Blog Post #6 Pine Ridge Park

We visited Pine Ridge Park on a sunny but cool day. Even though we went through one troubles and difficulty with locating the park, we eventually made it and found the rest of our classmates. Because of the trees, the park itself was mainly shaded which kept the moisture locked into the surroundings of the park and soil beneath the organisms. There were many tall trees towering over the many little shrubs and fungi located on the forest floor. Towards the back of the park, you could find a pond that housed many aquatic organisms as well as ducks. I would say that there is a variety of landscape types within this park.

One of the organisms I observed consisted of the Bracken Fern or Pteridium aquilinum. I noticed this fern various times throughout the park. It is a lot easier to distinguish this specific fern amongst the other because it is branched out and has multiple blades. It is said to be found in dry to wet forests which I would say are both factors at Pine Ridge Park.

The second organism I observed was the Dust Lichens or Lepraria species. This lichen was spread on many of tree bark due to the fact that they tend to be in areas that are shaded, which with the tall trees blocking the sunlight, it would make sense as to why they have been growing here.

The final organism I observed was the Western Hemlock or Tsuga heterophylla. There were many species of this treeing towering over the park. With its many branches, it covered and blocked the majority of sunlight along with the many other trees int he park. It is found in dry to wet areas so it would make sense for it to be growing at this park. The branches made the identification particularly easy because they have much wider needles and they are located and spaces out unequally on the branch.