Information about the Natural History of Prince William Sound Alaska. Posts will be made by students enrolled in Bio 104 (Natural History of Alaska) at Prince William Sound Community College in Valdez, Alaska.
The Alaska Violet is not really limited to Alaska, even though the name is Alaska Violet. This flower grown anywhere from the western North America, from Alaska to Oregon, and even East Asia The Alaska Violet is a perennial flower that does not usually grow more then 10 cm tall. This flower will grow in late May and June. The Alaska Violet likes to grow in wet places, such as marshes, bogs and even swamps. The soil needs to be well-drained, and be dense clay, light sand or a loamy soil to grow good.
Time: 12:00-3:00 Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 Place: Mineral Creek Beach/ Shoup Bay Trail Temperature: 4o’s (maybe 50’s) Climate: Mostly cloudy, Very breeze, and partly sunny
Plants I discovered on the trip:
Chocolate Lilly Rock Weed Idotea Dune Grass Sitka Valerian Large Leaf Avens Wild Geranium Cow Parsnip Nagoonberry Wild Lily of the valley Elderberry Dogwood Bunchberry Bog Candle Shooting Star Star Flower Northern Yarrow Beach Pea Coastal Paintbrush Sedge Blue Flag Wild Celery Alaska Violet Corn Lilly Tiny Mushroom
Insects/others we seen on trip:
Dogs Spider Mite Moth Fly Tons of Mosquito Crabs (dead) Snail Bee Lots of little holes from Voles
I was cold on this trip, I guess next time I will have dress warmer then I did. It was fun walking along the beach looking at all kids of different thing such as the list above says. We did see a lot of things on this trip, but a lot of it was something that we have already seen. But now it was all blooming which was pretty cool, because every flower we seen were beautiful. Next time I hope we see more new and better things.
On Wednesday June 10th our class was out Shoop Bay trail, a beautiful day it 67 degrees above with a 15 knot wind and heavy cloud cover We made to the beach just in time as the tide was on its way in. Out on the flats attached to rocks at the base was Rock Weed (Fucus disticus) I found this brown algae fascinating, brown yellow in color with a surface that felt like rubber with many air filled vessels to keep it afloat during high tide. Rock weed is a member of the Clomalveolata kingdom. Also on the flats were Idota, it was segmented and green in color, From head to end the the Idota was approximately 3 cm in length. The flats mud was made of glacial silt thus not supporting the filter marine life. Back on shore grew Dune grass (Elymus mollis) it had long blades green in color. This grass is resistant to the salt from ocean spray.
I saw a Lady Fern (Athyrium filix femina), Crane's Bill (Geranium erianthum) and a Hose tail (Equisetum arvense).
Member of the rodent family.One of the smallest mammals.
Mouse like appearance; 4-24 inches long from its head to the tip of the tail. Color of fur can be brown, gray, reddish brown or a combination.
Habitat:North America & Eurasia.Voles can be found throughout Alaska, living in all habitats with the exception of glaciers & rocks.
Prey:Grass, seeds, berries, insects, roots, flowers. If a vole gets caught in a trap, other voles will feed on the trapped vole.
Predators:Weasels, Foxes, Coyotes, Wolves, Owls, Eagles, Seagulls, Hawks, Great Blue Heron, Martens, Wolverines, Domestic Cats, Dogs, Black Bears, Voles.According to Ian Van Tets, assistant professor of biology at UAA, “Anything predatory will take them opportunistically.”“Voles are that fundamental step between plant energy and nutrition and carnivore energy and nutrition.” said Van Tets.
Voles carry many parasites including fleas, mites, ticks, round worms and tape worms. Voles also carry Giardia, which can infect humans.
The two main types of voles are red-backed voles ( Myodes Rutilus) and meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus). Red-backed voles live in the forest and can be solitary or live in a small group. The red-backed vole is one of the most common species of voles in Alaska. Meadow voles live in large colonies and like open spaces such as meadows and tundra. Voles are rarely seen but many recognize their burrows, which is where they store food and make nests.Voles are active year round and do not hibernate.In the winter months the will make runways under the snow and feed on grass. Climate change does not affect them.
Voles live for one year. Breeding begins late in the winter and can continue through August. Voles have as many as six litters per year. The gestation period is about 21 days.4-8 young are born bind with no fur; they are weaned at two weeks.At 3-6 weeks voles are mature and ready to start breeding.
Voles are listed as unclassified game in Alaska. There is no hunting season or limit for them.The majority of people consider voles to be pest that should be exterminated. They are a very important part of our ecosystem.One of the benefits to Alaskans is that the vole is prey to a large number of animals which Alaskans and tourist enjoy watching.
Resources:
Voles in Alaska Small but Mighty Important
By Elizabeth Manning
Cloudy, the temperature was around 60 degrees on the trail. It was windy along the beach with a temperature between 45-50 degrees.
Plants:
Dune Grass
Red Alder
Raspberry
Chocolate Lilly
Baby’s Breath
Beach Greens
Sea Lettuce
Lady Fern
Alaska Violet
Crow Parsnip
Wild Celery
Captive Valarian
Nagoon Berry
Corn Lilly
Wild Lilly Of The Valley
Elder Berry
Skunk Cabbage
Death Camas
Bog Candle
Sedge
Horse Tail
Red Fescue
Shooting Stars
Bracken Fern
Northern Yarrow
Beach Pea
Yellow Paintbrush
Cottonwood
Dandelions
A seed pod from an Iris.
Rockweed
Lichen
Fungus:
Small Mushrooms
Dried Shelf Mushroom
Isopod:
Idotea
Decapod Crustacean:
Crab
Mollusc:
Snail
Blue Muscle (Bay Muscle)
Insects:
Bee
Mosquito
Gnats
Fly
Moth
Mites:
Spider Mite
Mammals:
Humans
Dogs
Vole running along the creek.
Tunnels, which are evidence of voles & mice.
This field trip came with a bonus; we got some exercise! We walked about 1 mile down Shoup Bay trail to the path which leads to the beach. Once on the beach, we walked out as far as we could to identify the organisms living in the water. We identified rockweed & few of the creatures that live around it, when the tide started coming in quickly. We explored the beach, turning over rocks & sticks to see if anything was living underneath. We found, a couple dead crabs, a shelf mushroom that had dried out & snail tracks. It was windy & cool on the beach so we headed back to the trail. As we walked up the trail the wind died down & you could feel the temperature rise.
We made couple stops along the trail to identify plants. We saw several “full grown” red alders. It’s amazing when you think about how the little sapling we saw in the bog last week grows into a big tree. As we were walking up the trail we stopped at the meadow, where we came across a few hikers & their dogs. They had two chows & a cocker spaniel with them. In the meadow I quickly identified red fescue, the years working for a lawn care company helped with that. I have to say, that I actually enjoy sitting on the ground identifying plants.
As we headed back toward the trail head, we stopped to identify a few more things & got a good look at a huge cottonwood tree, with lichens on it. I found this field trip to be very relaxing & hope everyone else did as well.
the presentation i thought was well put together. i learned allot about the animals that migrated to Alaska from the beringia land Brig, which was 5 miles wide an there since 1.8 million years ago to 10 million years later,wich is named after the danish explorer Vitus. I never knew that Alaska was a dry land an now look at it its wet an green an beautiful..
some of the things i learned are about the plants that were here back then, like the grass, sage, trees like tamaracks an spruces, an fewer lakes an streams every thing was really limited only about 10% of the state of Alaska was covered by plants an 30 % by ice... some of the animals are i learned about was camels, ground sloths, horses, stepp bison. giant beaver's woolly mammoths, wrangle island dwarf mammoth, mastodon, dire wolf,saber tooth cat: smildon Californians, American lion, giant short faced cave bear.... most of the animals i named except the wrangle island dwarf mammoth is 2 or 3 time bigger than the actual animals that we have now a days... even though they were bigger they had a smaller brain size...
these animals that i have mentioned have all been discovered in the state of Alaska... the presentation lasted about 35- 45 minuets, an was very educational, an allen had brougth some of the bones that were replicated an orginal to the presentation... i enjoyed it very much
The peat moss (Sphagnum) in the Mineral Creek bog in a member of the Sphagnaceae family. The moss was growing on top of a bog, a very wet environment. The moss had tiny leaves growing together tightly like a carpet almost as if it were woven. To the touch it was slightly damp, also the smell was very Earthly. This picture was shot off of the goat trail back in april.
Peat moss is used in many ways including soil additive, fuel and a key ingredient in mushroom (mycelium) production.
Description:Bog Rosemary is a small shrub like plant that is related to Rhododendrons and Azaleas plants but these two plants grow alot in moist soils ,or in peat moss, bogs
Normal common name of plant:Bog Rosemary Botanical Name: Andromeda type of plant evergreen shrub grows fairly fast
Soil Preference:will grow in wet lands an moist sandy coils with hp..
needs sun from moderate to little light
diffrent types of Rosemary:
blue ice Rosemary
description of plant: pink colored flower heads are bell shaped. can be blue or purplish color... Bloom Color: Pink
Bloom Time: May
Foliage Color: Blue/green
Height: 12-24
Spread: 24-36" this plant is used to slow down pulse, lower blood pressure, lack of coordination...
