Diario de bencharleston

I started my walk in the woods near Mt. Hood, Oregon, however, I had to relocate after a short time due to some unforeseen circumstances. I still decided to include these observations as I believe they are valuable. It was a nice day with lots of sun and a light breeze. It was about 70 degrees, which is much cooler than the 95 degrees it was yesterday. I enjoyed observing the differences between the organisms present here and the organisms present back in New Hampshire. I found that while there were slight differences in terms of leaf shape or other minor differences, this ecosystem looked quite similar to New Hampshire when viewed in a broad sense. I believe this is the case everywhere as most ecosystems have a large base of primary producers (which makes sense in terms of trophic level thinking), which give the ecosystem a distinct look. One specific interaction I noticed was the interaction between a type of moss and many trees. This moss-covered the branches and trunks of many trees in the area. The trees appeared to be healthy, so I think this may be a mutualistic relationship. Another thing I noticed was that there appeared to be some sort of disease killing a certain type of small shrub, and another type seemed to be taking over. One possible reason for the shift in shrubbery is that this part of Oregon is currently in a transition from a very wet period to a very dry period. Therefore, one of the shrubs could be better equipped to survive in a wet environment, while the other is better equipped to survive in a dry environment. My coolest find was probably the spider, which I didn't get a great photo of because I did not want to get too close. Overall, I enjoyed exploring nature in different parts of the country, and I want to continue to observe nature in every new place that I visit.

I hiked up Mt Rowe this morning, which is about a 2-mile hike. It was a warm and windy day in which we finally got a break from the humidity. I picked this location because it has two rivers and a wetland area along the way as well as drier environments towards the top. I have hiked this route many times, and one thing I noticed this time was that there were no mushrooms anywhere, which is unusual for this location. I suspect that the recent dry(ish) conditions did not provide a good environment for these organisms to grow. I did notice, however, that (especially towards the top) there were clusters of plants (both trees and shrubs alike) that appeared to be infected with some sort of pathogen. However, some plants, such as ferns, seemed to be immune to this pathogen, as they were surrounded by infected plants, but not infected themselves. This could be an example of a situation in which a pathogen can only infect certain species, but not others. I also saw a few birds, however, I was unable to get close enough to get a clear picture. Overall, I was very surprised by the diversity present on this short hike, and I couldn't believe that I had missed so many fascinating organisms on my previous visits to this location. This hike reminded me to look around from time to time and just realize and appreciate the biodiversity that surrounds me every day.