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Organisms Surveyed in Wisconsin Woodland Areas and More

Made Possible by iNaturalist

Trisha Xiong

Advisor: Dr. Esther Calderon-Gierszal

Mount Mary University

Fall 2020

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iNaturalist

https://www.gcv.org/explore/nature-center/inaturalist-at-gcvm/

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Objectives

Compare two Wisconsin locations

Document wildlife

Share findings

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There are two main areas:

Fresh Spring Water

Location 1: Kettle Moraine Campgrounds

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There are two main areas:

2. Wooded Hiking Trails

Location 1: Kettle Moraine Campgrounds

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Location 1: Kettle Moraine Campgrounds’ Ice Age Trail

Continental Glaciation
Volunteering Opportunity

…This trail is named after the continental glaciation that took place. According to Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail Alliance “More than 12,000 years ago, an immense flow of glacial ice sculpted a landscape of remarkable beauty across Wisconsin. As the glacier retreated, it left behind a variety of unique landscape features. These glacial remnants are now considered among the world’s finest examples of how continental glaciation sculpts our planet.” (Play video) This video shows a small portion of my hike through the woodland areas.

With such a vast amount of land and multiple areas of Kettle Moraine Campgrounds, it is…

Maintained solely by volunteers. They help to keep the fresh spring water and woodland areas in tip-top shape. They do this by cleaning the campgrounds and labeling the trails, so that hikers stay on the right path and do not disturb the wildlife. So if you’re looking for volunteering hours, I’d highly recommend this place as the views are gorgeous! You will not regret it. �

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Millipede

This group contains 16,000 species, most are terrestrial.
Can have up to 750 legs. (iNaturalist)

Diplopoda�

Organism Highlight

Within the Kettle Morain woodland area, I was able to find a millipede. We learned about them in class, so I thought it’d be great for me to highlight it as well. I chose this organism also because of its appearance. I was interested in its segmented body. Millipedes belong to the subphylum group Myriapoda and their scientific name is Diplodpoda. A couple facts about them is that the contain about 16,000 species and can have up to 750 legs. In addition, most are terrestrial. This means that they inhabit areas that contain moist soil. They also live under mulch, dead leaves and under grass clippings.

For their life cycles, they lay their eggs beneath the soil surface during the spring. The young will hatch and slowly grow, adding on segments and legs at they continue to develop and molt. Molting is when millipedes shed their exoskeleton. However, nothing is wasted, as they will also consume their exoskeletons for nutrients. Within 2 to 5 years, they will mature and then live for several years after that.

During their life, millipedes are most active at night or after it rains. As a defense mechanism from predators, they will roll their segmented bodies into a ball or spiral. Their roles in the ecosystem is to break down dead plant material which will add more nutrition to the soil. They can be compared to earthworms. However, when there are too many millipedes, they can damage seedlings in gardens.

When doing more research on millipedes, I found that there is not much know about their conservation. People are most concerned with millipedes destroying their gardens or homes. But to break that negative connotation, it is important to know that millipedes do not bite, sting, or infest food. They actually benefit gardens as they help to break down decaying organisms.

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More from Kettle Moraine Campgrounds: Insects

Pure Green Sweet Bee

Millipedes

Beetle

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American Asters

Genus of Aster has about 90 species of herbaceous annua and perennial plants.
Uses: Edible fresh and dry
Typically found in North America, however, can also be found in the West Indies, Central and South America and Easter Eurasia. (iNaturalist)

Symphyotrichum

Organism Highlight

The next organism that I would love to highlight is called the American Aster. I chose this plant because it was the most vibrant flower I saw. It’s lilac colored pedals really caught my attention. Its scientific name is Symphyotrichum. A couple facts about this flower is that the geeenus of Aster has about 90 species of herbaceous annua and perennial plants. This means that they can live for long periods of time or will regrow each year. They even bloom late into the fall and are known to continue flowering even after frosts appears. But their prime growing environment would be in the sun and on well-drained, loamy soil. Loamy soil is mostly made out of sand, silt and a smaller amount of clay.

Their life cycle begins as a seedling implanted into the ground. From here, it will take anywhere from 7 to 21 days for the seedling to emerge from the soil. From then on, it will take 90 to 120 days for the aster flower to fully mature and bloom. Typically, asters will not show up or have a full bloom until mid-May at the earliest, and again will continue to live until Fall ends.

If Asters are not planted in loamy soil or receive too much sun, this will cause them to not grow. This is bad for the environment. Asters are vital to the ecosystem as they provide nectar for pollinators like bees, late into the Fall. This means that when the other flowering plants are dead, bees still have a resource to stock up on. Here in Wisconsin, the Aster population is doing quite well, so we don’t have this issue. But in Georgia, their asters are an endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are making sure to conserve as many at-risk plants and animals as possible before they need Federal protection. And they have been successful at it as the proactive conservation efforts have worked.

In addition to this organism I highlighted, I also found more flower-like plants from Kettle Moraine Campgournds that I wanted to briefly share also… (Turn to next slide)

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More from Kettle Moraine Campgrounds: Flowers

Wild Parsnip

Brown-eyed Susan

Do not touch this plant!

Similar to a sunflower

On the left, this is the brown-eyed Susan. This flower resembles a sunflower; however, it does not have the exact same characteristics as it is smaller in size. I found this flower interesting as it was the start of the fall season, yet it was still vibrant and in full bloom. It is also like the American Aster (the flower from the previous slide) since it is perennial.

On the right, we see wild parsnip. I will go into more detail about this organism in the later slides. One fact that I found about this plant was that its juices will cause rashes on your skin. So I would highly recommend not touching them at all costs.

Again, the app iNautralist helped me to identify these flowers.

In this same area, I also found a vast array of plants that I will also briefly go over. (turn to next slide)

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Cotton Grass

Motherwort

More from Kettle Moraine Campgrounds: Plants

Is it a flower?

Medicine

From left to right, I have cotton grass and motherwort. A lot of times when I take hikes, I always only pay attention to flowering plants and assume everything else is just leaves of some sort. After closely surveying the area, these were the two organisms that I took an interest in. Cotton grass is actually considered a flowering plant, although it does not embody the typically floral characteristics. In addition, motherwort is closely related to mint. If you look closely at the leaves in the right image, you’ll notice that the markings are exactly like mint leaves, too. I know this because mint is a huge herb used in Asian cuisine. The motherwort pictured here can be used for treating heart conditions like heart failure, irregular heartbeat, and heart symptoms due to anxiety. It is known as a sedative. It amazing to know how the plants we hike by everyday have such a huge function.

When surveying this area, I also noticed that these two plants were covered by trees. (turn to next slide)

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Poplar Tree (Trunk)

Oak Leaves

Maple Leaves

More from Kettle Moraine Campgrounds: Trees

First Appearance on Earth
Characteristics of trees
Function/What they produce

The first image is the trunk of a poplar tree. Poplar trees are deciduous trees that belong to the family Salicaceae and appeared on earth during the Mesoproterozoic Era. There are around 35 species of poplar trees that differ in size, shape of the leaves, color of the bark and type of habitat.

Oak Trees appeared on our planet about 65 million years ago, and a mature oak tree can reach 148 feet with over 600 species.

As we all know, Maple trees can produce sap. Appeared over 100 million years ago. An interesting fact I found was that some maple tree species disappeared during the ice age. And although maple trees are quite popular, out of 128 species, 54 are faced with uncertain future due to habitat loss due to urban development. As we learned in class, human interaction and meddling with nature causes catastrophic events.

On the next slide, I’ll show you all more trees that I found.

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More from Kettle Moraine Campgrounds: Trees

Elm Tree

Pine Tree

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Mosses

Oyster Mushroom

More from Kettle Moraine Campgrounds: Fungi and Mosses

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American Crow

More from Kettle Moraine Campgrounds: Bird

Habitat: treetops, fields, and roadsides.
Migrating
Breeding Season

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Location 2: Havenwoods State Forest

Regeneration Project

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Wild Parsnip (Leaves)

Root vegetable closely related to carrot and parsley
Can cause rashes

Pastinaca sativa

Organism Highlight

As we saw earlier in the slides from the first location, I showed you guys the flowering part of a wild parsnip. Its scientific name is Pastinaca sativa. In this photo, these are the leaves of the parsnip. It is closely related to carrots and parsley, and again can cause rash like burns. Wild parsnip can secrete their juices during the summer-time when their growth is at its prime. Their sap contains chemicals that causes your skin to be more vulnerable to UV rays and if you are out in the sun, this causes you to burn. There were many signs around Havenwoods State Forest warning hikers to be aware and to not touch these plants. It’s kind of like poison ivy. If you ever do come into contact with its sap, wash the infected area thoroughly with soap and water and keep it covered for 48 hours to stop any reaction.

This organism lives in diverse areas which include moist and fertile soil, but can also occupy pastures and fields, like the photo in the previous slide.

For their life cycle, they live up to two years. The first year as leaves and are low to the ground. (Like the picture here) and then will flower in its second year, like the photo shown earlier in this presentation.

There are no conservation efforts made for this invasive species, because many people actually try to get rid of it. Because this is a state forest, they do not remove it, as it does help to maintain the ecosystem. And again like we learned in class, removing just one species can cause detrimental affects.

Alongside wild parsnip, I also wanted to briefly go over other blooming plants that I found at Havenwoods State Forest.

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Southern Blue Flag

Woodland Sunflower

What environment does this flower like?

Pretty but harmful to dogs.

More from Havenwoods State Forest: Flowers

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Wild Bergamot

Daisies

Dame’s Rocket

Where can they be found?
Characteristics of these flowers
Any relation to other plants already shown?

More from Havenwoods State Forest: Flowers

I also was able to capture daisies, dame’s rocket and wild bergamot. These flower were so pretty to look at. Nature has the best bouquets arranged effortlessly.

Daisies are found everywhere in the world, except, Antiartica of course, and belong to the largest family of plants in the world, which is Asteraceae. Which we also found is the same with the American aster from a couple slides ago.

Dame’s rocket, although it looks like a flower, can be considered a weed species.

And wild bergamot, is included in the mint family. And so, all of these flowers and plants look different, however, they’re all related or from the same family. This makes sense as they are growing near each other and need the same environment to flourish.

As we all know, other plants that flower, also produce berries… (turn to next slide)

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More from Havenwoods State Forest: Berries

Midland Hawthorn

Buckthorn

Are these berries edible?
Important characteristics

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More from Havenwoods State Forest: Wheat-Like Plants

Reed Canary Grass

Goldenrods

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More from Havenwoods State Forest: Trees

Elm Tree

Eastern Redcedar

Birch Tree

Diverse tree species
Characteristics of environment they inhabit
Who relies on these trees?

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Comparison of these two fungi
Where do they inhabit?
Characteristics

More from Havenwoods State Forest: Fungi

Shelf Fungi

Bracket Fungus

I was also able to find fungi on my hike at havenwoods. The first is a shelf fungi that grew on a fallen elm tree. The second is the bracket fungi. These two fungi differed in color and even texture. The shelf fungi took on a wooden texture and was very tough. And like we learned in class, there’s biotechnology that uses fungi to make furniture and even faux leather. After surveying the shelf fungi, I can totally see why it can be used for those purposes. On the other hand, the bracket fungi was lighter and very elastic. ****This was shown on the title page****. It was similar to the mushrooms that we see in the grocery stores. If you look closely at the second photo (point to it) you can see that moss is also growing on the tree trunk around the fungi. It’s cool to see how organisms cohabitate and live just fine.

Moving away from plants and fungi, in class, we learned about vertebrates.

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Phylum Chordata

Adapted from Dr. Calderon’s SS15 Animals (part 4)

Chordata

Lactation: lasts up to 300 days
“Lactation is a period of high nutritional demand for the animal as it maintains both its calf growth and prepares for reproduction.” https://www.deernz.org/deerhub/feeding/feeding-deer/intake-requirements/hinds/lactation#.X6oHjmhKjIU

Deer - Mammals

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Comparing the Two Locations:

Kettle Moraine Campgrounds VS Havenwoods State Forest

Wild Parsnip

Similar organism(s)
Size of Location
Biodiversity

After I gathered all of my images and videos, I wanted to reflect on the two locations. The most abundant organism that they had in common was the wild parsnip. Just like weeds that can take up your garden or lawns, these plant was also everywhere. Again, its juices are toxic and can cause rashes when the contaminated spot on your skin is exposed to UV rays. So it’s great that there were many signs around, letting hikers know to not touch them.

The biggest difference was the size of the two locations. Kettle Moraine Campgrounds was huge. It’s so big that technically it has two main campsites, one known as the northern site and the other as the southern site. And even their hiking tails extend across Wisconsin. If you really had the time, you could use the Ice Age Trail to walk from the southern site to the norther site. Of course, it would take you a couple weeks on foot. Havenwoods had less acreage and was closer to the urbanized areas. Again, this was the location that was walking distance from my house. It is smaller, but still a long hike as well. If you really wanted to, you could complete all of the hiking trails in one day.

Overall, the biodiversity in these two locations were similar. If you were to just take a glimpse at them, you’d think they were a part of the same place, which makes sense as these two locations were in Wisconsin. My greatest takeaway is that places like these are taken care of and kept in its utmost natural form.

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The Circle of Life

We must remember to conserve the earth and take care of it as it has provided shelter, food and resources for us. I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for mother nature. We are miniscule and probably the least important organisms on the phylogenic tree. Keep in mind that this tree also shows just how connected we truly are. In order for us to thrive and be healthy, we must make sure that these organisms are also experiencing that, too.

Nature also provides a sanctuary for all people and even a sense of peace and belonging. Rather than trying to be a part of it or trying to integrate what I thought was best, just by observing and taking in the beauty of the earth, I began to understand the cycle of life. Our time is limited. Sometimes we may even feel restrained. However, the opportunity to go out and explore the outdoors gives us a glimpse into the life that biodiversity breathes.

Thank you.

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References

Ueda, K. (2018) . I-Naturalist (Ver. 1) [iPhone]. Retrieved from Apple Store.
Calderon, E. Biodiversity Course PowerPoints. (2020) Mount Mary University.
https://www.gcv.org/explore/nature-center/inaturalist-at-gcvm/
http://nyis.info/invasive_species/wild-parsnip/
https://chippewa.com/news/local/changes-made-for-wisconsin-gun-deer-hunting-season-to-fight/article_8234a033-9952-5b45-b89f-eeb75d31f883.html
https://www.iceagetrail.org/ice-age-trail/
https://www.thefactsite.com/oak-tree-facts/
https://www.softschools.com/facts/plants/poplar_tree_facts/600/
https://www.softschools.com/facts/plants/maple_tree_facts/640/#:~:text=Leaves%20are%20divided%20in%203,orange%20or%20red%20in%20color.
https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/havenwoods
https://climate-woodlands.extension.org/forest-renewal-natural-regeneration-or-tree-planting/#:~:text=Forest%20regeneration%20is%20the%20process%20by%20which%20new,and%20can%20be%20accomplished%20through%20two%20basic%20approaches%3A
https://www.deernz.org/deerhub/feeding/feeding-deer/intake-requirements/hinds/lactation#.X6oHjmhKjIU
http://www.tomorrowsgarden.net/content/growing-cotton-containers-midwest#:~:text=Growing%20cotton%20in%20your%20garden,the%20Boll%20Weevil%20Eradication%20Program.&text=I%20think%20for%20my%202015,have%20a%20shorter%20growing%20season.