Cole+Wright's+Journal

**Journal entry 1**
Free Journal) The area we chose is a small portion of Makiki stream where the water moves slowly and there is a small pool of water. The pool of water is about 6 ft wide and from one foot to a half a foot deep. The water is very clear and is surrounded by lots of vegetation. The plants that surround the pool consist of Au, Jobe Steer, Banana tree, and papyrus. ...........Au (looks similar to taro) ................................ Jobe Steer ........................................Banna tree ........................Papyrus (next to the Au) In the pool of water there were many large rocks, some with algae growing on them. Dirt and small pebbles covered the bottom of the pool. There were many animals living in and around the pool. There was a spider, many ants on the rocks, a few sword tail fish, lots of mosquito fish, a couple of bees, a few chickens, a prawn, a frog, a bunch of flies, and mosquitoes. The mosquito fish are small fish no larger than 2 cm, and are a grayish-clear color. The mosquito larvae look like small ants swimming in the water. The mosquito larva only stays on the surface of the water and the mosquito fish swim any where between 2 and 5 cm deep in the water. There are also a lot of algae growing on the rocks in the water. The water is cool, the sun is warm, environment is beautiful, the life thrives, and the water flows. I think that this spot would be a great spot to study for the rest of this semester. This spot is a good spot because there are many different organisms in a small area that coexist together. Some of these organisms might have a commensalism relationship, or a mutualism relationship, or even a parasitism relationship. There could be competition and predation in the pool. We also could test all of these relationships that these organisms have with each other and with the abiotic factors that exist. With so much life and so many abiotic factors there is bound to be something unique going on in this pool of water. I will also be a good place to study because the water is crystal clear and easy to see everything that is going on in the pool. There are also many things that may drive the organisms in the pool of water to natural selection. A thing that may cause this is the erosion. The erosion could cause the water to flow faster and for more water to pool up in the pool. Erosion could also change the niches and the color of the sediment.

Assigned Journal) A predator prey relationship that I found in our area was with mosquito fish and mosquitoes. The mosquito fish are small fish that are no larger than 3 cm long and 5 mm wide. These fish are very small, but there are tons of them. The mosquito fish are grayish-brownish-clear and blend in very well with the bottom of the pool of water. These small fish only eat mosquito larvae. The mosquito fish are very small but easy to spot. They don’t blend in very well. They float on top of the surface of the water and there are many of them. They stay in small shallow areas of the pool where there are many plants. They also stay close to the bank or a rock. When they are old enough they climb on to a rock or the back and they fly away. The mosquito fish can live in many different temperatures, water conditions, and environments. This fish isn't native but was introduced as a bio control. I noticed around the small pool of water we are studying, there were hardly any mosquitoes, but there were many mosquito larvae swimmy around. Since there were so many fish, there had to be more mosquitoes somewhere that were laying their eggs in the water in order for the mosquito fish to thrive. The fish and the mosquitoes have a very close predator prey relation ship. The mosquitoes lay their eggs in the water, the fish come and eat the mosquito larvae, and the mosquito population can't keep growing because none of the larvae are becoming adult mosquitoes. The mosquitoes have to breed so they have to find a calm pool of fresh water to lay their eggs in. The mosquito fish will eventually not have any more larvae to eat in their pool because the mosquitoes will stop laying their eggs there because they would get eaten. So the mosquito fish would have to swim out of their pool of water, either up stream or down stream to a new feeding ground. These fish will never run out of food because there are so mosquitoes and they will always be breeding. But I think that the number of mosquitoes being limited by these fish is a good thing because mosquitoes are the number one disease-spreading organisms. With out mosquitoes, there would be a lot less people dying in our world today.

**Journal entry 2**
Free Journal) I have decided to study the fish that our in the pool of water. There are only a few types of fish in the pool of water. There are mosquito fish and some other type of fish that is a little larger than the mosquito fish. The mosquito fish are very small. The average adult is a bout 2 cm long. They tend to stay with in 1 to 5 cm deep in the water. Mosquito fish are semi transparent. Some are brown and others are tan. The mosquito fish have small tails and tend to swim pretty slowly but can burst away quickly if necessary. I observed that many fish were swimming against the current but going nowhere. They were just staying in the same place but swimming against the current. I wonder why they were doing this. The mosquito fish blend in very well with their environment. Since they are semi transparent they blend in well with the water, and their actual color blends in with most of the sediment on the bottom of the pool. Mosquito fish eat mosquito larvae. Mosquito larvae look like small ants swimming on the surface of the water. The mosquito larvae only stay on the surface of the water, they don’t go under at all. To me, it seems like there is no problem for the mosquito fish to get the mosquito larvae because the mosquito larvae can’t move very quickly in the water. The mosquito larvae stay in shallow areas of the pool and usually in areas where there are many dead leaves at the bottom of the pool. They seem to stay very close to the shore and when they get old enough, they climb onto a rock or the shore and they fly away. The other larger fish in the pond are different colors, some are black, some are brown, and others are tan. These larger fish tend to stay close to the bottom of the pool of water in the deeper areas. They blend in really good so it is hard to spot them. Each color of fish tends to stay in an area where they blend in with the bottom. I am not sure what they eat, they might eat algae or maybe mosquito fish, or maybe even something that I am not aware of that might exist in this pool of water. These larger fish move very quickly and one they are stopped and not moving they can’t be seen. They only catch you eye when they quickly dart from one hiding spot to another.

Assigned Journal) There are many environmental pressures driving natural selection in this pool of water. Some things that could be environmental pressures are the speed of the water flow, the color of the sediment, the shading the plants give and the protection they give, the food source, the weather, erosion changing the size of the pool, or the speed of water flow, or the availability of niches. Some examples of heritable variation would be the mosquito fish’s color, size, and tail size. Not all of the mosquito fish are the same color. Some are gray, some are brown, and some are tan. These are examples of heritable variation. In this situation, the mosquito fish that are gray are more fit than the others because they blend in better and causing them to be harder to be spotted. Since they can’t be spotted they have a better chance of surviving predation and there for they are more fit. All mosquito fish are different sizes. There are some large ones and some very small. The smaller mosquito fish are more fit than the larger mosquito fish. They are more fit because they are smaller and can’t be seen as well as the larger ones. The larger ones stand out because they are so large, but the small ones are so small that they can barley be seen. When they can’t be seen, they have a much higher change of surviving predation and are there for more fit. Mosquito fish’s tail size is a heritable variation also. Some fish have larger tail size compared to their body size than others. The ones with the larger tail size are more fit because they are quicker and can swim faster. The mosquito fish with a larger tail can swim faster and can get away from predators faster and they also can get their food a lot easier because they are faster, therefore they are more fit than the mosquito fish with smaller tails. Natural selection with the tail size could be driven by the speed of the water flow or the speed of predators such as other fish. With a faster water flow which would be caused by erosion, the fish would need to be able to swim faster to not be swept down the stream. Most natural selection could be driven by predation, but the color of the fish is driven by the lighting in the pond, like the amount of shade, and the color of the sediment. If there are a lot of trees above the pool of water then the sediment is going to be a brownish color because of all the leaves that falls in, and that will cause the fish to be a brownish color to blend in. Also, the pool of water is going to be shady because of all the trees, which would cause the fish to be a darker color.

**Journal entry 3**
Free Journal) The water in the pool was flowing fast and was a lot higher than before. The water was about a foot deeper than last time. The water was not clear at all. Last time the water was crystal clear and this time you couldn’t see the bottom. The water was brown from all of the erosion and dirt being washed in to the stream. I didn’t see any fish. Last time a saw about 30 mosquito fish and 2 larger fish. Last time the mosquito fish were swimming from 1cm to 5cm deep in the water, this time I didn’t see any fish swimming in the pool. Last time the larger fish were at the bottom of the pool and were hard to spot because they blended in, this time I couldn’t not spot them at all because I could not see the bottom. There could be many explanations for why I didn’t see any fish. One could be because they all got swept down stream by the fast flowing water. Another is because they are hiding in the plants where the water isn’t flowing as fast. Also I couldn’t have seen the fish because they were on the bottom of the pool where they were sheltered from the current by rocks and the formation of the bottom of the pool. Another reason could be because a larger fish came from upstream and ate them all, or they just couldn’t have been seen because of the color of the water and the turbidity. I think that some of these hypotheses are not very likely but are possible. From these changes I can hypothesize that if the water is flowing fast, then there will be very little activity in the pool because the fish and other aquatic animals will be trying to stay to not be swept down stream. I can hypothesize that if the water is turbid then their will be less activity in the pool because the aquatic animals will not be able to see anything in their niche and will not move quickly. I also can hypothesize that if there was a large rain fall and increase of stream flow, when the water becomes clearer and slower, then there will be less fish inn the pool of water than before the large rainfall. These hypotheses will have to be tested over 2 visits time. The first and second hypotheses have to do with during a large rainfall and the last has to do with before and after a large rainfall.

Assigned Journal) Journal Entry 4 I hypothesize that if there was a large rainfall and increase of stream flow, when the water becomes clearer and slower, then there will be less organisms in the pool of water than before the large rainfall. To conduct an experiment to test my hypothesis, I had to take how many mosquito fish were in the pool of water before the large rainfall, and then take how many fish were in the pool after the large rainfall. Time || Number of mosquito fish || Number of other larger fish || Before large rainfall (11/2/08) || 50-60 || 2 || After large rainfall (12/7/08) || 20-30 || 12 ||
 * Free Journal: **  The pool of water was very calm and the water was a lot lower than last time. Last time there was hardly any fish to be seen, but this time there were lots of fish. I found that there weren’t as many mosquito fish or other small fish but there were a lot more, larger fish. Before, I only saw mosquito fish and a few dark grey or black fish, but this time there were many different color fish. There were some grey fish, tan fish brown fish and orange fish. There was a large grey fish that was about 3 inches long. The largest fish in the pool was a orange fish that was about 4 inches long. Something knew I saw was a lot of mosquito fish with red tails. I also noticed that these fish could swim faster than the other mosquito fish. The fish blended in pretty well with the bottom but if you look closer you can see them. The bottom had many different color rocks. There were some tan rocks, grey rocks, brown rocks, orange rocks, and black rocks. Something I found new about the pool was that there are shrimp in there. They would get swept down stream but they stick to the upstream side of the rocks.

I concluded that during a large rainfall, the smaller fish, mosquito fish, get swept down stream, and the larger fish that got swept downstream from upstream are able to stop and stay in the pool of water. These results show that my hypotheses were partially correct. They were partially correct because there were less mosquito fish but more larger fish. **Assigned Journal:**