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Blog Post 1 – 14-01-20
The area that I have selected to observe is a partially wooded park nearby a community in Strathmore, Alberta. The area features several different types of trees and shrubbery, some of which include Aspen Poplars (Populus tremulodies) and Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus comuta). The area is a green park and surrounds a central pond. There are four different docks bordering the pond that serve as fishing sites in the park. There is also a small playground on the eastern side of the park as well as a water park to the south. There is a central walking path around the park that provides views of the aforementioned locations as well as wildlife and vegetation. The park is about 0.05 acres in width and about 1 acre long and it is found about 53.0km east outside of the city of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. The park is mainly flat with some small hills and is densely packed in areas with shrubs, bushes, and trees. Towards the interior it slopes down to the central pond which is bordered by Broadleaf Cattail (Typha latfolia). The area I have chosen to observe has the formal designation of Kinsmen Park. I visited the site on January 14th at 1100 hours. The weather was -29C in the winter season in Canada. There was a mild wind and skies were clear. There were some very small tracks in the snow, about 2 inches in length, potentially those of a hare and they led into the trees on the north-eastern side of the park. Potential subjects I am interested in studying for this project include the Mus musculus (mouse), Lepus americanus (snowshoe hare), and Pica hudsonia (black-billed magpie). Some questions I am looking to consider for my research project are the following:
- How quickly do certain tree types respond to warming temperatures and weather conditions in Calgary? In what ways do they respond to warming temperatures?
- Does magpie presence increase in forested areas near human communities as temperature increases?
- How do certain animal species function under conditions of freezing temperatures?
