April 4, 2018, 11:55 am, -10C, clouds: 0/4, wind: 1/4
The study site I have selected is a small marsh known as Pumphouse Pond, fed by McIntyre Creek, coordinates 60.7501, -135.1049, situated behind the Yukon Research Center in Whitehorse, YT. The designation of this marsh is most likely YG parkland. It is approximately 10 acres in size, surrounded by boreal forest and accessible by trails on all sides except the north, where it narrows and runs off into a creek. There is a pumphouse on the west edge where McIntyre Creek empties into the marsh. At this time of year the marsh is frozen and covered in snow, which obstructs observation of the lower levels of flora in and around the body of water except for where the occasional patch has melted through, but surrounding the marsh are trees typical of the boreal forest including Picea glauca, Pinus contorta, Populus tremuloides, Populus balsamifera, and Betula neoalaskana. The understory includes Rhododendron groenlandicum, Rosa acacia, varieties of Salix and Alnus, and others which are at present unidentifiable under the snow. The ground cover includes grasses, sedges, sage, lowbush cranberry, twinflower, and kinnickinnick, though almost all ground is too covered in snow to be observed.
The east bank of the marsh gives way to a steep slope which ascends ~20 meters before resolving into a plateau, while the other borders are characterized by subtly rolling topography. The creek itself flows in from the west, indicating a gentle upward grade. There is a high voltage power line visible to the north of the marsh. A gravel road runs parallel to the southern bank ~50 meters from the water’s edge, not visible from the trail.
Numerous tracks belonging to showshoe hares, red foxes, red squirrels, ravens, and small rodents were observed in the snow. Each of these species is common and abundant in this area. The sounds of 3-4 ravens could be heard to the north edge of the marsh, and a few varieties of birds I cannot at this point identify were singing along the southern edge.
Observations around this site which struck me as interesting include:
-There are two stands of dead trees at the north-west and south-west edges of the marsh. These trees are ~half the height of the live trees which they sit in front of, which appear taller on average than the trees around the rest of the marsh. The relationship between the short dead trees and the taller-than-usual live ones could be explored in light of the shared characteristics of both stand sets (west facing, at the edge of the water, etc).
-While there are many animal tracks near the edges of the marsh, only fox tracks were observed to cut across the middle of the frozen surface. This may suggest an interaction pattern based on feeding relationships.
-Hare tracks tended to follow a distinctive connect-the-dots type pattern from tree to tree for trees with trunks over a certain diameter. Other animal’s tracks seemed to follow trajectories which were more direct, avoiding trees in favour of more continuous movement. I wondered if the pattern of hare movement reflected a predator avoidance strategy or a cold-survival strategy, as the larger trunks were surrounded by wells where reflected heat created potential access points to the subnivean space.
