat the insects and snakes that could be around. Finally bigger birds
could eat these smaller birds.
Focus Questions Week 2: Mans effect on my site is that there is horse
manure on the trail, which attracts flies and insects. Also there is bags of

dog poop which suggests that there is dogs and humans there that might
scare other animals. Limiting factors in my area for plants is that the
canopy above lets in very little sunlight in which may cause my plants to die
or to not grow to their potential. For animals there isnt that much food so
they might not go near my sight that much. Also since humans consistently
run through there, animals may have just learned not to go around my site.
Focus Questions Week 3: Bacteria is important for plants in my area
because it provides nutrients and such as nitrogen. Nitrogen is needed to
build protein and bacteria helps convert atmospheric nitrogen into proteins.
Bacteria is important for animals because these animals eat the plants that
need the bacteria. It is important for soil because when a animal
decomposes the soil gets nutrients from dead animals. Bacteria also fixes
the amount of nitrogen in the soil. Fungi is found everywhere and the role
of them is to eliminate harmful plant pathogens and it helps break down
decomposed material. I do have some fungi in my area around my
decaying tree because the fungi is breaking down the dead tree.
Focus Questions Week 4: The invertebrate found in my area are spiders
and flies. Their role is to kill small insects and serve as prey to birds. I
guess that spiders could kill insects that would be potentially harmful to
plants and trees in the my area. flies are important because they can break
down decaying material. Without flies there would be no soil for plants to
grow on. These flies can also eat feces which is important in my area
because at least on my site there is a lot of horse poop. The spiders are
found near the dead tree because thats where a lot of little small insects
may burrow. Flies are found on my site because there is a lot of horse
manure in which they can eat.
Focus questions Week 5: This week we were supposed to identify 5
different species of plant and put them into different classifications. For my
first plant it was an angiosperm dicot because it is a flowering plant with
veins in the leaves. My second plant was a vascular seedless plant
because it has spores instead of seeds. My third plant was an angiosperm
monocot because it is flowering and is a type of grass. My fourth and fifth
plant were both angiosperm dicot.
Focus Questions Week 6: The essential nutrients needed in the soil are
phosphorus and nitrogen and this allows the soil to be fertile and the plants

to grow. Phosphorus is needed to transform solar energy into chemical

energy and this allows for rapid plant growth. Nitrogen is needed in all
proteins, and enzymes involved in synthesis to transfer energy. Three
different type of pollination include bee, fly, and bird pollination. Bees
pollinate more opened flowers, while birds pollinate more tube-like flowers.
Flies pollinate similar things to bees but are attracted to more pungent
smelling flowers because they are attracted to poo. In my area plants have
faced many adaptions. The plants in my area developed more oily leaves
to reduce the amount of water loss. Another adaptation is that trees
developed thicker bark to protect against cold weather and in our case fire.
Lastly in the summer plants grow broader leaves to capture more sunlight
to make food through photosynthesis.
Photos for Week 3:

My site

Display of
Dappled Sun

Plant 1

Plant 3

Plant 2