Diario de marceairene

For my treasure hunt, I searched around Campus for previously identified plants on campus. I choose plants that I knew well enough so that I could confidently find them without having my computer open or pictures handy to ID. It ended up being not so difficult to ID these plants, as they are very common around campus and easy to find. There were only a few that I ended up switching because I wasn't able to find them. Fun homework!

For my California Natural History story, I wanted to talk about the California Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus) that I saw while on a hike on this last Monday. Some of the things that are so interesting to me about it are the fact that it's lungless and breathes through its skin. This means that they live in damp environments on land, and like high humidity. When its dryer and the air is cold, they hide underground. Another interesting thing is that this species resides within a limited area in California; although they can be found in many different types of habitats throughout California. They're found in chaparral, woodlands, grasslands, forests, humans yards, under driftwood, logs, rocks, bark, stumps, anything moist. Their behavior is interesting when found as well: these guys tend to be in a curled position when found, as a defensive mechanism. They remain this way until they try to retreat, springing away, they can also release sticky skin secretions which can glue the mouth shut of a predator. They also have the ability to regrow their tails if they were to be severed off.

On Monday afternoon I went for a hike up behind campus in the woods.
I found some things I liked and used some new terms i've learned classify them and give them traits and characters.

Mallow: A common California weed found in many places. Also edible.
leaf structure: simple
leaf venation: palmate
leaf margin: lobed
leaf color: green
leaf texture: smooth

Poison Hemlock: Took me a second to ID this plant even though I should know it right away! I actually thing this herb plant is very beautiful looking and has nice characteristics...and maybe thats the point. Some of which are:
leaf structure: double compound
leaf venation: pinnate
leaf margin: spiny
leaf shape: triangular
leaf color: green

California Slender Salamander: Recognized this guy right away.
body: narrow
length: long and slender
characteristics: worm like
color: brownish
biology: respiratory is through skin

Millipede
body: narrow
length: long and flat
characteristics: outside layer is shell like, parallel lines crossing back
color: brownish/black

Unknown plant: Very pretty leafs on a tree.
leaf structure: simple
leaf venation: pinnate
leaf margin: lobed/serrated combo
leaf color: light green
leaf texture: soft

Lichen: Growing on a tree, there were two different types of lichen. One appearing almost like a shrub, the other more like a type of flakey crust. The shrub like one appeared to be a lighter greenish gray then the flakey one. They were both spread out together amongst the same tree.

Found this ivy level to the ground and growing on a surrounding fence in the area.
leaf structure: simple
leaf venation: palmate
leaf margin: lobed
leaf color: dark green
leaf texture: smooth

Plant unknown: I just really liked the way these leaves looked. These were some of the few leafs on an entire shrub, so I'm guessing it's some kind of deciduous brush and it's just now branching out.
leaf structure: simple
leaf arrangement: opposite
leaf venation: pinnate
leaf margin: serrated
leaf shape: oblong
leaf color: shiny green
leaf texture: smooth

Rye grass: Not sure what kind of rye this is, although it seems pretty prevalent in the area. Member of the wheat family, long grass like leafs, with a type of leaf like flower at the ends. Many small, delicate and fine shards of grass pointing upward, parallel to one another. Light greenish in color.

Purple flower plant: Pretty flower! Lots of these surrounded in a shady area.
Leaf structure: simple
leaf arrangement: opposite
leaf venation: pinnate
leaf margin: entire
leaf shape: oblong
leaf color: shiny green
leaf texture: smooth
flower color: purple
flower arrangement: solitary
flower pedals: five of them, possibly an eudicot.

For my habitat trip I went on Saturdays field trip to the Berkeley Marina and took some observations at a grassland ecosystem and then a salt marsh ecosystem.

Grassland: Growing on top of 12 feet of garbage (It's an old dump site on the western side of Berkeley) this grassland is relatively new.. Some things I saw there were: California Poppy, tall grass, Coyote Brush, some Willows, Long Beaked Storks Bill, Sage, Blue eyed grass, Wild Radish, Poison Hemlock...Among others. It was interesting to observe the grasslands and the areas where it was obviously more saturated with water (lower elevation possibly), as plants became more green and fertile looking (Ex: I saw some type of happy looking ivy). Since this "grassland" is built on an old dump, my guess is that the plants growing here are some of the stronger and more durable and invasive plants we have around this area. A lot of the grasses looked to be of the same species and the most prominent plants were definitely the Coyote Brush and the tall grasses.

Salt Marsh: It was a semi low tide where we were by the water so we got to see some fun little critters! We saw: Pickleweed, Isopods, a Jellyfish, barnacles, salt grass, three different types of crabs, and an array of birds. Some things that stood out to me are all the insects that live in the rocks (Arthropods and Isopods). It must be a good place for them to anchor as the tides change. The pickleweed plant seemed to be more thick and dense then other plants in the grassland as well, my guess is that it's because it has to be more salt tolerant. This area definitely seemed to be an ecosystem for a lot of little critters looking to maintain life. The birds definitely enjoy this area, I imagine they get a lot of food from jellyfish, fish, crabs and mussels too!

I took to the UC Berkeley campus and some of its fields and more wooded areas to find some examples of flowering/non flowering and leafing/bare plants. Although I wasn't able to ID all the plants I found, I believe they are good examples of flowering and leaf phenology. My leafing plant appears very healthy, green and full of leafs. My non leafing plant is extremely bare, looks dry and was kind of all over the place in terms of how it laid. There was a lot of Bermuda Buttercup plant that had tons of small, yellow flowers, exemplifying flowering phenology. My non flowering plant, seems to have some dried flowers on it, but remains un-flowered and bare.

I added a couple more pictures, as some of my observations had no ID on them. I did my best to ID the plants I saw ~ It's a little hard to get ID's if you don't know the name of them yourself, and neither do fellow inats? Any advise on how to ID plants better would be great, as we're suppose to have Research Grade work.

My three iconic-taxa observed for homework assignment #2 consist of: a plant, mammal, and insect.

1) The plant I found is some kind of berry bush alongside Euclid st in Berkeley. Although I don't know the exact name of this plant, I am pretty positive it can be identified under the plants taxa.

2) The mammal I observed is one I see often, as they live and eat near my house in the North Berkeley Hills. I'm lucky enough that I can even wake up to the sound of their chewing through my window! Although I'm not positive what type of deer the one in my observation is, I am labeling it under the mammals taxa.

3) The Insect I found resembles some kind of tiny beetle or cricket, and was only about a centimeter long. It was resting underneath a rock I turned over. I'm classifying it under the Insect taxa.