Observing the Santa Ana River

The second blog assignment given for my Environmental Science class was pretty fun for me. We were supposed to go outside somewhere to find a place with some nature, sit quietly for at least 20 minutes, and list all of our observations both biotic and abiotic. I chose to go down by the Santa Ana river, a place I had never been before. I sat down along the running water for around a half an hour. Here is an estimated list of everything that I saw:

Abiotic:

• Running water/Still water-bubbles in the still water
• Mud/Sand
• Stones-large and small
• Air- light breeze
• Sunlight
• (Not naturally found) Trash, Airplanes
• Clouds

Biotic:

• Moss
• Dead leaves/branches
• Seeds-on plants and floating in the air
• Various plants-grasses, bushes, trees
• Gnats
• One little red bug
• Other unidentifiable bugs/insects
• Birds- One turkey vulture, two redtails,quite a few(maybe around 20) small black and white birds(closest I could identify them was as a black phoebe), one humming bird, and one other bird that was probably related to a sand piper.
• Violet and yellow flowers
• Three bees
• Very small fish 

One other thing I saw that I could not really ID as biotic or abiotic was a spider web. I didn't see a spider though. 

Water Plant? Cat tails

 

Water Plant 2

The focus of this assignment is to note the biodiversity and species interactions. The first major thing I noticed was the plants' dependence on the water source. There were very few plants farther than ten feet away from the edge of the water, but the ones that were there were for the most part very green and healthy, not something that would do well going a couple of days without water. Another note on the dependence on the water is that most of the plants were leaning in the direction of the water flow. There were two plants that I noted as being, as far as I know, only found in watery or marshy areas, I have pictures of each. There were areas of still water that had run off from the main water flow and this is where the majority of moss was growing as well as where some insects were walking on the water and the very small fish were. There were clearly decaying leaves and sticks in these areas that were not in the running water. In the running water there were, however, scattered mounds of branches that formed the foundation of various plants to grow on. Another way that the plants were being used (if they really were being used, I couldn't really tell) was the way that certain trees were growing. I saw what looked to have been a thin tree that had fallen over but may have more likely been a root. Out of this I saw numerous tree-like plants all along the length of it. On some plants I noticed seeds and I saw two of those white fluffy seeds floating through the air in the light breeze. On other plants I saw flowers , mostly some yellow and violet ones. On the violet flowers I saw three bees collecting nectar in a mutualism interaction. Next I saw a good number of the small black and white bird that I best identified as the black phoebe flying above and around the plants surrounding the water. The birds were preying on the gnats and other flying insects about the water. I noticed the humming bird as well, although it did not seem to be feeding. The bird that is probably related to a sand piper I heard long before I saw. It came flying in making a lot of noise and landed maybe six feet to the side of me, I looked away for a moment and when I looked back it was gone. So I'm not really sure what it was doing. I also saw the redtails much higher up soaring in circles together. The last bird I saw was a lone turkey vulture circling a ways down the river.

That Branch/root I couldn't quite figure out

One of the patches of plants in the water growing on bunches of branches.

Some of the moss growing in the water

Introductory Blog

My name is Allison Stafford and I am a student at Riverside Community College. I am starting this blog as an assignment for an Environmental Science class that I am currently taking. For this first blog I will give a little information about myself and calculate my carbon footprint. I am 22-years old and have been at RCC for nearly 3 years. I plan to transfer this fall to major in Environmental Studies. Environmental issues have always been an interest to me and has become the basis of my academic goals. I know that there are solutions to the problems that face our environment, but feel that there are significant hurdles that these solutions need to overcome in order to be effective. Facing these hurdles is what I wish to do with my career. I was born in Orange, Ca. and have moved to various places throughout the Inland Empire before finally ending up in Riverside living with a wonderful couple named Beth and Gary who are letting me live with them while I attend school. I have 4 sisters, 1 brother, 2 nephews and 1 niece. I grew up with all sorts of animals as pets including cats, dogs, horses, various birds, rabbits, etc. Beth and Gary only have two little puppies which is a change of environment for me. When I was in high school I became an apprentice falconer for a year. Falconry is the sport of training, caring for, and hunting with birds of prey. It is an incredible sport and I miss it terribly, but it is very time consuming and not feasible for college students. I would describe myself as outdoorsy, one of my favorite places to go hiking is Azusa Canyon, especially in the spring.

Now I will calculate my carbon footprint using the website footprintnetwork.org. After answering a number of questions such as what I eat, where I live, my use of energy, how I travel, and how much I shop the website calculates that it would take 5.2 planet earths to sustain 1 planet full of me. The areas that appear to have the least impact are fishing grounds, built up land, and grazing land. This is probably due to my vegetarian diet and tenancy to buy locally and organic. Crop land and energy land are areas that I appear to have more impact. I think this is due to my housing and consumption such as buying clothes and books. The area with the biggest impact is energy land. I think that this is most likely due to how energy inefficient the house I live in is. I asked Beth how much their electric bill normally is and she said it usually runs around $400. The house was built around 1914 so there is not much that can be done unless they invest in something such as solar panels. Another problem is how far I usually have to drive because I work in Corona, CA which is about 20 miles away from where I live. Now that I know how much it costs to do nearly anything in my house, I will definitely be paying close attention to how often I use energy at home.