Category: Post 1: Observations

I have decided to revise my original Observations Blog Post as my final project has changed. After much thought of the different ecological areas in Kamloops, I decided to observe three distinct areas on the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) campus. Each of these areas are slightly different with the first one being a small wooded area, the second being an open grassland with a few ornamental trees lining the area and the last being a garden with high densities of various flowers, trees, shrubs and wildlife. I visited each site on March 21, 2018 at 10:30am in which the weather was slightly overcast with a breeze. I spent thirty minutes at each site observing their various attributes. Each site visited on the TRU campus had different organisms that gravitated to that specific site. This had me wondering why are the specific organisms, especially birds, attracted to particular sites? I also noticed that the weather was slightly different at each site. It’s important to understand that the weather changes were rather minimal, however, one site was more windy than the other two or one site would receive more sunshine than the other two sites. This had me wondering if the minor weather changes played a role in determining which species preferred which site? Lastly, even though all of the sites were on the TRU campus I noticed how they significantly differed in their landscape. This had me wondering how does this occur? Each site I looked at were all within a 5 minute walk of each other so how does the landscape vary to such a degree within a confined space. Furthermore, due to each site having its own distinct features does that determine which organisms are able to thrive better in one area compared to another?

Below are visual representations of each sited observed within the TRU campus:

 

The study sites that I have chosen for this research project are two rocky shores in Pembrokeshire, United Kingdom: Castle beach and Jetty beach. The beaches are in close proximity to one another and they are roughly a ten-minute walk apart. Each study area is approximately 0.6 metres by 15 metres. Castle beach is an exposed shore whereas Jetty beach is a sheltered shore. Castle beach consists of lower biodiversity compared to Jetty beach. It is Jetty beach has an abundance of animal and plant species. The vegetation at Jetty beach is composed of mainly seaweeds and lichens. Both beaches consist of a fair number of dog whelks. Dog whelks are also known as rock snails. The weather at the beaches in winter was sunny but cold. The temperature was about 10 °C. The beaches were visited on February 17, 2018 at 10:30 AM.

Three questions that are interesting or striking and could form the subject of my research project are:

• How do edaphic characteristics affect the dog whelks’ abundance on Castle beach and Jetty beach?
• How does rocky shore exposure to the tide at Castle beach and Jetty beach affect the size of dog whelks?
• Does the sheltered shore consist of more soil nutrients than the exposed shore thereby supporting more biodiversity?

Castle beach

Jetty beach

January 26, 2018
12:30 – 13:15
Weather: 5°C and overcast; rain earlier in the day

I have chosen Cultus Lake as my research site. It is 6.3 km² with a maximum depth of 44 m. The lake basin is bound by International Ridge to the east, Vedder Mountain to the west, the agricultural lands of the Columbia Valley to the south, and a heavily used recreational beach to the north. The mountains around Cultus Lake are forested with mostly coniferous trees and patches of regenerating deciduous trees. The vegetation at the north end of the lake is maintained with almost no understory and only select mature coniferous trees remaining. Portions of Cultus Lake are within a Provincial Park. The park areas are largely occupied by campgrounds.  The lake attracts between 1 and 3 million tourist visits per year. The lake is subject to anthropogenic nutrient loading from agricultural activities and septic leaching.  It is home to two species at risk, the Cultus Pygmy Sculpin (Cottus aleuticus, Cultus population) and the Cultus population of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka). The littoral areas of the lake have been invaded by invasive Eurasian milfoil (an aquatic plant). My questions are as follows:

1. Is eutrophication of the lake leading to deep water oxygen depletion?
2. Do fish, specifically the Cultus Pygmy Sculpin, favour portions of the lake that have higher concentrations of dissolved oxygen?
3. If oxygen depletion does occur, does the lake fully recover during winter overturn?

 

I am choosing to do my field study in Mount Douglas Park, located in Victoria, B.C. I visited the park on February 6^th, 2018, at around 12:30 pm. It was overcast, lightly raining at times, with a temperature of 8C. Mount Douglas Park is quite a large park, with an area of 188 hectares, and the summit reaches an elevation of 225 m (District of Saanich, 2018). From what I observed, the lower areas of the park are lightly rolling hills, with flat areas, and are covered in forest. The forest is predominantly douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and there are a few big leaf maples (Acer macrophyllum). The understory is dominated by Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium), sword fern (Polystichum munitum), snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), and Indian plum (Oemleria cerasiformis) which I identified when I got home. The top of Mount Douglas Park transitions into a more open, rocky ecosystem with garry oak (Quercus garryana) and arbutus (Arbutus menziesii) trees, with scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) becoming prominent. Lichens tended to favour one side of the tree, which usually faced more open areas, but could be a NSEW preference. The Oregon grape leaves seemed to be smaller at the summit, and had a reddish hue.

The park is disturbed with a high presence of invasive species such as English holly (Ilex aquifolium) and English ivy (Hedera helix).

There are an infinite amount of possibilities here, but three areas that seem most feasible to explore are:

1. The size of the Oregon grape leaves/plant is smaller in the open areas at the top of Mount Douglas, compared to the lower, closed forest.
2. The green dust/or crust lichen prefers certain sides of trees, however the sides that the lichen prefers seems to vary in the park, therefore, is it a NSEW preference, or a light availability preference?
3. Do the areas surrounding the heavily used trails have less species diversity (or more invasive species) than the less frequently used trails?

 

District of Saanich. (2018). Mount Douglas Park. Retrieved February 6, 2018 from: http://www.saanich.ca/EN/main/parks-recreation-culture/parks/parks-trails-amenities/signature-parks/mount-douglas-park.html

The area that I have chosen to study is a field that runs along the Bow River in the South of Calgary, Alberta. The Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is located here. The green space next to it, and which runs a long ways along the Bow River, is used by dog walkers (of which I am one) and some owners as an offleash area for dogs to run in. It is not designated as an offleash area by the City of Calgary. The region of the pathway that I walk runs approximately 6 km total, and is on a ridge slightly above the Bow River. A more accurate distance measurement must be made. The Northern stretch of path is more heavily wooded, with many plants growing around the path and on the hills that border the West side of the path. There is a smaller, secondary path that wanders down towards the river and then back up to the meet the main pathway. Walking South from the parking lots, the path is at a higher elevation from the river, and a steep rocky embankment makes it harder to access the river. Northeast of the parking lots there is a main access point to the river.

 

I go to this area at least once a day during the week with my dogs, but it wasn’t until the end of January that I brought my journal along with me. There are still many natural elements in the park, and more possible subjects to explore than I initially thought, as I had previously only thought about the dogs I was walking. There are many different species of plants, and I have observed ducks, hawks, deer, and coyotes in the area.

 

I brought my field journal with me on January 30, 2018 at 1030 hours. The weather was excellent that day: sunny and 7℃ with only about 1 cm of snow still on the ground. This is quite warm for the end of January, but was thanks in part to a Chinook blowing in.

 

Three questions that came to mind were:

• Are there species of plants that are found only along the river, and not in areas that are farther removed from the river?
• There are many wolf-willows (Elaeagnus commutate) along the pathways. The ones that are nearest the path are under 3’ tall, while the ones that are along the secondary pathway are well over 6’. Is this due to the proximity, either distance or elevation, from the river?
• Are the plants on the islands in the middle of the river the same as those along the pathway that I walk, or are they different? Is this due to lack of human activity, or increased presence of wildlife?

Post #1: Observations at Beacon Hill Park

 

I will be conducting my field research at Beacon Hill Park, a designated city park in Victoria, BC. When Victoria was settled in 1843, Beacon Hill park was a completely natural area. Beacon Hill Park was reserved as a park by the city of Victoria in 1858. Although some of the park has experienced human alterations through the planting of flower beds, construction of a water park and petting zoo, much of the park still features its natural ecosystem.  Most notably, the park protects a native Garry Oak ecosystem. The park features several ecosystems, including grasslands, forested areas and a man-made lake.  The highest elevation of the park is approximately 40m above sea level.

Date of observations: January 4 2018

Time of day: 4:15pm

Weather: 4˚C, wind 14km/h from the northeast. Clear skies. Sun was just about to set at 4:32pm.

Area of park: ~0.62 km²

Seasonality: winter

 

For my field study, I decided to select 3 locations to make observations. Each location features a different ecosystem.

 

Location 1: Forest near the “world’s tallest totem pole”

 

GPS coordinates:

48.408699, -123.358520

The forested area near the “world’s tallest totem pole” features a network of human footpaths through a forest of deciduous and coniferous trees. This location had the most-dense vegetation and the most evidence of decomposition.  Many plants surrounded the trees including bushes that had lost their leaves, brown, tall grasses and short green grass. One of the bushes had white berries, leading me to believe it was a snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus).  I found evidence of herbivory in dry, brown leaves that covered the forest floor.  One small bird was spotted during my observations. Lichen was present on tree trunks. Garbage from humans was also present.

 

 

 

 

Location 2: Top of Beacon Hill

 

GPS coordinates: 48.410488, -123.364813

 

The top of Beacon Hill has the highest elevation at the park, at 40m above sea level. The area includes an exposed, grassy region surrounded by what appeared to be Garry Oak (Quercus garryana) trees and arbutus (arbutus unedo) trees.   The trees were bare of leaves, but the shed leaves had accumulated on the ground below. Some trees retained brown, dry leaves and these leaves showed evidence of herbivory by an insect.  I noticed a Himalayan blackberry bush (Rubus armeniacus), which is a rampant invasive species all around Victoria.  Similar “wheat” looking grasses were observed to the grasses at location 1.  As well, the bush with the white “berries” (Symphoricarpos albus) was present.

 

 

Location #3: Man-made stream ecosystem

 

GPS coordinates:

48.414201, -123.365927

 

The final location I will consider is a man-made stream ecosystem on the western edge of the park.  Although most of the plants here were likely planted by humans, this area had the most biodiverse foliage.  I observed the following vegetation:

-ferns

-coniferous tree with very soft needles. This tree was the tallest of the trees I observed anywhere in the park and had the widest diameter.

-deciduous tree

-leafy ground plant

-a large shrub close to the stream’s edge

-moss on rocks

 

Ducks were heard, but not seen.  The ground was covered in a brown “mulch”.  The stream flowed at a medium rate into a relatively large man-made lake.

 

 

 

 

Potential research questions:

 

• What impact does elevation have on number of species, growth rate of vegetation and microclimate?
• How do bird species respond to man-made structures, such as the man-made stream ecosystem, in comparison to natural wetland ecosystems?
• Which location experiences the most insect herbivory and why?

 

 

Blog Post 1: Observations

Initial Observations of the Study Area by Randy Nguyen

November 2, 2017

The area of study that I have chosen to investigate is Stanley Park in Vancouver, B.C.

Address: Vancouver, BC V6G 1Z4

Area: 4.049 km²

Coordinates: 49.3017° N, 123.1417° W

Weather: Clear Skies, 13⁰C

Time and Date Visit Site: 1:25pm on November 2, 2017

Description of the study area:

This large public park borders the downtown of Vancouver in B.C and is entirely surrounded by waters of Vancouver Harbour and English Bay.  It also a very historical park which dates back during the 1858 Fraser Canyon Gold Rush and after years of colonization by the British, the land was later turned into Vancouver’s first park in 1886. The name “Stanley Park”, came from the 16^th Earl of Derby, a British Politician who later became a governor general.

In present time, the park draws thousands of resident and visitors everyday and to take part in recreational activities in the area.  To name a few popular attractions in Stanley, people take part in biking and walking along Vancouver seawall, forest trails, and go visit the Vancouver Aquarium.

Wild Life in Stanley Park

Stanley Park has a diverse habitat ranging from coniferous forests to boggy wetlands to sandy beaches and to rocky shores. At least 500 species are known to live in the park and to name a few: Bald eagles, bats, beavers, squirrels, coyotes, harbour seals and racoons. For plants, we have a few invasive species such as Himalayan blackberry (Rubus discolor) and English holly (Ilex aquifolium). For native trees, we have conifers such as the western hemlock and western red cedar, and Douglas fir.

Deciduous

• Bigleaf maple (natural regeneration)
• Black cottonwood (natural regeneration)
• Wild and choke cherry (natural regeneration)
• Red alder (natural regen and planted)

Rare

• Pacific yew
• Cascara
• Pacific dogwood
• Arbutus (planted)

In recent news, the Vancouver park board is taking first steps to examine whether it would be feasible to one day reconnect Lost Lagoon with Coal Harbour to recreate a salt marsh.

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-fresh-idea-to-turn-stanley-parks-lost-lagoon-salty-again

 

With ideas from the media and my observations of the park, I can devise 3 questions to narrow down my topic for the field research project:

• Because humans are using the park recreationally, are there any possible risks to the conservations areas and the species living there?
• How bad has the invasive species (i.e. Himalayan Blackberry) have put other native species of plants at risk?
• If the Vancouver park board decides for some reason to turn the Lost Lagoon to a salt marsh, what potential impact can that cause on the current wild life habiting the Lost Lagoon?

Blog Post 1: Observations.

The area I have chosen is a piece of municipal-owned land in Sooke, British Columbia. It is a roughly rectangular piece of forested property approximately 150 meters by 300 meters surrounded on all sides by residential areas. There is a gated road from one street through the forest to the other end for use by maintenance vehicles to access a drinking water storage and pumping station. The lot is sloped with an elevation of 60 meters above sea level at the east end and 85 meters at the west. There is swampy terrain at the east which dries out just before the land slopes up. Red alders are the dominant tree at both ends with large western red cedar, western hemlock and Douglas fir in the middle section. Many animals inhabit this area part of the time. They include birds such as hummingbirds, robins, woodpeckers and owls. Herons had a colony here a few years ago but they have since moved on. Mammals that live here include squirrel, raccoon, black tailed deer and black bear. All of these animals are not permanent residents. They tend to pass through and use the area as a sort of shelter, but for the most part they not afraid of humans and roam the nearby streets, yards and other fragmented forest properties. The area does not see a lot of human activity. Maintenance crews drive in a couple of times a week and since their access lane is gated they are the only vehicle traffic. Occasionally neighbourhood kids play in here or cut across as a shortcut between blocks. Homeowners whose backyards border the property have encroached a few meters in with sheds and compost piles. This region sees only a few days of snow a year. The micro climate is so extreme that sometimes the higher elevation gets some snow and the lower end of the property does not. The past few years has seen fire bans from about May to October; it is so dry here that a few sparks would ignite the forest.

I visit this area all the time. My backyard borders it and I am often watching the deer and birds in here. In the spring a hummingbird built her tiny nest on a branch a meter from my childrens’ treehouse. We spent many mornings sitting on the little balcony watching the progress of her babies.

Some areas of personal interest that I may study:

1. Many animals live in both the forest and the surrounding urban area. To what extent do they rely on the forest?

2. There is a group of red alders growing in swampy ground. In the past few years they have begun slowly tilting but remaining seemingly healthy until they completely fall over. Why are they doing this now?

3. There are a few specimens of “nurse logs”, dead wood that new plants grow on. Why do some stumps and logs host new trees and some don’t?