Cedric's+Journal

**First Visit's Journal**
In my Eco-Place (Manoa Stream) there are many types of trees, and plants. Along with living plants, there are plenty piles of dead leaves, branches, and seed pods which can prove dangerous if you are careless where you step. In those leaf piles, are ants searching and foraging for food to bring back to the colony. If you look in the sky, there is an abundant amount of blood-thirsty mosquitoes and swarms of annoying, flying, buzzing insects. As you reach the stream, you can see a population of small fish that inhabit the area. Also, I would not be surprised if crayfish are also residents of the stream. A significant abiotic factor in this environment is the temperature, very mild and cool from the shade of the trees. A cool refreshing breeze also blows through the vicinity once in a while. The temperature makes this place very comfortable, and a reasonable place to live in. Another abiotic factor is the amount of sunlight that penetrates the upper layer of leaves in the trees. This is significant because all living things need a certain amount of sunlight to be able to grow. Since not that much sunlight gets through, the plants can’t grow to their potential size which, in turn, can affect the lives of insects around them. I believe this is a good eco-place to study for my biology project because there are many varieties of organisms, whether they are plants, animals, or bacteria that we cannot see. Also, because humans haven’t affected this environment that much. Yes, there are definite signs of human development in the vicinity, such as small rock walls and borders, but other than that, not too much. This place is good to study because it is away from a lot of human activity, it is in the back of a Japanese tea garden area where hardly anyone goes to. There’s very little urban noises such as automobiles, or cell phones to disrupt the natural setting of the habitat.
 * Free Journal Entry**

A mosquito’s niche in Manoa stream seems like a very good one to live in. There aren’t many predators they need to worry about except for a small population of birds that reside in the higher levels of the trees. They have a good place to mate and reproduce. There are nearby organisms that they can leech blood from (including humans) and a unlimited source of water. There are also countless little hiding spots a mosquito can shelter its young. The niche for fish that spend their lives in Manoa stream also seems like a pretty good one. Since the stream is isolated from open water where the big fish regulate, the inhabitants of the stream will have few predators to be concerned about. This way, they can survive and thrive in the habitat. There are also many places for the fish to lay their eggs, and many crevices the baby fish can hide in. The baby fish will probably survive and reproduce, therefore this population continues to grow until it reaches the carrying capacity. The birds in this area have the good life. There are almost no predators at all that they need to worry about, except maybe for the owl or the Hawaiian Hawk. Other than those two creatures, they are probably at the top of the food chain in this habitat. There are an abundant amount of bugs they can feast on and the trees provide perfect spots to build nests for the baby birds to hatch and grow up. The ants probably have the hardest time here. There are many bigger bugs the ants have to defend themselves from (also trying to avoid being stomped on by humans), and to get their food, they have to search through all the piles of dead leaves and branches to find their source of nutrients and protein. They also can’t get across the stream if they run out of resources.
 * Assigned Journal Entry**

**Second Visit's Journal**
There are many types of plants and trees at Manoa Stream. It ranges from tall trees, to still-growing plants, and to small shrubs that hug the ground. From where I’m sitting right now, I can count at least eleven different types of plants. The plant life in my eco-place (Manoa Stream) is a very crucial element in this habitat. It provides shade and protection for many of the residents of this habitat. The trees act as housing for the birds that live here and also for the small tiny insects. It also offers protection for those creatures. With a dense canopy of leaves, if a owl or hawk should be hunting a small bird around here, that bird could fly into the trees and easily lose their predator. These trees give shade to the forest floor. It makes the temperature and atmosphere a very comfortable place to live in. It let’s sunlight in which allows the plants to grow, but it also protects things from getting too much sunlight. This comfortable setting presents animals the opportunity to mate and reproduce to keep their population from going extinct in this certain habitat. The trees in this area also keeps the water cool so fish have an equally comfortable habitat to live and reproduce in. The shade makes the stream water darker and therefore, darker colored marine life have an easier chance of hiding from, or evading predators. I wonder why on one side of the stream, there is many more plant life, but on the other side there is less. On one side of the stream, there are trees, plants, weeds, and dead leaves and branches that cover the forest floor. On the other side, there are some trees and plants, but mostly rocks, boulders, and gravel. I don’t have a reasonable explanation for this, but maybe it is because of the angle of the land on either side of the stream. The side with an abundant amount of plant life is a gradual incline, while the other side with all the rocks seem much more steeper. Without the plant life in this eco-place, not as many organisms would inhabit this place. There wouldn’t be as much insects, and birds. Those two species make up a large percentage of the overall population of this habitat. Without the trees, this place would also be much more dry and hot, even with the stream.
 * Free Journal Entry**

In my eco-place, natural selection is occurring all over the place. It is driving different organisms to evolve and adapt to survive the current settings of their habitat. One such species are the fish in the Manoa stream. Some appear to be a darker brown, and some appear to be a lighter brown. I believe the darker colored fish are more fit in this environment and therefore would survive more, and are able to reproduce more. This is because they can probably blend in with the stream, rocks, and plants floating in the stream easier. Their darker color acts as a camouflage because since the trees provide the stream and its surroundings with shade, everything appears much darker than it actually is. This means that the lighter colored fish would act as beacons to predators of the fish. Also, the rocks in the stream are dark grey, dark red, and dark brown. These colors look a lot like the darker fishes and anyone or anything trying to find fish would have a very hard time spotting the fish if the fish just stayed still. Even if they moved, the predators would encounter a difficult time because of all the movement in the water. In contrast to the dark colored rocks, the lighter colored fish would seem like they are glow-in-the-dark and would be an easy prey. Another species are the ants in this area. There seem to be more red ants than black ants. This might be because natural selection is favoring the red ants who are stronger and bigger than black ants. The red ants also might have a special mechanism that allows them to avoid predation and also doubles as a weapon or tool to locate or catch food. Red ants in this eco-place are just overall more fit. The last species I am going to mention are the birds. There are several types of birds such as cardinals, pigeons, and sparrows that live in this environment. I believe that out of those three birds, the sparrows would be the most fit for this habitat. This is because the sparrows are small and the color of their feathers are dark brown. This enables them to effectively hide from predators in the branches of the trees because they blend in. They are also small, so it’d be an easy matter for them to hide. The pigeons are way bigger and seem less agile than the sparrows and if a predatory bird was chasing a pigeon and a sparrow, I would bet that the sparrow would escape. And last of all, the cardinal has his bright red head, which would attract many unwanted guests. It might help the cardinal during mating seasons but it other than that, it would be a burden.
 * Assigned Journal Entry**

**Third Visit's Journal**
In my eco-place, Manoa Stream, there seem to be more plant life on one side of the stream than on the other side of the stream. The plant life side seems to be more flat and have less of a slope than the other, rocky side. This is still the case, but it seems that there is less plant life on the abundant side than before. This might be because of the seasonal change, and since winter is coming in, some plants might have died or withered. This could be reasonable because during the day it is comfortably chilly here, but in the night I can imagine it to become quite cold in this habitat. A hypothesis related to these observations is: If the slope of the land is steeper, then there is less plant life. Another change I have observed is that the stream seems to be flowing faster than last time. This also, could be related to the season change but I wouldn’t be able to explain how and why. A testable hypothesis is: If the temperature is colder (winter), then the stream will flow faster. We could test this by getting a floatable material and dropping it at Point A and timing how long the object takes to reach Point B. The results will be recorded. Later, the same procedures will be conducted and the results will be compared and analyzed to figure out if the stream does flow faster when it is colder. One last observation is that there seem to be less animal life out and about, this time than before. This can possibly be also related to the season changes but maybe not. The animals could’ve collected all their food for the winter and are now staying in their homes to wait out the winter. There is really no way to test this observation and if someone did test this, then the results would probably be really sketchy, inconclusive, and not reliable.
 * Free Journal**


 * Assigned Journal**

**Fourth Visit's Journal**

** Free Journal Entry ** I decided to change my experiment to if rocks in the stream affects how fast it flows. It turns out that places without rocks flow faster than places with rocks. As you can see in the data table above, the tests without rocks were 8sec, 8sec, and 12sec. With rocks, the results turned out to be 13sec, 10sec, and 8sec. The overall averages for the tests were 9.3sec without rocks, and 10.3sec with rocks. ** Assigned Journal **