Treasure Hunt
For this homework, I wanted to explore the biodiversity of an area that I pass through every day on my walk to and from campus, and then compare that to what the class from last year found. This area is the Eucalyptus grove, and while I know that the trees are planted, the grounds are unkempt, so I wanted to see what else I could find since I (and many others) pass through the area so often. I started by drawing a polygon and creating a place for the Eucalyptus grove on iNat, and was surprised to find few and unidentified ("Something") observations.
I started with the obvious -- the planted trees. I easily found the Blue Gum Eucalyptus and Coast Redwoods that have been there for decades. Besides those trees planted decades ago, UC Berkeley does not maintain or plant anything on the grounds, so it's interesting to see what grows there year after year. Also, this area is a haven for squirrels... I could've spent all my time recording observations of them, but decided to focus on the low-lying plant life.
There were some observations from last year that I was pretty sure about finding again -- dandelions, common ivy, and the california bay. Those observations I found pretty quickly in my search. But most of the ground in the area is covered by layers of fallen leaves from the trees and does have much sunlight.. so it took me a while to find areas with direct sun and uncovered soil -- and that is where I was able to find the cow parsnip, california poppy, and bermuda buttercup from last year's observations. I also found some orange bush monkey flower, yellow poppy-looking flowers, and a few other interesting flowering plants. The area with all of the flowering plants was, not surprisingly, away from the creek, the footpaths, and most of the trees and looked to me to be the most undisturbed area of the Eucalyptus Grove (with the most interesting findings too).
Extra Credit:
https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/rtdecca/2014/4/26 https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/rtdecca/2014/5/1
