Observations 9/30
For my observation this week, I went to Hammond Pond Reservation, and went to several different conservation areas along the roadside. The weather was really nice: clear skies, slight breeze, cool, and cloudy. I was hoping to see some animals, but I was unlucky. I found a nice small stream when I was returning from my walk which I will definitely have to check out next Naturalist walk. For my observations, I found a lot of plants that caught my eye while on my walk in the woods. There is a lot of diversity in flowers and plants throughout this conservation area, so there are a lot of organisms to take a picture of. Since this week's theme is on the Tree of Life, my observations mainly address life in the plant kingdom. I was able to snap a picture of a chipmunk (Genus Tamias) which increased my diversity of organisms. All the species observed are included in the Eukarya section of the tree of life. Although the observations were of the plants themselves, you can make the connection that there are thousands and thousands of microscopic organisms and bacteria on the plants and species identified. Since microbes are the main focus of next week, I can assume that there will be some discussion on the importance of bacteria on various living organisms, and helping them carry out functions and more.
