EVS 315 Final

two parts: 1 - field experience (15 questions, 3 points each - each question will have multiple parts. down by water - ask about waterfowl, who is in the family (ducks, swans, geese, or three characteristics (webbed feet, precocial,). Trees that like to have their feet wet - willow and cottonwood, tolerate water - black cherry, white ash, red maple). Identification - trees. three dominant hardwoods - american beech, sugar maple, yellow birch. family - plants.

2 - concept questions (11, worth 2 points each). One question from each topic. Riddle question (5).

Wildlife ecology

Concepts of mammals - unique characteristics. Taxonomy (look at sheet from class - matching)

True hibernator: bat, woodchuck, jumping mouse

Five deep sleeper: bear, skunk, racoon, chipmunk, and opossum.

Skull work:

• dental - canines only in O and C. if molars are peaked = carnivore, molars flat = grinding.

• mandible: curve (O + C) - pressure in front, or straight - pressure in back (H)

• cranial ridge: more exaggeration (C + O) - more muscle connection for power. Rounded or flat (H) - more power to cheek muscles.

• eyes (front - good to hunt, side - better hide).

Dealing with changing seasons / adaptations:

• Growing thicker coats

• Changing food sources

• Changing color during the winter, turning white for insulation purposes and camouflage. Weasel (pred) and snowshoe hare (prey)

• Growing hair, deers (cervidae)

• They hibernate, migrate, or lessen their activity levels

Egg laying mammals (monotremes)

Marsupials - pouches

Placental - carrying kids in placenta

Diurnal - active during the day

Nocturnal - active during night

Crepuscular - active at dusk

Nature Observations and Tracking

Four tracking patterns/walkers:

• Crosswalks. Deer, dogs, and cats. Second foot to land is the back foot.

• Gallopers. Squirrels, narrow body rodents (chipmunks), hare

• Jumpers. Push off with back feet, front feet land and back feet come behind front feet. narrow bodied weasels and otters.

• Waddlers, feet like humans. Opossum and bear. Leave front and back patterns.

Direct Registering: when an animal directly registers, it means as they are moving, the back foot lands in the same tracks as the front foot. looks like a straight line at a glance. ie; cats, fox, coyotes, and baby deer.

Botanical Surveys (matching with plants and families)

Remember plants seen and family associations.

• Birdsfoot trefoil family in the pea family

• Dandelion (composite)

How to use the field guides - major aspects and sections of wildflower and what the trees and shrubs is focused on

Remember the acronym - MADCAP (oppositely arranged plants). Maple, ash, dogwood, Caprifoliaceae (elder berries and honey suckle, horse chestnut.

Tree bark:

• Black cherry - burnt potato chips

• american beech - elephant le

  

• sugar maple - maple syrup running down trunk

• ash - diamonds (ridges overlapping)

• red oak - snakes (bark has ridge pattern look like long snakes running up tree). leaves are pointy tipped. fuzzy acorn interior. acorn matures in two years - there are both big and small acorns.

• white oak - leaves are rounded. smooth acorn interior. bark is light and rough. acorns are better to eat, lower in tannic acid. acorns mature in 1 year, acorns are all the same size.

• oaks in beech family.

know field guides and how to use it. identify plants using field guide. know how books are set up.

• wildflower:

• tree and shrubs: 5 sections, based on leaves arrangement and types.

Conservation and Land Management

Reason why wildlife was at a low point

• unregualted hunting / trapping

• habitat destruction

Pressure/indicator species: turkey, deer, duck, prong tailed antelope.

• Species to watch: fish, waterfowls

Grassroots movements and acts that sight to end market hunting, establish habitats, and create agencies to protect habitats

• Pittman Robertson acts: how money was gained (tax on guns and hunting gear, how it was spent, and how it made a substantial difference.

Top 3: Texas, Pennsylvania, and alaska.

Two types:

• Conservationist: manipulative management

• Preservationist: custodial management

Management techniques (cuts):

• Patchcut: baby clear cut

• Clear cut

• Selective cut

• Release cut to reduce competition, clearing around desired trees.

• Edge cut, cutting around edges to allow more sunlight and growth

Field Ecology

History: how they escaped cutting

Old growth:

• Pit and mounds

• Snags, standing dead trees

• Lichens

• Gaps in canopy

• Varying layers of canopy

• Rich soils, lots of ferns and fungus

• Minimal impact of humans

• Sugar maple and beech, ash and black cherry

• trees on the ground in varies stages of decomposition

Indication that individual is OG:

• Diameter, large

• Lateral branches being high up

• Bark changing once they hit 150

• Bizarre growth forms

Two dominant hardwoods in climax forest: sugar maple and american beech. are the most shade tolerant and long lived. Conifer associate: eastern hemlock.

Research Project (5 fill in the blanks):

• focused on presentation. concepts that stand out.

• local environmental issues, green living, and survival skills.

Forest Ecology

A. Uniqueness of the Northern Hardwood Forest

1. Dominant Canopy Species

2. Spring Ephemerals

3. Colors of Fall

B. Conifer Forest vs Northern Hardwood Forest

Conifer Forest:

1. Physiognomy (Forest layering): has canopy and sparse herb layer. soil is acidic due to needles.

2. Litter Decay/Recycling: slow due to acidic soils, leading to there being less bacteria in the soil. have half life (half are regulated).

3. Soil pH: low - acidic

4. Net productivity and biomass is half of a northern hardwood.

5. Leaf Area Index (LAI): area of leaves projected on a unit area of surface, shade → high.

6. Wildlife: scarce to moderate

Northern Hardwood Forest:

1. Physiognomy (Forest Layering): four layers - canopy, sub-canopy, shrub layer, and herb layer.

2. Litter Decay/Recycling: fast, leaves have half life of 2 years.

3. Soil pH: more alkalin, 5-7

4. Net Primary Productivity/Biomass: high, with significant energy capture due to abundant sunlight and optimal growing conditions in forest ecosystems.

5. Leaf Area Index (LAI): low - sunlight comes through, not shady.

6. Wildlife: larger population, more diversity.

C. Forest Phenology (timing of life cycle events of a system or the plants)

1. Seasonal Happenings

2. Herbaceous Plants: These flowering plants play a crucial role in the ecosystem by providing food and habitat for various wildlife species during critical seasonal changes.

   a. Spring Ephemerals: These are early-blooming plants that emerge from the soil and flower before the tree canopy closes, taking advantage of the sunlight that filters through.

   b. Summer Greens: plants that photosynthesize in shady environments

   c. Evergreens: remain green throughout

Hardwoods beat conifers that were planted, gradually topped. once topped, shade puts conifers in decline and plantation becomes hardwood dominated (soils become more basic as broadleaf trees drop and decompose). Cherry and red maple come in first.

Field Ornithology

Introductory Lecture (Historical Perspective)

A. 19^th Century Ornithologists – men of leisure interested in documenting new species, behaviors, migrations, etc. Shotgun Ornithologists.

1. Alexander Wilson: Scottish American who in the 1800s, compiled an American ornithology that served as a foundational text for bird study in North America, often referred to as the "Father of American Ornithology." Has bird named after him → Wilsons Storm Petrol and Warbler.

2. Thomas Nuttall: English botanist/zoologist compiled manual of ornithology in 1830s. Has bird named after him → Yellow Billed magpie.

3. John James Audubon: produced Birds of America. Claim to fame was his artistry and detailed illustrations, which brought the lives and habitats of birds to the forefront of scientific study and public interest. Stuffed birds in natural position and painted them.

B. Modern Ornithology - from shotguns to binoculars

1. Ludlow Griscom: had a new way of working with birds. Identify birds in field in various ways - not shooting them.

2. Roger Tory Peterson - student of Griscom that introduced in 1934 identifying birds through observation and learn from process.

C. Methods of Identification

1. Color: markings

2. Size

3. Shape: silhouette, wing, tail, or beak

4. Vocalization: calls, songs (shared by males on territory during breeding season)

5. Behavior: how they fly, swim, and walk

6. Habitat/Range

Fieldwork

B. Focus on Waterfowl Family

1. Characteristics of the Waterfowl Family

   a. Aquatic

   b. Flattened Bill

   c. Long neck, Short legs

   d. Precocial: feed, walk, and live on their own right after birth

   e. Webbed Toes

2. Overview of Swans, Geese and 6 Tribes of Ducks

   a. Dabbling Ducks: These ducks feed mainly on the water's surface by tipping forward, allowing them to reach submerged vegetation and invertebrates.

   b. Perching Ducks: wood ducks.

   c. Bay Ducks (Shallow Divers)

   d. Sea Ducks (Deep Divers): Buffleheads → eat more animals than plants. Red breasted and common Merganser.

   e. Tree Ducks: whistling ducks.

   f. Stiff-tailed Ducks

Aquatic Ecology (focus on lentic systems)

Introductory Lecture/Fieldwork:

A. Limnology (definition): the study of freshwater ecosystems.

1. Lentic systems: standing water systems

2. Lotic systems: running water systems

B. System Comparisons (Lentic)

1. Lake: body of water surrounded by land too deep for rooted plants to exist from shoreline to shoreline.

2. Pond: body of water shallow enough for a rooted plant to exist from shoreline to shoreline

3. Marsh: seasonal body of water characterized by emergent plant growth (grasses and arrowheads)

4. Swamp: seasonal body of water characterized by woody plants

5. Bog: system characterized by a lack of inflow and outflow. Stagnant system and is highly acidic. Lots of carnivorous plants and orchids.

C. Lotic Systems Comparisons

1. Brook: smallest, head water stream. Intermittent, channel narrows and small and dries up.

2. Creek: larger and deeper. Intermittent.

3. Stream: medium sized flow - flowing year round

4. River: many streams coming together

   a. order 1-3, are headwater streams, are intermittent (dry up): 1 → stream has no waters flowing in (amount of tributaries) and only from single source. 2 → streams coming together. 3 → two 2 tributaries coming together.

   b. order 4-6: medium streams → perennial

   c. > order 6: are rivers

D. Lentic System Formation

1. Glacial Erosion/Deposition

2. Kettle Formations: as glaciers melted, big chunks fell off and created depression in the land, as they were melting.

3. Blockage in Lotic Systems

4. Extinct Volcanoes

5. Shifts in the Earth’s Crust

E. Lentic System Zonations

1. Life Zones

   a. Littoral Zone: where sunlight reaches the bottom. Lots of plant growth and life. Shallow water.

   b. Limnetic Zone: open-water zone as far as light exists/penetrates. Active, rich in phytoplankton, and aquatic life.

   c. Benthic Zone: lowest layer. Area of decomposition → lots of recycling, have both aerobic and anaerobic life.

2. Temperature Zones

   a. Epilimnion: upper layer/lake. Area of life cover or warmer water.

   b. Metalimnion: middle lake. Synonymous with the thermocline, this zone represents the transitional layer where temperature changes rapidly with depth.

   c. Hypolimnion: lower lake. Coldest part of system.

3. Plant Zones

   a. Emergent: plants emerging from shoreline - roots below water, leaves and stems above water.

   b. Submerged: made of pond and water weeds. lake support and directly absorb CO2 from water into their leaves.

   c. Floating: plants floating on surface, can be rooted and not rooted.

Biotic Index: means of determining the health of a system based on the life that live there and based on their tolerance and intolerance of pollution.

Herbalism

Introductory Lecture

Dandelion: good for nutrients, cure warts, carries weeds, and leaves can be used to make wine.

Willow: gave rice to the development of aspirin. Chemical salicylic acid.

Foxglove: herb from EU changing Western Medicine → from using whole plant to isolating compounds of the plants (Digitalis - speeds up heart)

Black Cherry: inner bark used for respiratory (heat application, if there is no heat applied, can die of cyanide poisoning).

Garlic: terrific killing herb. Is anti-biotic viral, fungal, clears cholesterol, bring up mucus from lungs, flavors tomato sauce, and used for de-worming

C. Herbalism Definitions and Comparisons

1. What is an Herb? any plant or any part that is in anyway beneficial to us. Can be food, perfume, cleaning agent, etc.

2. Medical Herbalism vs. Western Medicine

   • Medical: uses the whole of the herb to treat the whole of the person. Using whole organ (root, stem, leaf, and reproductive structures) or multiple organs as a whole. Treating the cause of the problem, a persons diet, and lifestyle (such as sleep)

   • Western: now extract constituents and create specific dosages. Taking compounds out of whole and isolating them, not acting in accord with other constituents in plant. Focused on treating / killing the disease in the person.

3. Synergy Concepts: matter of understanding that whole is greater than any individual part. Ex; vitamin C with bioflavonoids

   • Whole plants have alkaloids that both increases and levels out blood pressure. Taking out from whole plants, leads to side effects.

   • Drug companies can only make profit by extracting isolating from plants due to strict herbalist regulations in the U.S. and parts of Canada.

D. Facts and Figures:

• percentage of pharmaceuticals that depend on plants: US → 25% and EU → 30%.

• named between 300,000 plants

• amount of plants currently being used in Western pharma → less than 100 plants.

• 3 quarters of the medical needs in third world countries depend on herbal remedies

E. Nutritional Concepts:

• eat foods as close to their natural forms as possible (raw to likely cooked)

• avoid foods that stress the body. ie: sugars - body processes them quickly, alcohol, caffeine, red meats, dairy, chem-additives, and refined carbohydrates.

• disease is a sign to listen and rediscover your balance.

Traveling Medicine Show

A. Incorporating Herbal Remedies into the Body

• digestive system

• respiratory systems

• skin

B. Herbal Preparations:

1. infusions: steeped tea, using the soft parts of plants

2. decoction: uses the hard parts of plants, bark or roots. Put roots in water, bring to boil, then take off a steep.

3. tinctures: synonymous with extract. Combine herb with solvent (alcohol). 4 oz of herb in 1 pint of solvent, give it a shake, letting it sit for 2 weeks.

4. capsules: incapsulating dry herbs into a capsule

5. oils: distillation process, used as inhalants

6. compress/poultices: take a cotton cloth, soak it in liquid, apply externally to wound/sore. ex; mustard plant to get blood circulating to help with healing