Habitat Trips

I hiked the fire trail today to see what I could find in the chaparral on the south facing side of the hills and in the moist evergreen forest on the north side.

I found mushrooms in both ecosystems, although there were more in the evergreen forest. This makes sense, as mushrooms like a wet environment. I was probably only able to find them in the chaparral because of the the recent rain.

The plants I found in the chaparral had small leaves to conserve water, whereas, most of the plants had larger leaves in the moist evergreen forrest. The fern I found in the moist evergreen forest also depends on a fair amount of water in order to disperse its spores.

The salamander I found, being an amphibian, also needs water nearby, and I found it underneath a wet log. The moist evergreen forest also has lots of moist decomposing logs, which seem to be the ideal habitat for centipedes like the one I found.

Posted on March 5, 2014 02:59 AM by nfs