Tree Identification at Roger Williams Park

On Thursday, the Urban Naturalists ventured back to Roger Williams Park to check out some of the trees growing in the area. We tested out a new method for documenting our finds with an iPad app. called iNaturalist. We were able to record our various tree species we found in this app. and map them on a Google Map!

Some trees in our beautiful park

Taking in the sights!

Here, Luis was able to identify
a tree called a Sweet Gum!

Some Urban Naturalists show Miss Emily what they think
a tree is using a Tree ID Guide

One of our Urban Naturalists adds the information
about our tree find into our Biodiversity
database

Trees 101 - Parts of a Tree and Tree Identification

Biotic or Abiotic

Today, we learned about trees! We started off the day deciding whether trees were living (biotic) or non-living (abiotic) things. We did this by looking at seeds and considering their life cycle. After much careful consideration, we decided they are biotic. This is because they follow the 7 Characteristics of Life:

1. They are composed of cells
2. They have different levels of organization (they have things like tissues)
3. They use energy!
4. They respond to the environment
5. They grow (and die)
6. They reproduce (seeds!!!)
7. They adapt to their environment

Is a seed biotic or abiotic?

Our class discussion on whether plants are biotic or abiotic

Parts of a Tree

We decided to imitate the various parts of the tree by making a "Living Tree". Here, we broke down the various parts of the tree and acted each of the parts out:

Leaves: The leaves take in carbon dioxide, water and sunlight and make food for the tree...which is sugar!!!!

Bark: The bark is the armor that protects the tree from injury, insects and disease. The bark is the formed in the inner bark by the cambium and then is pushed out and dried out to make bark.

Roots: Located under the soil at the bottom of the tree. Roots are in charge of bringing water and nutrients from the soil all the way up through the trunk and into the branches and leaves.

Cambium: A thin layer of cells in the tree that forms the outer bark and branches or inner sapwood (also known as xylem).

Phloem: The system that brings sugar, hormones and enzymes from the leaves to the roots.

Xylem: The system that brings the water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves and branches.

Heartwood: The heartwood is the backbone of the tree. As new xylem is formed, the cambium pushes the older layers deep into the tree where they harden and form heartwood!

Tree Identification

We then hiked around the schoolyard to check out trees and see if we could identify them using ID guides.

Wahoo!!! Two Urban Naturalists
identified this as a Norway Maple!

Using her ID book, this Urban Naturalist
identified this oak tree!!!

We then talked about the tree and its root system. We discussed how a tree's roots sometimes extend 3x the length of the canopy! This brought up a good observation about the trees we plant along streets. Do trees like that have enough space to spread their roots out to take in healthy nutrients and water? The Urban Naturalists decided that this was probably not true. Street trees are usually confined to tiny plots of grass that doesn't give them much room to spread out. We decided it would be MUCH better to plant trees in schoolyards or in people's yards instead.

The tree in this photo would have roots that would extend all the way
to where the Urban Naturalist is standing in this photo! 

There's a Fungus Among Us!

Today, we dug into the world of fungus! As we do with all our organisms, we decided to break down its classification in order to better understand why it's called a fungus.

Is it Biotic or Abiotic?

We discussed whether fungus is biotic or abiotic? Here was our list we compiled:

Reasons Why We Think Fungus is Biotic:

• It Grows
• It Reproduces
• It "eats" - needs to get energy from something else
• It can die

Reasons Why We Think Fungus is Abiotic: 

• It doesn't move
• It doesn't have roots

 Plants Vs. Fungus

We then discussed the reasons why a fungus is NOT a plant. We talked about how the walls of a  plant is made of cellulose but the fungus cell wall is made of chitin! Fun Fact: Chitin is the SAME material that makes up the exoskeleton of bugs!!!! We also talked about how plants are producers! Producers make their own food. Fungus are not producers, they are consumers. They need to get their energy from the environment around them! 

The Name Game! 

We then took a hike around the schoolyard to find some fungus! We learned that scientists give organisms scientific names. These scientific names are usually in Latin and generally describe the organism. We decided to do this with our mushrooms, except we used Spanish words to create Spanish Scientific Names instead! Check out what we discovered and named: 

We decided this looks like a rock. We named it "Brown Rock".
It's Spanish Scientific name is rocas marones.

We decided this looks like popcorn. Therefore, we titled
this "Small Popcorn". In Spanish, this is
palomitas de maiz pequeno

We decided this looks like Alligator Skin. Therefore, we titled
this "Skin of Alligator". In Spanish, this is
piel de cocodrilo

We decided this looks like an acorn. Therefore, we titled
this "Food of Squirrel". In Spanish, this is
blanco comida de ardilla

We decided this looks like a deflated red balloon.
Therefore, we titled this "Red Balloon". In Spanish,
this is globo rojo

We decided this looks like lava. Therefore, we titled
this "White Lava". In Spanish, this is
blanco lava

Checking out our blanco lava

We were trying to decide the
perfect name. It was tough!

We decided this looks like snake skin
Therefore, we titled this "skin of snake".
In Spanish, this is
piel de culebra

Artwork with Fungus!

After our exploration, we finished up the day by painting with mushrooms! We made some creative paintings using the fungus we learned about.

We even got to check out some of the anatomy of a mushroom under the microscope!

One Urban Naturalist checks out
this mushroom's gills!

Our First Field Trip!

We took our first trip to Roger Williams Park today! We started off the day taking a nice hike around the park looking for different plants and animals in the area.

We saw a beautiful Great Blue Heron
on the pond! 

Such a beautiful view! 

We then took a look at an old Sea Lion exhibit in Roger Williams Park. The park used to have zoo animals placed around the park and the public could come and view them at any time! Luckily, they soon realized this was not a good idea as people would throw food and trash into the exhibits. The animals were then housed in Roger Williams Park Zoo where they received better care.

Here, Shailyn shows us the old Sea Lion Exhibit 

We then checked out the swans and geese at the pond! We learned that it is NOT good to feed geese and ducks bread because it is not nutritional for them. They wind up filling their bellies with bread and don't eat the things they need in order to be healthy. There is a rule in Roger Williams Park stating that feeding the birds is prohibited and you could even be fined if you are caught doing it!!!!

We checked out the sign that told us not to feed the birds!

What a beautiful view of the park!

We found some interesting fungus

This beautiful tree was everywhere in the park!

We even found a potential kill site! This is
an area where some pieces of an animal
remains, suggesting that it had been
attacked and eaten by or ran away from
a predator!

What a BEAUTIFUL flower in
The Rose Garden!

Look at what one of our Urban Naturalists found
while playing a game? It's a Cicada Molt! 

Click here to be directed to a site that talks more about Cicadas and their life cycles!

Taxonomy - Classifying Life

Today, the Urban Naturalists learned how to classify species just like scientists do when they find a new species!

What's That Biofact?

First, we tested out our observation accuracy by using Mystery Object Containers. We had 3 containers, each holding a biofact from an animal. The Urban Naturalists each took a turn putting their hands in the boxes and wrote down observations they had simply using the sense of touch.

What could be in Mystery Container A?

We then compiled a list of observations. This is what the class came up with:

Container A: 

• Spikes on object - spikes are rounded and smooth
• Pointy 
• Hard
• Leg-like
• Finger-like 
• Claws or bones

Container B:

• Feels like a ripped up bag
• Very thin leather
• Shedding
• Fragile
• Smells fishy

Container C: 

• Soft
• Fluffy
• Feels like a stick
• Flower-like --> potentially a stem and fuzzies coming off the stem
• Sharp tip

Mystery Objects Revealed! 

Container A:  Snapping Turtle Foot

Container B: Snake skin shed

Container C: Feather

Top: Feather
Middle: Snake Skin Shed
Bottom: Snapping Turtle Foot

Classification

We then tried out a classifying activity. All groups were given the same number and type of foam objects and were asked to group them however the groups saw fit.

Hmmm...how to classify these...

Our results were as follows:

Group 1 classified their objects by "Flying" and "Non-Flying". They put the foam pieces of owls, butterflies and birds in one pile and all the flowers and bugs in another. They did this because its the least number of groups possible for this and each category had similarities.

Group 2 classified their objects into groups of organisms: Butterflies, Birds and Flowers. They said they did NOT worry about color or size, rather what fell into the categories of the same organisms.

Group 3 took all the foam pieces and divided them by two. They then took these two piles and paired up the objects. They said they did this because it created 8 even piles. This made distribution fair if they were to hand them out.

Learning About Classification

We decided to see how scientists classified animals. We came up with a list of questions scientists ask before classifying the animals they find.

We discovered that a scientists first question would be to consider whether their finding was a BIOTIC (living) or ABIOTIC (non-living) thing?

If it is living, then we need to consider whether it is a PLANT, ANIMAL or FUNGUS.

If it is an animal, we need to see if it is a VERTEBRATE (has a backbone) or an INVERTEBRATE (doesn't have a backbone)

Knowing these few characteristics already narrows down our findings enough to help us make some decisions on classifications!

Putting our Knowledge To The Test!

The Urban Naturalists then put their new knowledge to the test! They were presented 6 animals that are commonly found in the Narragansett Bay. The Urban Naturalists spent ten minutes putting them in groups. We then discussed the names of the different groups they were in!

Our Critters!

Hmmm....what groups are these guys in?

Checking out a pile of blue mussels

Sea Star Drawing

After deciding what groups these organisms would be in, Emily and April talked about the organisms and gave the Urban Naturalists a chance to touch them. Here is a list of what animals we explored:

Purple Sea Urchins and Sea Stars

Sea Star

Purple Sea Urchin

The Purple Sea Urchin and the Sea Star are both in the group Echinodermata. In Latin, Echino means "spiny or prickly". The word Dermata means "skin". Basically, this group has animals with Spiny Skin! 

Blue Mussels and Quahogs 

Blue Mussels

Quahogs

The Blue Mussels and Quahogs are not only both in the Mollusk group, but both are part of a class called Bivalvia. The word Bi means "two" and Valvae means "folding doors". This represents the two sides of the shell that close up to protect the clam inside.

Hermit Crab and Asian Shore Crab

Hermit Crab

Asian Shore Crab

Hermit Crabs and Asian Shore crabs are similar in quite a few ways. They are both a part of the Arthropod group - Arthro meaning "jointed" and poda meaning "feet or legs". Arthropods include insects too! They also both are a part of the group Malacostraca meaning "soft shell" and the group Decapoda, meaning "10 legs"! Who knew learning Latin words could tell us so much?

Emily lets one of our Urban Naturalists inspect
an Echinoderm with a magnifying lens

Game Time

Finally, we played a fun game of tag! Each Urban Naturalist was given an animal, except for one who was the "Hunter". The "Prey" were told to ONLY run across the playing field if their animal had the characteristic that was yelled out. Some statements included, "run across the field if you have a backbone" and "run across the field if you have scales". All the Urban Naturalist knew their animals very well! 

Check out these Animals!

Wipeout!

Run! Run! Run!