FoxCroft Farm Week 3 Journal
Ecosystem Assigned: Wetland Vernal Pool
At First Glance:
Even though it was only a span of a week, we saw some noticeable changes when we came back to the farm. Standing on top of the hill near the farmhouse, we could see the Red Maples beginning to show; the red was very noticeable from the distance. We also saw the willows starting to spread. Overall, there was a lot more green compared to the past two weeks, due to rising temperatures. It was also a lot drier than before, since it hadn’t rained too much before the trip, although walking through the field there were still places of wet mud that we had to step over.
Description of What’s Happening in BioCube (organisms found, anything changed, etc):
Looking in our BioCube, there was nothing different compared to last time. There were still a lot of leaves (some green, others brown, and some with a mixture of colors) most likely fallen from some of trees/bushes on the shoreline. There were also the branches that we placed in the BioCube, along with the yellowish brown under plants that continue to grow rapidly and dominate the area above the mud. We've noticed that these plants are also really sturdy and hard to cut. There was also green algae in the BioCube. Towards the end of our trip, when we were digging up our BioCube, we saw a water glider so we placed it inside a container to take back for further observation.
Description of What’s Happening in the Ecosystem/Nearby:
With the warmer weather, a lot of the plants/flowers are starting to bloom. The pussy willows have started to bloom, turning into a yellow color. Last time we didn’t see them, but this time we saw red flowers blooming along the shoreline of the vernal ponds, as well as others. The pond itself looks like it has expanded, especially with the rising water levels because of previous rain and the incoming Spring season. The vernal pool ecosystem on FoxCroft Farm is composed of three to four ponds that are linked together by small narrow streams of water. Before, the ponds were very small, but now the rising water has led to the formation of bigger ponds across the ecosystem. Besides the increasing amount of green and rise in water level, there was also an overall increase in the amount of life that we observed.
Observation of Organisms (New/Old) Found in Vernal Pool (New and Old):
We found the usual plants like the pussy willows and the milkweeds, but we also found new organisms.
Red flowers blooming on trees on the shoreline of the vernal ponds (multiple stenum).
Sea slugs. We found one just when we were about to leave on some leaves on the edge of the vernal pool.
Red berries (recently bloomed). We took off a branch and took a picture of it against a white background.
Sea snails. There were multiple in some in the vernal ponds further north (closer to the forest area). At first they looked like rocks, but upon closer inspection there was a distinctive shape because their shells look like cones. We managed to get some of the bigger snails and let the smaller ones go. They don’t come out at first, but if you leave them in the container with some water, they eventually will come out and start moving.
A mass amount of spiders. Just some light digging or moving our boots around will unveil several spiders (most likely the organisms Dolomedes triton indicative by the white spots on their back. Most of the spiders were small, but some of them were larger. We captured a lot of them and placed them inside one container. We wanted to see how they would interact. At first we thought that some of them might be mating, but upon longer observation it may be possible that all the spiders are male and are therefore fighting. At one point, many of the smaller spiders seemed to be working together to take down one of the larger spiders, causing it to lose one of their legs.
A large spider that is not the same species as the Dolomedes triton. This spider had no white spots and has an extremely fuzzy body and legs.
Water glider. It was the only one we found, and it only revealed itself when we were digging up our BioCube area.
Several kinds of flies, but they were often really small and constantly moving, so no pictures could be taken.
A water worm. We almost overlooked it because it was curled on itself, but when we left it on the lid of a container, it slowly uncurled and started to move around.
Pine cones. They were not there when we came last time. It seems like they most recently grew because of their very small size.
Water beetles. There were so many of them this time. Every time I stepped in the vernal pool, a lot of them (most of them were small, but some were really big) revealed themselves.
At one point we found a beetle that was really small but it was a metallic green color. We were not able to capture it to take back.
15 Minutes of Silence:
The 15 minutes of silence this time was very similar to the one from last week. There was a little more wind. There was also the sound of the water rippling, the grass rustling, the branches and plants rustling and of leaves falling into the water. We heard a plane go by at some point during this duration. We also heard cries of joy(?) and amazement, once from the swamp area and once from the forest area. It was mildly sunny with minor winds, but the warm temperature made up for it. We heard bird calls again, but this time one stood out more so than the others. It was really obnoxious just because of the volume and the continuous noise (it didn’t stop for a long time unlike some of the other birds).
Digging up the BioCube:
We had two group members who were willing to get a little dirty and muddy dig up the BioCube. We wanted to take as much of it as possible, with as much diversity as possible. Therefore, we dug up a lot of the mud and made sure to include some of the water as well. We also took some of the green algae and plants underneath, as well as the leaves and anything else that may have been in the BioCube at the time of digging (or close enough to the BioCube). It was when we were digging that we came across a water strider, which we captured and placed inside a smaller container.
Other Observations:
The best way to find new organisms and collect them is to just dig around or move around in the water to disturb the mud before ceasing all movements. Usually, the organisms that are present will naturally float up to the top of the water. This is how I usually found my spider and beetle samples. This time around, we even managed to find water snails using this method. All our other samples were also caught using this method, such as the worm. We stood there and waited, and sometimes used a branch or net to move the water/mud around a little more.
One the shore of the vernal pool, there were many plants and bushes that had thorns. We were really careful around these areas because they hurt if they snag on. Along the shore we also noticed small dirt mounds with small holes. We thought this was indicative a new digging organisms we could discover, so we dug in. In the end, we couldn’t find the organisms/source that created the holes.
Next Steps:
The next part of our journey into understanding field biology is to take the container with a part of our ecosystem and slowly go through everything and analyze. Our hope is that in the mud, water, plants or branches we’ve collected we can find more organisms (that were hiding) or learn something new about our ecosystem. We also want to take a closer look at the organisms we collected in the Tupperware containers. I am personally really excited to see the spiders (Dolomedes triton) and sea snails (Tritia obsoleta) I collected up close.
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