Observations:
Today I go back out into the lowland forest once again for observations as well as to identify new species for this week. I walk deep into the forest, noticing small changes all around me as I walk deeper and deeper. I really like walking as deep as I can into the lowland forest in order to get a full view of all forms of life and death. Today I notice something that hasn’t been there before;
a few plants are beginning to change. It could be for one of two reasons, one is that there haven’t been extensive amounts of rain and the plants may be conserving water due to the higher temperatures lately. The other reason may be that select plants are already preparing for fall and winter this year. One plant that I notice on my walk to the lowland forest is a May Apple; it is brown and dying, in preparation for the harsh winter to come. This is the first plant species that I have noticed preparing, soon many others will follow suite.
As I walk towards the forest, I hear a few animal species that I can’t get a good picture of, but their sounds are distinct. I hear a loud thumping on a tree high up, tap, tap, tap. This sound grows louder as I come closer to the tree, it is a dead ash tree, and up towards the top, I am able to spot a Downy Woodpecker. I try to get a good photo of the woodpecker, but I almost get a clear picture. The other animal that I saw and heard in the lowland forest is a Fox squirrel; it is running from tree top to treetop, in search of food. I watch as the squirrel grabs food and would run to another area in search of more food. The lowland forest is alive with the hustle and bustle of the last full weeks of summer, as the plants and animals are beginning to prepare for the upcoming winter.
Downy Woodpecker
(Picoides pubescens)
The downy woodpecker is smaller than most woodpeckers of the area, they have a strait, chisel-like bill, a block like head with wide shoulders and leans on its tail feathers while pecking at a tree. The bill tends to be smaller than most woodpeckers in this area. It has a checkered black and white pattern, the upper parts are black and checkered on the wings. The back of the bird has a white stripe that runs down the center and the males had a red batch on the back of the head. In the summer you can clearly hear the downy woodpecker because it makes lots of noise with its high pitch shrill and the drumming rhythm on the tree. The most common habitat for the woodpecker is in woodlands, particularly among deciduous trees and along bushy or weedy areas. It is not common to find the woodpecker in the lowland forest, but I spotted this woodpecker along the edge of the lowland forest as I entered I looked up and found the woodpecker.
As I walk towards the forest, I hear a few animal species that I can’t get a good picture of, but their sounds are distinct. I hear a loud thumping on a tree high up, tap, tap, tap. This sound grows louder as I come closer to the tree, it is a dead ash tree, and up towards the top, I am able to spot a Downy Woodpecker. I try to get a good photo of the woodpecker, but I almost get a clear picture. The other animal that I saw and heard in the lowland forest is a Fox squirrel; it is running from tree top to treetop, in search of food. I watch as the squirrel grabs food and would run to another area in search of more food. The lowland forest is alive with the hustle and bustle of the last full weeks of summer, as the plants and animals are beginning to prepare for the upcoming winter.
New Species:
Downy Woodpecker
(Picoides pubescens)
The downy woodpecker is smaller than most woodpeckers of the area, they have a strait, chisel-like bill, a block like head with wide shoulders and leans on its tail feathers while pecking at a tree. The bill tends to be smaller than most woodpeckers in this area. It has a checkered black and white pattern, the upper parts are black and checkered on the wings. The back of the bird has a white stripe that runs down the center and the males had a red batch on the back of the head. In the summer you can clearly hear the downy woodpecker because it makes lots of noise with its high pitch shrill and the drumming rhythm on the tree. The most common habitat for the woodpecker is in woodlands, particularly among deciduous trees and along bushy or weedy areas. It is not common to find the woodpecker in the lowland forest, but I spotted this woodpecker along the edge of the lowland forest as I entered I looked up and found the woodpecker.
Downy Woodpecker. (2014). In The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved August 10, 2014, from http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/downy_woodpecker/id
A downy woodpecker, picture provided by: http://windsor.towns.pressdemocrat.com/2012/04/news/fast-class-windsors-birds/attachment/downy_woodpecker-male/
Fox Squirrel
(Sciurus niger)
The fox squirrel is found throughout the eastern and central United states, it can be found into Mexico and up into Canada. Fox squirrels are like other tree squirrels, they use the trees for escaping from predators, and they are fast and agile in the trees. The squirrels escape from predators on the ground and from birds of prey. They are medium-sized tree squirrels, they have an orange color, especially the tail. The tail is well furred and they often develop tufts on the ears in the winter. They have special adaptations for climbing, sharp recurved claws, well developed extensors and abdominal musculature, this allows them to jump from tree to tree so quickly and with precision. The average lifespan is eight to eighteen years long. Fox squirrels
have a wide variety of food choice, they eat vegetables, insects, bird eggs, dead fish, nuts from trees and they are known for caching seeds away for the winter months. Squirrels in general play a large role in the ecosystem in which they inhabit, mainly because they will cache seeds for later use in the winter, but most of the time they either can’t find the seeds when they need them or they forget where they are located. In the spring, the seeds will sprout in the location that the squirrels stashed them. This is how some tree spread, by the squirrels carrying their seeds to a different location and planting them in a sense. Fox squirrels are found is diverse array of deciduous and mixed forests, areas with a good variety of trees and large masting of seeds. I was able to spot the fox squirrel in the lowland forest because of these very reasons.
Fox squirrel picture provided by: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tulsa_Fox_Squirrel.jpg
Fahey, B. (n.d.). Sciurus niger. In National Science Foundation. Retrieved August 10, 2014, from http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Sciurus_niger/
Northern Leopard Frog
(Rana pipiens)
This frog is most noted by the dark spots on the backs, especially on the hind legs. The spots are mostly larger than the eyes; they have dark spots on snouts and can vary from green, tan to brown. The bellies of the northern leopard frogs are white and are slender with a narrow head. The frog can be heard deep into the forest, by a deep rattling snore that can last two to three seconds, followed by a chuckling with a heavy creaking door sound. The northern leopard frog is difficult to distinguish from southern frogs, unless they are heard at the same time. The northern leopard ranges from the north, to extreme southeastern part of the state and this species is of special concern.
They tend to eat insects, insect larvae, spiders, slugs, snails and earthworms, the large adults eat other frogs. They are very common in marshes, bogs, moist fields, lakes and ponds, also in areas surrounded by wet meadows. In addition, the frogs tend to breed in the same areas and the breeding season is in mid-march to May. The females can lie between three and five thousand eggs at one time, laid in shallow water and hatch in one to two weeks. The tad poles vary from olive brown to green with dark spots and the tail is transparent with dark lines. This frog was spotted in the lowland forest because in the spring it has standing water, it is very wet and is commonly found in the lowland forest. Northern
Leopard Frog . (n.d.). In Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved August 10, 2014, from http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3335.htm
Green Ash
(Fraxinus pennsylvanica)
The green ash is a medium sized tree, usually with straight trunks and at the base, it can sometimes have a swollen look. The leaves of the green ash are oppositely compounded, with a seven to nine ladder like lance shaped leaflets. The leaves are toothed to smooth edges, being green and hairless on both sides. The bark is
a light brown to medium gray; it can sometimes be flat or have shallow fissures. The fruit of the green ash are clustered on hairy stalks, they are narrow, paddle like and are single winged and are scattered by the wind. The typical habitat for the green ash is moist bottomland forests and moist upland forest. It can be commonly found in the lowland forest due to the heavy amounts of moisture.
Question:
In the lowland forest, there is one aspect of the forest that I noticed from the very first time that I explored the area of stud, was the almost complete death of all ash trees present. The ash trees are attacked by a
beetle called the Emerald Ash Borer. It is invasive exotic betel, not only invasive to lowland forests of this area, but it is spreading to all the ash trees across the country at alarming rates. It was first discovered in 2002 in southeastern Michigan, near Detroit and in northern Indiana in 2004. It has killed tens of millions of ash trees in Michigan, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and has traveled into Canada. This beetle as an adult does little damage to the foliage of the tree, but its’ larvae is the most damaging. The beetles hatch beneath the bark of the tree and slowly eat the pre-cambium layer of the tree, causing the tree to lose the ability to transport water and nutrients. In essences, it is starving the tree to death. The picture featured to the left shows the areas of where the Emerald Ash Borer has been officially documented since 2002 (Emerald Ash Borer).
In addition to the Emerald Ash borer, I have spotted other invasive or non-native species to the lowland forest. One invasive species that can be found almost anywhere on the property at Merry Lea is the Japanese beetle. On the other hand, there is a non-native species that can be found in the lowland forest, it is the bush honeysuckle. There is a non-native species of honeysuckle that I can see if I walk into the woods and walk along an old fence line where there used to be a distinct edge. I can find this plant located here because bush honeysuckle grows from six to twenty feet tall, it is deciduous with opposite, entire leaves and the older branches are hollow, commonly found along fence rows. The main spread of the bush honeysuckle comes from bird’s excrement, so it is understandable those is commonly found along fence row and open areas where birds perch and rest. In addition to being found along fence rows, it thrives in wetlands and forested communities (Bush Honeysuckles).
There are problems that arise with invasive and non-native species growing and being introduced into the lowland forest. One main problem is that these plants, animals, or insects can take over with no predator to slow the spread of the invasive or non-native species and this can lead to a decline in biodiversity. This is a key for keeping a healthy ecosystem, in this case, the lowland forest. If the emerald ash bore wipes out all of the ash trees in the lowland forest, then what will takes its place? The ash tree composes some forty percent of the lowland canopy. If the canopy suddenly has huge gaps, then this might allow for more non-native and invasive species to thrive. With this happening, the entire structure of the forest may change and could potentialally set back natural succession or even causes the ecosystem to change as a whole. Overall, the invasive and non-native species are a huge problem and can have major effects on the ecosystems health.
Bush Honeysuckles. (n.d.). In Missouri Department Of Conservation. Retrieved August 11, 2014, from http://mdc.mo.gov/your-property/problem-plants-and-animals/invasive-plants/bush-honeysuckles-control
Emerald Ash Borer. (n.d.). In Coalition for Urban Ash Tree Conservation EAB Management. Retrieved August 11, 2014, from http://www.emeraldashborer.info/#sthash.yTDhD9W6.dpbs
There are many little insects that crawl all over the lowland forest, some of the most common are the harvest men. They may be common, but I find them interesting even though you can find them anywhere. They are so interesting because they have eight legs, but only one body segment and this is what makes them difference from the spider family. The Harvestmen can be found almost anywhere at Merry Lea, but they still are very enjoyable to observe.
In addition to the Emerald Ash borer, I have spotted other invasive or non-native species to the lowland forest. One invasive species that can be found almost anywhere on the property at Merry Lea is the Japanese beetle. On the other hand, there is a non-native species that can be found in the lowland forest, it is the bush honeysuckle. There is a non-native species of honeysuckle that I can see if I walk into the woods and walk along an old fence line where there used to be a distinct edge. I can find this plant located here because bush honeysuckle grows from six to twenty feet tall, it is deciduous with opposite, entire leaves and the older branches are hollow, commonly found along fence rows. The main spread of the bush honeysuckle comes from bird’s excrement, so it is understandable those is commonly found along fence row and open areas where birds perch and rest. In addition to being found along fence rows, it thrives in wetlands and forested communities (Bush Honeysuckles).
There are problems that arise with invasive and non-native species growing and being introduced into the lowland forest. One main problem is that these plants, animals, or insects can take over with no predator to slow the spread of the invasive or non-native species and this can lead to a decline in biodiversity. This is a key for keeping a healthy ecosystem, in this case, the lowland forest. If the emerald ash bore wipes out all of the ash trees in the lowland forest, then what will takes its place? The ash tree composes some forty percent of the lowland canopy. If the canopy suddenly has huge gaps, then this might allow for more non-native and invasive species to thrive. With this happening, the entire structure of the forest may change and could potentialally set back natural succession or even causes the ecosystem to change as a whole. Overall, the invasive and non-native species are a huge problem and can have major effects on the ecosystems health.
Bush Honeysuckles. (n.d.). In Missouri Department Of Conservation. Retrieved August 11, 2014, from http://mdc.mo.gov/your-property/problem-plants-and-animals/invasive-plants/bush-honeysuckles-control
Emerald Ash Borer. (n.d.). In Coalition for Urban Ash Tree Conservation EAB Management. Retrieved August 11, 2014, from http://www.emeraldashborer.info/#sthash.yTDhD9W6.dpbs
Creative Piece:
There are many little insects that crawl all over the lowland forest, some of the most common are the harvest men. They may be common, but I find them interesting even though you can find them anywhere. They are so interesting because they have eight legs, but only one body segment and this is what makes them difference from the spider family. The Harvestmen can be found almost anywhere at Merry Lea, but they still are very enjoyable to observe.
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