For my first iNaturalist Nature Walk my friends and I decided to visit the Edmands Park on Boston College - Newton Campus. As we lived on Newton during our freshman year, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit. The Edmands Park is a leafy 33-acre park that contains unpaved trails and wooded areas. As we are in the fall, there were many leaves hence it was difficult to observe a distinct trail. The weather was cool and windy, therefore it was difficult to observe many animals. However, we were able to observe different flora and fauna around us.
This connects to the content in class as despite having similar traits, the fungi I observed are different all different species. This shows that convergent evolution has occurred.
Observation 1: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/245148038
Observation 2: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/245148153
Observation 3: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/245148577
Observation 4: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/245149035
Observation 5: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/245149280
For my first iNaturalist Nature Walk my friends and I decided to visit the Edmands Park on Boston College - Newton Campus. As we lived on Newton during our freshman year, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit. The Edmands Park is a leafy 33-acre park that contains unpaved trails and wooded areas. As we are in the fall, there were many leaves hence it was difficult to observe a distinct trail. The weather was cool and windy, therefore it was difficult to observe many animals. However, we were able to observe different flora and fauna around us.
This nature walk connects to material that we have done in class, specifically ecological speciation. Ecological speciation occurs when different populations of the same species evolve reproductive barriers due to adaptation to different environmental conditions or niches. For instance, in the park, there are likely a variety of microhabitats—different patches of forest, small clearings, or sections of trails—where certain plant and animal species might have adapted to survive differently. Over time, even within the same geographical area (like the 33-acre park), species can diverge if different ecological pressures act on them in specific areas.
Observation 1: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/245144213
Observation 2: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/245144324
Observation 3: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/245144761
Observation 4: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/245145099
Observation 5: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/245145686
