Part II- Field Final: Evergreen Open Space (Due 9/11 in class)

Transcription

1 Part II- Field Final: Evergreen Open Space (Due 9/11 in class) Please Bring: Required: Notebook/clipboard to write on, this MAP/final exam and hiking shoes. Optional: Camera, sketchpad, bag for samples, binoculars, sunscreen, frisbee WARNINGS: This area is used as a frisbee golf course. The discs are very hard and they hurt if you get hit. Walk in the direction indicated on the map (do not do the loop backwards), and keep be aware of people around you, particularly if they yell, fore. Also be aware of the stream edges, the mud is slippery and there is poison oak.

2 Driving and Parking: 101 North. Storke Road Exit. Go straight at stoplight, this is Calle Real. Drive past 7-11, after about 400 meters make your first right on San Rossano. Park on corner of San Rossano and Padova (road curves sharply to left). From 101 South, or Campus: Take Storke Road towards mountains. Turn left after overpass on Calle Real. Drive past 7-11, after about 400 meters make your first right on San Rossano. Park on corner of San Rossano and Padova (road curves sharply to left). MAP KEY: 1. Assess the scene and get your bearings 2. Fallen Trees 3. Eucalyptus Community 4. End of the Pipe 5. Into the Swamp 6. Bridge 7. Urban Landscape You may work with someone else on this exam, but I expect more developed answers from a team of two! List the name(s) of anyone who you worked with below: Your write-ups must be done in your own words. I should not be able to tell who worked together without looking at the name(s), above. IF YOU ARE LOST OR IN DANGER, ASK FOR HELP (the frisbee golfers know the area well) Otherwise, remember that the exam is more about your thought process than getting the right answers and don t forget to have fun

3 1. Assess the scene and get your bearings. From your parking spot, walk to the open space, then towards the mountains, until you are looking down at the playground below. Assess the scene from this elevated view. There should be water pipes with metal fencing around them on your left, and a big tree right in front of you. Look around, then look at the watershed (sight over the houses above the playground). Can you see any of the major sources of water/nutrient inputs that you identified in your background research? Describe below. Note any additional sources of water/nutrients that will drain into the riparian area (which is down and to your right). How would you describe the fire danger in this area? Is this what you would expect, from your knowledge of the chaparral fire regime? Explain. Note the Day, Time, and Weather conditions (sunny/clouds/wind/temp/ect)

4 Walk down the hill and to the right, toward the riparian area. There is a path along the stream that begins below the yellow, metal, frisbee-golf basket. 2. Fallen Trees Look for the spot where Eucalyptus trees that have fallen across the stream (they fell in a windstorm about 1 year ago)- it is before the big log that lies across the path. How has this disturbance changed the ecology of the area? Describe at least 3 specific changes. Follow the path along the riparian corridor, until it turns back uphill (steep) and meets up with the concrete footpath. You should be at location 3 on the map.

5 3. Eucalyptus Community Compare the juvenile Eucalyptus leaves growing close to the ground with the mature leaves growing further up on the tree. Note differences below: Offer (a) plausible hypothesis/es for the difference(s) in physiology. Think about and discuss the different pressures faced when living closer or farther from the ground, and consider succession. Describe the abundance and diversity of organisms in the Eucalyptus community. Be sure to consider the understory (vegetation), and organisms living on and in the Eucalyptus.

6 Follow the concrete path for about 30 ft, then veer left at the dirt path that continues alongside the stream. 4. End of the Pipe Use the following terms, in context, to describe (what you think) is going on in the aquatic habitat on the right of the cement bridge at the end of the pipe : BOD (biological oxygen demand), eutrophic(ation) and/or oligiotrophic, photic zone, turbidity, and decomposition. Do you expect to find suffocated fish in this location? Why/why not? Proceed over concrete bridge and turn left. Walk along the edge of the riparian zone, looking for an entrance to the swamp, (you will see wood planks on the ground between the two frisbee-golf baskets, #16 and #17.. but these numbers are tough to find!)

7 5. Into the Swamp (How) does the wetland smell today? What biogeochemical process is responsible for the rotten egg smell often found in wetlands? Explain, step by step. How long would you guess this wetland has been inundated with water for (based on the presence or absence of the rotten egg smell)? You may want to revisit page 202 of Bush. Describe the abundance and diversity of organisms in the wetland community (plants and animals). Explain why there is more diversity here than in the Eucalyptus dominated community.

8 Pick out a wetland plant. Sketch it below (or take a picture and attach). Wetland plant (continued). Try to figure out how the plant reproduces (what do its offspring look like/how are they transported), and note any other strategies that it possesses which may allow it to succeed. You may take a sample and research it later if you like, but this is not required. Find an interesting animal to observe. Sketch it below (or take a picture). Describe its role in the ecosystem (think food webs, nutrient/water cycling, ect) on next page..

9 Exit the wetland either the way you came, or over the long plank bridge (watch for golfers!) 6. Bridge Identify an invasive species that was presented in class (NOT Eucalyptus). -or- Identify a plant species that you believe is invasive. You may draw a picture of the plant and/or collect a sample. (Optional: identify the plant species using local experts or the internet). What strategies do you think this plant uses to make it successful as an invader (try to you re your answer specific to the plant you are describing, not to all invasive species)

10 7. Urban Landscape As you walk through past the houses, think about which one has landscaping that is most compatible with the native flora and fauna of the region. Describe below. What features make the landscape less hospitable to invasive species? If none of the houses strike you as compatible, look for a better example on your way home, or in your neighborhood. Address: Description: Why is it inhospitable to invaders? Follow up Questions: What do you think controls the hydroperiod in this wetland? Do you think that this stream would flow year-round if the upstream land-use was undeveloped? Explain. What are the downstream effects of the landscape you explored? In other words, how would the watershed downstream be different if this area was converted to housing?