johnpaulg33's Journal

Today I walked the Pine Tree Preserve with a friend from class. The weather was perfect, with just enough sun and a light breeze to be comfortable in a jacket. I am happy with how I timed the walk, as it was a nice opportunity to clear my head mid-week and enjoy nature. I was struggling to find Bryophyta, which is a division of plants that lack flowers and roots and reproduce by spores released from a stalked capsule. After searching for a while, I was able to find some moss underneath a rock structure next to some pine trees. I found it funny how consistent this is with the nature of mosses, as they thrive in moist and shady locations. The rocks provided the perfect shelter for this moss, which I believe is why I was able to observe it here. Finding gymnosperms was very easy, as the park is covered with pine trees (hence the name, hahaha). Finding polypodiospida was also very easy, as I remembered that as soon as you enter the reserve, there are some ferns growing directly next to the entrance path. Identifying angiosperms was also fairly easy, as blooming and budding flowers caught the eye. Overall, this walk was a great experience.

Today I walked the Pine Tree Preserve at Boston College. The weather was cloudy with a slight misty rain during my walk. The air was crisp, so I found this walk to be refreshing. Seeing the sun go down as well when on my walk was a nice bonus. On my walk, I was able to observe five instances of fungi. Fungi are eukaryotic organisms--their cells have membrane-bound organelles and a defined nucleus. Something interesting I learned was that fungi were originally included in the plant kingdom, although they later got separated as fungi lack chlorophyll and have key structural differences. Something that particularly caught my eye was the lichens on a large tree. Lichens are a symbiotic relationship, part of which is fungi--the outer skin and internal structure of a lichen are comprised of hyphae. I found it fascinating how it appeared in clusters along the tree, some higher and some lower. This made me question if there were any advantages or disadvantages to their relative heights off the ground. Overall, finding fungi was a relatively challenging task, as there appeared not to be very many where I was walking. Perhaps this could be due to this particular preserve not being the ideal environment for fungi to thrive. Also, I question where the few that were present came from/how they were able to grow.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/137061480
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/137060541
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/137060428
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/137059985
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/137059728

For this week's walk, I decided to walk the Pine Tree Preserve which is located next to the Margot Connell Recreation Center. I found this area quite relaxing and secluded despite being located right on campus near the main roads. It was very pleasant walking the trail as there were no steep ledges but rather only slightly inclined, pave trails. My wind breaker kept me nicely warm against the wind. I found that there were not a lot of animals so all of my observations are of plants. It was a very nice change of pace to be by myself in the wilderness. All in all, great end to the week!