Blog post # 3

The area I surveyed was Gold Park near Edmonds Community College. I really wanted to do a flower or a slug, but, alas, at this park there was not any to be found. I choose the Maidenhair fern or adiantum pedatum. The park is like a forest with small hills and a tiny creek. The trees are abundant as well as shrubs, and ferns. Logs and falling leaves were everywhere. The park started on top of a hill and as you walked along the path it descended. Other plants I found were western hemlock trees (our state tree), vine maple, sword fern, clovers and many cedar trees.

            Trying to transect the Maidenhair ferns was rather tricky because they are large and clustered. I used shoelaces to make my transects. It was a little awkward because it wasn’t a flat surface. These were my findings:

1.     1 fern

2.     2 fern

3.     3 fern

4.     1 fern

5.     0 fern

6.     1 fern

7.     2 ferns

8.     2 fern

9.     0 fern

10.  0 fern

11. 3 fern

12. 1 fern

I was surprised of the diversity of the condition of the plants. I assume it is because of how each of them receives sunlight and protection from other organisms. Some ferns had fungus growing on it and were very green. The second fern was brown and looked like it was dying. The areas with more ferns were dense and the ferns were growing on top of each other, almost intersecting. The quadrat with no ferns often had other plants with thorns or spikes. There were many ferns along the trail, perhaps because of human interference. It seems there maybe multiple populations, but they are definitely connected. They often grow near each other. Surveys like this are effective at assessing species distribution and populations because they give you data about how many organisms are surviving and what the conditions are for a flourishing population or a declining population.