syhuang's Journal

Biology Lab 4 Journal
Scott Huang

-Today, we were looking at the contents that we captured from within our BioCube in the lab.

-Inside the BioCube, there were mostly just detritus and long plant leaves. The water was also very muddy, making it hard to look closely for small organisms. It was so muddy that when pouring the liquid into the sink, the sink briefly clogged up.

-The only living organisms found within the detritus and leaves was a water spider.

-Along with examining our BioCube, we also were looking more in depth at specific organisms that we got from the field.

-During this lab period, we were able to take more in depth pictures of our organisms, as we had constant light exposure as well as rulers to measure how big each specimen was. The lab also prevented wind from blowing away the specimens.

-However, I wasn’t able to take really crisp photos due to the camera on my iPhone SE, which doesn’t take crisp photos when zooming close to an object. This was due to my phone becoming all blurry when the camera was placed too close to an object. Thus, I took photos to be as clear as I could make them.

-One interesting organism we found was a water strider, which was still alive and bouncing a lot after spending a week in a container. It was too hard to take a clear picture of the water strider, as the sides of the container were too dirty to take a picture of the animal. Meanwhile, there was no way that the top could be removed without the possibility of the water strider jumping out and across the table, as the water strider was constantly seen jumping to the top of the container.

-We also brought back the slug that we previously found attached to one of our group member’s jackets. The slug was also still alive and was moving quite a lot. It was a dark brown color.

-One interesting plant that we brought was something that we still couldn’t identify even with the help of inaturalist. It is black all over and has lots of spikes coming out of it. It looks very similar to a sea urchin.

-Last time, we had brought a whole container filled with a lot of spiders that had formed a ball. However, looking at this container this week, we saw no evidence of the multiple spiders and saw only one or two. This lead us to believe that some type of carnivorism might have taken place, as the one week in the container might have starved the spider into having to eat the other spiders around them. We also think this is probable due to the nature of some spiders eating their mates for energy.

-Overall, our BioCube had a very strong smell of the vernal pool area. Once you walked by our station, you could smell a big whiff of nature.

Biology Lab 3 Journal
Scott Huang

-Today, we dug out all the materials that were inside our BioCube, which was still at the same location as before (half submerged in water, half in air, covered with branches). While pulling out the water, soil, and mud, we didn’t seem to see any new organisms. It just looked like the same detritus as we had seen before. However, we hope to see some more biodiversity in our next lab, where we look more in depth on what we captured.

-While looking through the BioCube during this lab period, we still didn’t see any organisms move through it.

-Today, the weather forecast was showers, with a light rain followed by a more heavier rain and ending the day with a lighter rain.

-During this lab period, I heard even more bird calls around the area. I could hear many types of bird calls. Some were short and repeated a lot while others lingered for a while.

-I remember hearing one duck/geese call that sounded very annoying and was repeating a lot.

-More birds were seen flying and landing on the trees near the vernal pool, but they were still too far away from where I was and thus too hard to take any clear photos.

-Saw a vulture fly above the vernal pool area.

-Saw and heard and plane fly by.

-While not as windy as before, there were still times of hearing wind blowing

-Saw 2 deers running along the outskirts of the vernal pool and nearish the forest area. One was following the other as they ran from the left to right of the field (left to right as in going from where the cars were parked to where the house is on the farm)

-Still heard a mechanical roar in the distance.

-Heard the crunch of the hay below my feet as I walked / other people walked.

-Heard the sound of rain hitting onto the vernal pool water.

-This time, when jumping over to the other side of the vernal pool, I was able to go to the other side without getting my boots wet. I did this by jumping the vernal pool at the area more near the forest. However, when jumping back, I got all of my right boot wet, as I tried to jump too wide of a vernal pool area. The boots I’m wearing are a pair of a pair of Timberlands that reach to the top of my ankles.

-This time, I was able to notice the bell rings at 9 and 10 o’clock.

-While walking, I found a deep little tunnel within the hay-covered ground. I tried to poke a stick into it but all I felt was the soil. I wonder what animal could have made that hole. The hole was about as wide as my leg.

-The water was still cold enough that the ice seen from last lab was still there with the algae on top of it.

-While we thought that the rain might encourage more amphibians to pop their heads out and let us see them, we still couldn’t find those animals.

-There were still an abundant number of spiders that traveled across the hay-covered ground,

-This time we were able to find many more water spiders, with one of our group members finding a big clump of spiders all balled up together. We had no idea why they were in this formation.

-Meanwhile, towards the end of the lab, we also found a land spider that was bigger and looked different from the regular spiders that crossed the ground. It was big enough that the phone could actually capture how furry it was and the different coloration patterns of brown and black on the spider.

-When one of our group members picked up their jacket from the ground, they were able to find a snail attached onto the backside of their jacket. The snail was about the size of my fingertip or a bit smaller.

-While walking along the vernal pool, I still constantly pricked by the thorns that grew from some of the plants. These thorns also caused some trouble when I tried to move into new areas new the vernal pool, as the thorns acted like a barrier to prevent me from entering deeper into some parts of the environment. Each thorn was about on average 1 cm long.

-This time, I paid much more attention to the quality of the images taken and tried to make sure most of the images were crisp.

-Again, using the white cardboard paper as a backdrop helped with making clearer pictures. When I was away from the white cardboard paper, I simply placed my hand or jacket near the specimen I wanted to take a photo and it still helped with the camera not focusing on the background. Though if I was too uncareful and placed my hand too far away from the specimen, the camera would focus on the jacket and not on the plant.

-Near the vernal pool are two big mounds of hay and sticks stacked up on each other. This mound is sturdy enough to stand on and not break apart. Both mounds were taller than me. While Peg told us that animals usually inhabit these mounds, we tried to peek inside but couldn’t find anything. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time / temperature for those animals to come out yet.

-Like the last lab, we really only saw the most biodiversity while examining the plants that grew around the pool. While we won’t expect to see any amphibians within our BioCube withdrawal, I hope that we get a pleasant surprise and not just nothing when examining it in our next lab.

-It was also not too cold during this lab, allowing us to better navigate through the vernal pool and try to find new organisms.

Biology Lab 2 Journal
Scott Huang

-We kept the BioCube at the same location as before (half submerged in water, half in air, covered with branches) as we still believe that it serves as a good place to captures lots of different types of organisms. Also, it still looks well integrated with the pond and hasn’t moved since we last put it in.

-While looking through the BioCube this lab period, we still didn’t see any organisms move through it.

-This period, I heard much more birds around the area.

-Some birds actually flew on top of the trees in the vernal pool, though I couldn’t take any photos since there were still too far from where I was standing.

-I could hear many types of bird calls. Some were short and repeated a lot. Some lingered for a while.

-Also saw a duck/goose flying above our area but was really high into the sky.

-Also heard the sound of a plane pass by.

-Still heard some wind, though not as windy as before.

-Heard the sound of water flowing

-Heard some croaking of maybe a frog or fairy shrimp. Tried to find where the noise came from but couldn’t find it.

-Apparently (heard by Peg), the fairy shrimp do like to come out later in the day and will make tons of noise in the vernal pool. However, once you go close to the vernal pool, the fairy shrimp in that area will become quiet. As you walk down the vernal pool, the area you are nearest will become quiet while the other parts will still be loud. However, if you sit still for long enough, the fairy shrimp nearest you will start to make sound again.

-Still heard a mechanical roar in the distance.

-Heard the crunch of the hay below my feet as I walked / other people walked.

-Since I don’t have tall boots and I think there is more diversity of organisms on the other side of the vernal pool, I always need to find a place in the pool where the pool is less wide. That way I can more easily jump to the other side without getting wet. This area is usually closer to the forests than to the farm house. Though everytime I jump, I still get some water entering one of my boots (a pair of Timberlands that reach to the top of my ankles).

-This time, I was more careful with walking on top of the sheet hay, as I found out from last lab that as you walk towards the vernal pool, while it may look like there’s a solid area of ground with hay on top, as you stand longer on that area, you start sinking into some water. This caused for my feet to get more wet than I expected last lab. Thus, I always made sure that wherever I stood for long was far away enough from the pool.

-This time, I was much more focused on seeing the different species of plants and less worried about trying to find moving organisms.

-This time I could more easily see the small spiders running over the ground of hay. I tried to grab one and killed it by accident. It was about one sixth the size of my fingertip, making it really hard to take a clear picture of. Spiders still tried to burrow back into the hay once you got too close to them.

-Group tried digging through some of the vernal pool but mostly only found different types of spiders. Using the net mostly caught algae and detritus.

-Apparently the water spiders might be attracted to the color black, with one of our group members with black boots seeing spiders naturally come to her.

-Water was still pretty cold. There were still solid chunks of ice floating on top of some points of the vernal pool. This looked cool, as when you picked up the ice, there would also be lots of algae stuck to it.

-Saws some bulges within some of the stems of plants, with Peg told me that it was actually caused by insects / it was a disease (i think but I don’t entirely remember).

-Saw a weird nest-like structure on top of a plant, which could have possibly been the nest of a insect. Had lots of layers to it and had a pale-yellow color.

-While walking along the vernal pool, I got constantly pricked by the thorns that grew from some of the plants. It was very annoying trying to get those thorns unstuck to my clothes and made me jump over those specific plants as the day went on.

-This time, I paid much more attention to the quality of the images taken and tried to make sure most of the images were crisp.

-Using the white cardboard paper as a backdrop really helped with making clearer pictures. Before, my camera would constantly have its focus be on other plants in the background and not the plant that I had placed in the foreground.

-Sometimes, when I was too far away from the white piece of paper, I simply put my hand behind the plant, which also had the same effect of eliminating the focus on background items.

-Since it was a much warmer and less windy day than the previous lab, it was much easier to roam around the vernal pool and actually focus more on the environment and ecology, since its kinda hard to take good photos of plants when you are shivering. When I talk about roam, I actually could try to go into densely packed areas of tree branches to see if I could find more diversity within our ecosystem.

-Most of the diversity within our ecosystem comes from plants so far. I really do wish we could spot a tadpole/salamander during our next lab.