Diario de cruzbl

For this week's nature walk, I made my way to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir for about 30 minutes, where I knew there to be a large diversity of plant life. I started my walk along the edge of the trail as many plants lined the path, being able to make my observations within a few minutes. As I continued my walk, I observed a few angiosperms and was quite surprised there were not as many flowering plants. After making a few observations of other plant life, many of which were Gymnosperms, I decided to take a risk and get closer to the water to see if there were any nonvascular plants (Bryophyta) around such as moss or any other plant type. Unfortunately, the observations I made could not be identified which was a bit upsetting but based on its location, lack of roots, stems, or leaves, I can confidently say that the organism I recorded was likely nonvascular. After making my way back on the trail, I made a few more observations of plant life and finished my walk soon after. The weather was perfect for this activity as it was clear and around 70 degrees F.

For my second nature walk, I was given a theme for the organisms I would observe and record: fungi. Although I was somewhat familiar with different kinds of fungi, it was not until our class lecture that I finally delved into what fungi are and how lichens relate to them. For this walk, I decided choosing a location less open would be the best decision for this assignment, therefore I took a trip back to Newton campus (where I had dorm-ed my first year of college) as I knew of a few areas of nature that were not as landscaped. The weather on this Saturday afternoon was very nice (around 70 degrees Fahrenheit) and made for an enjoyable experience. I also had a friend of mine join me in finding different fungi, she had been the one to point out the more interesting observations I made: The Genus Calvatia, which looked abiotic and out of place during our walk. Resembling a white ball of foam, we took a closer look and could see that there was more to this fungal organism than we'd initially thought. This walk was a great way of observing the level of biodiversity present on campus. Although I found that lichens were much more abundant in the area I took my walk in, the species diversity within the fungi was much greater than that present in the lichen.

I took my nature walk on Sunday afternoon around 3 pm. The weather was very nice, with the temperature staying around 70 degrees. This afternoon there were quite a few people on the trail, likely due to such good weather. I made several observations on different kinds of plants that stood out to me, from brightly colored ones to plants I had never known the name of. I wish I had been able to spot more animals native to the area but I believe they were likely out of view due to the area being so populated this afternoon.