Jaron's+Journal

=__//**Jaron's Journal**//__=

//**VIsit #1**// Free Journal When we went to Aiea Stream we saw many different types of animal and plant life living there. Some of the animals that we saw living inside of the stream were guppies, crayfish, mosquitoes, and toads. There were even more types of species living outside of the stream which also included ducks, chickens, pigs, mongoose, and birds. With all of the animals living inside and outside of the water there were a large amount of species living in such a small area. One of the most abundant species that we saw at the stream was mosquitoes. I believe that these were the most common because they can breed freely because they have a stream to breed in with little infleunce. The stream was only around 30 yards long and around 3 feet in width. Also, it was broken up into many parts because when we went there we saw many different sections. The stream if it was connected would be around 75 yards long but the different sections were not connected so we cannot conclude that at this point. Other than the Animals that were living there, there was also a vast amount of plant life. The types of plants that grew there was California grass, sleeping grass, weeds and also some type of plant that grew in water. The California grass was grew all outside of the stream and was very widespread throughout the whole area. Other than the types of species that lived in and around the stream there were many abiotic factors as well. Some of these factors were the temperature, humidity, and wind conditions. The temperature at the stream was around 85 degrees at 3pm and the humidity was also very low. There were infrequent breezes too. This place is is a very good place to study for our bio project for many different reasons. One reason is that it is influenced by humans. This means that no one goes there frequently to plant anything or to feed the fish. This means that the stream would be as if it was actually in somewhere that is not inhabited by humans. Another reason that this is a good place to study at is because it is very close to access for everyone in my group. This means that if we have to go back to check on something it would be very easy because we all live so close.

Assigned Journal Entry At the Aiea Stream we saw many different organisms and I believe we have a general idea of their individual niches. One species that I saw inside of the stream were crayfish. The niche of the crayfish included many things. Some of the abiotic factors in the crayfishes niche is the stream and its surroundings. The stream is the crayfish's home and has many rocky outcroppings and has many different plants and animals that are its neighbors. Some neighbors that the crayfish has and lives by are a array of plants and animals. Some plants that surround the crayfish's home is a type of plant that grows in water. This plant we saw grew directly inside of the stream and provided a large space a shade for all of the animals living inside of the stream in that area. The animals that the crayfish lives by are tadpoles, guppies and also toads. I think that the crayfish eats guppies, tadpoles and also other types of fish that live inside of the stream. Currently I do not know of any type of animal that consumes the crayfish. Another animal that lives in the stream are tadpoles. This animals niche is similar but not the same than the crayfish's.Some types of pysical features of the tadpoles is the temperature, humidity, and also the geographical surroundings that they live in. The temperature that the tadpole lives in here is at around 85 degrees and also lives in a low humidty enviornment. The geographical surroundings that the tadpole lives in is that it lives high up on a mountain. The biological features that the tadpoles live in is that it is predated by crayfish and other animals and eats algae. Another species that lives by the stream is the mosquito. This species has a very different niche than that of an animal that lives in the stream because it has the ability to fly and move around to different places. This means that the biological factors include everything in and around the stream and also humans. The abiotic factors of the mosquito is that it lives in a somewhat hot enviornment, lives by a stream that it can interact with, and that it also lives by many houses and man made things. The last species niche that I will describe is the ducks. The ducks live in and around the stream and have many abiotic factors that affect them. Some factors is that the area around the stream is very grassy and also that it lives in a place where it can live on land or on water. The biotic factors is that the duck eats different types of vegetation that lives in the stream and also that we do not currently know about what predates the duck.


 * //Visit #2//**

Free Journal The assigned role that I have taken for my Eco place is the water life. During the second visit to my eco place I looked for the different types of water life. In this visit I have found that there are tadpoles, crayfish and fish. The tadpole population at this time I have found to be very abundant probably because now is their breeding season. I could tell this because when I looked in the water the water was filled with black tadpoles. Also, after going down the stream I found that throughout the whole stream area tadpoles were in abundance. When I saw all of the tadpoles I wondered how the population stayed in check because there were so many tadpoles. I still believe that the other creatures in the water or maybe even outside eat the tadpoles so that the population goes down. This would make it so that there are not as many frogs so the population can stay at a normal amount. A question that I have for the frogs is that why are there so many tadpoles but at both visits I have not seen any frogs in the stream area? As for the crayfish crayfish population I was not able to see any because I could not see through to the bottom of the water. The last time that I went to stream though, we were able to see around 8 crayfish in the water. I think that the crayfish are one of the predators of the tadpoles. One thing that I had wondered about the crayfish was that were there any types of predators that they had. The same was for the fish population although unlike the crayfish population we were able to see a few of the fish in the water during this trip to the stream. I wondered what type of food do the ducks eat. Also, do they have any effect, such as do they eat any fish or tadpoles in the water? Do the plants that grow in the water serve as a home or food source for any of the species that live in the water? Are there only those three types of species that live in the water or are there more maybe different species concealed in the plants or mud? Do any outside animals have any effect on the fish life at the stream? Do human life closeby have any effect on the stream?

Assigned Journal During our second visit to the stream I had noticed many different types of environmental pressures that could effect the different species at the stream. Some of these pressures consisted of lessening amounts of water in the stream, predation, and even human influence. These are all influences driving natural selection because from each of these not all types of species would be able to survive without changing and adapting in some way in the near future. From these pressures some of the species in the stream have already started to change and adapt to these conditions and these are some of the variations that I found in the different species. While at the stream I noticed some of the heritable variations of creatures in my eco place. One example of this was with the crayfish. During the first visit I saw that there were an amount of crayfish with different reaction times. When just looking in the water we saw that some crayfish were able to move very fast indicating that they might have a predator that they might have to evade with quick reflexes. Some of these crayfish that we saw had this but other did not. This means that this variation was not very widespread but it was there meaning that in the future it will be spread throughout the population if it makes the crayfish more fit. Another different species with a heritable variation were the guppies. The variation that these guppies had were that they were a very dark color which blended in with the dark colored mud at the bottom of the stream. This variation would be very useful because by having a dark color they would be able to avoid different predators like the crayfish or maybe even birds. By having this variation the guppies would be more fit so that they can survive longer and reproduce. A third species with a variation that helped them become more fit were the tadpoles. Just like I said before there were many tadpoles in the stream at this time so the variation I am about to mention was very easy to see because I was able to compare and contrast the different tadpoles in the stream. A population like the guppies in the stream had a different color skin which caused them to become harder to see inside of the water. This would help them become more fit because by having this darker color skin they would be harder to be seen by predators and like other species they would be able to survive longer and reproduce.

__//**Visit #3**//__ When I returned to the stream I noticed many differences in the plants and animal life at the stream. One difference like from the second visit also was the plant growth. The rate that the plants grow at the stream is actually pretty fast so I could see a definite change from my last visit to this one. There was also a difference in the water life. The water life at the stream had also changed.This is because I had noticed decreases and increases of different species in the stream. One increase was that there was an increase of ducks. From the last visit we had only seen two ducks but during this visit I saw 4. This is a very noticeable increase because from the first visit we didn't even see any ducks, and during the second visit we saw two, and then this visit we saw four. To me this is a very reasonable increase because from the second visit there is double the amount of ducks. I can believe that also since the amount of ducks increased then that might have been what had led the other species population levels down. Hypothesis #1 If the number of tadpoles vary between spots then the other spots will have population numbers that follows the amount of tadpoles. I believe this because I think that the tadpoles are the driving source that keeps the other species alive. This is because if my hypothesis is correct then the crayfish, toads, and other species population numbers will either drop, decrease, or increase based on the amount of tadpoles. Hypothesis #2 If there are correct conditions such as a sufficient amount of food and habitable area then the ducks will stay and inhabit the stream. I believe this because since we know that there are ducks at the stream we can figure out that they would only come out when there are conditions that the species likes. This as I mentioned before could be from species populations for it to predate on or it could be on the condition of the stream. Hypothesis #3 My third hypothesis is that if the plant life increases then the amount of tadpoles will grow. I believe this because I think that plants act as a home for the tadpole population and so if the plant life increases then the tadpole population should also increase because of the added amount of living space for their populations.



Fourth Visit: From the last visit we saw some very different changes. We noticed some of these changes when we first even looked at the stream because they were so obvious. One change was the change in the plant growth. This change was that the plants had gotten noticeably larger since our last visit. The plants that had grown were the plants surrounding the stream and also the plants that grew inside of it. Another change that we found was another change in the animals at the stream. One animal that we noticed had a absolute change in numbers was the ducks. This is because from our last visit we had seen two ducks but now there were three or four. My hypothesis that I am going to test is that the amount of tadpoles in the stream effects the amount of other species. I am going to test this by rating each separate area of the stream by either a dense, medium, or little density of tadpoles. After, I will take an estimate of the amount of other species as a whole in that area and then I will compare them. From my readings there were three different areas that I could take measurements from. I started from the top of the stream and went down.



From all of the information I have gotten it does seem that the tadpoles do have an effect on the amount of other organisms that are living in the same area. I think this is because since they are so abundant they are a main food source in that area. This would make the trend that the amount of tadpoles is relatively the same amount of other species.