maiawachtel's Journal

I went for a walk around UC Berkeley campus and found a number of species on the most common species list for Alameda county. As in my last journal post, my observations are not showing up as options for associating with this post. They are, however, all in my general observations list as well as in the class project. I found:

1. Coast Redwood
2. California Poppy
3. Himalayan Blackberry
4. Greater Periwinkle
5. Nasturtium

I went on a camping trip to Pinnacles National Monument and found a bunch of interesting plants. Unfortunately, I am unable to "associate" some of my photos with this post... they aren't showing up in the column to the right. BUT, all of the not shown observations can be seen on my "Observations" page!

1. Regular flowers: Yellow flowering plant (shown)
2. Irregular flowers: Yellow flowering plant in the Family Fabaceae (not shown)
3. Monocot: monocot leaf (shown)
4. Dicot: Sage (shown)
5. Pea Family: lupins (shown)
6. Gymnosperm: Pine (shown)
7. Terrestrial non-seed plant: Fern (shown)
8. Pinnate leaves: Maidenhair Fern (shown)
9. Opposite leaves: plant with opposite leaves (not shown)
10. Sunflower family: Yellow flowers in the sunflower family (shown)

I went to Aquatic Park in west Berkeley and found a lot of examples of spring! Most of the plants I found showed signs of new growth, characteristic of Spring. These included Cattails, Himalayan Blackberries, and what I believe were Mustard plants. I also found a pond covered in a later of green algae, another example of Spring growth. By far the most exciting observation, however, was a Pocket Gopher. I found a gopher hole and, when my camera flashed, the gopher popped up to fill in the opening with dirt. The result was a rudimentary time-lapse series of photos showing the gopher filling in its hole. This is an example of Spring in that in shows a gopher in the process of digging new gopher runs.

1. I found a flowering bush which was being pollinated by bumble bees.
2. There were a bunch of little termites (they my have been larvae, but I'm not sure) living in a dead pice of an oak root.
3. Lichen! I found lichen growing on a tree in the genus Aesculus.

I love the beach because there are so many cool, interesting, and often really weird organisms living in it.

1. Barnacles were growing on almost every rock. These organisms are small and really hard, which serves as great defense against animals and other threats.
2. There were crabs everywhere. The ones I found were small and grey, blending in perfectly with the sand and rocks. This camouflage is a great defense agains predators. They also have really sharp pincers which are a great deterrent to any birds or other animals trying to eat them.
3. Mussels have a hard shell, which protects them from bird beaks, and are extremely strong. This strength allows them to latch onto rocks, preventing them from being picked up by predators or washed away by waves.
4. There was a lot of algae growing on rocks. One adaptation the algae I found has is that it grows on rocks at the surface of the water, exposing it to sunlight necessary for photosynthesis.
5. There were a lot of Gulls flying around. Sea Gulls have white underbellies, which I imagine allows them to blend in with the bright sky and therefore be less noticeable to fish swimming below them.
6. The last thing is a really weird organism that I have yet to identify... It was growing inside a rock and was kind of slimy. It didn't react visibly when I poked it with a stick and I have no idea what it is, but I thought it was cool.

I went on a hike at China Beach in Marin, part of which passed through Moist Evergreen Forest.

1. I observed a number of large evergreen Ferns. These ferns had many large, long leaves, which allow the plant to absorb high amounts of sunlight for photosynthesis in an environment which is fairly dark.
2. Lichen was growing on many of the trees and fallen logs. Lichens do not require soil to grow, allowing them to thrive in places in which many plants would not be able to survive. They also are small and don't have roots, so can grow in places higher plants can't because they don't need to leach nutrients and water out of the soil.
3. There were fungi everywhere! It was growing on trees, under fallen logs, out of the ground. Fungi are extremely efficient at absorbing nutrients and do not require sunlight, allowing them to grow very well and extremely fast in dark moist environments.
4. I found a number of redwood trees on my hike. One adaptation of redwoods is that the leaves at the bottom are much larger than those in the upper canopy, allowing the lower levels to absorb more sunlight and the upper levels to conserve more water.
5. I saw some beautiful forget-me-nots. They are very small, delicate flowers with bright bluish-purple petals which stand out from the dark brown and green plants of Moist Evergreen Forests. This coloring may help attract pollinating insects/animals.

I went for a hike at China Camp in Marin County, much of which is Chaparral. I found many different plants and animals, but the following five stood out:

1. I found a field of beautiful pink-purple thistles. The flower was brightly colored (maybe to attract pollinating insects?) and the leaves were covered in prickles, which serve to protect the plant from animals which might eat it.
2. I found a small grey-brown lizard. Its coloring allowed it to easily blend in with its environment, which consisted of dry leaves and sticks characteristic of Chaparral.
3. I saw a number of what looked like rosemary bushes. They had very small, thin leaves, which allow for the conservation of moisture, and grew in shrubs close to the ground, which enables the plant to get water and nutrients from the dry ground to the leaves more quickly.
4. There were a number of small yellow flowering plants along the hike. Like the rosemary, they had very small leaves and flowers, allowing for the conservation of water and quick transport of soil moisture and nutrients.
5. I found a dried thistle which not only had sharp prickles on the stem, but the flower itself was a bunch of long, sturdy prickles which serve as effective protection against both Chaparral herbivores and curious naturalists who want to touch it.
6. I found a lot of Pacific Madrone. One adaptation to their environment is that they are largely drought-tolerant, allowing them to survive in dry Chaparral environments. They are also very fast growing and produce a lot of seeds, enabling them to regenerate after fires.

Flowering Phenology:

1. Miner's lettuce is a flowering plant, but it's flowers had not bloomed yet, exemplifying bare flowering phenology.
2. The Thimbleberry had buds which had bloomed, exemplifying flowering phenology.

Leaf Phenology:

1. The Thimbleberry had many leaves which appeared to be full grown, exemplifying leafed out phenology
2. A shrub I found on campus hand no leaves, exemplifying bare leaf phenology.

I went on a hike in Strawberry Canyon and found a number of different taxa. My favorite observation that I made was Witch's Hat, which is a kind of fungi. I also found Miner's Lettuce (plant), which was really tasty. Under a log I found a Slender Salamander and a Millientiped (animal and 'other'), and towards the end of the hike I photographed a Honey Bee (insect).