Mapping Change in California's Mountains with Ms. Morales

I Didn't Know THAT Was There!

2009-10-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

From almost being attacked by a swarm of bees while collecting plants, seeing endangered Bighorn Sheep behind our research center, wolf spiders, spiny desert lizards, roadrunners, quail, scorpions, eating delicious food, going on hikes that lasted several hours at a time, to learning more about plants, this week has been quite an adventure!

I do have to say that I really enjoyed holding Thursday's web conference with you all. That was a lot of fun! I didn't realize how much I miss you!

Since the web conference was held on Thursday, we didn't collect any plants. Instead, we went on a three mile hike into a place called Deep Canyon, which is right behind the research center. We were on the hunt for California's ONLY native palm tree. What does it mean when a plant is native?

We also encountered a skeleton of a coyote on the trail!

Friday was our last day to collecting flowering plants. We hiked just over six miles on the Cahuilla Trail. The Cahuilla are the Native Americans of the San Jacinto Mountains area. In the other blog posts, I mentioned that the weather was cool and misty. Not on this day! It was HOT on the Cahuilla Trail! However, the weather did not discourage us from doing our work.

I was surprised by our plant findings. From afar the plants seemed so ordinary. However, when I got close up (Oh, did I mention that on this day I was responsible for taking close up pictures of the flowering plants?) I was so amazed by the flowers' details! They were so beautiful! Here it is, we could be hiking along a trail never noticing the beauty around us. It's surprising what amazing things we might find if we only take the time to notice.

The collecting of plants is over for now, however, the process of gathering data and drawing conclusions is ongoing. Remember when I said that the Scientific Method is a process? It indeed is a never ending process. We will be keeping in touch with the scientist and the project to find out what the findings are.

Plant Hunting Along Spitler Trail in the San Jacinto Mountains

2009-10-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

Today we hiked over 7 miles into the San Jacinto Mountains, about 5,800 feet above sea level.

Again, we were collecting vascular plants. Has anyone figured out what vascular plants are? What does that mean?

It's amazing how the terrain changed. At first we were in t-shirts down at the valley floor, but as we drove up the mountains, the weather was cold and misty and had to put on layers of clothing. Even so, the structure of the plants changed as well. Some of the plants we encountered at lower elevations were also found at higher elevations. However, the plants' structures were slightly different. For example, we encountered a flower bush that was pretty tall at a lower elevation but was shorter at a higher elevation. Why do you think this is the case? Hmmm...try to answer this question and earn bonus points!

Collecting in Cold Weather...Brrr!!!

2009-10-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday and unexpectedly windy and cold!
This outing was very different from yesterday, where
the weather was warm.

This time, we collected samples of plants in Idyllwild.
The earth was damp, the air cold, and the wind was blowing.
This was a surprise since I thought we would be collecting only
from the desert floor.

Why do you think we would be collecting plant samples from the desert
all the way up in the mountains? (Please answer)

Many of the plants that have been collected are from the desert. What kinds
of plants would you expect to find in the desert?

Why would it be important to collect plants from the desert?

Collecting Vascular Plants in the Santa Rosa Mountains

2009-10-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

It is only Monday, but my time here in the Santa Rosa San Jacinto Mountains National Monument (SRSJMNM) has been full of activity!

Today, we hiked over 3 miles into the Santa Rosa Mountains collecting different desert vascular plants that are to be included in the U.S. National Herbarium.

The botanist in charge of this project, Dr. Russell, had a list of specimens he wanted to collect for the herbarium. As we hiked along the trail we occasionally stopped to take many pictures of the specimens we were collecting. Next, we clipped samples of the specimens that later we are going to press.

Your task is to answer the following questions into page 52 of your Science Interactive Notebook:

1. You are learning about vascular plants. Why do you think I'm helping to collect vascular plants?

2. What is a botanist? What does he/she do?

3. What do I mean by specimen? Why am I calling what we are collecting "specimens"?

4. What do you think an herbarium is? Break it down into parts and try to figure out what it means.

5. Why do you think it would be important to collect plants and place them into an herbarium?

Researching In the Desert

2009-10-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

While I am gone, you will be writing me messages on this blog. All you have to do is click on "comment" and leave me a message! It's that simple!
I will expect you to write me at least ONCE next week to receive class credit. To test this out, write me a message now!

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2009-09-17T11:34:00.001-07:00

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