cslasota's Journal

I went on a 45 minute walk around my neighborhood. I saw two different types of fungus and two different types of lichen. I also saw many different insects but was only able to get a photo of a moth. There were a ton of different plants and flowers. It had just rained before my walk so it was wet outside and partially cloudy. It was also very humid. I thought it was interesting to see how many different types of fungus and lichen living in the same area. Additionally, it was cool to see how lichen and trees live together in a commensalism relationship similar to the mutualistic relationships we have been learning about. In this relationship, the lichen benefits from the tree but does not cause any harm to the tree. After reading more about this relationships online, I also saw that lichen can protect trees from extreme weather conditions which would create a mutualistic relationships between the two organisms. Additionally, I saw fungus growing on a tree stump. I'm guessing that there was a mutualistic relationship between the fungus and the tree before the tree was cut down.

Today I went on a walk around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir for around 40. It was very warm and sunny on my walk. I saw a variety of different plants and animals interacting with each other. First, I saw a ton of different weeds that were taking over the areas that flowers (that people had planted) were trying to grow. These weeds were talking away resources and space from the flowers that were growing there. I also saw a Sycamore tree that had many birds flying in and out of it like perching birds. The tree offered shelter and shade (especially on a warm day like today) for the birds. In the reservoir, I saw many turtles/ tortoises and geese. The turtles were all interacting with each other on a rock. The geese were swimming in the water and I saw a couple catch fish. The geese prey on the fish for food which helps to maintain the ecosystem and make sure the fish population doesn't grow out of hand. Lastly, I saw a variety of different plants like milkweeds and Leucanthemum growing along the edge of the reservoir. These plants were competing for resources with each other.