Category: Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations

Blog 3: Ongoing Field Observations

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Today I visited my field study area given. Given that I hadn’t visited in a month there were several changes since the last time. The ground vegetation is fully covered and consists of grass, clover and dandelion. The clover was much heavier at the top of the grass mound located at the south side of the courtyard. Due to heavy volumes of rain and ground was very moist.

The attribute I plan to study if the honey locust trees at the south side of the courtyard. The six honey locust trees have leaves on most of the tree, however the top foot of each tree did not have leaves. This was a common pattern and uncommon for the tree variety. There are no buds visible on the top of the trees. The remainder of the tree looks healthy with flowers beginning from the trunk.

In looking at the trees I believe the lack of leaves on the top of the trees is the result of the excessive rain and cool temperatures we have experienced. I predict that once the weather warms up and the ground dries up the trees will continue to bloom. In this study the response variable is the six honey locust trees. A potential explanatory variable is the temperature and soil moisture, these variables would be continuous.

Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations

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On my second visit to Pat Bay it was unfortunately quite rainy and dreary to be outside. The time was at 10:00am and no one was around.

I have decided to study a relationship between the honey bees (Apis) and the blackberry bushes (Rubus) that line the bank and up by the hill. The gradient starts at the road and goes to the paved path that people walk along. From there the gradient turns to grass, with no blackberry bushes in sight, and then down to another path near the water bank. The bushes habitat that area around the water bank and end at the rocks down to the water edge. I have come up with two questions for a hypothesis:

  1. Would temperature/weather conditions affect the productivity of honey bees?
  2. Would blackberry bushes near the busy road not be as successful as the bushes closer to the water’s edge farther away from the road (humans)?

For my hypothesis I decided to go with:

Temperature and weather conditions affect the productivity of bees  on blackberry bushes, ultimately affecting the final product (production of berries).

I predict that weather and temperature will affect the bees as they do not go out in colder weather and stigma’s on flowers do not stay receptive for long.

I have come up with a couple options for variables too that I have yet to decide which would be the best and most efficient to observe.

Response variable- # of bees in a time frame that are pollinating or amount of blackberries produced over the duration of the summer.

Predictor- weather/temperatures

Both variables are continuous.

 

Blog Post 3: Ongoing Observations

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I have visited Quarry Creek a few times this past winter to collect water samples for water quality analysis. Based on my visits to the site I was able to collect additional data on the streams physical characteristics and water quality parameters. My study is based on ecological assessment of selenium in the aquatic environment. Quarry Creek flows north of Red Chris Mine Project along the valley bottom and into Klappan River, eventually making its way to the Stikine River.

My objective is trying to identify whether or not the proposed effluent will result in adverse effects to the receiving environment. The following is a summary of Quarry Creek stream characteristics and  water quality parameters collected during my visits. Selenium has become a contaminant of concern (COPC) in mining; therefore, understanding the toxicology of selenium will benefit me in many ways as an environmental technician.

Date: March 14, 2017

Weather: 6.0 ◦ C Overcast

Location: W69 monitoring site

Quarry Creek Stream Characteristics:  

UTM Coordinates – 9V 0457207 E 6401942 N

Channel Gradient – 4%

Elevation – 1027 m ASL

Channel Bankfull Width – 2.1 to 2.6 m

Quarry Creek Length – 1 km

Primary Substrate – gravel/cobble embedded in sand and gravel

Riparian – Shrubs, mixed mature forest (Dominant species spruce, following subalpine fir and birch)

Cover – Abundant (creek is enclosed by a canopy of trees)

Wetland – Consists of a series of pools formed by beaver dams and extends along approximately 2 km of the Quarry Creek mainstream. Within the wetland section of Quarry Creek, macrophytes ( grasses) are plentiful and substrate is predominantly fine sediment and organic matter.

Quarry Creek Water Quality Parameters:

Temperature – 0.9 ◦ C

pH – 8.06

DO – 12.03 mg/L

Conductivity – 548

Turbidity – 1.27 (clear)

Hypothesis:

(1) I hypothesize there is a correlation between aqueous selenium concentrations and benthic invertebrate tissue concentrations due to bioaccumulation.

(2)  I hypothesize there is a correlation between aqueous selenium concentrations and periphyton tissue concentrations due to bioaccumulation.

Predictor Variable:

Selenium aqueous water concentrations

Response Variable:

Selenium bioaccumulation in benthic invertebrate and periphyton tissue

Photos:

 

 

 

Ongoing Field Observations

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After a few visits to Blanche brook park I was in wonder of what I can possibly discover because our winter won’t let up this year.  Every time I visit I seen more snow but it is now April 7th temperature at -3C, I am now seeing spring set in and more signs of life.  My visit was still extremely quiet I only seen one person who ventured walking in the snow besides me. As I was walking my focus suddenly went to the sound of crows, I decided to investigate where the sound was coming from. In the nearby trees, I noticed one American crow in one tree that looked at me, and was calling continuously to the nearby tree. When I looked at the nearby tree there, were two more crows sitting next to each other it gave me the feeling that the crow that was calling was giving a warning of me approaching. I always had an interest in this bird because of their keen sense of intelligence. I didn’t even have a chance to get my camera the three crows left.

Due to the interest in the crow I decided I should draw my focus on birds. I marked three points of interest. One being the birch tree at the beginning of the trail in the first picture. Second, the evergreen trees in the second picture and third nearing the end of the trail where there is a McDonalds which has more traffic and human activity. McDonalds is marked on the map in the third picture.

My hypothesis is: Birds will habituate to humans as density rates increase in an area, if there are low persecution rates. If birds feel threatened they will show avoidance behavior, or give warning to others of the same species to move.

One potential response variable in this study is the American crow.

One potential explanatory variable is the increase of human interaction with the park.

Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations

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Create a blog post to document your ongoing field observations. Supplement your blog entry with scanned or uploaded examples from you field journal. Specific points you need to cover are:

  1. Identify the organism or biological attribute that you plan to study.
  2. Use your field journal to document observations of your organism or biological attribute along an environmental gradient. Choose at least three locations along the gradient and observe and record any changes in the distribution, abundance, or character of your object of study.
  3. Think about underlying processes that may cause any patterns that you have observed. Postulate one hypothesis and make one formal prediction based on that hypothesis. Your hypothesis may include the environmental gradient; however, if you come up with a hypothesis that you want to pursue within one part of the gradient or one site, that is acceptable as well.
  4. Based on your hypothesis and prediction, list one potential response variable and one potential explanatory variable and whether they would be categorical or continuous. Use the experimental design tutorial to help you with this.

Remember to check the “Categories” box for Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations when you post.