smvance70's Journal

For this exercise, I went around the northern side of the Cal campus to relocate some of the species found by the previous class. I easily relocated little-robin, coast redwood, English daisy, common ivy, ripgut brome, common vetch, Himalayan blackberry, California bay, and California poppy. These species were generally in the same place, but, to my observer's advantage, easily found in plentiful among the area.

For the extra credit, I went on a hike in the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve. I made 57 observations representing 47 taxa. These observations may be found here: http://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/smvance70/2014/4/23

(The first observation of the spider was not part of this excursion, though taken on the same day.)

For this assignment, I took a walk through Abbotts Lagoon on March 2 and the entry road to Jack London State Park on March 3.

It is clear that these two ecosystems are very different. Abbotts Lagoon is a salt marsh with relatively dry vegetation surrounding. The area of Jack London State Park that I visited is more of a moist evergreen forest area, with more trees than shrubs.

Though there was significant precipitation at the time of visiting JLSP, the area was obviously more moist in general, with greener vegetation and taller plants and much more moss on the trees. The existence of moss was a clue to me that the ecosystem maintained a certain level of moisture. Additionally, there were numerous oaks and eucalyptus trees, and among them were brush and bushes like toyon and many individuals of poison oak. Most of the bushes had broad, flat leaves, which would serve to increase the surface area of the leave and enhance their photosynthetic ability as they compete with the overstory blocking the majority of light.

Though near a water source, the species that I observed at Abbotts Lagoon were much different that I had expected. There was a lot of fungus, which would suggest moisture in the air. There were also a lot of vine-y, long stemmed plants which I understand to be an adaptation to crawling over or otherwise overcoming the other vegetation in the crowded space. There were also a number of flowering plants, which I would imagine would be beneficial to attracting pollinators or encouraging wind pollination, since the area is so open and windy that pollinators could easily access the buds. The animal life at the Lagoon is also highly suggestive of a saltwater or marine ecosystem, as the pelicans and gulls were numerous.

On Friday, March 28, I participated in the GGNRA BioBlitz at Giacomini Wetlands in Tomales Bay. I went on two inventories: the first, a nature walk led by Chris Pincetich; the second, a look at the invertebrates of the wetland led by Josh Mackie.

Celastrina echo, aka Echo Azure, is a butterfly native to the Pacific Coast range. In researching this butterfly, I discovered that females echo azures lay their eggs on the flower buds of their host plants, which include California buckeye, ceanothus, dogwood, and blackberries. The hatched larvae then feed on the buds and flowering plant. The larvae are also attended to by ants.

On my walk through a small portion of Tilden Park, I noticed various plant species in bloom as well as insects roaming about. The insect that I found most interesting was the hover fly, which I noticed as it was flying still right in the middle of the path. The butterfly that I saw at the end of my walk was also interesting, as it was a blue color, almost never landed, and did not display its wings like I frequently see butterflies doing. The flowering tree that I was at the lake was also interesting, as its flowers were long and trumpet-like, and what appeared to be a protruding green stigma. I also saw the rose family bush with red fruit that we observed on our walk around campus. The bracken that I saw was also quite curious, as its leaves (?) were curled up around themselves, almost resembling caterpillars.

The unidentified plant observed with white flowers and black (what appear to be) seed pods is an example of flowering phenology. (2 photos)

The unidentified plant observed with smooth green leaves and lighter green bud-like structures I classified as an example of bare flowering phenology, since I am unsure what the bud-like structures are, but reasonably assume that they are some sort of flower bud. (3 photos)

The light-colored bark tree is an example of bare leaf phenology because it is completely bare, but appears to be coming our of dormancy, as there are small buds forming along its limbs.

The bushy plant is an example of leafed out phenology, as it is full of leaves but lacks flowers, or at least lacks live flowers.

On the afternoon of Friday January 31, I went for a walk in the fire trails. On the walk up Centennial Drive, I spotted a group of at least a dozen wild turkeys, which are representative of the bird taxa. At the top of the hill, there were a number of small lizards running around, which I later identified as spiny lizards, representative of the reptile taxa. On the way down the hill, heard the sound of bees buzzing, and saw a few visiting the flowering rosemary bushes. These common honey bees are representative of the insect taxa.