Habitat Trips

I was unable to upload all photos on time. Will be uploaded once able to It's both because of internet issues and because of inaturalist not allowing me to upload for technical reasons.

Species found in Moist Evergreen Forest:

1. Lichen exists through mutualism between fungi and photobionts. This relationship allows each to tolerate harsh conditions where neither could survive alone. In this partnership, the fungus provides the alga with water, prevents overexposure to sunlight, and provides simple mineral nutrients, in return the photosynthesizing alga supplies food to the fungus even if no other organic material is available.

2. The Ivy I found was on the ground. It has adapted by spreading across the ground for nutrients. Ivy releases a sticky substance, and adhering discs have develop on it's stem, so the ivy is thoroughly attached to the surface.
   To pick up nutrients, ivy spreads across a large area of ground for surface nutrients, rather than using the soil nutrients from one particular location. It does not have to share the soil space with other plants because as it spreads, ivy takes over the space of other plants. These plants are forced to struggle for nutrients and eventually die off, leaving the ivy with all the soil space it needs. Ivy is evil.

3. Violet ground flowers. I don't know very much about this plant or what particular species it is. I can assume like some succulents that are purple, it's to protect itself from too much sun, which could also help explain why it lives in the moist evergreen forest floor. Or the color could give off signals that attract birds and bees to pollinate it.
4. French Broom. Tolerant of summer drought and low-nutrient soils, it can invade a wide range of habitats. It can tolerate up to 80% shade, which grants it the ability to continue to live in Moist evergreen forest when it is more commonly found in biomes such as mixed evergreen forests and chaparral.
5. Bermuda Buttercup. I think the Bermuda Buttercup and the ivy are able to live in this biome because the forests' canopy is thin, which lets more light and heat to go through, allowing photosynthesis on the ground floor. Also, bermuda buttercup is a weed like french broom and ivy that allows it to grow almost anywhere sun is around.

Chaparral
The plants that live in the Chaparral tend to be oaks, pines and mahoganies, and brush such as narrow leaf golden brush. These plants have adapted to the Chaparral biome because of the climate and all the room they have to grow. I can't name tree species too well, I just know they were all different.
Species found in Chaparral:

1. Tree with green wood. I don't know about the green base, perhaps because like other plants that have green stems, it supplies effective transport of water to it's leaves in and that's why it continues to live in an area that is mostly warm.
2. Whitish Tree shedding in strips. Potentially a drought avoiding plant because it dropped it's leaves, and drought avoiding plants in chaparral do this when the weather gets too hot, it's to avoid excessive evaporation.
3. Cacti. I am unsure whether it was owned by someone or not. There were several of them and other succulents, it just had barbed wire around it. The spikes in cacti are to protect itself from predators during the day, especially because it was high up on the hill and predators could otherwise easily eat it without the spikes. It was fairly large in size and round.
4. Tree? Shrub? with tiny red fruit. I think it's a drought tolerator mostly because I am around a plant exactly like this one and it only gets water when it rains. These plants also have small, leathery leaves to reduce water loss.
5. Tree with pointy leaves. There wasn't anything particular that stood out besides the shape of the leaves. Possibly leaves with 'toothed' edges help trees, shrubs, and other plants cope with the cold in the bay area, which is in contrast to the usual chaparral climate. This tree had long one tooth leaves. The loss of water could help pull more sap from the roots, and delivering nutrients to the developing leaves, to ultimately help start their photosynthesis (Royer, now an assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at Wesleyan University).

Posted on March 5, 2014 07:38 AM by almanzacamille