Leo's+Page

Leo's Page

In the beginning of the year we chose a plot of land that was in its most natural form and contained the most biodiversity. This became known as the ecoplot. Every Tuesday we went out to the ecoplot and made observations. We recorded what we found and posted them here. Aside from making observations we also took samples and did experiments. We used many tools to collect data. Here are a few of them.

barometer-A barometer is used to measure air pressure.

bubbles-We used bubbles to determine wind direction.



thermometer-To determine temperature we used a thermometer.

kestrel- This devise measures wind speed.

Here are some observations we made.

- poke (Phytolacca americana), a tall, poisonous stalking plant with indigo berries and a stiff magenta stem, is dieing - lots of dead leaves - low life

- poke (Phytolacca americana) is dead - found earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris)

- deer (Odocoileus virginianus) scat - no leaves

- first frost - no life

- broken branches - old burrow

- animal tracks - fresh scat - bird call

- no life

- scat - feathers

- deer (Odocoileus virginianus)tracts - scat

- robins (Turdus migratorius) - feathers - groundhog (Marmota monax) burrow - scat - woodpecker

- bird calls - bee (Apis mellifera) pollinating - butterfly

- new groundhog hole - bird calls

- yellow flowers - bird calls

- small white flowers - groundhog (Marmota monax) - mushrooms - bird calls

- garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) a crescent leafed plant with small white flowers and a tall thin stem - English ivy (Heder helix) an invasive ivy - wine berry (Rubus phoenicolasius maxim) - maple (Acer) - tulip (Tulipa liliaceae) - Asian bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculata)

Although the ecoplot had lots of biodiversity it's still a little unhealthy. The soil is alright but the garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), English ivy (Heder helix), and the Asian bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculata) are invasive.
 * date || 11/03/09 || 11/10/09 || 12/15/09 || 12/01/09 || 01/05/10 || 01/12/10 || 02/02/10 || 02/09/10 || 03/10/10 || 03/17/10 || 03/24/10 || 03/31/10 || 04/06/10 || 04/12/10 ||
 * air pressure || 29.57 || 29.9 || 29.65 || na || 29.48 || 29.83 || 29.95 || 29.6 || 29.65 || 29.75 || 29.5 || 30.5 || 29.15 || 28.95 ||
 * cloud type || thin || wispy || thin || gray || thick || na || gray || thick gray || overcast || na || overcast || thick || light || overcast ||
 * cloud percentage || 10 || na || 85 || 80 || 75 || na || 100 || 100 || 100 || na || 100 || 100 || 10 || 62 ||
 * wind speed || 2 || 1.1 || 1.7 || 3.2 || 3.7 || 1.7 || 1.8 || 2.5 || 1.1 || 3.2 || 3 || 0.8 || 1.6 || 1 ||
 * wind direction || east || west || north || east || northeast || northeast || northeast || southwest || south || west || northeast || south || northwest || southeast ||
 * temperature || 62 || 22 || cold || na || -1 || -2 || 31 || 5 || 10 || 22 || 10 || 46 || 20 || 55 ||
 * humidity || 52 || na || na || na || 10 || na || na || na || 75 || na || na || na || 33 || 40 ||