Blog Post #7: Shannon Point Field Trip

     The field trip to Shannon Point was easily one of my favorites in this class. I loved the scenery and coastal location of the lab (not to mention the enormous windows to look out of), and it was great to finally have a more hands-on education on marine ecology.

     The most interesting thing I learned about marine ecosystems would have to be how sea anemones can entirely change color based on the type of plankton that is native to the area or climate. Also, I thought it was cool to see how more "green" anemones are native to the North Pacific, while brown anemones are native to the more southern coast of the US and Mexico.

     Nate's talk on scientific diving was also fascinating. I never knew how complicated achieving the title of "scientific diver" was, and I learned a ton about the history of diving, which was fairly unknown to me before this trip. I was really interested in the art movement boom of underwater photography personally, especially because it came about fairly long after the necessary photography equipment was available!

     One of the most exciting parts of the trip for me was actually finding a species of plankton under a microscope. I couldn't quite ID it myself, but it's body was very transparent, which allowed me to see many tiny egg's in the mother's abdomen, all with little red organs similar to their mother. It was so thrilling to finally catch an organism under the glass, but was quite difficult to actually isolate it enough to stop jumping around out of the view of my lens

Shannon Point Marine Center

The field trip to Shannon Point was very interesting and fun! The drive up to the center was neat and the surrounding area had a gorgeous view of all the islands. All of the different equipment they had for their diving and research was mind blowing, even that 10+ thousand dollar machine they used to mimic ocean levels was astonishing!

My favorite part was when we all looked at microscopic organisms through the microscopes, some guy got the little dudes from a nearby port. It was very interesting looking at all the tiny organisms and to watch how they all moved and squirmed around. Most of them were transparent so I could see their insides which was incredible! I'm pretty sure I saw intestines. 

Edmonds Marsh Extra Credit

The Edmonds Marsh is located in downtown Edmonds near the marina and the Edmonds Beach behind the Harbor Square recreational and workout center. The Marsh has a couple designated lookout areas in which you can watch the wildlife and observe without disturbing the wildlife and plant life too much. However, there is a dog daycare center literally two feet away from the plank in which the lookout points are located, and their insentient barking is a bit distracting.

This particular wetland would probably be considered a tidal marsh because of the plant life that is most prevalent in the area. Cattails are a very important part of the marsh ecosystem, and the perimeter of the Edmonds Marsh are completely covered with a dense amount of cattails and grasses. Also, marshes have undulating water circulating through them, and in this particular marsh, both salt and freshwater are constantly being replenished and and refreshed. I believe it would be considered a tidal marsh because of its close proximity to the Puget Sound.

Wetlands are very important for the environment. They control flooding, the absorb and hold pollutants that are headed for the ocean because of run off of pesticides and fertilizer, The replenish ground water, and they are a a very important habitat for resident birds, and a reprieve from migration for birds in migration. Wetlands also preserve biodiversity to the area by providing these services. Some of the organisms that I saw at this wetland were, cattails, snowberries, a variety of grasses, and many Great Blue Herron, The Cattails and the grasses provide shelter for smaller species of animals, such as mice and other rodents. Cattails are very dependent upon sunlight. They also provide an area for ground birds to hide and nest. The snowberries provide food for the grazers of the environment. Having a place for rodents to hide is important, because wetlands also have predatory birds such as hawks and owls, who need rodents as a food source. 

The Narbeck Marsh was full of much bigger trees, such as Red Alder and Cedar trees. These provide shelter for birds of flight, such as the Pileated Woodpecker, a keystone species. In the Narbeck Marsh I also saw many more smaller birds such as the Black Capped Chickadee. The Chickadee's role is to spread seeds so that "Mother" trees do not have to compete with their offspring. The Narbeck marsh is not as salt-saturated as the Edmonds marsh, thus explaining the difference in vegetation. The bigger trees such as the cedar in the Narbeck marsh would not survive for long if they were only soaking up salt water.

Restoration of wetlands in Western Washington is very important because wetlands are so important for the ecosystem for the reasons that I described previously. In Western Washington in particular, wetland restoration is particularly important because we have allowed the Puget Sound to become so contaminated with pollution, that in certain areas, recreational fishing is not recommended, especially for shellfish. Restoration of marshes like the Edmonds Marsh are very important, because as an tidal marsh, it can prevent some of the pollution from reaching the Puget Sound. 

I would guess that the type of restoration applied to the Edmonds Marsh would be the type that takes out invasive species and plants native ones. My reasoning is that I really didn't see any invasive species that I could identify, except for a few lone Himalayan Blackberry sprigs. 

The most predominant tree in the marsh that I noticed was Red Alder of all ages on the perimeter of the marsh.  Dead trees are important to the ecosystem in the wetlands because they are a great food source for birds. Insects love to live in dead trees (snags), and the birds are able to access the hollows of the snags with their sharp beaks. The woodpecker in particular is known for this, and the larger Pileated woodpecker can make holes so large in the snags that they can be used to house smaller birds. 

I really didn't see any invasive species that I was able to identify. I saw some Himalayan Blackberry, but that was about it. Invasive species out compete the native species for resources. Because they are often not prone to the diseases of the area, they have no natural predators, and because they reproduce at high rates, they take over the niche of the native species. This decreases the biodiversity in the area by having one species basically snuff out another species. 

My favorite part of seeing this wetland was when I first arrived. At first glance, the wetland appeared to be completely barren of life, although I know from class that this is not true, it certainly looked that way. Then, suddenly, I huge group of Blue Herrons arose from the pits of the marsh and flew above me in erratic circles. They had such large wing spans and were so beautiful that it opened my eyes to the beauty of the marsh. 

I mentioned before that right next to the marsh is a dog daycare, I noticed that when I walked along the wooden planks the dogs would bark very loudly. The herons did not seem concerned. I then wondered if they had become so used to the dogs that they no longer perceive the dogs as a threat. I then wondered what kind of consequences this would have. Would their young not fear dogs? If a dog got loose in the marsh would they perceive its barking as a threat and be able to fly away in time? Anyway, very pretty marsh. Ill be going back here with my grandpa soon.

  

Shannon Point Marine Center

Our field trip to Shannon Point was informative and a great experience to get to touch and feel many sea creatures that you do not find often unless at an aquarium. Unfortunately, we were unable to go out on the boat which is what I was most excited about but nonetheless it still captivating and interesting to see what kind of research is going on at the marine center. Such as the symbiosis of an single celled algae and a sea anemones.

My favorite part of the field trip was looking at organisms in seawater under a microscope. It was incredible to see such a huge diversity of organisms in a very small amount of sea water. When taken in perspective, this gives you an idea of just how rich life is in our seas of Western Washington. I was able to take pictures using my phone looking through the microscope. Isolating one very fast copepod in a single drop of water was quite fascinating. It spun around the edge of the droplet very rapidly, for how small it is it, they move incredibly fast.

Edmonds Marsh

Thursday the 8th I visited the Edmonds Marsh. It has a recorded history dating back to the 1800's when it and what is now the city of Edmonds was purchased by George Brackett. He recognized its use for timber and it eventually became connect to the Northern Railway. It wasn't until 1970 that the oil company operating the fuel terminal up on the ridge began heavily reshaping the marsh for development. This reduced the marsh from 40 acres down to just 22.5 acres. The wetland has many properties to it that make it a unique environment. It is both a salt and freshwater marsh because of its source being two creeks and the location adjacent to the Puget Sound. The exchange of these waters creates a unique habitat due to the variation in salinity, especially for anadromous fish and the plankton that serve an underappreciated role in the food chain. One telltale sign of the shift between salinity can be observed by the types of plants that dominate which sides. For instance, the freshwater side is packed with cattail, which thrives in freshwater wetland, while the saltwater side is dominated by sedge.

The dominating tree that I noticed was the red alder. This tree was and still is very common throughout the Puget Sound area. All trees stood around the edges of the marsh but none inside of it, any that were looked to be long dead. I imagine this may have been because at one point the marsh's saltwater source was cut off for a long period, allowing for some trees to grow. But when the saltwater was allowed to reenter the marsh, the change in chemistry and salinity killed off the trees. Thankfully the death of a wetland tree does not signal the end of its use but the beginning of new ones. Bugs love to live within the walls of the bark and devour the deadwood, woodpeckers like the Pileated and Northern Flickers love to eat these bugs, and eagles and hawks prefer the dead trees, or "snags", as perches for their nests.


Wetlands play a big part in Western Washington ecology as they provide several crucial services. They serve as a big filter that collects and stores polluted material and harmful minerals like excessive heavy metals that sink to the bottom in the slow moving currents. They create a groundwater recharge that springs up after this filtration, offsetting much of the effects caused by urban runoff. They also provide a great rest stop for migrating birds that need shelter and sustenance on their way north and south. Because of this, I found it an interesting setup that there's both a dog park and a doggy daycare right next to this marsh as you'd think it might scare away more timid birds. These wetlands also are a fantastic environment for birds of prey such as hawks, eagles, and owls because of their diet of snakes and rodents, as well as plenty of waterfowl. I even saw blue heron when I was there but couldn't get a good pic of them.

While I was there I don't believe I saw any invasive species, save for a small amount of Himalayan blackberry. This leads me to believe that the restoration goal was to return the marsh to its original state which has little to no tolerance for invasive species. I didn't see any of the purple loosestrife that dominates wetland shores here. After learning about the important functions of wetlands I'm happy to see successful restoration or protection projects maintaining them. It was a cold trip but kind of interesting learning a little history behind the shoreline I've been frequenting for so many years. Wish there were more I could say about it, but that's about all. This concludes my final quarter here. Thanks for reading and take care Edmonds Community College!

the 'e' stands for edgy

Shannon point!!!

    Shannon point was an absolutely gorgeous and captivating site to have a field trip. I learned about the mutualistic relationship between sea anemone and algae that causes a green pigmentation to the anemone. This symbiotic functionality is specific to the West Coast. We also learned about the career paths available to scientific divers and the qualifications to be granted such a title.  I would love it but I've looked into The Divers Institute and I do not qualify :( .
      While traipsing through the grounds of Shannon Point, completely unencumbered and carefree, I was  captivated by the majestic beauty surrounding me. As I skipped along the proverbial yellow brick road, a strange looking mushroom crossed my path.  "Aha!" I said to myself.  This is what I've been coveting, though I hadn't even known I had been searching for anything in the least.  It appears to be a False  Morel mushroom. Can I be sure? No, no I cannot, as I am at the mercy of Google Images. However, the "melting" characteristics and the dark color and nooks upon the surface of the mushroom give me some hope that my identification is correct. Also, it looks like a brain. My brain told me, "Dana, stay back!" But alas, I could not, I reached down and stroked the mushroom. I then freaked out and went to the bathroom and washed my hands. The end.

False Morel mushrooms are the counterpart to the Black Morel, which is highly coveted and edible. The False Morel is considered dangerous to eat. The Black Morel has a hollow inside, and the cap is generally longer than the stem. Alternatively, the False Morel is not hollow inside and has a more lopesided shape. The real Black Morel is shaped like a tear drop. However I'm still not convinced that this mushroom is either, just a layman's best guess so if anyone has any ideas, please comment!
     

Wetland Restoration - Service Learning

This fall quarter I have been involved in a wetland restoration project out in Woodinville on an old farm. This project was for my Restoration class taught at EDCC. I have logged 24 hours throughout the quarter working on the project with my classmates and other volunteers. The is site was infested with Himalayan blackberry, buttercup and reed canary grass on the edge of the wetland with a mixed diversity of natives plants like alder, black cottonwood, western red cedar, red twig dogwood, Pacific willow, salmonberry, lady ferns, skunk cabbage, black cap raspberry and red elderberry. The Himalayan blackberry was the biotic barrier that has inhibited natives to seed in. Our goals for the site were to completely remove the blackberry and plant natives which will provide shade to our site to eliminate the reed canary grass and buttercup over time.

Our duty's as a class were to manually remove the blackberry by cutting all growth down to a foot and digging out the root ball while removing other invasive species like english holly and english hawthorn. We put all the blackberry debris in a massive pile and put the root balls on top of the pile to let them desiccate. Based on 'polygons,' which we made up, where we categorized our site in to specific areas primarily based on soil conditions. On one side of our site there is a water seepage that comes out the hillside. This is where the buttercup has heavily infested the area where as farther north in our site the soil is drier. This helped us determine what plants we should plant where. In the seepage area myself and two other classmates made hummocks for western red cedar and sitka spruce to go on. We built kind of like a raised bed using rotten logs as the frame and filling it in with topsoil and woodchips, raising the level helps to keep the buttercup from spreading and competing with the plants we installed.

Let me go back a bit...A hummock is basically mound of dirt in which you plant into, we did this because the soil is so saturated that it has very little available oxygen which roots need. Planting into a mound gives the plant just enough room for oxygen to be available while it establishes. This was something I learned during this project that really stood out to me.

We planted a variety of natives but mostly red twig dogwood and Pacific willow because they are fast growing and create a dense canopy to shade out weeds.

We plan to incorporate woody debris for insects and animals to use. Critters were already starting to use piles of debris we made as shelter. While I was moving a pile of blackberry that had been sitting there for a few weeks I came across a home of little field mice and a salamander. I had seen a garter snake early in the quarter and numerous bird species that utilized the wetland.

Question posed: How successful will this project be? What percent of plants will die the first year? Will it be one or two species that die or will it be area dependent? How long will it take for the plants to go tall enough to create a dense enough shade to combat the weeds that are already existing and yet to come? Will there be another weedy species which seeds have been lying dormant, waiting for the blackberry to be removed?

My teacher's email is: rodney.pond@gmail.com and our 'clients' email is zs.pasztor2011@gmail.com. Zsofia is in charge of Farmer Frog, a non-profit organization which recently acquired an old dairy farm where they plan to built greenhouses and aquaponic systems for producing food. 


 

Shannon Point

This last week I visited the Shannon Point Marine Center in Anacortes. I think the most interesting thing I learned about was both the immense smuggling operation of abalone that happened here, rendering them functionally extinct until assisted restoration and about the diving jobs that are available to Fish & Wildlife crews. A cool observation worth noting was the nematocysts found in the crushed sample from the anemone's arm. It was cool seeing up close under extreme magnification what it was that stings you when you touch an organism such as a jellyfish that has a whole bunch of these tiny things packed with strong venom.


The class also got to learn about the ongoing study of the mutualism between unicellular alga such as the dinoflagellates and the cnidarians like the sea anemone. They share a slightly similar relationship to that of Mycorrhizae and plants. The dinoflagellate provides the host with photosynthetically fixed carbon while the host gives the alga protection from predators and provides nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen, and sulfur.

The lecture at the end about the history of scientific diving was pretty interesting as well. I didn't realize that by loose definition, underwater exploration has its origins all the way back to Alexander the Great around 330 BC!

spacecollective.org

Special Thanks to Nate & Dean and Gwen

Northwest Trek

The trip to the Northwest Trek was memorable and showcased a lot of fascinating animals found in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, 'showcased' is why I wasn't as thrilled as had I seen these animals out in the wild. There's just nothing that compares to witnessing them out in nature where they aren't confined and encountering them is a matter of chance. However, the enclosures do serve as a means for the general public to observe and study and it gave me a chance to see the animals up close.


I think the most interesting thing I learned was about how owls' eyes go all the way to the back of their head. Because of this physical trait, they cannot move their eyes and thus must rotate their entire head, swiveling up to 270 degrees! Owls are my favorite of the class Aves so naturally I enjoyed finding out more facts about them. It was also interesting to examine the skulls at the end, particularly how the skull of the cougar had much larger ocular cavities than the bear skull and how this correlates to the function or amount of information being transmitted to and from the brain.


BLOG ASSIGNED QUESTIONS
1. On the tram I saw California Bighorn Sheep, Elk, Mountain Goats, American Bison, Swans, and Ducks. I don't remember the tram guides name but he looked like a Kyle so I'm going to call him Kyle.
2. n/a
3. a few per year
4. Deer such as the Blacktail and Elk have antlers, the Bighorn Sheep and Bison have horns.
5. n/a
6. Several including the Bighorn Sheep and Snowy Owl.
7. The Wolf, only around 50 in the entire state.
8. Tallest: Bison. Heaviest: Bison.
9. Le Skunk
10. n/a
11. Otters, Beavers, Wolverines, and Raccoons. Fishers prey on porcupines.
12. Lynx have much softer coats (cause of their being overhunted), and ears with long pointy tufts.
13. n/a
14. Theodore Roosevelt (I cheated and Googled)
15. Refer to above

Special thanks to Gwen and Shawn for this fun outing!

Narbeck Wetland Sanctuary

Narbeck park is a 42.76 acre built wetland in Everett, WA. This area was a mitigation project constructed by Snohomish County to offset safety projects at Paine Field Airport which had destroyed wetland habitat in the process of its construction. 8 years after the park was constructed and open to the public, the project was successful, Snohomish County received an award by the Washington State Department of Ecology.

The field trip to the park was a great experience and highly educational. Through the use of interpretive educational signage through out the trails, one could easily understand the importance of wetlands, how they work and what features were added to the park and why. I thought the use of the trails as leaky berms was a brilliant idea. I know about planted berms and bioswales used to trap water for plants but never thought about a walking trail beam used to trap water, allowing water to pond on one side and slowly seep and leak through to the other side of the berm.

Dominated by Alnus rubra the area is a classic riparian forest with scattered conifers such as Pseudotsuga menseizii, Abies grandis, Thuja plicata and Picea sitchensis. Understories with small trees and shrubs like Sambucus racemosa, Symphoricarpos albus, Cornus sericea, Salix lucida and Vaccinium parvifolium. I observed many bird species at the site the hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) were one of the many that stood out to me but the highlight of the field trip for me was seeing an American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) that was sitting in a tiny pool of water off the trail where a pipe was emptying water into. Could have been that the water flowing from the pipe was warmer than water in the other near by ponds. All in all, this field trip was a great experience and I am happy to see that we have the capability to transform landscapes into wetlands, because at the rate they are decreasing means that we will have to build more. 

Below is a picture of the park early after the completion of the project.

http://www.watershedco.com/images/sized/_uploads/images/projects/Narbeck/narbeck-aerial_1-715x355.jpg

Narbeck wetlands

the most interesting thing I learned I think would be related to the different types of wetlands and how they are categorized.  Wetlands such as swamps, marshes, bogs, have different types of vegetation and rates of water movement.  The fact related to the types of wetlands that is intriguing is how different areas house different levels of biodiversity, and unique species.  Some wetlands may contain more overall biodiversity which allows more inhabitants to prosper while other wetlands are perhaps less hospitable and harbor rare species.

Wetlands are essentially a bio filter, slowing down water movement which allows things to be broken down.  Wetlands are extremely productive ecosystems and have a lot of energetic activity within them.  Another very important feature is flood control.  Wetlands act as a barrier as well as a resivoir for excess water, giving extra water a place to stay rather than rushing into forests or cities.   One more feature is restoring ground water, which could relate to flooding.  Water is allowed to slowly trickle rather than rushing to the ocean.

There were multiple organisms that caught my interest.  The most captivating was most definentely the bull frog I stumbled upon.  Was hanging out in a pool of water near the forested area.  Although it is winter I was still able to find some fruits, not edible but fruits none the less.  They were snowberries, I typically think of fruit as something that occurs in the spring time dominantely but there is still plant reproduction happening during all seasons depending on the species.  I also found a single stinky robert weed that was flowering.  Very peculiar, perhaps it was the first of many to flower or had a mind of its own, but it really stood out to me.

Blog Post #6: Synthetic Sanctuaries

     Besides being a good excuse to get outside and take a nature walk, the visit to Narbeck Wetland Sanctuary Park was actually fairly informative to me. One new thing I learned that stood out to me was what "leaky berms" were, and how they were important to the structure of Narbeck Park. It's pretty fascinating how water can so easily travel in a wetland, yet still remain stagnant and undisturbed in the process.

     Also, this excursion did give me some appreciation for the importance and impact wetlands have on an ecosystem. Not only hosting a multitude of diverse species and populations of organisms, but also for the amount of Net Primary Productivity a wetland can exhibit, which I learned can equal that of even a tropical rain forest. Furthermore, the wetland system is so incredibly important for the health of our watershed. Being able to slowly take in heavy rainfall without flooding immensely is a huge support for the health of the surrounding environment.

     One thing I thought was intriguing about the Narbeck marsh itself was the variety of flora that I don't usually encounter in a more urban or even forested environment. Top highlights for me being probably the invasive Purple Loosestrife and the rather marshmallow-ey Snowberry. Granted I was searching more carefully than I normally would outside of class for interesting species, but their was definitely a noticeable influx that was quite cool to me.