Week 3

My favorite part of the trip was probably the hike on the moraine trail, where we stood on the moraine overlooking the glacial valley. I loved seeing such a vast open space carved out by glaciers and imagining 100 years ago, it being filled with ice from the Nisqually glacier. I was pretty surprised that the glacier had receded so much in such a short time span of 100 years due to the rapid warming period we’re in, likely from global climate change. I wasn't aware that warming and cooling periods occurred naturally. Some of the warming can be attributed to a natural warming period, however I think humans are sure accelerating the warming period quite a bit. 

Nice view of the rocks left from the
glacier hundreds of years ago.

On the drive there I remember watching the vegetation change as we went up in elevation. I started to notice less and less deciduous trees and more conifers. This was due to the elevation change, yet I’m not so sure what factors related to the elevation affect the species we see so much. I’m assuming that the soil is drier in higher elevations, since the water heads downhill into valleys and basins where it collects and makes moister soil. It is my understanding that conifers have adapted to survive in drier soil, while deciduous trees thrive in moister soil (abiotic factor.) I also assume that in the winter when mountains get snow, there comes an elevation when the snow accumulation makes it impossible for trees to grow (the alpine zone.) With so much snow accumulation, the growing season is thwarted (abiotic.) Also, since air is more arid in higher elevations and more humid in lower ones, I am guessing that different trees thrive on different types of air (abiotic.) One thing I’m unclear on is why different elevations have different soil compositions, which contributes to the zonation of different trees.

I thought it was interesting that the trees even adapted themselves physically to survive in the weather. For example, the firs becoming “skinnier” as we went up in elevation so the branches would not accumulate snow and break off (abiotic.) I also think it’s fascinating that subalpine firs and noble firs have developed the spiral arrangement of branches for this same reason. Not only is it interesting to see how things evolve to adapt to the climate, these trees are so aesthetically pleasing! I loved seeing the clusters of subalpine fir which had reproduced through cloning and/or had survived next to each other due to shelter from the wind and snow (biotic.) If it were snowy, I would have felt like I was in a winter wonderland.

           

            Closeup of Subalpine Fir needles. Note
          spiral arrangement and white bands on
   the needles.

Mama Subalpine Fir and perhaps it's
babies growing around it, along with
Mountain Hemlock. The larger trees
facilitate the growth of other trees by
blocking out the wind and snow. 

I found clusters of this plant all along the moraine trail. It didn't grow
too high above ground. Given the leaf shape, I am guessing it belongs to
the genus lupinus, but without the flowers don't really know the species. 

Although there was no winter wonderland, I did enjoy the enchanted forest A.K.A. the old-growth forest. I found it interesting that the small, shade tolerant Western Hemlocks grew between the huge old trees that towered over us (Douglas Fir,) creating a multi-layered canopy effect and making the forest seem very full vertically, despite not being very dense (biotic.)  

This fungi, on the other hand, was growing
directly out of the nurse log. As they decay,
nurse logs provide other plants with water
and nutrients they had accumulated during
their life span (biotic.)

Two really cute, tiny mushrooms grew in a cavity of a nurse log. I believe
they were growing out of the ground, not the log, but were using the log as
shelter from the weather since they were huddled in so close to it, I
almost didn't see them (biotic.) 

I actually went to another old growth forest this summer that was situated along highway 164 to Mt. Rainier and was mesmerized by the enchanted feel so much that it was one of the reasons I decided to take this class. Old-growths are particularly special just because they feel so ancient, as if time has stood still there for centuries. This may sound pretentious or over-inflated, but I genuinely do get a sense of the eternal when I’m there, and see why people get inspired in places like these. I would love to go back to it alone just to spend some time in that atmosphere; it is definitely one different than that of civilization where things seem so transient in comparison. As someone who likes to write poetry (if you can call it that,) I feel this environment is a particularly inspiring one.

Very easy to see the small Western Hemlocks sprouting up under the towering Douglas Fir.

Nisqually Delta, a wetland/estuary that harbors many bird species as well as tree frogs, insects and snakes. Bigger species of birds such as eagles and hawks can eat frogs, snakes or smaller birds, such as ducklings. The snakes eat frogs and insects/invertebrates. Frogs also eat insects and invertebrates. The ducks eat mostly wetland plants, while smaller birds eat insects they find from probing in trees (biotic.)

Not a very good picture, but this is a
garter snake on some thorny bushes
waiting for a tree frog to come along. 

Not the best drawing but you get the idea. Migratory geese
come to these kinds of wetlands and estuaries for the fresh water
(abiotic) and to feed off the plants and grasses in these areas so they will
have energy for their migration (biotic.)

Furthermore, I really liked messing with the birds. I never actually knew that if you played a bird’s song that it would respond at all, let alone so distinctly. I liked how playing the chickadee’s warning call attracted all of them together to protect one another, and how playing the woodpecker’s song made him so angry and territorial that he kept drumming on trees well after we stopped messing with him. I like that we can mimic the calls to see how the birds would actually respond to other birds of the same species in the wild, such as a fight for territory or call for protection (biotic.) I never really gave birds much consideration, but now that I have a medium for interacting with them and studying their behavior, I’m pretty hooked. I plan to play some bird common bird calls and songs at my observation spot to see if I can get any interesting responses.

As for the mima mounds, I liked the hypothesis of permafrost cracking, claiming that the land had frozen over so thoroughly that it cracked leaving formations like these:

and over time, erosion from the weather and streams running through the cracks created a more mound-shaped formation. A problem with that theory is that there would probably have been a mass amount of glacial runoff as the glacier retreated, and the stream channels between cracks would be too small for the copious amounts of water.

In conclusion...

I think this field trip really improved my observational skills in nature. On the walk back to my dorm after the field trip, the chirping that used to be background noise to me was suddenly very noticeable, and I found my gaze snap towards it right away, looking for birds. Also, over this past week I’ve been much more aware of the vegetation around me, noticing the vine maple in the Maple Hall courtyard, the big Ponderosa pines in front of my own dorm, and skunk cabbage on my way to class (I always wondered why it smelled so bad around there.) I can say it’s pretty awesome to look around and recognize the distinct species as opposed to all of the trees and bushes looking the same to me, like they used to.