mandygjertsen's Journal

I was able to find five different plant species near my house and yard. They all seemed to be types of weeds because they were growing in the planters where other plants were growing but were not specifically planted to grow there. I started walking around the perimeter of my house and was not able to find very many things that were not planted to be there so I took a short walk down my street and found a few planters with many of my observations. I found three in one planter but all at least 6 feet away from each other. And then one species was in the middle of my neighbors front lawn, and another one was in the crack of the sidewalk. I would say that the location of the planter was a hotspot because it had at least ten different species growing in it. There were many that were planted by my neighbors and then the three species I worked to identify. The other two species I would not say were in a hotspot because they were by themselves in regards to other species in the same area. I think that around my home we have a high diversity hotspot because there are a lot of green areas and plants that have either been planted or have grown on their own around the houses in my neighborhood.
I think that humans in my neighborhood were the initiators of the hotspot when they planted as many as they did when either moving in or deciding to change the look of their house. We have an association that also planted flowers and bushes around the slopes behind some of our backyards. Those are maintained by workers multiple times a month. The weeds that I found were small enough that someone who does not completely care about the look of their garden will leave and let grow. I think that they add to the planters as well and some have decided that it doesn’t hurt the look of their house. If they were to cut out those areas and make sure that only the species they wanted were present then I would say that they are neglecting the wild species in their area.

I identified a bird called a Gray Catbird and studied its behavior. The main behavior that I recognized was the birds need to be moving at all times, it very rarely stayed in one place for more than thirty seconds. This behavior increases its chance of survival and therefore might benefit the reproductive skills as well. If they are able to stay alive then they will be more likely to mate and reproduce. It is a small/medium sized bird and I'm sure has a large amount of predators so this ability to move around is aiding them to escape those animals and to produce offspring that will survive as well. The birds moved constantly but they reacted directly to the stimuli of movement and noise. When I moved closer the bird immediately took off and when I made noise with either my feet or my voice the bird left quickly. It's learning was modified by thinking I was a potential threat and that it completely stayed away from me as it moved around.
This behavior might increase as it ages because the bird will have more experience and knowledge of what to keep its distance from. Baby birds do not seem to have as much coordination either with their ability to fly and move quickly so they can stay away from predators. This is why the baby birds are more dependent on their mothers when they are young as well as the fact that they cannot fly until a certain age. Most birds have this same behavior and are very wary of people as well as other animals. They are quick to move away from any other organisms and do not risk the chance of being caught or hunted. I think that it is something all birds learn through their phylogeny because they all face similar struggles with survival and the same types of predators.

I identified a bird called a Gray Catbird and studied its behavior. The main behavior that I recognized was the birds need to be moving at all times, it very rarely stayed in one place for more than thirty seconds. This behavior increases its chance of survival and therefore might benefit the reproductive skills as well. If they are able to stay alive then they will be more likely to mate and reproduce. It is a small/medium sized bird and I'm sure has a large amount of predators so this ability to move around is aiding them to escape those animals and to produce offspring that will survive as well. The birds moved constantly but they reacted directly to the stimuli of movement and noise. When I moved closer the bird immediately took off and when I made noise with either my feet or my voice the bird left quickly. It's learning was modified by thinking I was a potential threat and that it completely stayed away from me as it moved around.
This behavior might increase as it ages because the bird will have more experience and knowledge of what to keep its distance from. Baby birds do not seem to have as much coordination either with their ability to fly and move quickly so they can stay away from predators. This is why the baby birds are more dependent on their mothers when they are young as well as the fact that they cannot fly until a certain age. Most birds have this same behavior and are very wary of people as well as other animals. They are quick to move away from any other organisms and do not risk the chance of being caught or hunted. I think that it is something all birds learn through their phylogeny because they all face similar struggles with survival and the same types of predators.

https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications/mandygjertsen

I was able to identify most to into their genus and family. One of them I was not able to identify a family and it was left at the genus. It was more difficult to identify the plant species because the pictures were sometimes hard to definitely see and to know for sure what it would be identified as. The animals were easier to identify because the they were more common to me and I have seen them more than the plants. They were animal species that I had been able to identify before but it was sometimes harder to have a specific family due to the many different options. The patterns on the animals and color variations were what helped me identify further.
I was prevented from identifying further with the plant species because I do not know very many details and would not consider myself an expert in the study and would not say that I can identify very exactly.

This species is typically found in groups and are commonly seen on grass. They are often easily frightened and do not do well when humans try to interact or get close to them. They hide in the bushes near these grassy areas so that when they are not going to be bothered by humans they can easily get to their food source. These animals seemed to be reliant on how much grass they could find and they were not present in areas where there was no grass.
The species is known to stay in damp places because the grass grows best under those conditions. I had to wait until right before sunset to see any of these rabbits because they are more common at this time. They hide during the day when predators are more prevalent and come out when things calm down for them and their safety. They are also very hard to spot in that lighting whereas during the middle of the day they are very obvious.
Link to the range map for the Cottontail Rabbit in Orange County
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=2738&taxon_id=43096
Key things to include for this organism's niche model is plenty of shelter and coverage from plants as well as plenty of open grassy space. The brush and bushes are what they use to hide and survive so that they do not get hunted by predators so it is key that they have this in their niche. The other factor is the amount of grass because that is what their diet consists of. If they do not have the grass then they cannot survive.

The Acmispon glaber has a yellow flower and long stems from the base of the plant. It is native to California but confined to western North America. The Acmispon glaber is a species found in dry areas of California and makes it understandable as to why it can be found on the campus. I used a basic method of looking around the area that the plant is typically found in and trying to match the characteristics with the plants I saw. I found these details of the plants by doing research before walking out to find the plants. The Artemesia californica was easy to find because we have many of them around campus and I used the same methods of finding the plant as I did for the other. This plant has thin and needle-like leaves and long stems from the base of the plant.
The Grindelia Camporum also has yellow flowers but has shorter stems and small leaves. The flower seems to be very dry and not reliant on getting a large amount of water. By looking around the campus for plants that have these kinds of characteristics I was able to find what I think to be this plant. For the last type of plant I found I had already known that I had seen them before looking for them on campus. When I saw a picture and read the description I knew that these flowers were very common and I had seen them before.
My rationale for this identification method is that I do not know any other proper ways of identification and this seemed to be the best way I could properly identify the plants. It might not have been as accurate as other methods but it was the only way I would have been able to get this done. I could have issues with proper identification because I am going based only off of physical details and my sight.