Blog Post #3

     I longboarded to the North Creek Trail near for the ecological survey and chose a flowering plant along the trail as my subject. I suspect it to be the Queen Anne's Lace (daucus carota), which is a wild carrot, on page 221 in the plants of the PNW field guide. I tried counting the flowering plants by clumps as the plant shown to me on the surface was a small clump of greens. At first, I couldn't tell whether it was just multiple plants in one small spot or just one plant that's spread out. The clumps also started to vary as I did my survey so it made it difficult to count how many plants in one spot.

1: 1 clump

2: 2 clumps

3: 3 small clumps

4: 3 small and 2 really small

5: 1 small

6: around 5, close together hard to count

7: around 5 long clumps, many dead plants that somewhat look like the wild carrot

8: 2 small, many dead plants

9: 1 normal clump, 1 really small, many dead

10: around 8 clumps, one big, some really small, many are close together

11: really dense and hard to count, really large clumps, some flowers are pinkish, some dead, longer flower stems

12: 6 clumps, 2 really big, 2 small, 2 middle size, fairly spread out

13: 3 large clumps

14:  too dense to count, all large clumps with many flowers.

     The clumps of plant matter gradually got accumulated as I walked. I realized that the ground that I started at was hard and compact because of the construction of the trail. The plants were sparse and there was plenty of moss growing on the pebbles. The ground may have been difficult to sink roots into. As I walked, there was more room for plants to grow, the soil became softer, the moss didn't grow, and there were more plants in general along the path. With better soil, the area became crowded with other low lying plants.

     My survey was one in the cold rain with no true way to get down really close to the plants and see other random details. The ground was wet. The sky was wet. I was wet. Everything was cold and I didn't wanna stay out for so long. The flowers were wet which hindered me from identifying them easily. I remember doing a similar ecological survey in high school biology class and I do think that surveys like this are able to assess a populations current state by going about and collecting information systematically.