Field Trip 3 Journal Entry
Today was a lot warmer and it was not as windy as last week, when the trees were shaking and the wind was piercing cold. My feet and socks were soaked this time around because my trash bag was defective and allowed water from the walk to the conifer forest to seep in. Since the week had been particularly rainy, the entire farm was more wet and the brook water level had risen significantly. When we first entered the forest, I immediately noticed the tiny green leaves sprouting from the ground. This was most likely due to the wetland emerging at the edge of the forest. There technically should have been little growth on the coniferous forest floor, but there seemed to be a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees, leading to increased growth on the floor. In the 15 minutes of silence, I heard more birds this week. The breeze was present again but not as forceful as last week. There was an excessive number of flies and mosquitoes, probably due to the forming wetland and warmer temperatures. I realized there must be ticks, various insects, and microbes harmful to humans in the forest. It brought to my attention how field researchers must first prioritize their safety when conducting research in potentially harmful ecosystems. It was difficult to sit in silence for 15 minutes with the bugs flying around our faces so we were walking around during it. There were not as many organisms this week, but there was an increased number of plants.
We found many different types of leaves, both sprouting directly from the ground and on bush-like structures. There were a lot of earthworms in the ground, as well as maggots, indicating that the soil was nutrient rich--unlike an ideal coniferous forest. It reminded me how in class we talked about how the coniferous forest on Foxcroft farm would be gone in 10 years. This is a really saddening thought, even though it will be replaced by more biodiversity. It's amazing to think about how many niches and mini ecosystems exist in a single place and how many will be lost over time because the world is constantly changing and evolving.
In addition to plants, we found big orange ants deep in the dirt. We needed to dig a lot to find them and capturing a clear image was even harder. Trying to locating and identify an organism is more difficult than I realized before this lab. It shocks me how field researchers execute this process with species never before discovered without any references or comparisons to make. It was also really hard to train our eyes to see the tiniest organisms with our eyes, especially if they were extremely mobile. These three past experiences on the farm have really taught me to appreciate the work that field researchers do in order to benefit the scientific community and the world as a whole.
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