Biology Spring 2017 - Naturalist Perspectives

Location: 29 Harrison St, Newton, MA Date: 4/23/2017 Time: 2:00 PM Weather: Sunny with some cloud cover. 54℉. If you look in the background of this  picture, you will see a large yellow mass covered in flowers. This plant is called the forsythia tree and it is an invasive species that can be found here and in my hometown of Armonk, N.Y.. It can be recognized by its lack of leaves, rounded overall shape, and vibrant yellow flower. Forsythia are described as colonizing plants. They are native to Asia but will grow in almost any sunny location. It does not support insects or birds native to the Northeastern US in any way. Its roots have colonizing suckers that can push out other species of plant nearby and change the topography of a landscape. For this reason, they are often planted on hills (as pictured above). Over time, they can help level out the area. Many landscapers recommend replacing forsythia with spicebush, which can better support the other forms of life.

Location: 10 Wendell St Date: 4/23/2017 Time: 3:30 PM Weather: Sunny. 54℉. Location: 10 Wendell St Date: 4/27/2017 Time: 4:00 PM Weather: Sunny. 57℉. Location: 10 Wendell St Date: 4/30/2017 Time: 3:30 PM Weather: Cloudy and gray. 50℉. This is a tulip. There are more than 3,000 naturally occurring and genetically cultivated varieties of tulip worldwide. Genetically, they are in the same family as lilies, onions, and asparagus. Tulips open and close their petals in response to heat and light. This is a fantastic example of cells being responsive to their environment. By closing, the tulip protects its reproductive organs and ensures that the pollen stays dry. 

Location: Wendell St and Oxford St Date: 5/2/2017 Time: 4:30 PM Weather: Sunny and nice. 57℉. Most of the time when people talk about awe, they talk about things that are either extremely big or extremely small. Sometimes, though, it can happen with color. I came across this person's backyard while I was wandering around and talking to my cousin on the phone. She is an art student and we had just been talking about her final, which involved mixing paints, and led to a discussion about the perception of color. In the midst of that discussion, I walked past this garden, and it was a literal blaze of color. This picture does not even do it justice. there were even more plants in the area off to the left. My brain felt saturated with color, in a way that does not usually happen. I stopped talking midsentence and just stared. The plants are obviously natural, in the sense that no one came by, Alice in Wonderland style to put paint on them, but they are also obviously unnat...

Date: 4/24/2017 Time: 4:53 PM Weather: Beautiful. Sunny. 61℉ This is a classic looking English Cocker Spaniel. I did not use a specific book, but I sent the picture to my mom, who knows a lot about dog breeds. She told me what she thought it was, then I confirmed by doing a google image search. Since I am generally not good at identifying plants and specific animals, I figured this dog that I befriended on the way back from John F. Kennedy Park would be a good way to make sure I got it right and could find the information. According to wikipedia, dogs have 78 chromosomes (39 pairs). They are diploids, just like humans. There are a few different color patterns that the ECSCA identifies, including solid black, liver (which is like brown), red, and golden. There is also the possibility of a dog being 'open marked', which is when they have large patches of color, but between the large patches they are pure white. Open marked dogs cannot produce a roan dog, which is where a ...

Location: Site Alpha Date: 5/2/2017 Time: 2:00 PM Weather: Sunny and windy. 57℉. The plants at Site Alpha are growing more. Lots of little shoots of things are popping up. Some of the flowers are beginning to wilt. Location: Site Beta Date: 5/2/2017 Time: 6:00 PM Weather: Sun getting low, 54℉ I don't have a picture of this one because my phone died. There are now some tulips there, though and the trees are covered in flowers. There is a strong floral scent in the air, but I am not sure that it is coming from the flowers in this particular flower bed. 1. Evolution - The flowers here have been artificially selected. This has been done mostly based on aesthetic, smell, and ability to withstand the weather conditions of Cambridge. 2. Cell Biology - The cell structures in different parts of the plants correspond to the role they play in the overall life of the plant. Because they are plant cells, they contain chloroplasts, which enable the plant to photosynthesize- get...

Location: 29 Harrison St, Newton, MA Date: 4/23/2017 Time: 2:00 PM Weather: Sunny with some cloud cover. 54℉. While walking my aunt and uncle's dog back from the dog park, I came across a wild turkey. The picture is blurry because I didn't want to get closer and risk being attacked and also because the dog was pulling at the leash, so it was hard to keep my hand steady. My aunt and uncle told me that, while one of their neighbors does keep pet turkeys, it is someone in a different house. This one is probably wild. Turkeys were rampant in Massachusetts during colonial times, which is why turkey is a part of Thanksgiving traditions. For Native Americans in the area, turkeys were a source of food, apparel, and artifacts. When the settlers came, they exerted undue pressures on the turkey population by hunting them year round and razzing the forests in order to set up farms and villages. Due to these selective pressures, the turkeys began to disappear. The ones we see no...

SITE ALPHA TO SITE ALPHA: Location:Site Alpha Date: 4/21/17 Time: 1:52 pm Weather Conditions: Raining and gross. Cloudy and gray. 45℉. Things perked up a little. Was less brown, and more light green. There was no snow and a greater variety of plant growth. There were fewer leaves. I suspect this was because they disintegrated and not due to human intervention. There were a couple very small pieces of trash in the corner (plastic bottle caps), which leads me to believe that the area is only moderately maintained. SITE ALPHA TO SITE BETA Location: Site Beta Date: 4/21/17 Time: 12:40 AM Weather Conditions: Raining and gross. Night time. Cloudy (no visible moon). 45℉. In theory, I probably could create a chart that identifies the number of species of vegetation at each site. I could also include a column to indicate any additional living organisms, although to be honest I did not actually see any animals, including bugs. This is likely due to my poor eyesight ...

Location: Between the park and a house on the way back from Winter Hill Community Innovation School Date: 4/18/17 Time: 12:40 pm Weather Conditions: Sunny. Slight breeze. 48℉. There are mostly plant cells nearby, but also probably micro-organisms and bacteria. I can't actually see any, but there are generally loads of bacteria in nature, since they are an essential part of the larger ecosystem. There aren't a lot of trees, but there are lots of smaller plants and flowers, like the yellow ones in the picture below. The cells in my body are doing their usual thing, receiving and sending out signals, and carrying essential nutrients and oxygen through my body. Some of my cells are reacting to the sensory input of the feel of the flower petals and the warmth of the sun. Cells in my eyes are part of translating the light waves reflecting of of the things around me and communicating the colors to my brain.