Nature Trail Essay, Research Paper
During lab our class took a trip to the nature trail. As soon as we stepped on to the trail
we saw disturbance from the hurricane that came through about three years. Throughout
our trip we saw the disturbances from the hurricane, such as upturned trees. In the holes
of the upturned trees was still water. We were told that in the place of the overturned
trees new trees would grow, which is secondary succession. The limbs and trees were left
on the floor of the forest to decompose.
While on the walk we saw no major mammals, but we did see a few insects. We
saw an abundance of mosquitos, moths, bumble bees, water beetles, a grand-daddy
long-leg spider, and a wolf spider. One thing that we did see that was out of the ordinary
was a velvet ant. I had personally never seen one of those before.
Some of the vegetation we saw were Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) and
Red Maple (Acer rubrum). These trees were seen near the creek and are known for
growing close to moist areas. We also saw a Cedar, which is known for growing in the
drier areas. On our walk we also saw ferns and a magnolia.
When we reached the stream we got to the lowest part of the trail. While at the
creek we saw several disturbances from the hurricane. The man-made bridge was
destroyed by the storm and debris from this bridge was spread throughout the stream.
The debris from the bridge, untouched by man, had traveled only about fifty yards from its
initial spot over the three year period. We also saw a tire and other disturbances caused by
man.
As far as elevation is concerned, one could see a difference between the normal
path and the bottom lands. In the bottom lands the elevation drops and moisture had
collected. This moisture, or lack of moisture, results in the kind of plants or trees that
grow in the given area. Regarding light, the deeper we got into the woods the less light
we had as one would expect. The reason for this is the thickness of the canopy and the
denseness of the tree growth.