Colleen Miller, cjm5872
Lab 8, Diversity of Life: A Walk-About
Report

Characteristics of Life of a Stream
While on the nature walk, a stream was observed. The beginning of the stream was very rapid, because of this there was not a lot of vegetation and there was no sign of minnows or insects. The rocks under the water were mostly bare with very little or no algae visible. When overturning the rocks in this beginning part of the stream, there was nothing underneath the rock except mud and smaller, tiny rocks and minerals. Looking at a section of the stream father down, the water was moving very slowly and still in some areas. Contrary to the beginning of the stream, there was a lot of vegetation and algae growing on the rocks. There were spiders on the surface of the water, gliding across the stream. Every once in a while, a school of minnows would swim by and quickly go under the rocks. The minnows were always traveling together; a single minnow was never seen swimming alone. Across the stream the water was not constant a speed. The middle tended to be the fasted. This was observed to be true because the leaves that had fallen into the stream were moving faster down the stream than the leaves closer to the edge. Some of the characteristics of life present in this environment were the use of energy, the response to the environment and adaptability, and the reproduction of living things. The algae and vegetation used the energy from the sun to grow. Also the minnows