Diario de kkolucki

I took a nature walk over Thanksgiving break while I was home. I live in rural Pennsylvania, so I walked around the woods for about an hour. The weather was sunny, but windy and chilly. At first it was difficult to find insects, but once I figured out where to look it became easier. I found that most of the insects I found were hiding under logs or rocks. I needed to flip these objects over to observe the insects. There are definitely not as many insects around as there are in the summer, but there were still quite a few, they were just harder to find. I found some termites and a woodlouse, which belong to the phylum Arthropoda. I also found round worms which are Nematoda. This was a nice opportunity to get outside and be in nature over the break.

Over fall break I took a nature walk for about 45 minutes through the fields around my house in Pennsylvania. I went on this walk with my dogs and my dad. It was an overcast day and was around 50 degrees. Nonetheless it was still nice to get outside and see the beautiful fall scenery. I saw a multitude of plants, but the ones I saw most often were angiosperms. Even though all of my species were angiosperms, I was amazed to see the biodiversity within one main group of plants. I saw flowers, berries, vines, and trees and surprised to find out that all of these plants flower. On the plants with leaves, I was able to see that the leaves had a cuticle, which prevents the plant from drying out. It was great to see the remarkable biodiversity that can be found right around my own home.

I spent about 40 minutes walking around Houghton Garden on September 30 in the afternoon. It was a sunny, cool day, which in my opinion is the ideal condition for walking. Houghton Garden was a beautiful place to go for this walk. It has lots of paths that go throughout the forest, but it is easy to explore off the path. It is close to Boston College but feels secluded which I liked. It was really nice to be surrounded by nature during this beautiful time of year. I went on this walk not expecting to find a lot of fungi, but I was able to find so many different species. I was really surprised with the biological diversity of the fungi. I expected to find only a few mushrooms that all looked the same, but the appearances of the fungi I found were extremely diverse. The morphological species concept would be a good way to identify the different species of fungi that I found because they all look so different. There is a stream in Houghton Garden which likely creates moist conditions which are ideal for fungi growth. Aside from the fungi, I also saw many birds, squirrels, and chipmunks.

I went on my nature walk on September 28 in Pine Tree Preserve. Immediately I saw the vast biodiversity in the area. Even though the Pine Tree Preserve is rather small, it still contains multitudes of different species. I really enjoyed my walk. The weather was sunny and about 68 degrees Fahrenheit. It was a beautiful day. In addition to the many plant species I observed, I also saw a chipmunk and a squirrel. The walk was a nice break from traditional schoolwork and allowed me to observe the biodiversity we had be talking about in class in real life.