Nature Trail Essay, Research Paper

During lab our class took a trip to the nature trail. As soon as we stepped on to the trail

we saw disturbance from the hurricane that came through about three years. Throughout

our trip we saw the disturbances from the hurricane, such as upturned trees. In the holes

of the upturned trees was still water. We were told that in the place of the overturned

trees new trees would grow, which is secondary succession. The limbs and trees were left

on the floor of the forest to decompose.

While on the walk we saw no major mammals, but we did see a few insects. We

saw an abundance of mosquitos, moths, bumble bees, water beetles, a grand-daddy

long-leg spider, and a wolf spider. One thing that we did see that was out of the ordinary

was a velvet ant. I had personally never seen one of those before.

Some of the vegetation we saw were Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) and

Red Maple (Acer rubrum). These trees were seen near the creek and are known for

growing close to moist areas. We also saw a Cedar, which is known for growing in the

drier areas. On our walk we also saw ferns and a magnolia.

When we reached the stream we got to the lowest part of the trail. While at the

creek we saw several disturbances from the hurricane. The man-made bridge was

destroyed by the storm and debris from this bridge was spread throughout the stream.

The debris from the bridge, untouched by man, had traveled only about fifty yards from its

initial spot over the three year period. We also saw a tire and other disturbances caused by

man.

As far as elevation is concerned, one could see a difference between the normal

path and the bottom lands. In the bottom lands the elevation drops and moisture had

collected. This moisture, or lack of moisture, results in the kind of plants or trees that

grow in the given area. Regarding light, the deeper we got into the woods the less light

we had as one would expect. The reason for this is the thickness of the canopy and the

denseness of the tree growth.