mandygjertsen's Journal

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.

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.