Our class visited UW's greenhouse on 4/3. The greenhouse is located on Burke-Gilman trail (Lat:47.65 Lon:-122.31). Inside the biology greenhouse was warm and felt like 65℉.
There is a great deal of exotic plants here with most of them being tropical. In fact, the variety of species here represents 1/10 of the entire earth's diversity! The plants we saw included Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), which is very sensitive, but only to its preys. Additionally, we also learned about epiphytes, which are defined as plants that grow on other plants (without harming them).
We also tasted the "miracle berry" (Synsepalum dulcificum), which has the ability to manipulate an animal's taste buds. Other interesting species we talked about were ghost chili, water lily, and water hyacinth (see written journal 3 on more detail)
Even though none of the species we saw at the greenhouse was native to the PNW, they have allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of plants and evolution.
Cougar Mountain is situated in between Issaqhah and Bellevue (Lat: 47.52 Lon:-122.15). It was a cold, rainy Thursday. The temperature was around 48℉, and it was a bit foggy as we drove up to higher elevation.
Grassy area near the entrance of the Sky Country Trailhead and. Few robins were looking for worms on the grass. Species were much more diverse and abundant inside the woods. Douglas fir, western hemlock, western redcedar, and red alder were the dominant tree species here. Understory canopy included elderberry, some English holly near the entrance, and huckleberry, Indian plum, and salal. The soil condition was even more moist inside the trail. Wetland species such as Pacific trillium and skunk cabbage were spotted frequently. A dense population of devil's club was found next to a few western sweet coltsfoot at an open site near the old mining site.
(see written journal 6 for detail)
[Species list]
Douglas fir
western hemlock
western redcedar
red alder
bigleaf maple
elderberry
English holly
salal
Indian plum
huckleberry
American robins
Pacific trillium
skunk cabbage
pink purslane
sitka spruce
devil's club
western sweet coltsfoot
Mt. Si is located in North Bend, not too far from Interstate 90 (Lat: 47.47 Lon: -121.75). The weather conditions were partially sunny with temperature about 55℉. It was very humid in the mountain.
The trail entrance was a semiopen space consisted of large deciduous and coniferous trees such as bigleaf maple, douglas fir, and western hemlock. On these trees were lichens, with the old man's beard being the dominant one. Huckleberry, licorice fern, sword fern, and lady fern were frequently spotted at lower elevation.
As the elevation increases, the diversity of understory canopy begin to go down and was replaced by ferns, mosses, and lichens. Trees that were once dominated at the bottom were no longer present. Half way during the hike, there was a small open space. 2-3 huckleberries were on site and some oomycetes growing on decay branches in nearby spots.
(See written journal 7 for detail)
[Species List]
Bigleaf maple
douglas fir
western redcedar
black cottonwood
old man's beard
huckleberry
sword fern
lady fern
pipecleaner moss
Pacific trillium
western hemlock
piggyback plant
trailing yellow violet
gray jay
chipmunk
common sedges
oomycetes
Our class was introduced to a whole new topic this week—bugs. The lecture by the guest professor was extremely informational, even a person who's not very into insects like me was fascinated by the natural history of bugs.
The lecture began with an overview on arthropods, which includes insects, primitive insects, spiders, mites, scorpions, milipedes, and centepedes. They are important to both natural world as well as human world because they play a key role in waste recycling, soil formation, vegetation control and plant reproduction. Furthermore, they also have medicinal benefits.
There are 10 million species of insects in the world, which is the most diverse group of all organisms. Beetles, moths, and butterflies are showy and nocturnal. Bees are actually specialized pollen-feeding wasps; the small ones are day-flying, but mostly flying alone. Like butterflies, the prefer nice weather, which is why they are hard to spot on a rainy day.
There are 6 specie of bumble bees in the Puget Sound, but sadly at least one species has gone extinct last year, mostly suffered from pesticides.
(See written journal 8 for detail)
[Species List]
Scarabeidae beetle
Ladybug
The theme of this week's class focused on fungi. Therefore, in order to gain basic knowledge of fungi, we had a guest lecturer and a campus tour today.
Fungi are one of the most important decomposers in nature, and their spores are what make them so distinctive from other organisms. After heading out the classroom, the professor led us through the lawn near the water fountain where we stopped to see a cherry tree that has been infected by a white rot fungus. White rot fungi can access almost everything. They are very efficient, but will eventually go away when carbon is exhausted.
[Species List]
Turkey trail
oyster mushrooms
Our group went on a tree tour in preparation for our group project next week. We began our tour from Meany Hall, walking along Stevenway and then went around the campus.The weather conditions were sunny and around 55℉.
There are nearly 500 kinds of trees at UW, but only 28 of them are native on campus. We first observed the graceful deodar cedar that line along Stevensway. Enven though it's called a fir, it is actually a member of the pine family. The needles are greyish blue and bright green and come with bundles of 12-30.
Moving along we saw lawson cypress, China fir, coast redwood and the Coulter pine. with its enormous cones, the Coulter pin aka bigcone pine, is my favorite tree species of this tour. Their cones are said to be the largest cones among the pine family. Needles are think, and long, and smell like resin.
None of the conifers that we saw today was native to the PNW. Nevertheless, they have all adapted to local eccosystem and beautify our school with their gracefulness.
(See written journal 11 for detail)
[Species List]
deodar cedar
lawson cypress
China fir
coast redwood
Coulter pine
Japanese snowbell
sword fern
English elm
Ginko
Dogwood
Camellias
Oregon crab apple
oregon grape
Weather conditions: Sunny, clear sky, and the temperature was about 60℉ in the morning, but slowly climbed up to 68℉ in the afternoon.
We first arrived at the Skykomish river just east of Goldbar. Bountiful shrubs at the parking area, including vine maple, Indian plum, honeysuckle, thinkbleberry, snowberry, and saksatoon. The forest consists of many floodplain species such as cottonwood and willow. understory canopy is comprised of Japanese knotweed, salmon berry, sweet vernal grass, and stingybob.
Open site had dogwood, bigleaf maple, and Pacific crab apple. We also encountered a woodpecker and a black warbler in the woods.
We arrived at Leavenworth around 2 in the afternoon and visited the site that was burned during the Big 1994 fires. As a result, this area is characterized by its high species diversity. There are many big douglas fir and yellow pine. More fire-adapted trees have larger limbs on the bottom. Flowers like chocolate lily, Indian paintbrush were also spotted.
(See written journal 12 for detail)
[Species List]
Bigleaf maple
vine maple
Cascade maple
cottonwood
dogwood
western redcedar
western hemlock
ponderosa pine
willow
redcedar
Indian plum
saksatoon
honeysuckle
elderberry
salmonberry
Japanese Knotweed
Thinbleberry
Stingybob
Mock orange
Youth-on-age
Crab apple
vanilla leaf
wild ginger
false lily-of-the-valley
Indian paintbrush
western fence lizard
chocolate lily
cup mushroom
sweet vernal grass
sword fern
lady fern
lomatium
slippery jack
Hiked at Dirty Harry's Balcony trail on a sunny Saturday. The temperature was about 58℉. The trail is located in the Snowqualmie Valley closed to exit 38 of Interstate 90 in North Bend (Lat: 47.42 Lon: -121.61).
The dominant tree species along the trail were sitka spruce, red alders, and some western hemlock. Douglas fir and redcedars were not present at all. Understory canopy was a mixture of false lily-of-the-valley, devil's club, and piggyback plants. As the vegetation here implies, this area is highly moist and covered in shades. Pacific trilliums were spotted several times near streams. Another dominant plants were false soloman's seal.
Unlike Mt. Si, lichens were not present at all here. I wonder if this has to do with the fact that this trail is so closed to highway.
As we reached 2,000ft, the vegetation was different again. There were western hemlock and sitka spruce at the Balcony. Oregon grapes, which were rarely seen along the trail, were very abundant at this elevation level. Mosses and lichens grow on rocks here.
(See written journal 15 for detail)
[Species List]
western hemlock
bigleaf maple
red alder
sitka spruce
false lily-of-the-valley
salmonberry
false soloman's seal
oregon grape
Davidson's penstemon
dust lichen
pacific trillium
devil's club
piggyback plant
beetles
mushrooms
