dansreau's Journal

On October 18th, I went for nature walk in search for the four different groups of plants, Bryophyta, Polypodiopsida, Gymnosperms, and Angiosperms. It was a cloudy, cool day around 64 degrees. I walked around the Pine Tree Reserve to observe these different species. An example of a Bryophyta that I found was Leucobryum Mosses. Mosses are nonvascular and seedless. For a species in the Polypodiopsida, which are seedless vascular plants, I observed ferns in the Genus Dennstaedtia. In the Gymnosperms, one example I observed was the Eastern White Pine. These are non-flowering seed plants. Lastly in the group Angiosperms, I found the Wood Asters, which are flowering plants. Finding these plants from different branches on the tree of life helped further my understanding of the plant kingdom.

For this nature walk, I walked along the Chestnut Hill Reservoir and into the nearby wooded lands. The day was windy and gray and 55 degrees. Throughout this walk, I encountered many new species, four being fungi. The two fungi that I encountered were the Star Rosette Lichen, the Brown Purplepore Bracket, the Hairy Bracket, and one of the genus Lachnellula. Lichen can be found on most trees and rocks nearby and is a combination of Algae and Fungi in a mutualistic relationship. In my elementary school, we learned the saying, "Algae and fungi are a lichen to each other". This was to help us remember that the two coexisted. The Hairy Bracket and the Brown Purplepore Bracket looked pretty similar in having the same shape and location on tree stumps. This reminded me of the morphological species concept in which it can be hard to solely use this method for classification. Morphological species concept works best in comparing species who are visually different. Lastly, the other species that I found were Bittersweets, American Asters, Elms, Brambles, and one from the genus Ampelopsis. These were a variety of plants and they stuck out to me either due to their coloring, berries, or flowers.

For the first nature walk, I decided to explore the Pine Tree Reserve which is located on Boston College's campus. The Pine Tree Reserve is a small 4-acre lot that contains many different types of organisms, having a vast biodiversity. From a class standpoint, throughout my 30 minute walk, I observed many species that would be apart of the plant kingdom called Plantae. This taxonomy of organisms was started by a scientist named Carl Linnaeus. The sun was shining and it was 63 degrees with a light breeze making it a perfect fall afternoon. Throughout this walk, I found many different species, ranging from insects, to plants, to animals. I walked this loop several times with different routes each time, noticing new species each time. After 30 minutes of spending time in nature, I felt calmer and more relaxed, heading into the weekend with an open mindset.