Mitchell's+Journal

Mitchell Miyashiro's Journal Page Time: 7:30 teacher: Dobson

__**Entry #one first visit to Manoa stream

Biotic:**__ There were ducks, algae fish, tadpoles, and guppies, cardinals, water spider. The ducks were a light brown color and were spotted with brown spots. It had a beak that was a yellow- brown- green color. The beak was about three inches long, and had a blunt tip. At the end of the beak it had two little whole, these were the nostrils. The legs were a bright orange color and had large webbed feet at the end. The Algae fish were a dark, brown- black color with spots and had a white tip tale. It spent most of the time on rocks not moving. It was eating algae most of the time. They ranged from one inch in length to about three inches in length. It also seemed to have whiskers near the mouth. they were everywhere in the river, though they stayed mostly in the deeper water that didn't move as much. Near the shore line we saw many groups of tadpoles. The tadpoles were black and were in groups of about fifty to sixty. We concluded that they were from different parents. The tadpoles had small eyes on the top of their heads and had a small tail. They were mostly the same size except for the few that were twice the size of the others. The guppies were a light clear color, which allowed you to see some of their insides. There were many of them, they didn't have one particular area but they were spread throughout the stream. They ranged in size from about one centimeter to about three inches. They spent most of their time swimming around feeding on algae and fighting the current. the bigger guppies were by the top of the stream while the smaller ones were in the middle and lower part of the stream we studied. We also saw a cardinal land in the brush. it had a red head, with a grey body. the tale was overlapped, it looked like it was made of only two feathers. It had sharp talons and hoped around for a little bit then flew off. We also saw a small water spider near the tadpoles. it was no more than a centimeter in length and had six legs. it was a blackish brown color, and was moving a lot but didn't gain any distance.

There were many different types of plants growing near the stream. Some were weeds, and others had a thick stem with sharp leaves. Those plants also had many thin white heirs on them.
 * __Plants__**

The water was about a centimeter deep in the shallowest part and a foot deep in the deepest spot. the color of the water was a murky brown color in the deeper area and a nice clear color in the shallower parts. The bottom of the stream was covered in dirt and rocks. The stream was about fifteen feet across and went down for miles. There was a bridge over one part of the stream, and had a concrete walk way on the other side of the stream, from where we were standing. There were many sticks surrounding the stream.
 * __Abiotic__**

From one side of the river we saw a dead and decomposing crayfish near the shore. The crayfish was near one group of tadpoles. a the tadpoles didn't try and eat it while we were their but we did notice that the crayfish was missing part of its tail. the water was about 4 inches in the shallowest section of the stream and the fishes were either in the deep side of the stream which was further up, or near the bank which was a clam area. The streams current was going fairly fast as the stream got shallower. There were some fishes in the faster moving part of the stream and they seemed to be the bottom feeders and the larger guppies about 2- 4 inches. The fishes that were near the bank of the stream were the smaller guppies, there were also tadpoles and other small insects. We thought that some of the fishes were in the faster moving part of the stream because we saw more algae on the rocks there.
 * __other__**

__**Journal entry #2, second trip to Manoa Stream**__ I saw many things. There were many birds at the stream. Birds There were 38 ducks, of the colors green, white, light- brown, and dark- brown. There were also sparrows; red crested cardinals, small grey doves as well as small rich finches. The ducks were crowding around the same area and being fed by a little girl and her mother, the ducks were also chasing each other. Fishes The fishes were the same there were plecustomas, guppies, and crayfish. There were no signs that the tadpoles we saw from last week were there. The guppies ranged from a cm to three inches. I noticed that this time there were less big guppies and more smaller guppies. The plecustomas ranged from about half a cm to three inches as well, I also saw more of the smaller plecustomas then the bigger one. The plecustomas is a bottom feeder that feeds on moss and allege on the bottom of the river. Insects The water spiders I thought I saw were actually plants when I took them out of the water. They were red ant and had black abdomens. Plants I also saw a very interesting seed. We spotted it in the murky water near the grass. It was light green and about a cm in width, and had dark green horns sticking out of it. It looked like a clam with horns. Infrences When observing the ducks running chasing each other I only saw the males chasing each other. I assume that the male ducks were either fighting over the food that was being given out, or were fighting for mates, but I think it would be too early to be mating. The plecustomas have wiskers in front of there mouths and are flatter like a sting ray. This could be because they are bottom feeders, and they need there whiskers too feel their way on the bottom of the floor. Also it could be possible that they have a flatter body because it would help them to avoid the current when on the bottom of the stream, also that way they could spend less energy. __**other**__(thought on what i want to do for my experiment) I started to take an interest in the fishes that were in the faster moving section of the stream and the ones near the bank. The group and i thought that even the smaller bottom feeders called Plecustomus were in the fast moving section were because they were on the bottom of the river and they would have less current to fight then the guppies that were on the top and middle sections of the water. I concluded that because the fishes near the bank were not in the faster moving part of the stream was because they were still younger and they were to week to fight the current, and when they get older and stronger they would swim to the middle of the stream where the current was stronger. This would be like wild salmon in Alaska except that the fish are fighting for food and not mates. __**Journal Entry #3 third trip to Manoa Stream**__  When I got to the stream on Sunday I noticed that the soil around the stream was damp, the stream itself was a murky turbid color, and the water level was much higher. To conclude it had been raining very hard earlier in the day. The current was also going faster than normal. I noticed that there were fewer guppies and swimming fish in the middle of the stream and that most of them were in the shallower water, and most of the fishes that were in the shallow water were the smaller fishes. Also there were many bottom feeder in the shallows, they seemed to be babies. I could assume that the guppies would have a harder time with the current because it swims in the middle of top section of the water and the bottom feeder would not matter as much because they are on the bottom of the stream. I heard ducks making an awkward noise when I was at the stream. It was not a quack but more of a duck roar. I counted 28 ducks at the stream most of them were a light brown color with black spots, some of them had green heads i looked it up and found out that the ones with the green heads were a the males in the flock. Once in a while I also see a dog run around inside the lower part of the stream. During my time at the stream I did not see any tadpoles, I assume that the tadpoles got washed away in the rush water. There were also no sign of any water spiders a or any other insect besides ants. What I realized I could test would be if the current makes a difference between where the guppies swim and where the bottom feeders swim. Question would be does the speed of the current affect where the fish swim. I could test this by setting up a barrier on the side of the stream and log how many fish are there in the start and how many fishes are behind the barrier at the end of the week, also what kind of fishes are there. The barrier would be made of three pieces of plastic and have three sides. The concrete side of the stream using screws and tape will hold it up.  __related to experiment__ when it rained it increased the amount of water in the river and the mass of the water. We noticed that there were more fishes near the river bank then there were in the middle of then stream where now the current was stronger and deeper. When the water was coming down from the mountain there was more of it pushing against the fishes, so i assumed that there were more fishes that could not handle the strength of the stream. The only fishes that were in the middle of the stream were really big guppies that were abnormally large and the Plecustomas. Today i just realized another reason why the bottom feeders are able to stay in the middle of the stream no matter what size they were, it was because they have a suction cup mouth. In other words they are able to stick to the rocks they sre feeding on. This still takes energy but it takes less energy then having to swim against a strong current. To conclude it wasn't only the fact that they were on the bottom of the stream allowed the bottom feeders to handle the fast moving water but it was also the fact that they had suction cups. This brought up the question can the current effect the places where the fishes spend most of their time, eat, and what kind of fish hangs out there?   **__Hypothesis__**: if I put up a barrier to stop the current then more fish will stay behind the barrier. i could hypothesis this, because when the stream was rushing very fast that day all the fishes were behind something and there were none of them in the open water in the middle of the stream.  It would make sense that the fish would stay behind somewhere where their were less current because it would take less energy to swim in it as well as they won't have to fight the current while they are feeding on the algae. __**today at the stream i saw a total of 29 ducks they were the same colors as the other ones, light brown with spots. i also saw that the water was more clearer. I saw a number of huge Plecustomas, the biggest one was about four inches in length. There were cardinals and that dog that is sometimes there. i also saw that there were some rocks in a circle which looked m an made. __**Insects**__ During this visit i noticed that there were some insects that i never noticed. There were three dragonflies that were red, and blue. They were flying around and landing on the rocks in the middle of the stream. There were also an ant colony near the hala tree. They seemed to be moving to a new home. I thought this because they were carrying a many little white specs, which could be identified as the larva. to where i could not follow them because they were going into the bushes. I also thought that there were spiders. Although i never saw one i spotted many webs near the streams bank on the tall weeds, because of their location i thought that they could have been water spiders becasue the webs were over the stream. __**Fishes**__ I saw few guppies in the middle of the stream, most of them were located in near the banks of the stream. the only fishes that were in the middle of the stream were the Plecustomus which stayed on the bottom of the stream motion less for most of the time. There were also some really big ones that i had never seen before, they were about four inches and some of them were five inches, but there was only on that big. I saw one crayfish that was about three inches in length. __**Birds**__ I saw 29 ducks there were a lot and no one was feeding them. they were just playing around in the water chasing each other and what i could make out as fighting, so i assumed that most of the ducks were males. The ducks also spent a lot of time cleaning their feathers in the water. I also saw a few red headed cardinals near the stream feeding on some type of insects of the ground. There was also a bord that i had never seen before. There was a rice finch on the trees whatching me do my work. The finch was small and no larger that my hand, it was possible that it would fit, but the bird was very fast. The finch was a yellow color, with a little on the wings. __**other**__ I also green anoles in the brush. I tried to catch them but they were very fast. i could also assume that there was newly hatched eggs because there were a lot of really small baby ones and a few medium sized ones, and one or two big ones. the small ones were about two ingches with the rail while the medium ones were about three two four inches in length, and the big ones were about five too six inches in length. some of them had a white line on the backs these were the females, and the males had no white line on the backs, also i noticed thaat the females were biggerr then the males. On Tuesday i went to the stream to set up the experiment. I used water proof tape and three pieces of clear plastic. First i taped one of the plastic boards to the concrete wall on the far side of the stream. Then i taped another piece on the up stream side of the last board to block part of current. Last i put up the third board up against the the second board to block even more of the current and create a more calm water. I went t o the stream and the water level was much lower than when i went to the stream on Tuesday to set up my experiment. I set up a plastic barrier in the middle of the stream to see if more fishes would stay behind it. When i first set it up it counted how many of each type of fish there were so i knew if more fishes would come behind it. the two types of fish that i counted were the guppies and the plecustomas ( bottom feeder). In the results when i went back on Sunday i discovered that my hypothesis was correct, but my experiment worked much more effectively then i thought i would. My hypothesis was that if i put up a barrier in the stream then more fishes would live behind it. I went to the stream three times that week. Tuesday to set up the experiment Thursday to take my first observations and Sunday to take my final observations and take down the experiment.
 * __What i saw__**
 * __trip to the stream #4
 * __Experiment__**