User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
On site: 1600hrs on March 10th, 2021.
Location: Clandeboye road, Manitoba.
Weather/Conditions: -1°c with moderate sunshine, clear skies, and snow on the ground that is actively melting
The chosen study area is the acreage that I live on off of Clandeboye road in the R.M. of St. Andrews, MB. The area is just under 39 square kilometres, as per Google Earth (Figure 1); however, I may restrict the study location to the denser forested areas (Figure 2) depending on the hypothesis I test. The area has a farm yard (no livestock) that still houses two human families and resides in the middle of flat prairies surrounded by agricultural activity in all directions. On the west side of the forested area is a small dike that varies in water volume throughout the year.
Observations:
While walking through forested area, the most abundant coniferous tree species identified was White Spruce (Picea glauca) and the most abundant deciduous tree identified was White Poplar (Populus alba). While walking along the west perimeter of the forested area, I noticed that most of the trees on the periphery were White Poplar (Figure 3). I wonder if this is a more or less desirable location to be in this habitat and if this speaks to the White Poplars’ competitiveness. I wonder if the adjacent dyke has anything to do with this observation.
There appears to be abundant biological activity within the forested area and its perimeter. I encountered an eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), a black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), a flock of Canadian geese (Branta canadensis). There was also signs of other herbivorous animals, surmised by the different scat dropping I observed. Track marks were present that looked to be from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). I found a smaller White Spruce tree with a two-inch diameter oval-shaped hole in its stem (Figure 4) that had a tunnel system that was a two feet long vertically. I wonder what animal did this. They were not currently present. The tree adjacent to to it had several patches of bark ripped off of it as well (Figure 5). Perhaps the bark was taken into the hole to be ripped up and used for insolation. Perhaps the bark ripping is unrelated to the tree hole. Lastly, there are signs of moss and fungal growth at the base of some of the trees (Figure 6). I wonder what kind of ecological implications the moss and fungi facilitates.
Questions:
- Are the incidences of White Poplar greater near sources of water?
- Which animals are responsible for the hole I found in the White Spruce tree? How old is this hole? Will this hole be re-used by the original inhabitants or will it be taken over by others?
- Which type of tree (White Poplar vs. White Spruce) in this area supports more wildlife? What type of wildlife does it support?
Sounds like a great study location and large enough to have independent observations. If you focus on the forested area for your report you will want to figure out the size of it.
Good start on questions as well, definitely some potential there. The only issue I see is with #2 this is only one observation and so unless you can find more replicates that will be a tricky one. For #1 you could consider incorporating soil moisture. I like #3 because it is different than other questions I have seen in this course so far though it will take some thinking of how to go about this. White Spruce may be more likely to support cavity species though I’m not certain of this. You will also have to consider time of year during your study as not all migratory birds will be back though it is spring so there will be some wildlife activity already in April. You could do point count stations or something similar but where you add in recording which type of tree each species is seen in.