Käyttäjän sophiascarcella päiväkirja

I had a great time on this nature walk. I walked around Pine Tree Reserve then walked around the Reservior and explored the trails there, too. I went on the walk on Sunday, October 16th, at around 9:15 in the morning. It was very sunny outside and about 60 degrees F. When looking for plants, I knew it would be relatively easy to find polypodiopsida (ferns), angiosperms (flowering plants), and gymnosperms (evergreen trees). It was a bit ahrder to find bryophyta (mosses) since they blened in with the browns and greens of nature, but I evetually found some at the bottom of a tree as seen in one of my observations. I really enjoyed seeing the great biodiversity around me. In connection with what we learned in class, I thought about the ecosystem services that these plants prodive us that we oftentimes forget about/sometimes take for granted. For example, plants provide humans with oxygen production, soil (preventing erosion), moderation of temperature and climate, among many other foods and resources. It is important to appreciate the plants around us. I also thought about the different characteristics of plants that made them adapt to life on land, such as a cuticle, stoma, and falavonoids. Overall, I had a great time on this walk and enjoyed learning about these topics further in class.

I had a great time on this nature walk. I completed this walk on Tuesday, October 4th at around 1pm. The temperature was 57 degrees F, and it was cloudy and very windy outside. I walked around Pine Tree Reserve, then continued my walk around the Reservoir and explored the trails there. I definitely had to look harder to find fungi, as their colors blended in with the nature around me. I eventually noticed a lot of fungi, espeially on trees, where the fungi either traveled up the truck of the tree or was at the stump of the tree. I also found mushrooms in clusters on the ground. I came into this walk anticipating it would be hard to find any examples of fungi, but I was definitely surpised to see the surplus of different fungi in nature. In connection with the class material, this walk reminded me of the biodoversity around me, where there are so many different types of scpeies and fungi that occupy the world. I also the different variation between the fungi. Even though they are all types of fungi, the examples differ in shape, size, and genetic similarity. It would be interesting to look at a phylogenetic tree to see how closely related each observation is to one another. In this way, we could also see if the fungi are members of the same species or different species using some of the species concepts learned from last unit. Overall, I enjoyed this walk and found many connections to class matierial.

I really enjoyed this nature walk assignment. I usually go on walks multiple times a week, but it was nice to focus on the nature and plants around me, something that I did not really take the time to notice before. I went on the walk on Saturday morning, 9/24, at about 9:15 am. I went to the Pine Tree Preserve and then walked around the Reservoir nearby campus. The walk took about 35 minutes. It was around 55 degrees this morning with a cool breeze. It was a very sunny day outside. Some interesting things I noticed on this walk include a squirrel, wild mushrooms, pink, purple, and yellow wildflowers, as well as different types of grasses and leaves. Some leaves started to change color and fall from the trees. This walk was very relaxing and gave me a great start to my morning. Overall, I had a great time on this walk and was able to appreciate the vast biodiversity that surrounds me on a daily basis.