Field Study

By: Joe Malliaras

Period
Stem Marin 2015

Site Introduction
Objective:
In this project, we are to study a plot of land that we picked at OHair Park. We are going
to be studying these sites for the next 8 weeks and studying the changes of the site over time.

We are going to the site about 3 times a week to study the site. This is to understand what goes
on in nature over a long period of time.
Site Description:
At OHair Park, it takes about 5 minutes to walk to the site from the sidewalk. It is quite
shady due to the trees covering my entire site like a canopy. There are little bits of sun that
crack through onto the site due to the branches being separated and letting some sun through.
There are many animal sightings on my sight. Some of these animals are natural
specimens and some are tamed, domain animals. Some of the natural animals are like insects,
lizards, and birds. Mosquitos are the most common insect that I see on my site. They are
constantly flying around me and landing on me. They are there to set up living sites on the
plants that exist in my site. The tamed, domain animals that I see are dogs and horses. Dogs
and horses affect my site by urinating and letting out feces. This can lead to the insects homes
being ruined or damaged.
When I am out at my site, I enjoy looking at the movements that insects make and the
way they set up their home environments. It is interesting the kinds of things that I hear
especially the bird calls. It is just intriguing how this is their form of communication and that they
all understand it.

Data Collections
Measurem
ent

Introducti
on

Week
2

Week
3

Week
4

Week
5

Week
6

Plant 1Height

7in

7in

7in

7in

7in

7in

Plant 2Height

15in

15in

15in

15in

15in

15in

Tree 1-%
of leaf
coverage

35%

37%

38%

39%

38%

39%

% of spiky
weed
covering
area

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

Estimation
of flying
insect seen

8-10

20

12

# of worms 0
under Rock
A

# of spider
webs seen

# of deer
footprints
or
droppings

15

10

18

Width of
Creek

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Speed of
Creek

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Average
Day
Temperatur
e

65*F

70*F

63*F

64*F

52*F

77*F

Average
Evening
Temperatur
e

52*F

52*F

48*F

52*F

48*F

55*F

Average
Rainfall

0in

0in

0in

0.5in

0in

0in

Length of
Day on
Wednesda
y

13 hours

14 hrs

13 hrs

13hrs

13hrs

13 hrs

Any
interesting

Bird
sounds

Another
consistent

Saw more
insects this

This week I
saw a lot

I had a lot
of plants

No real
changes

things

and
consistent
appearanc
e of dogs

appearanc
e of dogs
and
humans

week than
the last
week

more
spider
webs. Little
rainfall in
the last
couple day.

on my site
start to die
as we
come into
the
summer.

except the
temperatur
e.

Focus Questions
Week 1:
The biome that OHair Park is in, is a Temperate Woodland and Shrubland. The type of
organisms and relationships that I see in my site are mostly human and dog. I have a constant
appearance of dogs on my site. I also see human and insects. My site has a busload of
mosquitos and they continuously fly around me and I am part of the human pollution in their
habitat. The last relationship I see is animals interacting with other animals in the site. The
insects and dogs are animals interacting each other with plants. Some food chains in my area
include: Insects eat plants, birds eat insects, bigger birds eat smaller birds.
Week 2:
The impact of men on my site is when the people take their animals onto the grass and plants.
They let their dogs eat, pee, and poop on the grass. They run onto the grass and kill it. Some
limiting factors include: weather, animals, and poison oak.
Week 3:
The bacteria makes the plants and animals in my site grow more efficiently with all of the
vitamins in it. They play an important role in the soils acts in nature and on my site. Although the
plant growth on my site is slim, over time I believe that it could blossom into something cool. In
fact, the amount of plant coverage on my site has increased from 36-38% in the last week.
Week 4:
In my site, the only consistent invertebrates in my site are flies and spiders. Spiders role in my
site are eating smaller insects. The smaller insects eat up the soil and roots of the plants in my
site.
Week 5:
I was only able to classify 4 plants on my site. I found plant 1 as a angiosperm dicot because it
had flowers and the veins are not parallel to the end of the plant. Plant 2 was a vascular

seedless or a fern. This is the name for a fern because it has spores in the plant instead of
seeds. Plant 3 were bryophytes.
Week 6:
Plants need 17 elements for normal growth. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen come from the air.
Soil in the principle source of other nutrients. Primary nutrients nitrogen, phosphorous, and
potassium are used in relatively large large amounts by plants, and are often supplemented as
fertilizers. 3 elements of pollution in my area are: people who smoke in the park, animal feces,
and human invasion.