Robby,+Adam+and+Christinas+Watershed

=**Watershed Project 2008!!!!!!! **=

**Adam Bienstock, Robby Mayer and Christina Guidera**
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When we first walked the grounds of Flat Rock Brook as a class, our group immediately knew that we were interested in doing a project that in some way dealt with the island in McFadden's pond. We had the idea of comparing plants on the islands to plants off the island, but we knew this was too broad. We then decided to focus on the tree in the center of the island that was dominating in size over everything else. We thought that maybe we could compare life around that tree to life around a tree of the same species that was off the island. From this, our question arose : What are the similarities and differences of life in a close vecinity of two trees of the same species; one on the island and one off the island? = =
 * QUESTION:**

= = Our hypothesis was that there would be a larger abundance, density, and diversity of plants on the island, however, the plants both on and off the island would be very similar. Much of the ground around the island was soggy and damp, which led us to belive the plants on the island would always have that abundant source of nutrients whereas the land on the island may depend on the actual weather. We belived that during the lifespan of Macfaddens pond, the source of water would have insured ther to be a lot of life on the island. Since the second tree we chose was close to the water, we belived that there too, would be a strong density of life, just not quite as strong as life on the island. We also thought that the plants on and off the island would be similar because even though there is a lot of water surrounding the island, the island and the area off the island have very similar environments. They both expereicne the same climate patters, they both receive the same amount of sunlight etc. We thought this would cause the fostering of similar life.
 * HYPOTHESIS:**
 * Reasoning**:

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-Camera -gardening gloves -plastic bags -pen = = -yard stick -notepad
 * MATERIALS:**

= = Our project consisted of three trips to flat rock brook. One for observations, one for collecting samples and analyzing on the island, and the last for collecting samples and analyzing our area off the island. Our first visit to Flat Rock Brook we visited with Ms. Park. Our goal was to simply observe the pond and the area around it and try to narrow down our idea. Once we did that, we were ready to take our trip onto the Island. Once we arrived at McFadden’s pond, we needed to walk on a fallen tree in order to set foot onto the island, which was quite a daunting task. After we set foot on solid land, we found the large and distinct tree in the middle of the island. We marked off a 5 x 5 ft grid around the tree. First we took samples of leaves and bark off of the tree so that we would be able to identify the same kind of tree off of the island. Then we took samples of the differnt types of plants that were present in the area we marked. Once these samples were taken, we took pictures of the plants to help us in our identifying process later on. On our next visit we looked for the same tree that was on the island, on land close to MacFadden’s pond. We were successsful in identifying the same type of tree by comparing leaves and bark from the original tree on the island to other trees off the island. = = Once we identified our new tree, we then repetead the procedure we used on the island and took samples and pictures of all the plants and trees in 5 x 5 ft vicinity. Our final task was identifying all the samples. We attempted to do this by going to the public library as well as Borders and other book stores in an attempt to find books that could help us identify the samples. Many of the books that looked promising had to be ordered and would have taken a good amount of time to get here. We didnt want to wait and go through that annoying process, so we thought of another idea.We placed a phone call to Flat Rock Brook and set up a meeting with Park Ranger Mark to help us identify what kinds of plants we found. Ranger Mark of course has the capability to identify all of the plants and tree samples bye eye, however, he didnt want to make it too easy for us so he gave us some of the specific Flat Rock Brook plant and tree guides and let us attempt to identify them first. When we were done, he corrected us if we were wrong and also taught us a bunch of tricks for identifying plants through their leaves. = =
 * PROCEDURE:**

= = = = Our results did not completley match our hypothesis. We were right in assuming that there would be a much larger density of plants on the Island, however, these plants were generally all the same. Thus there were only 4 differnt species of plants in the close area around the tree. Off the island, there was much less density of plants, however there were many more species, 7! Our most surprising observation was that none of the plants on the island matched any of the plants off the island. The plants and trees can be seen the the pictures below.
 * RESULTS:**

Ranger Mark helped us learn that the tree in which we based our study around was called a Sweet Gum tree. SWEET GUM TREE
 * SAMP****LES**:

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On the Island, these plants were found:
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Off the
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island these plants were found:
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The differnce in density could be explained through a number of reasons. Ranger Mark concurred with our thoughts that the source of water contributes a lot to the lush life on the island. Off, the island, Mark explained that animals such as deer, which are not found on the island, play a large role in the lack of density. In terms of speices, as you can see from the picture and graph above, we found 4 differnt species of plants in our area on the island, as compared to the 7 differnt species we found in our area off the island. As stated before, while on and off the island there were many many duplicates of the same species, but not once did we see a species show up on BOTH, the island and the mainland. The reason for this lack of similarity could be attribute to something called the **FOUNDER EFFECT.** The Founder Effect refers to diffirence in plant population on a new colony compared to the plant population on its parent colony. This scientific effect is often studied specifically in terms of island ecology. Scientist understand that the new colonys go through speciation and evolution, however, they want to learn what is the original force that causes certain islands to sometimes show almost no connection to the environments of the mainland in which they are associated with. Often times the reason for this can be attributed to some sort of natural phenomenon or recurring weather theme. We do not know the specific reason why the island on McFaddens pond is so differnt from the mainland, however we can assume that further study in to the Founder Effect would help us figure this out.
 * DISCUSSION:**

If somebody wanted to continue experimenting with this topic, there are a number of things we would suggest they do. First they could take another Sweet Gum tree off the island but still near the water and observe the plant life around that tree. This could be repeated many times. If the Sweet Gum tree could not be located, they could choose another type of plant on the island and repeat the experiment taking samples from a radius around that and comparing it to a similar plants vecinity off the island. We would also suggest the person looks at certain weather patterns of light patterns or other factors that contribute to plant growth, and try to figure out why the island is so disparate from the mainland.
 * SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH:**

Overall we learned a valuable lesson about nature. We learned that the environment is not as predictable as we had thought. We thought that just becasue the two locations had a similar tree in common and were only 20 yards apart that the plant life in those areas would be very similar. We couldnt have been more wrong. Islands are a world of their own and you cannot assume that you understand the ecology of the island based upon studies made on the mainland. We had a lot of fun and thought provoking conversatios and experiences while learning this lesson. Our experiements were fun (climbing onto the island) and we feel we got valuable knowledge out of it. We highly recomend future 11th grade students to recreate and exapnd the project we started.
 * CONCLUSION:**

Information about plants and trees came from Ranger Mark as well as his array of plant pamphlets and information on the Founder Effect came from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founder_effect, and our textbook, Essential Biology.
 * SOURCES OF INFORMATION:**