Holly's+Journal

//Free Journaling -Describe your area. Include sketches or pictures. -Include GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude) on your webpage. -Explain why you believe this site will be a good place to study for the res of the semester//
 * __FIRST VISIT TO ROCK HILL__**

I believe this is a good place to study because it is convenient for all members of our group to meet. Rocky Hill is on the upper campus of Punahou School. It provides the students of Punahou to study plants and environments. At Rocky Hill there is a small pond, a greenhouse filled with native plants to Hawaii and trails that are along the side of the hill. In the pond you can see duckweed that covers the top and water plants that flourish there. From the top of Rocky Hill you can see over the Punahou campus. Some abiotic factors that may affect the life in this eco-zone is the temperature, water availability, terrestrial surrounding, and interaction with human life. Although our eco-zone remains mostly untouched by human life there are parts of Rocky Hill where we have touched. Mr. White from Team Y in the seventh grade visits Rocky Hill weekly with a group of volunteers and they care for the plants in the greenhouse and the area behind it as well. This shouldn’t be a problem for my semester project on eco-zones because the areas, which I will be observing, remain mostly untouched. The temperature of Rocky Hill is another abiotic factor that I should observe. Since Rocky Hill is higher than the ocean level and higher than where we usually are the temperature is different and is usually lower. Water availability is also an abiotic factor that I will be observing further. The area, which I will be observing, appears to be a dry area where rain seems not to be able to reach. Although at this very moment I am not sure why it is drier than other areas, I hope that this semester project will help me understand the reasoning behind it. While the terrestrial surroundings at Rocky Hill is interesting I don’t think that I will be observing it as much as the factors mentioned above. It doesn’t interest me as much as the other factors. However, by the end of this project maybe I will be enlightened and the terrain at Rocky Hill will interest me. There is much life that flourishes at Rocky Hill, however they are mostly all that way because of the man interaction that takes care of them. The only ones that I noticed that weren’t man made were dry and neglected. I hope that by the end of this semester project I will be able to make good, detailed observations with what I have.

//Assigned Journal Entry #1 -Describe a predator-prey relationship you see evidence of//

In my eco-system up at Rocky Hill there aren’t many living species that can be seen, let alone predator-prey relationships. So the only relationship that I was able to see on my first visit to Rocky Hill was that of the bugs and the state flower of Hawaii, the hibiscus. The hibiscus bush that I observed looked very thin and not in very good shape, it did not look like most hibiscus bushes that I see around which are full and flowering. Although the hibiscus plant did grow along the edge of a cement bench thing were you would think that it would not be able to grow, it did; I could clearly see that that was not the reason in which the bush was so thin and eaten up. So making further observations around and about the hibiscus plant I checked the ground for the soil that it grew in. I saw that it grew in “normal” looking soil; it looked just like regular soil or dirt that anyone could use in their garden: brown and dirty. The ground around the hibiscus bush also had little twigs and green weeds growing around it, which still didn’t explain the poor state of the hibiscus bush. So I made an inference from my observations that the reason for the poor state of the hibiscus plant in my eco-system, Rocky Hill, was because it was being preyed on by bugs. That was when I decided to take a closer look at the leaves of the bush, not the entire plant. Then I could I could easily see that the leaves of the hibiscus were eaten for there were many signs: little patterns that suggest nibbling had taken place, like holes in the middle of the leaves, and discoloration caused by unnatural exposure to air. Although I am not exactly sure what type of bugs prey on the hibiscus I am sure that they do. I also made an inference from my observations that there was no reason for the bugs not to be able to eat the leaves because it does not possess defenses, like the acacia tree has the ants to protect it or like most roses that have thorns to protect it from predators; although the Hibiscus does have some milky substance that I know is poisonous to humans it apparently does not stop bugs from attacking and preying on it. (Refer to picture above for more info.)

__**SECOND VISIT TO ROCKY HILL**__ //Free Journaling -Make focused observations and ask questions relevant to your assigned role//

My role for this semester’s eco-zone project is to observe the plant life at my eco-zone, Rocky Hill. My job is to take a closer look at the plant life that thrives up at Rocky Hill. As the designated plant observer for my group I plan on observing the plants that seem to be dying out rather than the plants that are flourishing. I chose to do this because I hope that by observing those plants that are not in good health I can see firsthand how their niche had been invaded or how natural selection had worked unfavorable for them. For this role I have prepared a list of questions that may prove useful to my observation of my eco-zone: -What is the average temperature of my eco-zone? -Why is it that some areas of my eco-zone are drier than other areas? Is it because it receives more direct sunlight than the other part? Is there more shade near the before mentioned area than the other? -Why is it that some areas of my eco-zone are filled with more life than others? (Similar to question above) What makes that certain area more fertile than others? -In my eco-zone, Rocky Hill, there is a pond that is filled with duckweed, aquatic plants and small fish; there are two parts to the pond. Is there a reason why more duckweed grows on the bottom part of the pond, where there are fewer plants, rather than the top? -What would my eco-zone look like if it were not taken care of by people? Which plant species would survive and which would die? -I noticed that there are many species, alien to Hawaii, that are growing in and around Rocky Hill; although there is a vast amount of ways that they possibly have gotten there, which seems the most plausible? Which plant species does it appear to effect the most? -Since my eco-zone is higher up (it’s on a hill) than most of the plants that I usually see does the altitude have a major affect on the growth of the plants there, if any at all? -The first time I went up to Rocky Hill I noticed a lot of really big, but empty snail shells, they were all in a pile near a boulder. Why are they all dead? Where did they come from? Does this have a direct connection to the plants that were around it?

From the few times that I have already been to my eco-zone, Rocky Hill, I have taken note of some of these things. I will be adding my observations to new inferences that I will be making in the future.

//Assigned Journal Entry #2 -Describe some of the environmental pressures that could be driving Natural Selection in your eco-zone.//

In my eco-zone up at Rocky Hill there are not that many environmental pressures that could be driving Natural Selection, everything runs in a pretty smooth circle of life. There, however, was one species that I noticed when I was there; although I am not sure what it is called, I know that it was probably some sort of vine, the way it twined over rocks and other plants told me this. That plant was probably affected by Natural Selection after it arrived at Rocky Hill because it was not used to the new environment, so had to adapt and evolve. The environmental pressure that could be driving Natural Selection is water supply. I noticed that in one area at Rocky Hill, where this particular vine grew and was surrounded by big boulders, there were also many other plants and they were covered in the vine and dying. I made an inference that the plants that were being chocked and covered by the vine were not getting an efficient amount of water or sunlight because it was being covered. The vine, through Natural Selection, had been better equipped for tough environments and was now surviving better than the other plants. It was the classic case of survival of the fittest. Another environmental pressure that could be driving Natural Selection in my eco-zone is the exposure that earthworms get from the sun; I believe that too much exposure eventually will affect the birds that prey on them. Our ozone layer is getting increasingly thinner from the rays from the sun and therefore becoming increasingly more powerful and harmful, and when an earthworm is exposed to too much sunlight or even if the soil they live in gets too dry they can’t breathe because they get their oxygen from their surroundings. Even though they may hide and burrow themselves deep under the soil, my eco-zone is on a hill, henceforth Rocky Hill, and the dirt they are under may slide and shift and leave them exposed to the harmful rays of the sun. While this may seem good for the birds that were mentioned before, it isn’t because they will not eat the dead, crispy, exposed worms. It connects to Natural Selection because the earthworms will eventually become a rare food for the birds and then the only birds who will be able to survive will be the ones with beaks that are fit enough for digging under dirt for the worms, and the only worms able to survive will be those who are able to burrow themselves deeper than the rest.

__**THIRD VISIT TO ROCKY HILL**__ Free Journaling Entry #3 Continue your focused observations and compare them to previous observations. Make inferences (relevant to your assigned role) and propose hypotheses. Finally, create 3 testable hypotheses from these inferences. You should use the "If… Then… " format. As usual, this section should be 400-600 words.

Assigned Journal Entry #3 • Describe some of the community interactions you observe (400-600 words) OR • Create a food web that includes 10 different types of organisms in your Eco-space (display as a picture) OR • Create an energy pyramid, biomass pyramid or pyramid of numbers for your Eco-space (display as a picture)

__**FOURTH VISIT TO ROCKY HILL**__ //Free Journaling #4 -Continue focused observations. Compare these observations to your previous observations -Conduct your experiment using one of the hypotheses you generated during your third visit. Describe procedures. Put data in tables or graphs - Draw conclusions based on the results of your experiment//

I conducted they study of the duckweed plant in the tiny pools that lie next to each other. The test to see which environment was better suited for growing duckweed took place in the late afternoon, around 3 or 4 o’clock. Since this was a fairly easy study to conduct I was able to finish my experiment within one visit, although I did visit my eco-zone more than that. During each of my visits I made notice of the duckweed growth and collected observations. I didn’t start the actual collection of hard data until the day that I went to Rocky Hill to conduct my test. When I went up, to collect data and conduct my test I did not go alone; one of my group mates came with me. However when we reached Rocky Hill we went our separates ways, we each conducted our own tests. My experiment, I don’t think, is a very conventional one because I don’t have the traditional elements like a control in it. It did however have two pieces of data that I compared to each other. What I did was, first take observations of the area around the duckweed-infested pools, taking careful note of factors that might affect the outcome of my tests. Next, I scooped up duckweed from each of the pools, from the most congested parts, into a small cup; to make sure that I wasn’t compromising my experiment by gathering more duckweed from either pool I did it in three strokes each, also repeated this step twice. I drained out all of the water, leaving only the duckweed in the cup. Then I used an electronic scale to weigh the amounts of duckweed that I gathered, making sure to “zero” it before I weighed the duckweed. Then I took my data down. After testing and weighing the duckweed I found out that the upper and bigger pond had a heavier amount of duckweed than the lower and smaller pond. The smaller pond that had less duckweed was also lower than the bigger pond and at times more shaded from the sun then others. The upper pond averaged 18.14 grams of duckweed while the lower pond averaged 2.8 grams of duckweed. The bigger pond was also visually fuller with duckweed than the smaller pond.

Assigned Journal Entry #4 -Create a diagram representing the different aspects of the carbon cycle as it flows throughout your eco-place OR -Take a picture of 5 different organisms and classify them by Kingdom, Phylum, Class and Order (you may go further if you like). Make sure you also identify them by their "common name