Crescent Lake and Salt Creek
Overcast: Rain Saturday, Partly Cloudy Sunday
53 degrees
The weekend field trip this past weekend was very fun, we learned a lot about the different species that inhabit the pacific northwest whether it was from native vegetation or different species of bird we learned a lot about the history of the region and the development of its local species.
One of the first things we did after arriving at nature bridge was go for a hike, we learned about the difference between old growth forests and other forests and how they are distinguished and it comes down to a scale of the horizontal and vertical diversities of the surrounding ecosystem. An old growth forest is rich in diversity both horizontally and vertically there are many species of animals and plants that live from the understory all the way through the canopy of the forest and this varies as you move throughout the location.
We learned of the three components that make up and ecosystem these factors consist of the Structure of the ecosystem, that is the physical elements that it is composed of, secondly comes the Composition of the ecosystem which is what makes up the surroundings or what the structures provide habitat for, and lastly comes the Function, the function what is the work that the ecosystem provides. Function comes in the form of things such as hydrology, carbon sequestration, nitrogen fixation and more. the key to all of this is that it forms a place where diversity is possible and life can function. We also learned of a Landscape which is a nested hierarchy of patches, these patches are each different and make the whole system diverse.
While we were Hiking we explored the area and followed a trail to a waterfall as shown in the picture, we also hiked up a trail called storming making it halfway or so up the trail but you could tell the difference in species as well as temperature as you made the steep ascent. As we climbed we went from a damp vegetation and ascended to an almost alpine like forest. there were lots of doug fir trees all the way up suggesting a wet environment but as we climbed the trees became shorter and more barren suggesting that the grade of the slope was getting steeper and as a result there may not have been as much soil to use for support of the root systems. There was more exposed rock as we got further up the hill and you noticed that the footing became less and less solid as we hiked up the rocks, there was less finer soils and the moisture content was still high from the large amount of rain. The greater exposure made the wind come through the trees much more easily and made it seem as though it was raining harder as the canopy of the forest did not protect you. We saw a Gray Jay (Perisoreus Canadensis) at the highest point we hit and watched it for a while before we turned around and headed back down the mountain. As far as the faces of the mountain when gong from the west facing slopes the the east facing slopes especially in the valley it was clear how they differed. There was a lot more Salal on the western facing slope which receives more afternoon sun and thus is drier than the east facing slope, Salal is characteristic of a dryer type of environment as well as Madrone which was more prevalent on the west side as well.After the Hike I came back and did a small sketch of the lake and then rested up, the food was really good. The next day we woke up early and did a bird walk. Some of the species we spotted and heard included: Stellar Jay, Red Breasted Nut-Hutch, White Crowned-Sparrow, Pacific Wren, Chicadee's (of multiple types), and a Varried Thrush. One of the coolest parts of the bird walk was learning that there are many different calls that go on and that if you can learn the calls you will have a good knowledge of the birds.
After the Bird walk we ate breakfast and headed out to Salt Creek. For me growing up in the area and having been to Crescent Lake and Salt Creek multiple times as a kid, as well as going to Salt Creek in HS for cross country races I felt at home in the area and on the tide flats and exposed rock. The cool thing is there is still so much that I learned about the area after being there for the field trip. One of the first things is that there is a large amount of erratics in the area, the granite stands apart from the surroundings, but outside of the rock there is examples of all kinds of species diversity. From the Bob Paine lecture we learned that the interaction of the coast and the sea is one of the most diverse places. From the photos you can see some of the things Bob explained in his lecture. There was a lot of species competition for space that was apparent. In spots of the Mussel beds you could see where waves had carved out bare rock patches that were being inhabited by other organisms. Where the Mussels did grow they would only occupy up to a certain spot probably marked by the intertidal limit after that there would be a succession of other species that took over the rock. Within the tidal pools we could see a wide range of diversity, there we all kinds of sea stars, anemones and fungi. The variety was endless and the sheer number of different organisms was mind blowing. At the end of the post I have a list of species compiled that we saw during the day at the tide pools, the list probably doesn't even cover half the number of species that were actually present. One of the things that Bob explained was a trophic cascade. This is a cascade that affects multiple species that depend or are linked to one another. An example of this would be More killer whales would result in less otters, otters eat sea urchins so less otters would allow for more urchins, and urchins eat kelp so more urchins would result in less kelp. This example of how species interact is very important especially in ecosystems as diverse as the costal zone.
Below is compiled a species list as well as a few pictures of different species that we saw.
SPECIES:
Isopods
Sea Lion
Flounder
Eel
Sea Star (Blood, Okar, Sun, Striped)
Dunlin
Racoon
Rockfish
Marbled Murlet
Oyster Catcher
Harlequin Ducks
River Otter
Rose Anemone
Chitins
Sandpiper, Surfbirds
Loon
Scooter
Sea Urchin Larch
Pacific Yew Chocolate Lily
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