Biotic Community: Lower Colorado River: Sonoran Desert

The name of my biotic community is the Lower Colorado River Subdivision of the Sonoran Desert. It is located specifically downtown Phoenix area but covers a much wider area all together. This community is dominated by low shrubs, primarily creosote bush (L. tridentate) and white bursage (Ambrosia dumosa).  These shrubs don’t require much water to survive but are most common by drainage ways. These plants can live up to two years without water at all. The plants have very shallow roots to intercept any water that falls on the soil. 

Wildlife Corridor Lab

 

 Proposed Wildlife Corridors over Interstate 40 in Coconino County.

Step 1: The area I choose to design my wildlife corridor is located in Northern AZ in Coconino County. The two habitats that my corridor will be reconnecting is the northern and southern part of Coconino County that is divided by Interstate 40.  Interstate 40 divides the southern area of Coconino County and runs directly through flagstaff causing habitat fragmentation. The spatial area of Coconino County consists of 1.8 million acres and is part of the United States National Forest. The temporal idea of Coconino County was originally established as the “San Francisco Mountains National Reserve”  was later designated a U.S. National forest in 1908 when the reserve merged with land from surrounding forests creating what we know as Coconino County. Coconino County has a diversity of abiotic features like: deserts, ponderosa pine forests, mesas, flatlands, alpine tundra, and ancient volcanic peaks. The edge effect of Interstate 40 is putting many wildlife animals life at risk due to heavy traffic patterns as this one of two Interstates in Arizona, the other being Interstate 10. The topography and elevation ranges anywhere from 2,600 feet to 12,633 feet; the lowest point being the Verde River and the highest point of Humphreys Peak, both which are natural features in that county but one amazing natural feature in that county is Mormon Lake; the largest natural lake in the state of Arizona. Two human imposed features of Coconino County are Lowell Observatory located near Anderson Mesa and at the base of Anderson Mesa are two man made reservoirs that are known as Upper Lake Mary and Lower Lake Mary.

Step 2: Although Coconino County is the home to over a dozen species. The one I choose for my wildlife corridor is Elk or Cervus canadensis, which is largest member of the deer family and one of the largest mammals in North America.  Elk there can weigh up to 1,200 pounds. But normally range anywhere from 600 to 800 lbs.

Step 3: The core habitat of Elk inhabit the forested areas of Coconino County at higher altitudes where there is a good water source that is nearby. They prefer to be at higher elevations anywhere from 7,000 feet to 10,000 feet during the summer months. During the winter however they migrate to lower elevations of Coconino County because the snow forces then to seek lower ground.  Because of Interstate 40 it causes geographic isolation for elk and other wildlife that migrate south during the winter months. Current condition of Interstate 40 is a death zone for elk and people who travel on this roadway. There are many accidents due to Elk crossings and can be fatal for both the travelers and the elk. The corridor would be designed not only for the safety and protection of the species but also the protection of the traveler due to the fact that hitting an elk can cause a fatal accident and does so each year often. Possible future conditions that we face are the increase of population in the flagstaff and surrounding areas and those that travel on Interstate 40. With increased travel there is a higher percentage of accidents due to elk crossing. The corridors along Interstate 40 would lower the chances of accidents and deaths of both travelers and elk.

Step 4: The Corridors would be constructed over designated areas of Interstate 40 in populated areas that elk migrate. Engineers and researchers would practice adaptive management prior to construction. The elks would then be tagged with a GPS monitoring tag that can be tracked on a map that shows frequent areas that they migrate or travel often. The Corridors would be varied widths according to how much each path is travelled and how many elk use that path. The lower number of elks that use any specific path would narrow the corridor. The corridors would range anywhere the width of a two lane road, about 30ft wide, to the middle range width of a six lane highway which can be 90ft wide, to the largest corridor that would be nearly 200ft wide. This is all based of tracking the most used paths of travel. The goal is to make the species comfortable to cross over the corridor without being disturbed by oncoming traffic. The Corridors would be built directly over the Interstate and would allow the elk to travel over the traffic. The corridor would be constructed like any over pass would be except the landscape (dirt, rocks, and plants) would be used in place for the surface covering. There would also be higher edged walls about 6ft -10ft tall to prevent animals from jumping onto the interstate below. The larger corridors would have dim lighting on the underside of it for safety as cars travel through the underpass without causing light pollution in their natural environment.  There would also be a fence that leads up to the entrance/exit of each side of the corridor to lead the animal to the corridor itself and would be connected to existing fences that travel along Interstate 40. The corridors would be maintained if and serviced often to make sure that dirt and vegetation is still present after large storms where any water may wash out dirt and plants. Along the roadside there would be signs installed that warns the driver of any elk crossing and the corridor itself. The speed itself would not be changed due to the fact that many freight trucks travel on this interstate; which would potentially irritate them having to slow down and then try to regain speed, especially at higher elevations.

Step 5: These proposed corridors would allow for geographic isolation and safe travel for the elk population as they migrate to and from the northern and southern regions, in addition to preventing the impediments of a potential decreasing population, promoting population or maintain current population. Maintaining the current population would increase the birth rate of these species by decreasing the loss of elk to which can reproduce, but would have no effect on inbreeding of the species. The mitigation of the corridors would be in the effort to keep the species safer for the species and travelers on Interstate 40 lowering the risk of fatal accidents and death the species. The corridors will accommodate the elk in many ways but the two that would be the most important is that due to the travel patterns researched that the elk travel, the path will seem familiar to them and make it a comfortable area to travel across and because of the wide areas of more traveled areas, the elk would not be too cramped while migrating together.

Step 6: Map of Corridor. The corridors will be designed to match the area it is built. Construction of the corridor will be mostly made from steel and concrete. 

Citation

Design Corridor Render. Digital image. No Title. N.p., n.d. 17 Oct. 2014 Web. <https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fz0ZmhSyMVavU6e472fKYUyG2MQB_PKvNSIaR2fhD0bVuh3U3N1AljISSm-GVy_7tyUhhiOIqI6yN7F1h5cqhSvLGStKvXmyaj3HxE8ewEZwNDUFO4Vsoy7Ej_tpQckwnz1McW9SX95w/s1600/wildlife+corridor+1.png>.

Digital image. Elk Photo. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014. <http://www.vallescaldera.gov/comevisit/elk/images/elk_running.jpg>.

Projecting Bacterial Growth

1. Approximately when was the bottle half full? 12pm
2.  How much closer? 11:59
3. If you were one of the bacteria, when do you suppose you’d start to worry about overcrowding? Approximately at a quarter to halfway full.
4. Would that leave you enough time to do anything about it? Not if it continued to grow exponentially it wouldn’t.
5. Did anything surprise you about these two parts? If so, what? I was surprised at how fast the bacteria grew. I initially guessed the time wrong because I didn’t expect it to grow so quickly.
6. Why do you think people might have trouble or resistance to understanding exponential growth? I think because in the beginning the growth difference doesn’t seem like it multiplies so quickly. Then all of the sudden it starts and it grows “exponentially” !
7. Whenever you hear that something is growing by some percentage, or that something is growing steadily, what rule should you remember in order to understand the rate of growth? Explain this rule. The rule of 70. 70 divided by the percentage of growth gives the amount of time it would take for the amount to double.
8. “When our consumption of a resource (energy, for instance) grows steadily, the doubling time takes on an even scarier meaning.” What is that scarier meaning? We use up more of the resources than we ever have before.
9. “…if we keep increasing our energy consumption like this, we’ll use more energy in the next 25 years than we’ve produced in all of history up till now.”
10. “There are those who say we don’t need to worry about running out of oil, because there’s still lots of oil left in the ground. Experts believe that over the past 150 years we have used up about half the total oil on Earth. In other words, our oil supply “bottle” is still half full.” But if we keep doubling our population, what will happen? We will use up all of the oil and there will not be any let.

Measurements of Biodiversity, Field Methods

Procedure:

1.       Visit your natural area and choose a site in which you can situate a 4-meter by 4-meter quadrant.

2.       Form your quadrant by tying the ends of your string together and forming it into a 4-meter by  4-meter square over your area. Take a photo.

3.       Subdivide the quadrant in to 16 equally sized squares. To do so, line up stones, lay down more string, place flags of paper or cloth, or other markers to make these boundaries like these.

Take a photo of this arrangement.

4.       Use the random number generator to generate 16 numbers. 06 06 16 07 08 11 08 01

5.       Select the first eight numbers to designate the squares in your quadrat you will sample. 

6.       In each of these randomly selected squares, count and record the number of different kinds of species (species richness) the string intersects. Do not count the number of individuals of each species.

Square 1	2 Species
Square 6	3 Species
Square 7	4 Species
Square 8	3 Species
Square 11	2 Species
Square 16	1 Species

How can you determine the different species? Give them a common name you invent (or use one you know) and make sketches, so you can keep track of what you find.

I determined the different species by each unique color in the square.

7.       Note any dispersal patterns. RANDOM DISPERSAL PATTERNS

8.       Record these data in a table like this:   SEE CHART ABOVE

9.       Place a flag or other marker on the bottom left and the top right corners of the quadrant. Take a photo.

10.   Untie the knot in the string.

11.   Secure the string at the bottom left corner and extend the string through the top right corner and beyond (about 16 meters total). Take a photo. 

12.   At each point where a plant intersects (where it touches, for trees where its shadow falls) this line, record the species name (made up or otherwise).

13.   Count and record the number of different kinds of species (species richness) the string intersects. Do not count the number of individuals of each species.  

14.   Record these data as total number of species along transect. 5 different Species along the line from left to right

15.   Note any dispersal patterns. RANDOM DISPERSAL PATTERNS

16.   Analysis questions.

a.       This exercise did not require random sampling to choose your site. State how you chose your site, and explain any biases you discovered in yourself while doing so. I chose my site as a flower garden because I knew that counting the different colors as the species would make it the easiest to identify.

b.      Describe the differences in the number of species using each method. Which one seems to “capture” the scene the best? The Bright colors of the flowers capture the scene the best.

c.       If you discovered any dispersal patterns, describe them. The most common pattern I discovered was Random dispersal.

d.      Discuss what you would change for either method to determine a more accurate species count. I would make the area much smaller and focus more on one species at a time in a more accurate detailed scale.