Diario de jaish24

I mapped the UC Berkeley campus and nearby areas to find potential observations I would revisit. The observations that came up were mostly flowers and a couple of birds. Thus, I found a couple of observations by paleh3 and apk which were clustered together. I also took a couple of extra observations just in case I was not successful with the first seven. First, I mapped the locations for each observation and created the best route. My first stop was near Evans Hall where I observed a California Poppy to target apk’s observation. Next, I made my way past Moffit Library to observe a dark-eyed junco, greater periwinkle, English sunflower, and common dandelion. These were all observed by paheh3. Lastly, I took a long stroll down Bancroft to the stadium parking lot. Here, I observed the Baby Blue Eyes and Bermuda Buttercup. These were the observations that I relocated successfully.

Extra Credit:

Here is the link to my observations during my hike in Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont:

http://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/jaish24/2014/5/5

Mallard is the species that I will briefly discuss the natural history of. This species has proven to be highly adaptive and have thus grown in numbers at a rapid rate. As a result, Mallards are the most abundant and widespread duck in Northern America. Moreover, this duck can be seen around the world with variations in size and features. They inhabit anywhere from the tundra to subtropical zones and occupy both salt and fresh water wetlands. Mallards are in almost every continent on the planet. An interesting feature of this duck is that it exhibits both Allen'sRule and Bergmann's Rule. The mallard has smaller beaks in colder climates to minimize heat loss (Allen's Rule) and is larger in colder climates (Bergmann's Rule). Furthermore, Mallards have

This duck is also said to be the ancestor of many domestic duck breeds. It is a fairly recent species at about 2 million years old and likely originated in Siberia. However, the ability of Mallards to breed with about 45 other duck species has created a wide array of different ducks which have produced fully fertile hybrids.

One of the defining characteristic of the Mallard is the sexual dimorphism that it exhibits. The males have distinct green heads with white neck rings and light brown breast. On the other hand, the female are light brown with distinct patterns on their feathers.

I went for a hike at Don Edwards Wild Life Refuge and got 3 animal and 7 plant observations. One of the most interesting observations was the purple/bluish flowering plant. This plant had one stem with almost one hundred separate small flowers in all directions. The flowers each had 5 petals and 6 white stamens. Likely, this flowering plant is a goldmine for bees and other insects.
Another interesting flowering plant I observed was the purple one with a single step and vertical symmetry. This plant had a pyramid like structure. The bottom level was the largest with 6 flowers, middle with 4 flowers, and the top levels had no flowers. Additionally, the flowers were situated on a weird pointy structures that I could not identify. Lastly, the flowers each had two stamen with yellow tips and a elongated pistil. This was also the flower on which I observed a bumblebee right before a giant black bee chased me away.

The two habitats that I observed were both in the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge. Firstly, the majority of my trip was at the salt marsh ecosystem. The second part of my trip was spent hiking up the dry hillside across from the salt marsh. I had difficulties finding many animals besides birds, so the majority of my observations were plants. In the end, I thought the plants and birds were quite significant in illustrating adaptations to the niche.
The birds that I observed were mallard, dowitcher, and golden crowned sparrow. The most prominent adaptation in the dowitcher is the long beak. This beak helps it to get food from the salt marsh. It repeatedly pokes its beak in the marsh and catches tiny crustaceans, worms, etc. With some research, I found that many call this the “sewing machine” method of feeding. The golden crown sparrow stops over in the hillsides near the marsh during migration. I would imagine that they do this for avoiding predators. Lastly, the mallard is one of the most common ducks in the world, and it is able to survive in the salt ponds because of its flexible diet.
The main adaptation in the plants were evident in the leaves. The plants near the salt marsh had hard and pointy leaves. This suggests that this ecosystem does not have an abundance of rain, so the trees must be extra efficient with their water usage. Having rough hard leaves is a sign that the plants maintain water and not lose leaves from seasonal changes. Additionally, the plants have to adapt to the large amounts of salt. Thus, many of these plants have a mechanism which allows them to gain water and drain out excess salt. Lastly, the spikes in the leaves seem like a defensive adaptation against plant eating animals. In the hillside, some of the smaller plants have much softer leaves. This was a little confusing, but I reasoned that the small size of these plants allow them to be more flexible with water usage.

For this exercise, I found a couple of plants around the campus(mainly across McCone). I observed a flowered cotoneaster. Additionally, I found a bare tree with no leaves on it. Also, there is a pink plant that is leafed out but has not flowered. Lastly, there is a leafed out manzanita.

The three observation that I chose include an insect, mammal, and bird. I observed a fox squirrel near McCone Hall. The Ring-billed Gull was observed at a Lake near my house in Newark. Lastly, this was my best attempt to capture a bee that I observed near Hearst Ave. However, this was my best picture from the ten that I took.