General+Observations

__**First Visit:**__ On my first visit to Manoa stream I went towards the middle a bit down from the bridge. There was a lot of greenery around the stream. There were also a lot of different kinds of animals. It was pretty evident that there was a lot of plant and animal life around the stream. While I was at the stream I noticed that on one side of the stream there were a lot of houses with backyards, which probably effected the natural environment because there was some litter in the stream. I also noticed that on the same side the houses were on there were many trees with different fruit. After realizing this I saw that there were a few fallen fruit in the stream like a cocoanut and a few other fruits. On the other side of the stream, however, was filled with weeds, rocks and dirt. On this side I observed there were many insects such as potato bugs, beetles, roaches, natty bugs, mosquitoes and flies. Also, the baseball park was on this side of the stream, and I know for a fact that people come down there to play and they do leave their litter.

Inside the stream I observed a variety of different things. I noticed that there were large rocks blocking the normal path of the stream, making the current stronger, but on the bottom of the streams floor small rocks laid. I spotted a lot of broken branches and plant remains left in the stream, this was probably from the trees and plants surrounding it. Also, there were a lot of animals. I noticed there were about 9 ducks feeding, and about 3 just sitting (maybe bathing themselves). However, I saw 2 dead remains of ducks or a different kind of bird around the stream. Another animal I recognized were birds eating the seeds around the stream. And, I saw one pick up a potato bug and eat that. I saw many different schools of fishes in the stream moving lightening fast, and was very hard to see. The water was very murkey and matched the color of the mud that was on the bottom of the stream. The streams habitat is/was most definitely affected by humans. While I was there I spotted a boy chasing the ducks and hitting them with rocks, and I think he may have accidentally killed one. I also think that other things, like the mud the rain brings in and dogs that come and eat the birds (I saw that too) will affect the stream very much.

The question I’m focusing on: How does the current affect the abiotic features and animal life?
 * __Second Visit__**

On my second visit to Manoa Stream I tried to focus most of my attention on the fish and duck life. It was hard to miss the twelve ducks that roamed around the upper area of the stream, over by the bridge. Over there, there hardly or no visible current. The animal life up here was much larger than the animal life farther down the stream. Up there, the water was murky, but there were schools of fish that were visible, and a lot of birds. Also, there was a lot of ducks that were feeding. Farther down the stream, where the current was much stronger, you could only see blurs of schools of fish. The following the current made the fish go much faster. I only counted around two ducks, who eventually swam farther down the stream, but after a few minutes flew back up where the current was very little. In that body of calm water, there was the most animal life. The ducks and fishes probably survived much better up in that area because the current was not strong, there was a large space where all the animals would be able to coexist in and, because it is semi-isolated from human contact, although you could see some litter.

As well as the ducks, birds, and fish, there were also a lot of abiotic features in both areas of the stream. In the calmer area of the stream, there were a lot of rocks hidden by a blanket of water. Many of these rocks were small, about the size of a fist. However, a few (3) of the rocks were large, and stuck out of the water. Much farther down the stream, where the current was very strong, there were many large rocks that blocked the water, making the current even heavier. In this area of the stream, the rocks weren’t as consistently shaped. There were some that were lopsided, some were crescent shaped and some were large and flat, that suck out of the water. Also, the rocks in this area were in the way, so as I was observing, many schools of fish needed to be separated to get in between rocks to continue to follow the path they were on. The many abiotic features that occupied the stream will definitely affect the current and the animal life.
 * __Third Visit__**

For my third journal entry I decided to focus on the ducks, fish and plants. I realized that I didn’t see ANY schools of fish swooshing by downstream; this could be due to the recent weather, lots of rain. Then, as I walked up stream, I noticed that even where I usually find the many schools-probably because there’s not a strong current to take them elsewhere-I only found a single school of fish. So, for my first experimental question is: how does the weather affect the aquatic animal life. I was planning to test this by going to the stream on a sunny and clear day, and comparing my observations on the sunny day, to my observations today. My hypothesis is: the worse (rainy, windy etc.) the weather is, the fewer schools of fish there will be. If I do this experiment I will be focusing on the upper area of the stream where the current is weak.

Today I was particularly interested in the behavior of the ducks. They weren’t acting as I usually saw them. Thirteen of the seventeen ducks were on the sidewalk on the side of the stream that bordered the houses. After a few minutes of me observing them a few of them moved into the water. Then, when they did move into the water, three pairs of ducks started fighting. I couldn’t tell if it was a playful fight or a competition of some sort. I also noticed that today, the white duck I usually saw being there was not. Was this because of the large amount of ducks there? For my second experimental question is: How does the amount of ducks affect their behavior. I plan to test this by going to the stream (when there’s less than 17 ducks) and observing their behavior then. My hypothesis is: the more ducks there are at the stream the more they’ll be territorial and fight with each other.

The plant life I saw today was unruly. On my first visit the weeds that were growing on the edges of the stream were very short (only about a foot long), but today the weeds were at least three feet tall. This was interesting because, during baseball season the weeds are usually short, but on the off-season the weeds are really tall. I was wondering if this had anything to do with human interference. Since baseball season just started I am going to test weather or not the baseball season affects the height of the weeds. I will test this by going to the stream during my brother’s baseball games going and observing the plant life, I will do this over a period of time during Winter baseball and then see how the height is. My hypothesis is: during baseball seasons the height of the weeds are much shorter.

__**Fourth Visit: **__ ** Today, I conducted my experiment. I decided I would focus on the ducks behavior, because there were only five ducks here. I had also come to see what my eco-space was like a few days ago, when there were 14 ducks. Today the ducks were very calm and didn’t react much to the few other ducks that were there. They hung out in groups of two and three. My hypothesis was: When there are more ducks they’ll be more territorial and more aggressive than when there are fewer ducks (less than 10). I got particularly lucky when I went on these two days, because on one day there were a lot of ducks and on another there were few, so I could take observations on how their behaviors were in with more or less ducks there. ** On the day when I went and there was 14 ducks they were very aggressive and were annoyed easily. When other ducks came over they would start chasing each other around and would beak one another. Then, when a fight would start the ducks would flap their wings and start to hover over the water. Then, today, when I went to the stream there were only five ducks. They were very calm and weren’t doing much. However, when a duck from a different group came they would split up into different groups. The white duck was the one who caused the most tension throughout the pond. When that duck came the other ducks became very flighty, and split up into hanging out individually at different places in the stream. So, my hypothesis was correct for the amount of testing that I’ve done. The amount of ducks at the stream does affect their behavior. **