Blades+O'+Grass

=WELCOME TO OUR BLADES O' GRASS WIKISPACE! = =Site Overview: = Our site is located behind the school to the left of the baseball diamond and in close proximity to the containment pond. It is about 300-500 yards away from the back driveway. Our site was characterized mainly by tall grass and brush. To the north of our site there were tall grasses, brush, and baby sycamore trees. The southern part of our site had larger sycamore trees and heavier brush. To the east of our site was mainly common grass with no brush. To the west of our site there were short grasses and brush. (See pictures on bottom). The weather outside was the main abiotic factor that characterized our site on the dates of study.The first time we went out it was a mild, sunny morning. The second time we went out it was overcast and there was not much sunlight. We broke up this factor into 5 parts that could be measured and calculated in our ten plots along the transect. 1. Light Intensity (the amount of light that reaches certain areas of the site) 2.Temperature (measured in degrees celsius) 3.Dew Point (the temperature at which the air must be cooled to condense water into dew) 4. Humidity (Relative and Absolute) 5. Soil Temp (also measured in degrees celsius) The averages for each abiotic factor from our ten samples are listed below: (Lux) || Dew Point ( o C) || Relative Humidity (%) || Absolute Humidity (g/m3) || ﻿ Soil Temp ( o C) || There was lot of different vegetation across our site. We did not see any insects or animals during our time spent outside. Some of the most common plants, grasses, trees, and weeds were:
 * Temp( o C) || Light Intensity
 * 18.55 || 190.05 || 9.64 || 58.2 || 9.26 || 18.62 ||


 * //**Golden Rod**//- Tall, erect, leafy perennial plant with yellow flowers. It is around usually around 1.5-5 feet. It can be found on roadsides, meadows and ditches. It is typically found on moist, medium textured or muck soils. It is not commonly found on very wet or very dry sites. Golden Rod needs partial to full sun.


 * //**Sycamore Tree**//- A large timber species with leaves that alternate and have slender stems. It is most commonly recognized by its bark, which is a mottled creamy white and brown when the bark peels off. It is most commonly found on the bank of streams and is usually scattered in a mixture with other hardwoods.




 * //**Iron Weed**//- Typically grows up to a length between 2-5 ft. It is an aggressive weed that is found of the ditch of banks and moist soils. In the summer and fall months it is topped with purple flowers.


 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//**Yellow Foxtail Grass**//- It is the largest of the other species of Foxtail Grass. Its seedlings and mature plans have numerous short hairs on the upper surface of the blades and on the margins of the sheaths. Yellow Foxtail Grass can be confused with Fall Panicum but can be distinguished by the wispy hairs at the base of the blades. This grass needs partial to full sun and as well as wet or constantly moist soil.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//**Queen Anne's Lace**//- Also referred to as wild carrot due to its deep taproot similar to the carrot's. It is a wild Eurasian variety of the common cultivated carrot. It is found all over the Nation but it is very abundant in the Northeast. It is usually found in fallow fields, pastures, fencerows, and waste places. It is a biennial its stem grows between 1-3 ft. It has lacy flowers but they do not appear until the plants second year.


 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//**Vetch**//- Weedy Vetches are trailing, vine-like herbaceous annuals or perennials that form sprawling mats or envelop other plants. Their leaves alternate, pinnately compound, with a terminal leaflet modified into a twining tendril. Vetch has a branched fibrous root system. It can be found on roadsides, waste places, meadows, pastures, and landscapes. Vetch is often found (but not limited to) sandy or gravely soils.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">


 * //**Long-Awned Wood Grass**//- A perennial grass that grows up to 1-2 ft tall. The color of each plant is a light to medium green, and mostly hairless. The flat leaf blades are up to 6 inches long and 3/4 inches across. The leaves are medium green, tapering gradually at both of their bases and tips. Long-Awed Wood Grass is most commonly found in moist to slightly dry deciduous woodlands. It does best in light shade with soil containing loam (sand, silt, and clay) or slight rocky material. Its foliage is usually fed on by caterpillars of the butterfly Enodia Anthedon.

//**Identifying and Describing Microclimates:**// After taking 10 samples, we came up with a total of 2 different microclimates.

MICROCLIMATE 1: Table of Averages:
 * Temp || Light Intensity || Dew Point || Relative Humidity || Absolute Humidity || Soil Temp ||
 * 20 || 180.86 || 10.73 || 57.25 || 9.9 || 20.13 ||

This microclimate is composed of plots 1,2,8, and 9 which were all within the first two grids of our transect (see picture) and along the front edge of our larger microclimate. Our transect is on a slight upward slope, so this microclimate is at the lowest point of our transect. Microclimate 1 is composed of few low lying shrubs and shorter grasses such as vetch and long awned wood grass, however, the majority of our common vegetation was found in Microclimate 2. sycamore trees are present in both Microclimate 1 and 2. Both vetch and long awned wood grass do well in slightly gravelly/rocky soils. They also need the soil to be moist to slightly dry. Furthermore, these plants do best in light shade. They were both found in Microclimate 1. Since this microclimate is on the edge of our transect where it is closer to the open field and farther from the dense ground cover located further up our transect, it can be deduced that the soil is dryer in this microclimate. This is most likely because it reaches more sunlight since there is nothing blocking the sun, yet there is still partial shade for the plants to thrive in because of the surrounding sycamore trees. This open area is also more susceptible to wind and weather which may be one of the reasons why the plants are shorter and closer to the ground.

MICROCLIMATE 2:
 * Temp || Light Intensity || Dew Point || Relative Humidity || Absolute Humidity || Soil Temp ||
 * 17.58 || 196.17 || 8.92 || 58.83 || 8.83 || 17.62 ||

Our second microclimate is composed of plots 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10. This area shares many of the same characteristics of Microclimate 1, however, there were a few noticeable differences. As mentioned before our transect was on a slight upward slope, so this microclimate is on a higher plane than Microclimate 1. The ground cover is much more dense than Microclimate 1 and it is characterized mainly by tall grasses and weeds. The primary difference between Microclimate 1 and 2 is that the types of vegetation differ from one area to the next. The two most commonly found plants in this microclimate are yellow foxtail grass and golden gods. Both of these types of vegetation need partial to full sunlight as well as wet or constantly moist soil. Other types of vegetation found in smaller amounts were queen anne's lace, ironweed, and small amounts of long awned grass were seen along the border of Microclimates 1 and 2. Since our site faces east, with the west behind it, our microclimates are exposed to direct sunlight as the sun rises and travels throughout the sky during the day. Since Microclimate 2 is at a higher elevation than Microclimate 1, the plants are thus exposed to more direct sunlight than those in Microclimate 1. This is why plants such as golden rods and yellow foxtail grass are found in this microclimate. Because of the large sycamore trees providing shade though, it allows the soil to stay moist and thus the plants can thrive.



COMPARING AVERAGES: Microclimate 1 has higher temperatures, but during the dates of study we were outside in the morning when it was still pretty chilly. Since this microclimate is in more open space, the air heats faster. Microclimate 2 however has higher relative humidity and a lower soil temperature but this makes sense because it is a lot more dense in this area, thus creating more humidity within the microclimate. Also, as we discussed, the plants in Microclimate 2 need constantly moist soil, so lower temps and higher humidity will ensure constant moisture and thus ensure their survival.



BIBLIOGRAPHY:
 * []
 * [|http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/queen_annes_lace.htm][|___lace.htm__]
 * __ [] __
 * __ [] __
 * __ [] __
 * __ [] __
 * __ [] __
 * __ [] __