Centennial Phenology EEJ

During my spring break this semester I visited a friend in Brooklyn, NY. He lives in the neighborhood of Park Slope, which is one of the 6 neighborhoods that border Prospect Park. It was originally formed by the same designers of Central Park, and holds a lot of inspiration from ideas of romanticism and transcendentalism that were forming around its creation. It became a park for the community, and has a lot of man made structures within it to push people in the city out into nature.

For obvious reasons, this park is far different from my site in Burlington. One of the largest differences would be the fact that Prospect Park is an extremely landscaped and man made park, while my site is a small river and forest underneath a bridge in Burlington. However, you can see evidence of human impact/ development within them both, as well as natural water formations.

Due to its placement within the city, Prospect Park is a migration hot spot that on a peak day can see up to 110 different bird species. Among those species can be found 5 different species of vireo, Eastern Bluebird, numerous warblers (possibly 35 species yearly), Vesper Sparrow, White-crowned sparrow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Bobolink, Orchard Oriole, and Baltimore Oriole.

The phenological conditions of the park were a bit difficult to identify, only because a large majority of the park is heavily groomed and maintained. However, in certain areas within the park it is completely closed off to the public to allow for regrowth. That area was looking pretty healthy, as much as it can at this time of year.

Waterfall pictured near dog park.

Trees spanning across field. 

Dog park closed off for the winter.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/40%C2%B039’43.4%22N+73%C2%B058’16.7%22W/@40.66206,-73.9735017,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d40.66206!4d-73.971313?hl=en-US

When identifying the natural communities of my site, I determined that it most closely aligned with the Pitch Pine-Oak-Heath Rocky Summit. While the site does contain a few other tree species than listed in the substrate descriptor from Wetland, Woodland, Wildland (including willow, green ash, and red maple) I do think that the different physio-ecological factors align with this descriptor. Some of these characteristics include the rocky summit, pine needle coated soil, and shrub populations. I can tell that many of the shrub populations are currently in rough condition due to the winter, but once spring comes around, the ecological potential of the site will promise more ground life.

Since my last visit to my site there has been a number of changes, as well as much more visibility all across the ground. This is due to the large change in temperature since my last visit, and the lack of snow all across the ground. Due to the packing of the snow on the plant life, all of the ferns in the area were smashed. The river was also much more visible, and had a fairly high stream due to the melting snow.

Using the BioFinder, I was able to determine that my site is neighboring a lot more development than I realized, and is really just a nook in the jumble of parking lots, highways, parks, and houses that exist around it. The program also showed me that my site is not any sort of protected area, as well as home to any particular species that the program would set off. The site is generally an interior forest block, with a bridge running over it.

Slope leading down to site.

Soil composition in site. Needles, pine cone, and mild moss.

Decomposing trees fallen due to the slope.

Bridge over site, lower end.

Trash found on site. Evidence of human presence.