Naturalist Perspectives Challenge 4: Wrap-Up

Over the semester, I learned a lot during these naturalist perspective assignments and challenges. Not only did I learn to love the environment around me and notice things I didn't before that I see daily, but I also learned how to blog and notice the season changes more intensely this year.
For example, during the first assignment I got to look closer at a beautiful garden I would walk by often, and identify it as my sight Alpha. I learned what flowers were present, watched them change between when the first and second assignment were due. I also learned which ones were pollinators and how that effects the area surrounding them. Another assignment that taught me a lot was the water in the landscape assignment. It taught me how to find the pH of water, and how to apply the things I learned in the classroom into real life experiences. Third of all, the bird challenge was fun because I would occasionally see these turkeys walking around the city and think it was funny, but I never knew why they were there until I had to research them. Researching these things around me was very cool, because I never thought to look so deeply into most of the landscape around me and question its presence, but I'm glad I was told to because now I understand it on a deeper level. Another assignment that stood out to me was identifying site gamma for the same reasons. I got to fully understand the area right outside my window and realize how humans effect this nature, how nature takes over, and wonder how many macromolecules these things must be made up of. Lastly, comparing the sights alpha, beta, and gamma, was really interesting to me because they are all so close to one another and so similar, but so different at the same time. They were all dirt leaf and tree filled, but there was an array of different man made wastes and plants at each site. By doing these assignments, I can teach someone about the aspects of Biology much easier than I would have due to the fact that I now know where they are in every day life and how to relate them to the local areas.

Naturalist Perspectives Challenge 3: AWEsomeness

 For this assignment I chose to visit the chestnut tree down the street from my apartment by the local church. I sat under this tree for a while as I basked in its glory and beautiful changing colors. I chose this spot because it made me feel awe the first time I walked by at the beginning of the year. I find it beautiful that chestnuts have an outer shell that is spikey to protect them, even though they are hard nuts anyway. Going back to this spot only cause me more awe, because the leaves had changed from green to red since the last time I checked. There were even more chestnuts on the floor than I recall, probably due to the fall, and this was even more beautiful than I could have imagined. This initially cause me awe because I never saw these spiked shells before, but when I opened them and did my research it was simply chestnuts! I believe this caused me to feel awe due to the impressive nature of how chestnuts are grown. Like Keltner says, humans are so caught up indoors these days that we do not realize the simple beauty that is right in front of us. If I were to look around more often I would probably see more chestnut trees in the area. Since it is getting colder it is important to experience awe through nature to stay healthy and happy.

Naturalist Perspectives Assignment: Comparisons

After revisiting all of my sites after a rainy day, I looked at them in a very different light. Now that we are in the midst of the cold weather the plants are reacting very differently.
Site Alpha
At Sight Alpha I tried to redo my first transect, starting at the grass and going towards the garden. From the beginning I saw a spot where humans interacted with this environment, sadly by littering. There was a cough drop wrapper right where my transect began, but other than that the garden seemed untouched. I posted the photos below in order of first to last section of my transect. As you may be able to see, many of the flowers are withering and the sprouts seem to be saggy, along with a vast amount of leaves now in the garden from the tree above. Some of the Zinnas and Black eyed susans still have some of their petals, but they're not in tip top shape. The lavender- like flowers lost most of their petals and are now mainly just stems. The change that stood out to me most was the human places ricolla wrapper,  but the fact that some of the flowers were dead and leaves were on them was more significant to the enviroment.

Sight Beta

I had trouble choosing just one transect spot for my sight beta since there was a lot of space on top of the hill in my back yard, so I decided to perform two. The first one was closest to my door, where the refrigerator has been sitting for months and there are new empty beer cans there as well. Although the trees looked beautiful with their colorful leaves, the amount of man made trash is not. Since the garbage cans for the buildings are at the bottom of this hill, trash ends up on the hill when careless renters fail to make it into the trash can. Below are 3 photos of the separate sections of my transect. The further up the hill I went, farther and farther away from the trash there was more and more moss on the floor. I don't know if this is due to the recent rain or if it was always there, but I had not noticed it before. Even though I've been looking at plants that are dying for the season all day, this moss gave me home that human kind can not destroy it's home no matter how hard we try.  

On the other hand, the opposite side of the hill held another interesting observation that I had to add. It seemed as if people were cutting down the trees on the hill, because there was a pile of smoothly cut trees against the fence that separates our property along with some random pieces of wood. I only hope that this tree had an infection and that is why they had to cut it down, because the wood was left there after as if it was useless. I do not know what the slab of man made wood slices could have been, but somehow it found its way back home. Below are pictures of my sight beta transect 2.

Sight Gamma

My last sight was hard to find a transect because it was a boring landscape, but I chose to observe the area right outside my window, on my side of the building. To begin, the pumpkin that was sitting there previously was almost diminished, leaving only small pieces behind. In was extremely moldy and broken into pieces as if someone knocked it off of the ledge. The weeds were still alive, but there was now an empty pack of cigarettes next to the pumpkin, yet another form of humans littering. Of course there were cigarette butts next to them, along with the rocks and dirt that remained from my last visitation. Just like the other spots, it is pretty similar, but with a lot more colorful leaves on the ground that fell from the trees near by. Below are photos of my transect. 

 

On the other side of the building, there is a tree that changed color immensely since my last visit. I chose to do a transect by the pumpkin and cigarettes because I found it more interesting, but the change in season really showed through the tree near by.

 

All in all, these areas are different because they all depict different areas of life and how different humans interact with this nature, but they are all one in the same. They all have trees present and many leaves on the ground due to fall, there is dirt as a base for every landscape and greenery growing in every spot wether intentional or not. Even though they all have their significant specialties like a garden with a cough drop wrapper; beer cans, a broken refrigerator and a stack of sticks; or a rotten pumpkin with an empty pack of cigarettes and rocks; they all represent the same thing. Each area shows how humans may disregard the nature around them and litter on it, but it continues to grow and due its thing through rain or shine. Being in a heavily populated place it is hard to find a place that is not covered in trash, but educating the people around you on how it can hurt the living beings around them is one way to try and make a change. 

Naturalist Perspectives Assignment: Identify Your Site Gamma

 On Sunday October 19th, at 2:17 pm it was around 67 degrees outside, so I decided to go on a nice walk and identify my site gamma because the weather permitted. On this walk I encountered quite a few macromolecules almost right outside my door step. At that moment I came to realize how everything really is made up of the compounds we speak spoke about in class technically. First of all, I walked out my door and instantly saw a girl waiting on the side of the road. Not only is she made of proteins and nucleic acids because, she is made of DNA, but the plants around her were too. Not only that, but there are also pumpkins on the door step which are full of protien, acids, and carbs.    





Although pumpkins are not high in fat, they still contain lipids. Upon further inspection, I came to realize that the tree right behind one of the pumpkins happened to have berries on it. Pardon the poor quality of the photo, I swear the berries are there.


These berries most likely contain these macromolecules as well. Berries might even have a higher lipid and protein count than the pumpkin, and not only have DNA of their own, but they are also attached to a tree which is a whole other organism with the same compounds forming it slightly differently.
On the ground below the tree there were rocks all over the dirt. At first I thought nothing of them. They are less exciting than the other living molecules, but I came to realize upon further research that even rocks have DNA, they just can't replicate it.
The last macromolecule rich organism I noticed was on the other side of the steps, but it was probably the best one I found. After observing the area to the right of the building and noticing the berries, trees, people, and rocks, I realized there was wheat on the other side, along with some other leaves and weeds and a bunch more rocks. The wheat excited me, because that is a clear indicator of carbohydrates such as starch. It also most likely contains DNA and lipids.

All in all, this perspective assignment made me come to the realization that everything living around me is made up of macromolecules weather I acknowledge it or not. This assignment really put me in touch with our universe and nature that we usually look past. Although I prefer the beautiful scene of a garden, the things right in front of me have a totally different and unique aspect of beauty to them.

Naturalist Perspectives Assignment: Identify Your Site Beta

  After listening to the TED radio hour, I decide to go somewhere close to home for my site beta. Rather than going out the front door and finding a place, I chose to observe my backyard. On Saturday, October 8th at around 12 o'clock it was 65 out and I sat on my back porch for a few minutes. I don't take advantage of my back porch as much as I should, simply because that is where the surrounding apartment buildings put their trash. Also, my table and chairs get covered in leaves and dirt from the trees right above. Inconveniently, I swept a day or two ago so you can not tell how many leaves have been on the table and chairs in the photos, but the stairs give you an idea of how the nature is incorporated into my living space.












  There is a hill with a wall of rocks with a few different trees on top. The leaves haven't changed color too much yet, but there are some yellow leaves. The leaves are beautiful when blowing in the wind, and the TED video helped to make me notice the beauty humankind and our own nature. Although there has been a refrigerator on top of the hill for weeks, its nice to see the nature is still thriving around the apartment complex's and making due with our interruptions, just like we are letting it be and keeping most of our garbage in a confined area.
   Humans are also a part of my local nature, and most areas. Like Emma Marris said, nature is where life thrives, and many forms of nature are thriving here. A neighbor came out on his porch and said hello to me, and this made me feel so human and one with my own element of nature. Although this was not on my recent visit, I have seen a man walking his dog on the back hill. The different animals I see that live in the forrest area, like squirrels birds and flies, have many similarities to the dog that lives in the nearby apartment. Although we usually do not view ourselves as animals, we are and we are part of this local nature. Our wooden homes are more similar to the wooden trees right behind them than we realize.

Naturalist Perspectives Challenge 2: Find An Uncommon Bird and Observe

  One morning I was going to Star Market after class to get groceries, when a Turkey just crossed my path. This Challenge came relatively easy to me, due to the fact that there are Turkeys walking around Somerville that I see every once in a while. He was on the other side of the street, so it was hard to get a picture since he was too far away, but I was surprised at how relaxed he was, just walking down the street doing his thing just like I was. When someone was nearby, he flapped his wings a bit and sped up, but was not that fearful. I assume the local Turkeys are used to seeing people all the time, but I'll always wonder where they came from and why they hang out in Somerville. After doing some research, I came to conclude that the Turkey was a female, because she had grey and brown feathers rather than colorful ones. Overall, my experience with the Turkey was a mildly fascinating one. I have seen them in that area before so I wasn't surprised, but it was funny to see the way she acted near people and how she casually walked around the city like we do.

Naturalist Perspectives Assignment: Water in the Landscape

      On Friday September 30th, 2016 I went for a walk to the Charles River for the sunset, staying in  the area from around 5 to 7 o'clock. While sitting on the dock i felt a nice breeze, but it wasn't too cold or too hot out. When I touched the water I was pleasantly surprised at how the waters temperature felt. It was very similar to the temperature in the air, probably because the sun had not set yet and the sun had warmed it up all day. There was a lot of greenery and much near the river, although I was sitting on a cement brick of a dock, I was able to feel the surroundings out some what.
      I tested the pH of the water and the piece of paper became slightly green. I estimated the pH to be around 8 until I tested my tap water in my kitchen and it barley changed color and got a rating of 6 or 7 from me. This made me rethink the pH of the river water to be more of a 9 because I didn't realize how subtle the color change would be. Seeing that the pH was lower on the fresh water only made sense, but I was surprised at how close the colors were. After the confusion, I tested Brita filtered water from the sink to compare, and that paper practically stayed the same color, with the fewest hydrogen ions out of them all- as you could expect. I do not know if water temperature effects ph balance, but I thought that testing the different pH balances was a lot of fun, very informative and a good thing for me to learn how to do. Overall, my findings did not surprise me and I really enjoyed this lab assignment.