Ravenna Park Observations : Week 3, April 22

Weekend field Trip to Olympic Peninsula
Saturday- Sunday, April 18-19.
Sunny

My expectations for this weekend field trip were not only just for learning new species, but also for getting to know other classmates since this is the only class that has the whole weekend field trip I have had in UW. We had a fun time just in our car. I also learned so much about phenology, plant ID, and animal ID.

While we hiked in the forest, there is plenty of evidence that shows it is a old-growth forest. I saw the evidence of competition between species tying to reach a higher position in order to get the sun light. Younger trees in the forest are struggling to survive with the limited sun light. We also spotted a nurse log, which was another evidence of old-growth forest. Evidence of mutualism in the forest we found was the moss grow on the tree. They can hold more water for these trees, and in turn trees provide the habitat for them. As we walked up to the Storm King Trail, you could see the difference in vegetation. I noticed more flowering ground cover plants closer to the river side of the trail. At the higher elevation, the trees have more branches since they can get more sun light. The soil seemed to be more dry and sandier as we hiked up. You can see the plants were more diverse near the river and the bottom of the hill, we saw all kinds of flowers, such as Trillium, Vanilla Leaf, and False Lily of the Valley, but there were fewer flowers when we reached the top of the hill. An interesting finding on our way of walking down was a banana slug! Our peer TA Kelly actually licked it.

Nurse Log

A mushroom we found during our exploration.

Trillium

A Banana Slug!

I was amazed by the stunning view at the Lake Crescent in the morning. I always like lakes more than sea, I guess it is because lakes are always seem more peaceful than sea. The picture definitely cannot show all the beauty of the Lake Crescent.

Lake Crescent

At the tidal pools we can see the evidence of predation. All the mussels onshore were empty shells. It could be the evidence of star fish predation. I saw two types of sea star, one was Pacific Blood Star, and the other one was Short-Spined Sea Star. Other interesting marine animals I found included Green Anemone,Pacific Littleneck Clam, and Pacific Goose Barnacle. The most exciting finding, of course, was the octopus. I have never seen an octopus in my life. I am bragging on this finding everywhere now.