Levels of Ecological Organizations

Ecosystem:

Today our assignment was to locate the different levels of ecological organizations. I decided to start with the highest level; an ecosystem. This ecosystem included large rocks, fern trees that were growing in between these rocks, pine trees, and a large concrete sidewalk. This is considered an ecosystem because it has abiotic and biotic factors. At this site you could feel the wind blowing and the sun beaming down with a mass amount of heat. You could hear signs of nature like the birds making noises in the trees and flying above and also the wind making the leaves rustle on the tree tops and on the ground.

Community:

 The next to highest level of ecological organization is community. This level is very easy to find. As you can see in the picture above and the picture below, a community includes only living organisms. Such as people, trees, and plants. We felt the wind blowing really softly and the temperature was very nice. It felt like a warm spring day! At this site you could hear birds cawing high in the sky and some birds making tweeting noises.

Population:

As you can see in the picture above, we have a population of geese. This level of ecological organization, a population, is when there is the same organism in the same location at the same time. Its hard to hear signs of nature without the wind blowing as hard as it was. The wind would make tears come to your eyes and the plus the sun beating down made it really hot.

Species:

The next level of ecological organization we have is species. In the picture above we have one of many baby crayfish. We found these in a creek as we were walking through the woods. This creek had several fallen tree branches. We heard the wind blowing and a flock of birds flying overhead cawing. The temperature was still nice and the wind seemed to die down a bit.

Organism:

Our last level of ecological organization is the organism level. This is the lowest level of organization. What we have in this picture is a Black Salamander (Aneides flavipunctatus). We found this amphibian by the creek. Inside this creek were dead leaves and several trees surrounding it. We heard the wind blowing and the temperature from the sun seemed to increase. While trying to hear nature, several dogs barked at the nearby house but once that died down we were able to hear the wind blowing the leaves across the ground and a couple birds passing over.

Observations of the Six Kingdoms

It was our first day going outside to start our observations of the six kingdoms right outside of our high school. We walked behind our school into the woods to start our adventure.

Fungus:

The first kingdom on my list is Fungus. Fungus is very easy to find throughout the woods because of all the plants that had decayed throughout the season. There were many fallen tree branches that fungus had grown on. The first branch I came across had white fungus on the side of it. It looked more abundant in some spots than others. Also it had a rough texture.

As our class kept walking, I kept my eyes open for more fungus. On a large decaying log, we found Red Raspberry Slime Mold (Tubifera ferroginosa). There were several red and orange spots on the log. From far away it just looked like a polka dotted tree.

A couple feet away, lay another large decaying tree with a different kind of fungus growing on it. This fungus seemed to look more like a mushroom. The picture matches the description of an oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus). In my picture the fungus appeared to be broken or rather dying away.

Eubacteria:

The second kingdom on my list is Eubacteria. Even though Fungus was really easy to find in the woods, we had a difficult time trying to find the different types of bacteria. Trying to search for bacteria with our eyes was getting to be impossible, so we decided to start searching with our noses. As we came upon a creek, Mrs. Richardson told one of our students to lift up a log that had fallen into the water. As the student lifted the log up, a vile smell arose from the substrate. Mrs. Richardson explained to us that this was the smell caused by Eubacteria. Below is a picture of the log sitting in the creek, where the smell came from.

Archaebacteria:
No evidence.

Protist:
No evidence.

Animal:

My next kingdom was the Animal kingdom. In the woods, behind a school building with loud machines and 20 plus students walking through the paths, making as much noise as possible, was not going to make it easy to find any animals. Well unless they were dead. Luckily, the biggest animal we were able to locate, were the Canadian geese (Branta canadensis) swimming in the pond. In hopes they didn't fly away, we had to make the whole class observe silently.

A couple feet away, in the tall grass around the pond, we were able to find a Northern Green-striped Grasshopper (Chortophaga viridifasciata). It has a line down its back with short antennas.

A mile or so away, we came upon another creek. This creek was filled with many signs of wildlife and insects. In the damp mud of the creek, we observed footprints that looked to have come from a raccoon.

Dancing on the water, we saw several water bugs. Some we observed to be mating and others just seemed to be on their own. In my assumption, because of the nice weather we were able to see so many out and about.

If you look really closely you will see them on top of the water.

We kept walking through the woods to find more fallen trees. On one of the logs, we found a Tiger Beetle (Cicindela ocellata rectilatera) wing, assuming it had fallen off of the beetle or the beetle had died. On this wing, there are two tanish-looking dots in specific places.

Not even a couple steps away from this log, we came upon a branch that had a Bald-Faced Hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) hibernating inside of it. Because I had never seen anything like this before, it was very interesting to me and exciting! Mrs. Richardson told us, luckily, this bee was hibernating. Because if we would have disturbed it of its sleep, it has a powerful stinger that never falls off. So it can sting a person repeatedly and never die.

Plant:

My final kingdom I had to observe was the Plant kingdom. Along the bank of the pond there were, what I observe it to be, dead grass. It almost looks like hay. They have bulky tips with soft fuzz and they are about 3 ft. tall or taller.

While on our nature walk, we came across a plant called skunk cabbage. (Symplocarpus foetidus). This plant seemed to interest me more than any other kingdom and the other things we observed. Marcus Henson, a student, pointed out this plant to me and told me when the skunk cabbage is pulled by the roots, an odor leaks from it, smelling like a skunk. Hence the name, skunk cabbage.

Site 1,2,3,4 - February 3, 2011

Site #1:

It was day 3 and we were headed to the Ridge. On our way there we stopped at the entrance of the Bus Garage. We saw a ditch that led to a concrete pipe. It was filled with dead grass on the edges and many broken branches. We could hear the ac/heat system from the high school, crunching of leaves when we walked, and the wind blowing. We're still in the winter season so the temperature is pretty cold. It wasn't as cold as usual.

As you can see above, this is the ditch that led into the creek with the concrete pipe. It was very narrow and had little water on the bottom.

Site #2:
As we walked to our next site, we came upon a tree with a very large hole in the middle. It seemed to have come from a woodpecker. On the bottom of the tree there appeared to be sawdust.  We assumed it came from the woodpecker as he was on the tree. Around the tree, we saw broken branches, other trees, leaves that had fallen from those trees and dirt. We heard rustling of leaves and the wind still blowing. The temperature was still the same.

As you can see in the picture above, there are several holes in the tree. They are from termites and the bigger holes are from woodpeckers.

Site #3:
We kept walking on our nature walk and came to a giant log that had fallen in the middle of the trail. On the large log there was fungus growing and a very large woodpecker hole. This fungus was different looking than what we would normally see. It was brown and lumpy rather than white or green. We assume that the woodpecker had made this hole on the log before it had fallen. As we stood there, the wind was rustling the leaves that had fallen of the trees. We are still in the winter season.

Site #4:
We continued our walk to our last site. We stopped to see a fallen log with a half-eaten acorn. A sign of life was here; a squirrel. This was very interesting to see because I had never seen this before. We kept walking a little ways to see a patch of moss with several more half-eaten acorns. Above our heads, a crow was flying by making his calls. The leaves were rustling in the wind, that started to pick up. We are still in the winter season and it is getting colder as the evening is coming near.