Ohare Park Site

Rachel Peterson
period STEM

Ruth Peterson: 650-465-3607

_____________________________________________________

Objective: My objective for this project is to continue to observe and see differences in
my site during the following 6 weeks.
Site Description
ObservationsSun patterns: My site is mainly in the shade. Sunlight is very lightly dappled over the
sight but still very shady in the morning and in the evening. Around noon it becomes a
little bit brighter but still dappled sunlight, just more intense.
Animal sighting: There have been an average of two birds seen at the sight over a
period of 20 minutes during the times I have gone up to see the site (morning, noon and
evening) There have been many gnats seen at this particular site. No animal droppings
seen
Prediction: I think that over the next 6 weeks I will see some plants dying as we get
closer and closer to the summer. I also believe I will see the poison oak growing and
changing colors. I predict that we will start to see more decomposition on the recently
fallen tree. Also I believe the wood underneath the bark at the site of the break will
darken.

Site Overview
Map:

Week 1 photos:

Week 1 focus questions:

1. Temperate woodland and shrub land
2. From what I can see the organisms in my area seem to coexist during the
day. Birds sing in trees, bugs go about their daily bug lives while Deers chomp on
leaves.
3. Grass and leaves are the producers that bugs eat, as well as dears. Birds
eat bugs. Deer eat leaves. Coyotes eat Deer.Site Data
Biotic Data-

Week 1
Insects seen, approximate

40 gnats

birds seen

other animals

animal droppings

% of Poison Oak coverage, approx

75%o

% of Fern coverage, approx

25%

% of other plant coverage, approx

0%

% of moss on tree, approx

90%

% of decomposition of dead tree, apx

10%

Abiotic DataWeek 1
Day temperature

75

Night temperature

50

Day length

13 hours

Week 2 focus questions:

1. The impact man has on my area is foot traffic. There is a trail right by my
site which people are constantly walking with their dogs or horses. on the direct
opposite side of my sight there is a horse barn where you can constantly hear
horses whinnying and instructors shouting at students.
2. Some limiting factors for plants and animals in and near my site is the
noise and commotion of people walking by, this causes the birds to leave as
quickly as they come and no other animals to be seen until dusk when it
becomes quiet and the Deer become brave enough to venture out of wherever
they have been hiding. Another limitation is for the plants because of the canopy
that covers my site in shade. This makes it so not a wide amount of plants can
grow because it does not offer much sun at all.

Biotic tableWeek 2
Insects seen, approximate

10 gnats

birds seen

other animals

3 Deer

animal droppings

1 bird dropping

% of Poison Oak coverage, approx

85%

% of Fern coverage, approx

15%

% of other plant coverage, approx

0%

% of moss on tree, approx

90%

% of decomposition of dead tree, apx

10%

Abiotic DataWeek 2
Day temperature

60

Night temperature

50

Day length

14 hours

Week 3 focus question:

1. Bacteria are important for the soil, plants and animals because, bacteria
are the only thing that can fix nitrogen, therefore essential to all life. Bacteria are
also major decomposers of dead plants and animals. It is also important to the
animals because they eat the plants that need the bacteria.
2. In general fungi is found on the forest floor and in the soil. Most
decompose non-living things.

3. Im sure fungi lives in my area, mainly because my soil is ever so slightly

acidic and very low moisture, which is an environment that they prefer.

Biotic tableWeek 3
Insects seen, approximate

10

birds seen

other animals

animal droppings

% of Poison Oak coverage, approx

80%

% of Fern coverage, approx

20%

% of other plant coverage, approx

0%

% of moss on tree, approx

90%

% of decomposition of dead tree, apx

15%

Abiotic DataWeek 3
Day temperature

65

Night temperature

48

Day length

14 hours

Week 3 pictures

Week 4 data:

Biotic tableWeek 4
Insects seen, approximate

20

birds seen

other animals

animal droppings

% of Poison Oak coverage, approx

80%

% of Fern coverage, approx

20%

% of other plant coverage, approx

0%

% of moss on tree, approx

92%

% of decomposition of dead tree, apx

11%

Abiotic DataWeek 4
Day temperature

60

Night temperature

54

Day length

15

Week 4 focus questions:

1. The only two invertebrates I have been able to find in my site are worms
and gnats.
2. The worms in my site are awesome decomposers and break down organic
material such as droppings and plant waste. The gnats provide food for other
insects and animals such as spiders and birds, and they can also pollinate
flowers.
3. The worms are found under the logs where its damp and dark and the
gnats fly around in swarms around the trees.

Week 5 data:
Biotic tableWeek 5
Insects seen, approximate

20

birds seen

other animals

animal droppings

% of Poison Oak coverage, approx

80%

% of Fern coverage, approx

20%

% of other plant coverage, approx

0%

% of moss on tree, approx

93%

% of decomposition of dead tree, apx

13%

Abiotic DataWeek 5
Day temperature

60

Night temperature

54

Day length

15

Week 5 focus questions:

1. The bay laurel tree and the poison oak in my sight are both angiosperm
dicot. The moss growing on the bay laurel is classified as a bryophytes and the
fern in my sight is considered a seedless vascular plant.
2. The way I figured out how to classify the plants is that gymnosperms are
cones and I have none of those in my sight. Bryophytes are moss and Vascular
seedless plants are ferns. Angiosperms are flowering plants and I have two of
those in my sight. From there we have to decide if it is a dicot or a monocot.
Monocots are often grasses and some other plants, where dicots are everything
else. How you figure this out is either by the way the plant sprouts from the seed
or - in our case - the look of the veins on the plant. Monocot veins are parallel
with the edge of the leaf and dicot veins branch out all over the leaf.
Week 5 pictures:

Week 6 data:
Abiotic table:
Week 6
Insects seen, approximate

10

birds seen

other animals

animal droppings

% of Poison Oak coverage, approx

83%

% of Fern coverage, approx

17%

% of other plant coverage, approx

0%

% of moss on tree, approx

88%

% of decomposition of dead tree, apx

15%

Biotic table:

Week 6
Day temperature

70

Night temperature

55

Day length

15

Week 6 focus questions:

2. Phosphorus and nitrogen are essential nutrients in soil. These allow the soil to be
fertile and the plants to grow. Phosphorus is needed to convert solar energy into
chemical energy which allows for rapid plant growth. Plants need nitrogen for its
proteins and enzymes involved in photosynthesis to transfer energy.

3. The bay laurel tree and poison oak in my site are pollinated by bees. The ferns in my
sight, though not not pollinated by anything they use spores on their leaves to
reproduce.
4. Poison oak has the adaptation of toxins which make it so people stay away and dont
bother it. The ferns have the adaptation of compound leaves with more surface area.
This allows them to soak up as much sun as they can in the shader environments. The
bay laurel can adapt to many different climate zones and once established, water is not
required.

Analysis
The poison oak in my site grew about 3 inches taller. One of the bay laurel trees
branches decomposed more, about 10% more. The moss on the tree also covered
more of the branches as the weeks went on.
I have learned that bay laurels are drought resistant, that ferns use spores to
reproduce and that poison oak has berries. Certain things that affected my plants were
the temperature, for example the last week (week 6) the days got a little warmer and the
moss on my tree started to dry up. The poison oak and ferns were dominate in my area
because they were shaded thickly by the fallen bay laurel, both these plants thrive in
shade.

Conclusion
I have learned that in the world around me everything has a purpose and a
function. That you need the bugs which fly in the air around my site to the bugs who
crawl through the soil beneath my site. Each one of those helped to make it the place it
is today in regards to nutrition and health.
I do believe I met my objective because I continued to observe and see
differences in my site during the last 6 weeks. Though not all my predictions came true
as I did not see any plants die and the poison oak did not change colors-- possibly
because its not late enough into summer, many of them did come true. Such as my
plants continued to grow, I saw much more decomposition in the fallen tree as well as
darkening of the exposed and cracked bark.
This project was overall quite interesting and I very much enjoyed looking at my
first predictions to see if I was right.

Opinion

In this project I enjoyed the hands on aspect and getting to really study nature
like biologists. I dont think there is anything that needs to be improved on, I thought it
was a very well done project with clear instructions.