Just from the first couple trips to the site, I can already see changes occurring. Changes in the vegetation were very apparent in the changing of the leaves. When I initially visited, the majority of the leaves were still green but it’s definitely gotten colder since then are the leaves are now mostly bright hues of red orange and yellows. Tree cover has also reduced now that the leaves are falling. In terms of the six organisms I selected, they all highlight the changing of the season. For example, the chipmunks were running around collecting nuts for the impending winter. In addition, the honeysuckles and maples show a change in the fruiting of the honeysuckle berries and the tar spots on the maple leaves which are characteristic of this time of year. More species information can be found below. The soil was especially wet due to the rain from the night before my visit. When we first mapped out the site it was a bit difficult to remember all of the features from just our memory. After getting back to the site after the mapping activity we realized just how many things we had left out which was really interesting since we had thought we did a pretty good job surveying it before. Forgetting about certain things made us realize that we should find more time to get out and visit the site to keep in fresh in our minds and get the chance to observe as many changes as we can.
Map
Six Organisms:
Eastern Chipmunk:
Taxonomy– Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata, Class: Mammalia, Order: Rodentia, Family: Sciuridae, Genus: Tamias, Species: Eastern Chipmunk
Snail or Slug:
Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Mullusca, Class: Gastropoda
Water Striders:
Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia , Phylum: Arthropoda, Class: Insecta, Order: Hemiptera, Family: Gerridae (Water Striders)
Norway Maple
Taxonomy: Kingdom: Plantae, Phylum: Spermatophyta, Class: Dicotyledonae, Family: Sapindaceae, Genus: Acer, Species: A. plantanoides
Dwarf Honeysuckle
Taxonomy: Kingdom: Plantae, Phylum: Tracheophyta, Class: Magnoliopsida, Order: Dipsacales, Family: Caprifoliaceae, Genus: Lonicera, Species: Lonicera xylosteum
Alder Buckthorn
Taxonomy: Kingdom: Plantae, Phylum: Tracheophyta, Class: Magnoliopsida, Order: Rosales, Family: Rhamnaceae, Genus: Frangula, Species: Frangula alnus
Resources https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/chipmunks/ https://bugguide.net/node/view/163