User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
I visited a natural area behind my house at 7:45 in the evening until about 8:35. The temperature was 22°C and the weather was sunny with light breezes.
The natural area is owned by the city and is sandwiched between residential area and agricultural land reserve. It is situated on the side of a north-facing mountain with residential are being at a lower elevation and agricultural land reserve occupying the upper portion of the mountain. The size of this area which I observed is very roughly 6 hectares (measured using google maps).
There are three distinct areas which I identified during this observation period; Forested, Forested with minimal/no canopy, and open grassland.
The dominant species of the forested area are Pinegrass covering the vast majority of the ground and Douglas Fir trees occupying most of the canopy. Numerous other species were also observed throughout the area. The dominating species in the open grassland was what appeared to be crested wheatgrass.
Some questions which I had while walking throughout the area were:
-Why does very little grow in the ravines (see attached photos)?
-How does the proximity to a ravine affect species richness?
-What influences the formation of large patches of medium-sized shrubs?
-How does the proximity to the residential area affect species productivity/ species richness?
