ESC 401 Spring

Introduction
Purpose of your journal
Components of your journal.
1. Table of Contents
2. Field trip homework
3. Goals of field trip including personal objectives
4. Field trip notes
  - Weather, date, location
  - Topographic information (slope, aspect, elevation)
  - Understory and overstory species descriptions
  - Stand/Ecosystem Descriptions
  - Disturbances and stresses
  - Soils/geology
5. Personal Progress/Reflections
References

Introduction: One of the requirements for this course is maintaining a journal. Journal-keeping probably is second nature for some of you and you should have no trouble adapting your existing practices for this class. However, for many of you, this will be a new exercise and I encourage you to have me check your work occasionally to make sure you're on track.

These guidelines will help you prepare a useful journal of your studies of three different ecological situations this quarter. Within these broad guidelines, you are free to devise and use whatever system works best for you, as long as it is accurate, detailed, orderly, and permanent. If you would like to use a very formal system, you might want to look into the Grinnell system (described in great detail in The Naturalist's Field Journal by Steven G. Herman, published by Buteo Books, 1986). However, I am not requiring that anyone rigorously follow any particular system. Use what's best for you and, if you have any questions, come see me and I'll be glad to go over it with you.

Purpose of Your Journal: The principal purposes of your journal are to help you describe and document what you have seen or collected in the field and to describe exactly where you observed or collected it, and to track your progress in meeting your objectives for this series of field trips. Think of your journal as the foundation for a future article in Pacific Northwest Magazine or a book. You need not write down everything, just sufficient detail to remind you of what you saw, the situation, the setting. Notes like these were what enable Darwin to write his book. Linking purposes and objectives as well as the questions posed in the lecture notes section are also important. Illustrates are from Audrie Rector's journal.

Components of Your Journal: I recommend that your journal include:

A field notebook
An organized set of tree and plant community descriptions (your "tree book")
Your course objectives and personal progress notes

These can be maintained as one, two, or three documents.

1) Field notebook. Your field notes should be written directly into a rite-in-the-rain small (for the wet days) or the larger 9.75 x 7.5 inch marble cover-50 sheets notebook using a sufficiently dark pencil or ink (black is preferable as it photocopies better; ink would likely be required if you were doing a journal for EPA or WA State Dept of Ecology, a consulting firm because of the potential legal ramifications of the information in the journal; for class pencil is fine). The rite-in-the rain field notebook should fit snugly in one of your pockets (3-3/4" x 6" works well in a normal shirt pocket) so that it doesn't fall out as you scramble through the salal and huckleberry. A larger format notebook can also be made to work, but has distinct disadvantages. Twenty-pound paper with 1/4" ruling and bound along the narrow dimension is recommended. Stitch-bound books are often more convenient than wire-wound types as they are less likely to get caught each time you remove or replace them in your pocket. A technical pen (such as the Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph'), or one of the cheaper "use-and-throw-away" approximations (such as the Micron Pigma'), is preferable to ballpoint pens, as they tend to smear easily. If you opt for the technical pen, be prepared to be diligent in its maintenance. However, since it is often so wet when you are in the field, a pencil may be the only thing that works. Be prepared, however, to transform you pencil written notes, particularly if they are difficult to read or they are beginning to fade.
Initial notes in the 9.75 x 7.5 inch marble cover-50 sheets notebook might include your personal goals, a table of contents, the goals and homework for each field trip, if the day in the field is dry then continue taking notes in this notebook otherwise switch to the smaller, rite-in-the-rain notebook and then transfer the information.

Your field notes should include information such as the following:

Date

Specific location of the observation or sampling area (keyed to as permanent landmarks as possible). Directions for finding the site again are also valuable.

Elevation (from altimeter or topographic map)

Aspect (from compass), percent slope (from clinometer), landform type, and topographic position (lower, middle, upper slope, bench, ridge, valley)

Surrounding vegetation type and a list of the major woody plants

Understory plant species and other organisms such as mosses, lichens, and fungi to the extent you recognize them

Soil type

Current weather conditions (particularly temperature and humidity)

Other observations such as presence of ecotones with other vegetation types or evidence of fire, grazing, windthrow, or other disturbance

Specific course or field trip objectives

You probably will not know many of the organisms you see and may not know exactly how to go about measuring slopes or describing soil types. DON"T LET THAT DETER YOU! Practice looking at things closely and carefully and then describe them in whatever way you can. As you gain experience this will become easier and easier to do. Trust me.

During our field trips, you will be expected to identify examples of the more important forest trees in the areas we visit. You should record in your field notebook each species of tree you identify and the characteristics you observed that enabled you to identify it. After you are able to identify a species by sight, you need only record its presence and whatever ecological observations you make about it.

2) Tree descriptions. You might want to compile and retain descriptions of trees that you did not know when you started the class. These could be done in your field notebook or, alternatively, in a three-ring binder to allow you flexibility in organizing the entries (e.g., by species, date, or location). Use "biology/botany" paper or good-quality drawing paper, 8-1/2" x 11", or 5-1/2" x 8-1/2". For most of you, it probably will be best to use pencil for your sketches; this will allow you to make improvements without starting over. Use good quality drawing pencils of H or 2H hardness. Keep them sharp with a small sharpener or pocketknife and sandpaper, and have a soft gum eraser available. After you return from the field, you may want to color your pencil sketches with colored pencils or watercolors, or ink them. However, many of us do not draw well so other mechanisms should also work. These include good written descriptions, prints from photographs, printouts from digital pictures. Below are some examples of these:

Shown above and to the right are three different ways of portraying skunk cabbage. It would be more than adequate to use words: Skunk cabbage, Lysichitum americanum, was noted in wet to moist areas during our field trip to Lake Tradition. It was first observed in the deciduous stand of red alder and black cottonwood and then again in the area where there were Sitka spruce and western hemlock trees. Skunk cabbage appears to be one of the first things in full "bloom." It has large green leaves, a flower that looks like a white corn cob with a yellow cup behind it. Drawings provided by Michael Dahlquist and Jennifer Chiafalo, photograph from Teresa Savelesky.

Descriptions could contain the following:

Your name

The date you prepared the description

The species name (including the author and common name if you choose)

The meaning and derivation of the scientific name

Illustrations (life-sized if possible) of leaves or a branchlet, flowers, cones or fruit, bark, and overall silhouette (note that not all of these may be appropriate or available for every species). Detailed drawings of leaves, etc. can be made after you return from the field if you collect a small sample.

Geographic distribution (going to Linda Brubaker's ESC 200 or the Oregon State University Web pages can help here).

Brief summary of ecologic occurrence (elevation, soil type preference, etc.)

A few key identification features

Obviously you will have to look up some of this information after you return from the field.

3) Stand/Ecosystem Descriptions. Similar to what you might consider at the tree (or shrub or individual plant) level. Remember, context is important.

Drawings provided by Allyss Dillon, Michael Dahlquist and Jennifer Chiafalo. In contrast to the drawing and description written above, left, Dawn Maurer chose to describe the soil using a written table.

Soil Horizon Depths Douglas-fir stand Depths Hardwood stand

Oi 1.5 to 3.5 0 to 1

Oe 0 to 1.5 Absent

AB 0 to -3 0 to -4.5

Bw1 - 3 to - 6 below - 4.5

Bw2 below - 6 inches

Soil in the Douglas-fir stand was very rocky (glacial outwash) and the texture was probably a sandy loam.

Soil in the hardwood stand was colluvial, had few if no rocks or stones, charcoal was present. Texture went from a loamy sand to a silty loam. The Bw horizon in the hardwood stand was rather deep and showed signs of mottling (period lack of oxygen).

Either technique worked well for me, the instructor.

4) Objectives and Personal Progress. It is important to me that each student is getting as much benefit from this class as possible. Because only you can judge whether that is happening or not, I encourage you to continually assess your learning in this class and whether it is meeting your objectives. Keeping a written journal is a good way to do this. At the beginning of the quarter, you should write down your reasons for being in this class and what you hope to get out of it. Then, as you progress through the quarter, you can refer back to that original entry and jot down notes about your accomplishments, experiences, and reactions as they relate to your objectives and expectations.

Especially important are things like conceptual breakthroughs (for instance, when what is meant by "phenology" finally became clear to you), succeeding at a particularly difficult task (making that first drawing that actually looks like the real tree, or keying out a particularly stubborn species), or recognizing links between your learning in this class and other aspects of your education. These notes also will help you with your faculty and self-evaluations at quarter's end and, more importantly, will aid in keeping your studies focused on your principal objectives.

If at any time you feel this class is not meeting your objectives come see me about it! Don't wait until the end of the quarter when it will too late for us to do anything about it.

Critical: Reflections (touched on under 4 above). This is really important part of any good journal.

5) References

Wunderlich, E.B. 1991. Botanical Illustration in Watercolor. Watson-Guptill Publ., NY. E. Miller Horticulture Library: QaK 98.24.W8

[College of Forest Resources]

[University of Washington]

CFR Template Version 0.2.0 APR-018-2003

ESRM 401, Spring 2010 Spring Comes to the Cascades Instructors: Tom Hinckley & Julie Combs

ESRM 401, Spring 2010
Spring Comes to the Cascades
Instructors: Tom Hinckley & Julie Combs