Dendrology of Saunders Woods Preserve

 

Species Identification Mobile App: NatureID

The mobile app for species identification I have chosen to review is called NatureID (https://natureid.com) and is developed by AIBY Inc. Having never used a plant identification app before, I was very impressed with the accuracy, ease of use, and amount of information provided by this app. I downloaded it for iOS for free, so there are frequent ads that pop up that fortunately you can quickly exit out of, but from my understanding you can pay for a premium version which does not have ads. One other thing to note is that you do need cell service or Wi-Fi for this app to work because it scans your photo and analyzes it against its database to determine the identification of the plant in your photo.

Invasive Species: Spotted Lanternfly

The spotted lanternfly is the first organism that comes to my mind when I hear the term "invasive species." This insect has exploded in population over the last 5 years in southeastern Pennsylvania, where both the Saunders Woods Preserve and I reside. The nymphs emerge around June, and they reach their full adult stage in August. With no predators eager to eat these colorful and ubiquitous invaders, they have run rampant here and are spreading to one state after another. In this slide show I go through how to identify the insect at each stage, its habitat range and preferences, the advantages it has enabling it to thrive as an invasive species, the threats it poses, and ways to reduce their outbreak.

Web Soil Survey

As the foundation of any land-based ecosystem, soil is of paramount importance. The amount of nutrients and moisture in soil determines what and how many microbes, fungi, and plants will be present to help facilitate crucial processes such as decomposition and the carbon cycle, as well as the nitrogen and phosphorous cycles. A nutrient rich soil in an area with sufficient precipitation can support lush and diverse arrays of vegetation, such as a rain forest, which then in turn can support a variety of organisms up the food chain from insects, fish and birds to reptiles and mammals. Without soil, life in nature becomes much harder to survive. With this in mind, let's take a look at the USDA’s Web Soil Survey Website. 

Climate & Weather Resources

Climate and weather are fundamental parts of understanding any environment or ecosystem. They dictate what types of biomes can be where based on annual temperatures and precipitation. With this in mind, when studying an area such as Saunders Woods Preserve, it is important to establish a few different information sources on what the climate and weather patterns of this area are in order to obtain a more complete understanding of the area and how it may have changed or will change over time. An important differentiation to keep in mind is that climate means the overall temperature and precipitation patterns over many years, while weather relates to the day to day patterns. These terms also include factors such as wind, cloud cover, atmospheric pressures, and air quality. Being that Saunders is a relatively small size for a nature preserve at 25 acres of land, researching the climate of the greater surrounding area such as the nearest towns of Gladwyne (1 mile away), Bryn Mawr (2 miles away), or even Philadelphia (~10 miles away) will be sufficient ways to learn about its climate.

Mapping Tools

To gain understanding of mapping tools, I used Google MyMaps to mark up this map of Saunders Woods Preserve.

Ecology Overview Slideshow

Here is a slideshow serving as an overview of ecological and evolutionary biology concepts:

Saunders Woods Preserve

As my study area for this course I have chosen the Saunders Woods Preserve, a 25 acre preserve consisting of mainly hilly and wooded area, 3 miles of trails, a meadow at the top of the hill and a creek running through the bottom. It is managed by Natural Lands, a non profit conservation organization focused on preserving natural areas in southeast Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Located in the suburbs west of Philadelphia, it serves as an ecological island for many species of birds, mammals, and some amphibians and reptiles.

Brief Introduction & The Definition and Importance of Biodiversity

Hey there, I’m Wes Pew, a graduate student in Natural Resources at Virginia Tech. I have a background in a few different areas of biology, so that is the perspective I have in mind here. This blog is for my Biodiversity Stewardship Course, and I will be using the Saunders Woods Preserve as a focal point of my studies. I have very limited experience with blogs so excuse the bare bones structure, but hopefully both you and I will learn some new things through this experience.

To define biodiversity in a couple sentences, here is my two-part definition: 

(1) (noun) Biodiversity is a measure of species richness in a given area or ecosystem. (2) (noun) It can also be used as a word to collectively address/describe all organisms in an area or ecosystem. 

To provide examples for each usage: 

1. This forest has high biodiversity, or in other words high number of different species present. 
2. The biodiversity in this area depends on high amounts of rain.