5/5/08

Today we went outside for the first time to the stream. The stream is located much further down the mountain side than out first plot was. Maybe this will have an affect on the temperature. We plotted out our plot right in front of a dam. There is a lot of life and interesting things in our plot. There are many smooth rocks and already I have almost fallen in several times. On the rocks is a lot of moss. This habitat must be perfect for moss to grow in. I know that moss needs water to reproduce. Much of the moss looks like the moss we had up in our old plot.
The first thing that came to my mind was to look for crayfish. We found several. Our first crayfish was about 2.5 to 3 inches long. He was very big and moved backwards like all of the other crayfish of the world. He was tan and had two big claws. Our next two were about the same size. One was about 2 inches long and the other was about 1.5 inches long. Both were brown and had 2 claws. The next crayfish was a redish color. I have no clue what type of crayfish this one was, but I am sure he is int he same family as the other ones.
We tested the water temperature next and it was 14.5 degrees Celsius.
The next animal we found in our plot was a chubby. There were several chubbies in our plot. They swam very quickly between our plot and blake's plot.
We then found a really crazy Helgermit. Eric found him under a rock. I was very surprised to see one of those animals. he had a black head and pincers. There was no way I was holding that.
The water feels very cold to the hand. I thought it would be much warmer due to the weather and how much sunlight it gets. In the begining of the class you told us how big the stream used to be and the reason that it has changed is because of the logging that the land's owner has done to the area. You can see the plastic and how much was taken out of the area just surrounding the stream. END OF DAY.