In the first semester of environmental science we went out to Pioneer Park, and we did a very interesting thing called phenology. Now, I know what you might be thinking, "what is phenology?" and when I first heard about I thought that myself. Phenology is the study of a natural place over time by observing the environment of that area and how it changes.
There were a lot of changes in the spot I chose, for instance, the leaves on a willow tree right next to my spot fell off, but that always happens to deciduous trees. Also, the spot itself changed a lot in terms of how it looked, and in the amount of animal activity. One of the things we do while out there is a sound tapestry which is where we classify the different things we hear by drawings or symbols. At the beginning of the semester you could hear a lot more animals and activity then at the end of the semester, which is very interesting.
The study of phenology is exciting and I hope you enjoy the posts I make on this blog.
Thanks for the initial post, Matt. I am glad you mentioned the sound tapestry!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know more details about the particular changes you have noticed and some of your thoughts as to what accounts for those changes.
For example, the number of animal sounds you heard decreased as we moved from fall into winter... was this because the kinds of birds you were hearing migrated? Or perhaps because we go out to the park at the same time of day each time and the changes in light have altering the feeding activity of the birds you typically hear? Were there other animals you noticed in the fall that you are no longer seeing?
Hi, I will definitely post more detail into my next post.
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