{"id":59,"date":"2024-12-07T13:08:04","date_gmt":"2024-12-07T18:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/sedow\/?p=59"},"modified":"2024-12-07T13:08:04","modified_gmt":"2024-12-07T18:08:04","slug":"a-snowy-semester-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/sedow\/2024\/12\/07\/a-snowy-semester-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"A Snowy Semester Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Waking up this morning, I knew today would be a perfect day to study the phenology of my spot due to the gorgeous snow outside. Although cold, I had an amazing time studying how snow so vastly changed the makeup of my phenology location and the plants, animals, and systems around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time Spent Observing Plants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Walking into the spot, it amazed me how immensely different it looked from even the last time I visited, a little over a month ago. Almost the entirety of the fall foliage was gone, aside from a white ash and a basswood. The white ash, however, had fallen down since I last was there, meaning it could have fallen before it lost it’s leaves, meaning that it is not an accurate representation of how long ashes hold their leaves for. Additionally, all of the Japanese knotweed has died for the season, ready to come back in the spring. Without the invasive knotweed, my phenology spot is so much more clear. On the other hand, the Japanese stiltgrass is still holding on strong. It’s green blades are the only bit of color sticking out of the blanket of snow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I assume the leaves and other sticks and logs are starting to decompose, allowing for food for decomposers, the snow coated the entirety of the ground, making it very difficult to tell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Winter Wildlife <\/h2>\n\n\n\n