User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
The study area I have chosen is Central Park on Denman Island, BC, Canada. Central Park is located in approximately the middle of the Island. Central Park is ~147 acres in size and contains two large wetlands and a recovering forest after years of logging in the area. It was logged by horses in 1998 and then heavily logged in the year 2000. The forest is specifically a Coastal Douglas-fir. This kind of forest is relatively rare in B.C. and is threatened. Local conservationists have identified up to 64 different birds that have been spotted in this park.
I visited this area first on June 24th, 2019 between 6:28 and 7:37 PM. On this day the weather was observed to have a low of 12 degrees C and a high of 19 degrees. It was sunny with clouds.
While on this walk I noticed 3 interesting potential study areas with the local ecology:
1.) Some but not all arbutus trees appeared to be dying or suffering from some ailment. Some trees had dark covered bark and leaves, while others had very little or no sign of damage. Arbutus are known to shed leafs and bark at various times in the year, but my observations were outside the normal leaf shedding. Why were some of these arbutus trees affected but not others, and why were some of them dying?
2.) In some areas ovate shaped leaves appeared covered in small holes. What organism or local weather or climate caused these holes in these particular areas?
3.) In some areas of the forest and meadows, there appeared to be large concentrations of thistle plants (dozens in a small parcel of land). Why were there so many thistle species in such a small area?
Field Observations:
