Category: Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations

I observed a series of trees along the 1100 block of Meares St. in Victoria, BC. From my observations, I have determined that there are three different species of lichen growing on the bark of the plum trees in this area. Their distributions on the bark of the trees seems consistent with patterns of direct sunlight and shade. Regions of lichen growth inhibition near the bottoms of the trunks are not consistent between trees and follow no discernible pattern of gradient along the street.

All of the plum trees seemed to have lost some of their leaves and I wonder if there is a relationship between the number or size of leaves that are being dropped and the position of the tree relative to a nearby construction site and busy roadway. Most of the trees along the street are of similar size and trunk diameter, suggesting they are of similar age. The trees at the west end of the street, near the construction and major roadway are also some of the most heavily-shaded, which may be a confounding variable to any comparisons with this location. The number of leaves dropped by trees in different areas appears fairly equal, but it is hard to say without making measurements if there is a relationship between dropped leaf size and tree.

If there is a difference in the size of dropped leaves, and assuming all trees are of a similar age, this might suggest that trees that are dropping smaller leaves are doing so prematurely, or their leaves are not achieving as large a size at maturity. Either way, the difference might be caused by the growing conditions of the tree (light, water, soil type) or perhaps something is affecting the trees directly. The area of the street near the construction site is noticeably dustier than other areas. We know that trees rely on transpiration through the stomata on their leaves to draw water up from their roots. Perhaps the dust is interfering with this process and leading the trees to drop leaves earlier than normal.

I hypothesize that the size of dropped leaves from trees near the construction site and busy roadway is smaller than the size of dropped leaves from trees at the eastern end of the street. I predict that trees near the construction site will drop leaves of a smaller mean size than trees away from the construction site.

A response variable for this experiment would be the mean length, in millimetres, of leaves (continuous). An explanatory variable would be the distance of the tree from which to leaves are dropped, in meters, to the construction site (continuous).

I went to Creekside park, Vancouver, BC on August 8, 2018 from 15:00 – 16:00.  It was a warm day with a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. From my observations of plants, I witnessed a pattern among flowers that bees are attracted to. The bees frequented the tall yellow, pink and purple flowers, while scarcely went to the short white and whitish-pink flowers. These observations are taken from 3 sections of flowers in the park (south side, north side and central), in which the differences among flowers bees frequented are uniform. I plan on studying the characteristics of flowers that bees are drawn to the most and which traits of flowers disinterest bees. There could be many underlying processes that explain the pattern I have observed, including physical attributes of the flower such a shape, size, colour and scent, or environmental qualities such as temperature, season and time of day.

Based on my observations, the initial hypothesis is that bees are attracted to flowers that are brighter in colour. I predict that relative quantities of bees will increase around the red, yellow and purple flowers, and decrease among the white and whitish-pink flowers. A potential response variable is the abundance of bees (continuous) and a potential explanatory variable is the flower colouration (categorical).

The organism(s) I plan to study for my field research project include waterfowl and their allied species. During my subsequent field visits, I have observed different species of waterfowl (e.g., wood duck, mallard) utilizing the smaller waterways of the park where emergent vegetation is present.  Underlying processes that may cause this pattern include the use of the emergent vegetation by waterfowl for foraging purposes and for protection from predators.

Although there are multiple environmental gradients within the park, I have only observed waterfowl within specific aquatic habitats, inclusive of the drainage ditches and one pond/marsh area. This could be due to habitat preferences of individual species, life stage, foraging potential and presence of predators. Waterfowl may occur within the old field habitat adjacent to the drainage ditches and marsh area, however, abundance and height of grasses within the park at this time of year greatly reduce visibility. As such, I will only be using the visible waterways as potential study areas.

Based on these observations, my initial hypothesis is that waterfowl prefer to use aquatic habitats where emergent vegetation cover is present.  I predict that relative abundance of waterfowl will increase where emergent vegetation is present and decrease in areas where emergent vegetation is absent. A potential explanatory variable is percent cover of emergent vegetation (continuous). A potential response variable is waterfowl abundance (categorical).

Field Notes Blog Post 3

I have frequently been observing my chosen field of study (my backyard in Parksville, BC) since the last time I wrote a blog post which was June 15^th.  Today, July 4, 2018 at 1:45 PM, I have decided to once again return to the chosen site and this time journal my findings.

The temperature today is 22 degrees Celsius with a warm breeze and overcast sky. I first sat inside looking out the back window for 30 minutes prior to coming outside to see what forms of wildlife I would observe. I saw multiple birds fly by, and a couple of red squires scurry from tree to tree. I then went and sat outside on the patio closer to the forest and played music to cause a small and harmless disturbance; making my presence known.

I still saw the birds pass by but they no longer stopped on the grass, instead they would stop closer into the trees and forest. I no longer saw any more squirrels  for the remained of the time.

I then decided to step into the forest and go through a path that looped around the property. The deeper into the forest I got the more activity or indication of animal activity I noticed. There were multiple robins and other unidentified birds resting in the trees. I came across a tree deep in the forest that indicates there is probably a pileated woodpecker in the area as well. A couple of meters further I found what appeared to be an eagle feather, and lastly I  noticed an old birds nest that was abandoned in a taller cedar shrub. I didn’t see any rabbits on my walk around the property, however, I did come across some pellet feces, suggesting there was– at some point– rabbit in the area as well.

So, from the observations I’m making it seems to me that the further I venture into the forest the more wildlife there is. With all this being said I am leaning towards pursuing my initial question of: How does human activity close to the forest affect the activity of animals in the surrounding area? I have also made note that the wildlife activity is more frequent when the weather is warmer and either early in the day and later at night when human activity is minimal.

My hypothesis: Closer to human activity, the less animal activity will occur.

Prediction: The deeper I explore into the forest and the further away from the house I get, the more wildlife I will observe.

One potential response variable could be presence/absence of birds, squirrels, deer and rabbits present with each day. This would be considered a categorical variable.

A couple potential explanatory variable could be the human activity around the area, and/or the temperature of the day. This would be considered a continuous variable.

The subject of my studies is sagebrush, also known as Artemisia tridentata. I visited the Valleyview Nature Park on June 28th between 1:00 and 1:40.  On this day I only visited the east side of the park. The weather was partly sunny and mostly cloudy. The gradients I have chosen to observe the distribution of sagebrush are at the top of a hill, the slope of a hill and a valley.

The first two photos are of the side of a hill. It was noted that there are some sagebrush growing out of the side of the rock. There seems to be no clear pattern of sagebrush distribution on the hillside. The next two photos were at the top of a hill. In the third photo (facing North), there is a large number of sagebrush per unit area. The fourth photo was taken in the same position as the third, but this time facing South-West. It was noted that the amount of sagebrush in the area drastically reduces compared to the third photo. Finally, the fifth photo was taken facing North-East approximately 30 metres east of the third and fourth photos. There is a greater amount of sagebrush at the bottom of the valley versus on the hillside.

A few general observations I noted are:

-the soil in the valleys is slightly darker than the soil on the hill tops suggesting a higher water content.

-there are more trees and less sagebrush on the south side versus the north side of the park. This is not because of the amount of exposure to the sun; maybe there is a bit more water because the north side is beside the hillside whereas the south side is flat? Perhaps water travels down the hillside and therefore the north side of the park gets slightly more water?

-there are bundles of grass everywhere in the park (Bluebunch wheatgrass)

-there are areas that have a moderate/high amount of individuals and there are areas that have no individuals. It was very rare to see one individual on its own without other individuals close by. Perhaps competitive exclusion (one species dominates and removes the other species)?

I hypothesize that Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentate) will be have similar abundancies on hill tops versus valleys and Bluebunch wheatgrass (Psuedoroegneria spicate) will have similar abundancies on hill tops versus valleys in Valleyview Nature Park. The response variable is the number of sagebrush and bluebunch in a 4 meter by 4 meter quadrant. The predictor variables are elevation and soil moisture content. The response variable is continuous and the predictor variable is categorical, suggesting that I will have an ANOVA design for my experiment.

Hello Class & Professor Elliot,

I continued my field observations at my chosen site (Coldham Regional Park) on June 23, 2018. I noticed that the wildflowers (Tiger lily) that I had originally observed had since finished blooming and their stems were nearly gone. One of my main observations for this trip was that the small meadow area on the western side of the creek had much less large woody trees than the eastern side of the creek. I have decided to switch my study focus and plan to study the abundance of large woody trees across an environmental gradient for my field research project.

Noting that the creek is within a shallow ravine, I decided to take three observations along the environmental gradient on the eastern side of the creek:

1. Observation 1: Approx. 30 metres from the creek
   – At the base of a small hill, rural private lot to the east
   -Noticed a few common riparian plants (e.g. soapberry, bebbs willow)
   -The soil was generally dry
2. Observation 2: Approx 15 metres from the creek:
   -A few more larger trees, relatively flat terrain
   -Noticed several spruce trees that were unhealthy / standing dead
   -Mixed grasses and rocky soils
   -Disturbance areas of recreational fire pits were present (burnt logs)

3. Observation 3: Approx 3-5 metres from the creek:
   -Top of bank from creek
   -Very steep slope leading to the creek
   -Larger woody trees present, holding soil and slope together
   -Larger bushes more abundant
   -Soil seemed dry but had more ground cover / rocks

It seems that the patterns here are that the flat meadow area had less forest canopy cover, less large woody trees and more sunlight / shrubs. The processes or environmental factors I think that may be causing this is amount of sunlight and landscape type. It appears that there are greater numbers of larger woody trees on the eastern side of the creek (western facing mountain), this may be due to aspect.

Hypothesis:If the landscape is steep and western facing, then large woody vegetation will be present.

Prediction: Large woody vegetation will be present in western facing slopes.

Response Variable:Large woody vegetation abundance

Explanatory (predictor) Variable:Landscape (gradient) and aspect

Based on my hypothesis and prediction, the response and explanatory variables are both continuous (e.g. time and temperature/sunlight). I have included pages from my field journal as supplementary material to this blog post.