New Woods Forays with new Students

Out to the Woods (NE Gate) Monday with Randy and Pascal and 21 of the new Ecology students. Randy and Pascal introduced Woods and use of scientific method to make observations, ask questions, construct hypotheses and collect data to test. Students took diameter tapes, or pH meters to test hypotheses they generated. All made it across the Elm Bridge and back without mishap. Beautiful afternoon into the low 50's clear and sunny. Great to be out there.
Today, Tuesday, Priscilla and I returned to the NE Gate and walked to the Elm Bridge. We thought about Ligustrum and other exotics and a trial removal of some large individuals. Priscilla mentioned some exotics mapping or tracking software the Nature Conservancy uses on small reserves.. might be useful for OWP.
We walked the Northern Loop to the East Pond then south to the Beaver Dam and back to the Elm Bridge via the EW Fence Line trail. Priscilla spotted a cottontail rabbit. Lots of woodpeckers hairy and flickers, lots of robins. Bird activity was pretty substantial with mild low 50's temperature and ice storm coming Thursday.

We briefly discussed an All Taxa Biotic Inventory (ATBI) in Olivers Woods as a possible long term research/ survey/ monitoring project. Idea of running a light in the Woods with power possibly from the Wastewater treatment plant for a continuously running insect survey. Discussed tree tutorial trail set up from the NE Gate and the rodent lab exercise.

Unusual Trees in the Woods

I saw a 2 meter tall native holly, just north of the SW Cutoff Trail, only the second of this species I have seen in the Woods. I also saw again a young sycamore maybe 10-20 years old in the wash-out small stream channels south east of the Elm Bridge.
And I pondered the triple split trees (still living and with cotton rat nest at base) west of Hackberry Alley. Mulberry.. red hearted xylem, small vertical lenticels.
The water in the East Wash had cleared up substantially today. There is a thin new solid coating of red clay all along the Wash.

Water World Woods

Out in the Woods Friday (22nd Jan) twice. I walked out with Victoria to tour the Woods where we met Ramin, Will and two friends. We entered via the SW Gate and headed up the main trail but the water had crept southwestward beyond the cut-off to the Two Friends trail so we stayed south along the South Boundary Trail to the Dune Trail across to the Beaver Dam and north into the drier central and northeastern Woods. We found several nice discrete patches of invasive Liriope monkey grass and discussed how they could be mapped and measured. We also found exotics Eleagnus Russian olive, Ligustrum Privet, Lonicera honeysuckle - some discrete patches some general cover, Hedera ivy and Rosa multiflora.

It was a wonderful warm afternoon (>60F) - a beautiful time to be out in the Woods before the next cold front. It felt like spring would be arriving any day. On the way to the Woods from Sutton Hall we encountered Charles Carpenter in the parking lot who commented that Pseudacris streckeri chorus frogs would be calling soon in the Woods maybe a week or two and Ambystoma texanum salamanders would be active there shortly after.

On the EW Fenceline trail looking south we could see all the water flowing down the East Wash was spilling over a large area of the south central Woods where the willows, Polygonum smartweed and tall ragweed grow. The water in the East Wash was bright clay red and carrying a heavy load of suspended clay..likely from the OU campus north on Jenkins where the old motor pool building has been removed and a large patch of red ground leveled. The water from the West Wash (between the Aquatic Research Facility and the model plane air strip) was still clear.
Water was also flowing fairly abundantly through the cut in the beaver dam and all along the broad drainage of the main southwest trail, now under water along almost its entire length.

Over the past month including the Christmas Eve blizzard we've had about 2 inches of water.. first 14 inches of snow (= ~ 1 inch water) followed last week by one inch of overnight rain. It had been a fairly dry late winter prior to that.
Now the Water World of the Woods is fully charged.. ponds are full and stump holes and small pools at the base of blown down trees are all full - ready as breeding grounds for frogs, salamanders and the rest.

Up by the NW ponds we met Will and Ramin gathering fungi and doing reconnaissance for their project.. and without knowing, we were following an hour or two behind Matt and Doug who had been in the Woods scoping out their project and thinking about large trees. Great day to be there.

We saw moderate sized flocks of robins 20-30.. but we saw little or no other wildlife. Maybe we were too loud.

I brought Russell and Sarah back an hour before sunset and we entered via the Ponds Trail. Russell trekked across the Ravine Trail while Sarah and I headed east along the Trans OWP to the East Pond.. Sarah found a watch on the Northern Loop and we went south to the EW Fenceline trail. Across the Elm Bridge Russell climbed the debris slope exploring and Sarah found a swing vine..perfect for her but not strong enough for me.

With the sun setting we headed out back west towards the car. Along the way walking north in the dark along Hackberry Alley Russell and Sarah saw the sudden startling white flags of two white-tailed deer running north ahead of us towards the Northern Loop and the Escarpment.

No more adventures; we made our way out by the light of the half moon. The light blue blazes work well at night. They are a visible light patch on the darker tree trunks.

Wednesday in the Woods

Nice walk today with Ian Ramjohn and Mike Delong instructors from Botany.. along with Leslyn and Adam and Atticus. Leslyn looked at fungi; we found a daedaeloid (?) fungus on moribund Juniperus, Loculoascomycetes' black crust everywhere... lots of shelf fungi polypores. Ian and Mike had good suggestions about posting student capstone work that had been done at the Woods and looking up floristics work students (Jessica) may have already done.
Mild cloudy day. The western Woods was wet/ inundated about 320 ft from SW gate and water was flowing through the beaver dam area (slowly). The broad drainage west of and leading to the beaver dam was filled with interesting flotsam (algae?)
Ian says his BOT 2404 Ecology & Environmental Quality class has done water quality analysis in the past.. and it might make sense to compare water quality of the Eastern Wash draining Lloyd Noble Parking Lot vs the West ponds produced from spilling ground water table.
Large owl disturbed and flying away from trees on the escarpment above the Elm bridge.

Brainstorming projects in the Woods

Great way to enjoy the holiday. Chris, Jaklyn, Pascal, Ramin, Will and I met on Chautauqua and took a ramble in the Woods. All sorts of ideas for projects.

Woods thawed and waking

After the past few weeks of deep cold and snow, this afternoon the Woods gradually warmed to 52 or so. It felt like normal warm winter weather returning. I saw two small spiders: a red brown almost lycosid body shape and light yellow brown recluse body shape.. and encountered two separate strands of gossamer.

I saw one white-tail deer south east of the big tree grove near the triple split mulberry blow down with the cottonrat(?) nest up on the stump. The triple split has new thriving upright trunks growing from former young branches..maybe 10 years old..maybe snowstorm of Dec 2000?

With the one third inch of rain yesterday and the melting snow the western Woods are full of water. The ponded inundation along the lower stretch of the SW Trail looked like it had pollen skim on it this afternoon.. but I think it is just decomposing organics.

Some projects:
1) What's green? Each week from January on, document what is green and growing. Take samples, ID, make small herbarium. Consider ranking or estimating abundance.

2)Lichens. Samples and photos of lichens.. which spp? .. on what host substrate? and what microniche ? base of tree, mid bole, North side, South ?

3) Berries what fruit is available and and estimate abundance of Symphoricarpos, Smilax, Ligustrum, Ilex, Toxicodendron, Juniperus etc..

4) Where do vines grow? Virginia Creeper vs Poison Ivy preference for same host trees - or different? Two different Smilax spp? Grapes? All vines?

5) Leaf litter decay rates.. different leaf species and locations in litter bags. Cottonwood vs elm, oak, sycamore etc..

6) Who is in the pond? bugs, frogs, turtles. Micro skimmers (Gerrids?) and other insects on the East pond. Gambusia or other minnow(?) stirring the water in the West Pond.

7) Water quality in wash draining from Lloyd Noble.

8) Up hill and down. Importance of hummocks from blow downs for regeneration and small pools below blow down root wads.

9. Who is under that log? Document fauna under logs ..what diameter, species, condition?

10) What happened here? Reading the Woods for clues to the past. Lines of dead cedars with abundant low branches. Lines of hackberries along old fence lines, now gone. Fallen logs with bracket fungi showing different orientations to the horizontal. (Nice Hydnum? on moribund cedars).

11) What made the meter square holes ??!!

Ravine Trail

This afternoon at 12:30 I took loppers to the new Ravine Trail. After two hours or more the trail is roughly open. It needs a lot more work.. lots of little stuff, Smilax briers and Symphoricarpos buckbrush to remove but no large diameter logs requiring a saw.

When I decided to quit I walked south across the flooded west Woods. The past 4-5 days of very cold weather have frozen the flooded forest and it was great being able to walk or skate everywhere. Skates literally would have been good in two or three places. Seems like the freezing is holding more water in the Woods. There were large areas under water/ ice.
On the south side of the deeper water surrounded by flooded sedges (in line with the new orange survey rod north of Andrea Drive) I found a 1.5 meter tall shrub with strange dried flowering pod.. each pod opened like a flower with each of the five parts split open to release the seeds. I've got to remember or find out what this is. Beneath the ice along the main SW trail in the Woods I could see bright green algae. I imagine the clear ice let through enough light to keep photosynthesis going.

Wandering across the central Woods I encountered the white-tail deer herd..four of them today.. just west of the Tall Stump. About the same area I found two of the tall, dark brown, almost woody puff balls.. the first of these I've seen in Olivers Woods.

I stopped by the Two Friends cottonwood (#99) and looked at the canopy broken by the wind, snow and ice Christmas Eve. The tops of the ruined branches had buds swelling.. ready to open to the spring that will not come for this tree again. I heard something suddenly moving in the dense crash of fallen branches .. could have been a rabbit but sounded larger.. did not see it.

I saw again the single squirrel I saw yesterday at the base of the northern slope running up a large pecan bole broken and laying up the slope. Amazing there are not many more squirrels there.

Odd that there seems to be just one pair of youngish tall straight sycamores in the Woods.. north of the eastern Trans OWP Trail. How did they get there and why only there with none other in the surrounding acres? It seems a good, almost ideal site for them and I believe they will grow rapidly to become very large trees.

Polar Bear Shower for Robins

Last 48 hours our night time lows were 7 F and 6 F respectively; highs were 23 F each day. I went to the Woods to see how the life there managed in the cold.

The west pond was frozen over. The previous week of freezing temperatures the northern half had remained open. The east pond was frozen except for a small area half meter square below the big cottonwood tree. The reflectance from the lower bole of the tree provided enough heat to melt the ice there.

Elsewhere water was mostly frozen except ten meters below the Elm bridge. There, in a stretch of 4 meters of open running water, there were 30-40 robins busy bathing themselves.. quite a sight in the freezing temperature, with a very cold night ahead, the birds were dipping their heads into the water, flapping their wings and splashing water over their backs energetically. What is the adaptive value of this? Is managing ectoparasites, mites, lice etc.. that important.. or are the birds that impervious to the cold?

Above the Robins and the eastern wash there was a hawk (red shouldered?) calling and a jay (or a mockingbird) scolding. Along the south boundary a crow was calling. Nearby a small woodpecker (hairy?) worked at the top of a tree drumming.

Wandering through the Woods I encountered the herd of white-tail deer twice, on the north side of the dune at the beaver dam and subsequently in the denser undergrowth between the East and West Pond. I counted four of the five I sometimes see. Could be I missed one as they were running way. They ran off up the escarpment into the denser juniper woods. I wonder if they shelter on the down slope below the ridge and warm themselves with the southern exposure.

I heard one dog bark in the woods east of the west pond but did not see it.

The cold weather had drooped the honeysuckle leaves but the Ligustrum leaves were fully expanded and did not look to be suffering. What physiology protects privet against winter cold?

The flow from the eastern wash south of the Elm bridge had spilled over across the lower area of willow, ash, polygonum and tall dead ragweed stems. In the sandy shallow channels there, water had frozen ice sheets and produced a space that would shelter small animals or plants beneath from the colder night temperatures.

Where do the animals go when ambient temperature approaches zero F? Salamanders, bugs, frogs.. what strategies and hideaways do they have for the deep cold? I found a pentatomid (Brochymena?) under a loose piece of bark I pulled from a dead elm tree. It had situated itself on the south side of the tree where it would be warmed as much as possible by the winter sun. Under a slab of cottonwood bark there was another cluster of 40-50 collembola and a few inches away 3 young wood roaches. There were also the galleries of some unknown bark beetle species with a linear egg laying gallery and radiating individual larval galleries. The entire pattern maybe two inches across.

The Woods on a winter day like this seem particularly open. I wandered through the southeast quarter. Scattered large diameter cottonwoods there rise above a crowded understory of younger green ash teenagers. The ash have all recruited likely since livestock were removed, while the cottonwoods were established decades earlier. Along the south boundary of this section three or four largish cottonwoods 30-50 cm DBH have fallen to the north. What event set up the establishment of this generation of trees? I need to determine their age.. maybe 50-60 years? Determining age of trees might be a good independent research project. I could cut disks from the base of recent fallen trees and students could determine the age and construct a picture of stand dynamics, recruitment, succession, longevity, disturbance, species turnover.. mapped to the different areas of the Woods.

Coldest Woods

I enjoyed a couple of hours in the Woods this afternoon before the arctic storm arrives later tonight. At 3:30 it was over 40. Tomorrow high should be 14 with a strong north wind blowing.. and it should dip to low single digits the next two nights and stay below 17 during the day.

Good look at a coyote today in the Woods at the northern end of the Dune trail where it joins the Barney Jct Trail. Tawny brown and black. It moved off to the east.

All five of the local herd of white-tail deer were foraging south of the East Pond together.

Essentially no birds in two hours of walking. I think many of them have moved south knowing that a storm is coming. I'd like to know how animals know about impending weather, barometric pressure?

The inundation from the cattails and western pond is holding its position or receding slightly to 350 ft. from the SW gate, about 50 beyond the diagonal connector down to the South Trail. On the other end water has gradually moved towards the Beaver Dam and is now about 20 ft away.

Last few days the afternoon temp has been high 30's or low 40's. Ice covering of both the East and West Ponds has melted out across the northern half of the ponds (with its stronger exposure to the southern sun). Next few days both should freeze over solidly.
The ice in the East Wash by the Elm Bridge is very thin and covers a small percentage of the water. I fixed up the western approach to the bridge with a couple of elm logs so that crossing is possible when the water is as high as last week.

Yesterday I roughed out (and temporarily marked with blue masking tape) a new trail from bits of game trails running up slope from the east end of the west pond up a ravine to cross over a low ridge extending south from the escarpment, down across a second ravine and back up on the escarpment, around the head of another ravine, slabbing along a brushy hillside and descending back to the floodplain in a broad ravine along what looks like an old road bed to near the east end of the East Pond. This trail will take a lot of work to establish well.

Different vegetation up on the slope; bush honeysuckle (swelling flower buds almost..not quite ready to open), thorny locust? thorny cherry?. The brushy slope will be worth exploring as it represents a distinct habitat unlike the floodplain forest below or the flat top of the escarpment.
A small Ilex holly about 50 feet west of the orange survey stake below the new trail.

East of where the new trail descends there is a nice oak bench seat. I pulled off a piece of bark and found a assemblage of 20-30 collembola in an area slightly larger than a tea cup. A few inches away there was a group of a half dozen cucujoid small bronze beetles..like flat bark beetles.. a little larger than aradids.

Multiple Woods Forays

This afternoon, the 2nd I entered the SW gate and cleared a snag that had broken along the South Boundary Trail. I noticed again the 'triple crown', an ash, elm and hackberry all growing from the same point. The ash was maybe 20 inches DBH and a good sized tree. The elm was smaller but still a good sized tree perhaps 14 inches DBH. The Hackberry looked like it had begun growing in the joint between the two trees. It was smaller but probably 20-30 feet high and the diameter of my forearm. Very unusual to have three healthy trees growing together so closely.. sharing the same rooting space, competing for the same light and water. I wonder if mycorrhizae will moderate the competition by sharing resources between the three.

I re-entered the Woods at the west end of the Ponds Trail and slabbed along the base of the slope looking for interesting game trails up slope to mark and clear. Nothing seemed particularly promising except one steep spur. It looked like an old road bed descending to the East Pond. From the floodplain, it rose to a comfortable log seat, a good vantage point to look over the pond and the north woods. I saw one white-tail leaping away... probably one of the regular group of five. There are many very large pecans, hackberries, oaks and other trees along the base of the ridge. It is the greatest concentration of the largest trees in the Woods. Must be shelter from the north storm winds, good soil moisture at base of ridge, winter and spring warmth with south facing slope and not inundated as frequently as the western Woods. I wonder if the growing season is longer at this south slope site.. are leaves green and held a week or two longer there than elsewhere in the Woods or is fall set by changing day length?

New Years Day Claire and Jim joined me for a walk around. We entered via the SW and found the inundation still covering the main trail within a hundred feet of the gate; so took the cutoff to the south past the hollow log. Many small passerines, chickadees, titmice, cardinals, sparrows were busy foraging along the south fence line. The snow still covered about 70-80 % of the Woods but it was a thin blanket with leaves melting through. We rambled through the Woods to the cluster of trees around the largest cottonwood. We thought it could be called the Hogwire Grove after the rusting roll of hogwire there.

Three days after the Christmas blizzard Nick joined me for a tracking session. We saw four or five white-tail deer up on the North Loop. Their tracks were everywhere and revealed the normally secret paths through the Woods. Nick recognized tracks of rabbit, deer, squirrel, coyote (maybe), possum and maybe some other general predator like a coon (or mink??). The tracks showed the animal walking along, then leaping up on a standing tree as if to chase something, then carrying on away.

Good news about the block of fifty acres adjacent to the Woods at the SW, the old Potts dairy farm. The city has just purchased a conservation easement to maintain the land in its current undeveloped state. It will serve as a corridor for wildlife from the Canadian River floodplain.