turmiyah's Journal

I haven't really been able to get up to Berkeley in the last couple of weeks. My grandfather died and my mom has taken it really hard. She's pretty fragile and ended up getting sick the next day. I'm the oldest child so I stayed home a lot to keep her company and make sure she was doing ok. What that meant for this assignment was that I couldn't track down the observations required, at least not in Berkeley. And there weren't any observations on iNaturalist in San Jose or Morgan Hill that I could hunt down to complete the assignment with.

So, I found a sort of middle ground. I'm trying to match up observations I've already taken with observations made last year in the Berkeley area. Some of these observations are from my South Bay explorations. Hopefully, I can come up with a handful. I also managed to make a few observations today after class.

Also, I found a little treasure of my own a week or so ago. I was digging a tiny grave for a dead bird I found in the backyard when I came across a cocoon. I made an observation and put it on iNat and the consensus was that it was either a moth or butterfly. I wasn't satisfied with that identification and had my own fantasies about reliving the elementary school glory days of watching caterpillars become butterflies. I turned to Google to figure out my next moves and ended up placing the cocoon into a glass jar with small holes poked into the top. Then I waited. And waited. And -- you guessed it -- waited some more. The day before yesterday I was disappointed to find that my once shiny, chestnut colored cocoon had turned black. I was sure that whatever was inside it had died. I told myself that I would deal with its disposal the next day. Imagine my surprise when the following day I found the blackened cocoon empty and a moth flitting around the jar instead! I felt like a kid again. Today I set the moth free, but not before taking half a dozen pictures of it.

The species that I decided to hunt down was Common Ivy (Hedera helix), observed by iNaturalist user and Geography 171 classmate marceairene . She made the observation on UC Berkeley's campus, between Sproul Hall and the Hearst Field Annex. There's a lot of ivy that grows alongside buildings in Berkeley, and while it is maintained by Physical Plant-Campus Services, it didn't seem to be a captive or non-native species. But after a little research, I found that ivy isn't native at all (it comes from across the Atlantic and was introduced during colonial times) and is, in fact, an invasive species that can cause ecological problems.

The original observation that I hunted down is this one: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/575077

Initially, I wanted to do my Natural History Story assignment on my most exciting observation so far, the Gopher Snake. Gopher Snakes in themselves aren't particularly titillating, but I nearly stepped on the poor thing and it gave me quite a fright. Luckily, I remembered that we had already discussed gopher snakes and rattlesnakes in class, and didn't want to do the assignment on a redundant species. So, I decided it'd be better to do it on my second most exciting observation, the Side-Blotched Lizard!

I came across this lizard while hiking through Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, a part of the Mojave Desert located in Southern Nevada, located only 20 or so miles from the Las Vegas Strip. To give credit where credit is due, technically, my brother came across the lizard. He was keeping an eye out with me for interesting critters and wildlife. After about an hour or so of hiking, I was starting to feel discouraged when he called me over. I snapped a picture from a few feet away and, when I went to get closer for a better look, the lizard quickly scurried into some nearby brush. What really struck me about the lizard was it's interesting coloring. It's head and tail were a bright orange-red. The intensity of it's coloring faded gradually into it's midsection, faintly reminding me of the ombre hairstyles that are currently en vogue.

The Common Side-Blotched Lizard (scientific name Uta stansburiana) is the most common and abundant of all lizards observed in North America. Experts are split as to whether subspecies exist, but assuming they do, the particular species of lizard I observed would be either the Nevada Side-Blotched Lizard (scientific name Uta stansburiana nevadensis) or Western Side-Blotched Lizard (scientific name Uta stansburiana elegans). It is primarily found in the open, rocky areas of desert ecosystems, amongst scattered vegetation. No conservation agencies have reported an endangered or significant status for the Side-Blotched Lizard. While the lizard is a predator to small invertebrates and arthropods, like beetles and ticks, it falls prey to other predators which can include larger lizards, birds, and snakes. The lizard engages in crypsis, a form of camouflage, to avoid predators.To account for the numbers that fall prey to predators, the Side-Blotched Lizard has been characterized as a "prolific breeder".

Indeed, the most noteworthy and interesting feature of this otherwise common and mundane species of lizard is its breeding behavior, related to its interesting polymorphism. There are three "morphs" of male lizards: the ultradominant, orange-throated morph, the dominant, blue-throated morph, and the yellow-throated, "sneaker" morph. The mating of the Side-Blotched Lizard is particularly unique because each of these three morphs engages a different strategy for mating. The mating behavior is modeled after a rock-paper-scissors or frequency-dependent sexual selection mechanism in which one morph is able to perform well against another, but is outcompeted by and performs poorly next to the third morph. This unique mating behavior allows for significant variation in the breeding population!

Sources:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_side-blotched_lizard#Ecology_and_behavior
2. http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/u.s.nevadensis.html

My favorite uncle recently had his first child. For Spring Break, he invited me and my siblings to visit him in Nevada and meet the baby. While there, we took the opportunity to hike at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The area is a part of the large expanse of desert known as the Mojave, located around 20 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, with a surprising abundance of plant and animal life and large, towering cliffs of red-striped rock. The canyon gets its name from the build up of iron oxide in the sandstone rocks, a process that's taken centuries and has resulted in their bright red appearance against the backdrop of gray limestone.

During the hike, I observed many species and photographed around 20 of them. The critters I chose to photograph and post to iNaturalist caught my eye because of their particular traits and characteristics. Some plants had beautiful and interesting flowers, ranging from brilliant red and tubular to lilac and delicate. Others, like an eye-catching fern growing in the shade of the rocks, had the appearance of a succulent, with leaves made of hundreds of green spheres. I even snapped a photo of a striking lizard, that had an ombre, rainbow-esque coloring to it. The tip of its tail was red and this color faded into its midsection and the color then intensified once more around its top half and head. In addition, it featured a geometric print all down its back and sides. I also observed a desert shrub that had ciliate leaves that looked like fuzz or fine hair all over it, that's edges rippled like waves.

For this assignment, I explored the riparian forest of Anderson Lake County Park, through which Coyote Creek flows, as well as a nearby field that seemed to be a grassland of some sort. Both of these ecosystems were found in Morgan Hill, the southernmost city in Santa Clara County. My trip to Anderson Lake County Park took place a couple of months ago, before the rain and official start of Spring. Besides the actual lake (which is part of Anderson Dam as well), Coyote Creek flows through the park. In addition, there are freshwater ponds and pools of water that form after rainfall. This ecosystem had an abundance of species, including plant and animal life. That's probably attributable to the plentiful water sources that make it a more hospitable ecosystem for life, in general, as well as the shade from the tree cover provided by the large Oaks and other such plants. The sunlight can be very intense in Morgan Hill as it is located in a valley in the Southern Bay Area. In this ecosystem, which can be characterized as a riparian forest, I observed many flowering plants as well as ducks.

More recently, I explored a flat field of wild grass. This ecosystem could be characterized as a grassland or prairie. There weren't any large shrubs or trees and the soil was relatively dry. In addition, most of the plants were small and grasslike. In this ecosystem I observed flowering plants. These plants seemed to be smaller and closer to the ground because there isn't a water source close by. However, the plants here were green anyway because it had rained heavily in the weeks prior. I observed a ladybug, which I picked up to take a better picture of (a first for me), as well as a spider, beetle, and reddish ant which I wasn't quick enough to photograph. As I was leaving the field, I nearly stepped on a gopher snake. At first I thought it might be a rattlesnake, but recalled that in class we had discussed the differentiating features between the two, including the narrower shape of its head and lack of rattled tail. It was around 7 feet long. Snakes do well in grassland ecosystems because they can easily blend in and have little trouble catching small animals, like mice. My dad managed to get a hold of it so that I could get a better picture before releasing it back into the field.

I took these observations while walking around the areas near my home in Berkeley. This was after it had rained a bit and the plants had grown in the days after, seeming reinvigorated. They were plants that seemed natural and were growing on their own, like weeds or shrubs. The first plant I saw was the Sweet Fennel. I knew it was fennel from the smell and look of it, because my aunt used to gather fennel by the shoreline in Burlingame. It was healthy looking and leafy, but didn't seem to be flowering.The Spreading Pellitory was the next plant I saw. At first I thought it was mint or something, because the leaves look similar. The leaf phenology is bright green and vibrant. The third plant I observed were the Wood Sorrels. I thought these were clovers at first. But after doing some research (and getting more confused), I figured out they weren't. The leaf phenology was green, but slightly off color, like they had received too much sun and not enough water. The final plant I observed was the Sweet Alyssum. It was growing out of the dirt on the side of a church. The land around it was unlandscaped, so I think it was growing naturally. I was drawn to it because of its cute flowers.

The taxa that I identified for this assignment fall into the categories of mammals, plants, and insects. I was home for the weekend and decided to wander around the neighborhood to collect the observations. The dog is mine (I couldn't resist). His name is Theodore and he never stops eating. There were birds flying around but they were too hard to get a decent picture of. The Flowering Plants were in a neighbor's front yard and looked pretty cool so I snapped a photo of them. The Earwig is just a run-of-the-mill Morgan Hill Earwig, I think.