Diario de zoozannah

Today,
I walked around the UC Berkeley campus in search of some plants and animals that previous students have reported on iNaturalist last semester. I was able to find a hand full of the same types of observations found before on campus. Attached to this article are 11 observations that I tried to replicate from the pervious semesters findings. I am still waiting on community IDs for these, and will go back in and fill out the names and tags.

This spring break I was one of a rare population of students who decided to get away to exotic Western Pennsylvania, in Pittsburgh. While I was there, I was in the company of some folks who work for Carnegie Mellon. We mostly stayed indoors because the weather was not very welcoming. Also while I was there, I was able to make some good connections for my future, and will be living there and shadowing for professional experience in the summer 2014. I had a great time on a few sight seeing trips in the car, ate some delicious food from the Strip District area, and played a few video games with my new summer roommie. Since the weather was as the yinzers refer to as frozen rain, which is different then snow, we didnt get a chance to do a mini-bioblitz.

After arriving back home in the bay, I found that someone had found a Bristly ox-tongue in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. On my walk from campus to home, I often see these. It might just look like a random weed. I thought it was boring, too, until I looked it up. Apparently, it's used as an antihelminthic drug, which is used to get parasitic worms out of the body. Gross! But, it's awesome.

(Link to observation that inspired me-- http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/603687 )

On my Trip to the Briones Regional Park, I saw Mugwort. This plant has history recorded dating back to medieval Europe and as early as 3 BCE in China. The plant is used as food and medicine. It's even been used by native Americans; they burn Mugwort to purify the spiritual and physical environment. The leaves of the plant are used in meat rubs for flavor. On WebMD, the roots of Mugwort are listed as a 'tonic' for energy when brewed in a tea. Mugwort is also listed as a antidepressant and is supposed to help women during their menstrual cycle, according to the WebMD article. On the American Cancer Society website, Mugwort is listed as an agent that helps in gastrointestinal problems and might help in with sorts of cancer. Over all, it's really neat to have seen an ancient plant that has so many cool implications casually growing as a weed.

sources:
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-123-MUGWORT.aspx?activeIngredientId=123&activeIngredientName=MUGWORT

http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/herbsvitaminsandminerals/mugwort

This weekend I went to the Briones Regional Park and observed several species of plants and a few other creatures. Briones Regional Park is a hilly grassland with a valleys and a creek. One observation was the invasive species Yellow Starthistle, a dicot with many pedals, that grows thorns to catch on animals in order to spread, or to deter most animals from eating it. Another flower I saw was the Milkmaid a dicot with four white pedals. A third dicot I observed was the Milk Thistle, a thorny flowering plant with many purple pedals. Of the 10+ observations that I made, many of them were flowering plants and the majority of the plant observations were dicots.

This Saturday I visited the Berkeley Marina and saw a bunch of cool plants and creatures. On this trip, I visited two different ecosystems:

Salt Marsh - We saw many plants, some ladybugs, and spiders. One note worthy creature we saw was a red-eye medusa jelly fish. We supposed it was in the puddle because perhaps a bird picked it up and dropped it there. The plants in the salt marsh have adapted to survive in areas with low soil oxygen content because they are frequently covered in water.

Grassland - In the grassland we saw more plants, particularly some interesting flowering plants like the beautiful California Poppy. Plans in the grassland have adapted to have extensive root systems so that animals cant pull the plant out of the earth easily, which allows them to survive for longer.

On my way to class, I was delighted to see a fox squirrel jumping about. It reminded me of a funny squirrel joke made by Eddy Izzard (if you dont know what I'm talking about, I highly recommend you watch his skit Dressed to Kill). The squirrel was cute, and I'm happy to see many of this animal taxa, species, running around campus freely. After my class, I noticed this baby tree, which I am pretty sure is a natural occurrence because it looked like a weed growing up near the side walk path. I think this baby tree is likely from seeds spread from a near by tree from it's plant taxa, tree friends. When I got home, I noticed that my roommate had a pile of closed tupperware with leftover scraps from his dinners laying around on his side of the room. I figured this was a great opportunity for a scientific observation, so I bravely opened on of the smelly containers to discover some mold growing on his leftover quinoa. Normally, he's a really fun guy; but I should inform him that the fungi situation growing in his leftovers isn't attractive, unless you're looking for science observation.