Dylan+Cabral's+Journal

This is the area of upper Makiki Stream that my group has chosen.

__(Free Journal)__ We chose this area because as soon as we found it we noticed a large crawfish, a medium size frog, and many little mosquito fish. Many plants including the Au, Papyrus, Jobe Steer, and a large banana tree also surround the area. The area is also shades by a large tree but at the time of day we visited (3:00 to 4:50) the pond was sunny due to the angle of the sunlight. The pond was about 5 feet in diameter. The bottom was covered by dirt, small pebbles, and large rocks covered with algae. I believe our group chose this area because there was clear evidence of predation and commensalism. I saw that the crawfish would eat the small mosquito fish and the frog would probably eat the many ants and mosquito’s that where in the area. I believe the commensalism I saw in the pond was between the crawfish and the frog. I also observed the mosquito fish and the swordtail fish where swimming and what looked like hanging out with each other. In the area chosen the water was cool yet it was warm and humid outside of the pond. The water flowed which was good because there wasn’t stagnant water and that made it easy to see the bottom of the pond. This was also a beautiful area to choose because the surrounding was clean with a nice grassy field. While we where their I noticed many people in the higher regions of the stream near the conservatory so I was wondering if this area had been cleaned or it was just that beautiful. I noticed that the organisms seen in the small section of stream were mostly in the middle of our chosen area which was the deepest part of the selected area which was about a foot deep. This was the area of the stream were I saw a medium size frog and a large crawfish when we first arrived. I believe this part of the stream is the most protected because of the large Au plant that covers this area making it harder for predators to prey on organisms in the stream. There were tons of mosquito fish that swam in the area close to the shore which was usually protected by rocks which led me to think that the mosquito fish found a way to get around or over the submerged rocks to get the mosquito larva which is their main supply of food.
 * __Visit #1__**

__(Assigned Journal)__ The predator prey relationship that I have noticed in the pond was the relationship between the mosquito fish and the mosquito’s and their larva. The mosquito fish eat only 1 thing, which is the larva of the mosquitos laid in the remote areas of the pond. This still hasn’t stopped the mosquito fish from getting to the larva, they are extremely small fish, which allows them to squeeze into very small places of the pond. Their size has helped the mosquito fish because the mosquitos have no chance of laying eggs that have a large chance of survival. Mosquito fish are extremely durable fish because they can adapt to almost any habitat or environment. The temperature of the water doesn’t matter and as long as there are lots of mosquito’s they future of the mosquito fish looks very promising unless they eat all the larva, which would lead to the extinction of the mosquito’s because it would be impossible for the mosquito’s to reproduce and the original few would die. However when we were observing the pond I didn’t see many mosquitos flying around. I noticed that the amount of mosquito fish in the pond would have meant that there must have been a large number of mosquito’s their during the breading season. I believe these fish are doing the human population a favor because as we all know mosquitos carry many diseases such as west Nile virus, which has killed many people. So instead of killing these fish, let them be and one day when there are no mosquito’s left we will owe it all to the tiny mosquito fish. The mosquito fish might be extremely intelligent fish because when I was at our location I observed the mosquito fish go to a place where I had seen many mosquitos land while we were there. If the mosquito fish could still thrive in the contained area that would meant that the mosquitos haven’t learned that the larva are being eaten upon birth. The mosquito fish are able to get to remote areas of the pond due to their small size and they were pretty fast for such small fish. This would explain how they managed to go unseen by the mosquitos who hovered over the water before landing on the surface. This led me to think that maybe the mosquitos are trying to be careful but the stealthy mosquito fish outsmarted the mosquitos.

__**Visit #2**__ __(Free Journal)__ I have decided that I will focus on the Abiotic factors of our eco-place. The main abiotic factor of our eco-place would have to be the types of plants, rocks in the stream, and the water temperature. The plants that surround our eco-place are the Au, which looks extremely similar to taro, jobe steer, banana tree, and the papyrus. The au plant was extremely large with huge leaves that covered a section of pond where most of the action was occurring. The jobe steer was completely surrounding the area except ta small section, which was empty where we entered to the pond through. The jobe steer looks very similar to California grass, which was at least 4 feet tall which created a barrier that didn’t allow chickens to see the area that might prey on the organisms in our area such as frog and other small fish. The banana tree added shade to the area which might have contributed to the number of fish living in our eco-place because the water temperature was resoanbly cold which could be a comfortable temperature for the species living in the selected area. The papyrus plant was located behind the Au plant. I saw no advantages that the area benefited from because the papyrus plant had thin leaves that didn’t shade or protect the area that well. The amount of rocks in the pond could provide shelter for the area and the organisms in the ponds could live under. I counted 10 rocks ranging in size from 6 inches long to a 4 foot large rock which we sat on while making observations. The rocks made it easier for most of the organisms to hide when we visited the area the first visit because we made a lot of noise when we where looking for the perfect spot to research. The water temperature was also an important abiotic factor because if the water was to cold the organisms in the pond might find a new spot which was warmer but if the water was warmer that would mean that their might be less protection from surrounding plants which is why the water would be warmer because it would be in the open. If the water was to warm the species that call our eco-place home would possibly try to move up stream because there where more homes and more shade because large trees covered the houses and the stream. When I visited the eco-place on Sunday I recorded the water at 80º at 4 in the afternoon which I think was a comfortable temperature because the organisms in the pond where swimming around and the activity looked normal.

__(Assigned Journal)__ A very obvious example of predatory pressures in our eco-place would be the variety of mosquito fish. Some were dark grayish-brown color whereas some were tanish-white. The darker colored mosquito fish blended into the bottom of our eco-place whereas the light colored fish were easy to spot and looked smaller that the darker relatives. The darker fish appeared to be the ideal fish of our eco-place because they blend in with the surrounding including the sediment at the bottom of the pond and the rocks that lined the edge of the pond. The lighter mosquito kept going down the stream in search of a less polutated area which would have made it slightly easier to get food. The large crawfish compared to the small ones would be an example of natural selection because the larger ones got more food and could possibly eat the smaller crawfish of our eco-place because they don’t eat the mosquito fish. The larger crawfish are even big enough to eat the frog that was spotted in our eco-place and had larger claws that looked very powerful for the crawfish. Another example of predatory pressures in my groups eco-place was the mosquitos. The mosquitos try to lay their larva in remote sections of our eco-place in hopes that the mosquito fish won’t be able to reach the area that their larva are in. However the mosquitos fish have gotten extremely small and at largest they are about 7mm long which helps them to get to the odd locations that the mosquitos are trying to breed in. The mosquitos haven’t figured out that this is not a good place to breed and that their offspring are dying almost immediately after birth. The mosquitos shouldn’t breed in the stream because in all of the eco-places we looked at there was always a larger number of mosquitos fish that inhabited the area. At first my group and I thought they where extremely small tadpoles but Chris Len had a book of fish and plants that are commonly found in streams and ponds of Oahu. After realizing that what we thought were tadpoles were mosquito fish it explained why their was such a low number of mosquitos in the area, which was good because most of us forgot to bring mosquito repellent. The small size makes it extremely easy for the mosquito fish to get to the areas of our eco-place where the mosquitos were breeding and why the darker colored mosquito fish were smaller in size and well feed with larger abdomens.

__**Visit 3**__ __(Free Journal)__ When I visited Makiki Stream Sunday after the copious amounts of rain I discovered that most of the plants that surrounded the area had been annihilated. The stream looked as if the water level had risen about 3 to 4 feet. The large 3 feet high rock was wet today and the damaged was visible from the road. I walked down to the stream and noticed that plants higher than the rock had been toppled. It was amazing and I observed the sheer force of nature when I say the large Au plant lying in the stream. I was shocked because when I went to stand on the large rock I noticed that all the plants around it had been uprooted and washed a ways down the stream. It was extremely had to try to prove my hypothesis because the water was extremely murky. I observed large clusters of half dollar size gravel all washed to the side. In previous visits that gravel had been at the bottom of the place we have been observing, however I was able to see about 4 small fish, which were brown. That proved that natural selection had occurred because in places up stream where to sediment was light and sandy the fish where tan. When I compared this week’s observations to last weeks, the differences were huge. First off the most noticeable change from last week was the plants. Last week the amount of plants were almost choking the stream, however this week the brut force of nature pummeled the large plants and sent them down stream on a water ride. The second difference was the turbidity of the pond. When we visited this place in previous visits the turbidity was super good, which was a main reason we chose this spot. However today the turbidity was about a 7 on a scale from 1 to 10. It was hard to observe any fish except the 4 small fish that we swimming on the brightly colored Au leaf. Finally the last difference was the water level. In Previous visits I was able to sit and a 3 feet high rock without getting wet. If I were to try sit on the rock I would get soaked. The stream had swelled and the water had risen about 3 feet. The bank, which is higher than the rock was washed away and only a few small plants were still visible. I noticed that lots of the larger plants had washed down stream but the tiny little plants remain in their original spots.

(Assigned Journal) __(free Journal)__ While I visited my ecoplace for the forth and final time I noticed that some plants had grown back but a large cluster of what appeared to be California grass remain ruined and blocking the far side of the stream. The Au plant has grown a considerable amount and the leaves seem to have doubled in size. The leave that had fallen into the stream was washed about twenty feet down stream. The water level had receded to the normal level and the large rock wasn’t submerged. I was able to count many fish because the clarity of the stream was amazing. The stream was so clear it was super easy to spot the fish because the sunlight wasn’t hitting the spot that I was studying until I left. I counted 21 brown colored fish and 1 tan fish. The brown fish were much larger in size then that 1 tan fish and the tan fish was extremely small. When I was looking for a place with a light color bottom, which was extremely hard to find, I only counted 3 small brown fish and 17 tan colored fish. This proves my experiment. I hypothesized that based on the color of the sediment the color of the fish will be extremely similar or exactly the same in color. The procedure I used to measure this was I watched the stream and counted the number of fish. I used wooden boards to block the entrance and exit of our particular location so only the fish that were in there could be counted. This minimized the possibility of escape and or reentry into the pool of the stream. When I found the pool with the light colored sediment I did the same. I conclude that natural selection has occurred because the dark fish in the dark pool must have survived countless attacks and when they reproduced their offspring shared many of the same features as their parents, which could have been color. The light colored fish that lived in the dark colored pool probably would have been the first ones to spot and eat for the predators of the pond. The opposite would be true for the light colored pond but the same principles of natural selection should have occurred. If natural selection hadn’t occurred I don’t believe the Mosquito fish would be as successful as they are today because the mosquitos might have been able to spot them and relocate to lay their offspring.
 * __Visit 4__ **
 * __(Assigned Journal)__**