The End....

I learned that nature can only be experienced first hand. A picture of the most beautiful mountains cannot compare to you being in a plain field. Also, the beauty of the plot as it change over the last few weeks was awe-inspiring.  I learned how beautiful the change of the seasons can be, how many different organisms there are on my plot, how those organisms react together, how cool a normal leaf looks under a microscope, and how anything can be art. I will use these to look at the world and life differently, and to further the kingdom of God by protecting his amazing creation.

Seasonal changes

Top pic: 9/9. Nice, green forest, but by the looks of it, some of the trees
are dead.
Next pic: 9/14. Nothing much has changed since last week, but a couple trees are starting to change.





9/22. More leaves are changing, but there is still some green out there.

9/27. Nothing has changed from last week, save for that a tree fell down. 

10/7. Finally, almost all the leaves have changed. It sure took awhile.







10/15. It's really weird. All the leaves are gone on the place I took my pictures, but in other places there are still green leaves.

My Food Web

Here's my food web. To understand it, you need this key:
Black= Decomposer
Green= Producer
Blue= Herbivore
Purple= Omnivore
Red= Carnivore

Brown= Detritivores

Biodiversity

OK, without further adieu,  my great weed collection!!

Clover (Trifolium repens)

Lamb's Ear (Stachys byzantina)








Wild Wheat (Triticum monococcum)







 

 Wild Raspberry (Rubus canadensis)

Ivy (Hedera colchica)

The Plot Community

Here are some interactions in my community:
Competition: Birds fighting over berries.
                      Deer scavenging for grass.
Predation: Hawks and song birds.
                  Human and deer.
Mutualism: Bush and birds.
                   Deer and raspberries.
Communalism: Burr and deer.
                        
Parasitism: Tick and deer.
                   Heart-worm and coyote.

Taking Action

OK, so I was picking up the trash and didn't realize that you needed a pic of the bag of trash (I had already thrown out the trash before I realized this). I just took pics of the individual pieces of trash. So, because there was a good amount of trash, I whittled it down to just a couple. So, here they are:

And here's my plot after me picking up the trash:

Biotic or Abiotic?

Here's 20 different things on my plot:
Squirrels-biotic
Oak Tree-biotic
Pine Tree-biotic
 Rocks-abiotic
Water-abiotic
Sand-abiotic
Old Metal-abiotic
Lots of Leaves-biotic
Deer-biotic
Turkeys-biotic
Woodpeckers-biotic
Songbirds-biotic
Trash-abiotic
Grasses-biotic
Burrs-biotic
Wild Blackberries-biotic
Dead Branches-biotic
Snakes-biotic
Hawks-biotic
Bard Owl-biotic

Biotic or Abiotic?

Here's 20 different things on my plot:
Squirrels
Oak Tree
Pine Tree
Rocks
Water
Sand
Old Metal
Lots of Leaves
Deer
Turkeys
Woodpeckers
Songbirds
Trash
Grasses
Burrs
Wild Blackberries
Dead Branches
Snakes
Hawks
Bard Owl

Looking Closely

 We've got some cool pics for today:  

First off, we have a red leaf under low power. This is really cool because you can see the cell structure.

 And this is under medium power:

 And this is the edge of a twig at low power. This is really amazing
 because it's just a cool photo. The contrast between the light and the dark, and the light highlighting the edges just make for an awesome pic.

My Plot is an Ecosystem

My plot is an ecosystem. At the species level, we've got deer and squirrels. Next, on the population side we have a flock of Turkeys and a grove of pine trees.  On the community side, we've got coyotes hunting deer, and leaves getting decomposed by worms. And finally, we've got my plot as the ecosystem.

Second Pic

Here's week 2's pic:

First pic

So, here is the start of my photo collection:

Meet My Plot

So, here's the first post. I've got my location map:

I've got my physical map:

My plot is a nice little spot in the woods behind my house. It's in a spot that maximizes diversity.  It's on the edge of a meadow and into the forest. On the edge of the plot is a grove of pine trees. The satellite image doesn't do the plot justice. In the summer, the plot is covered in beautiful trees, and wildlife is plentiful. I didn't have the time at the moment to get a picture of my plot, but I'll get one tomorrow. So, there's a quick description of my plot.