Blog post 1
Date/Time: Aug 10, 2023 at 7:05 pm
Weather: Sunny
Season: Summer
Temp: 35°C
Humidity: 43%
Wind: 15 km/h
Location: My house in Amman, Jordan (Middle East)
Size: Although its difficult to measure, the approximate size of that portion is around 1300 square feet
The location I chose to study in this research project is the backyard/garden of my childhood home in Jordan, situated in the Middle East. The majority of this garden’s location is in a residential area with only other houses nearby. This garden is full of many different types of trees which have been there for a very long time, including olive, lemon, apple, grape leaves, mint, fig, grapes, and few more. These olive trees have existed for a very long time and are significant to the local population. They flourish because of the weather, which is sunny and not overly wet. Even in areas that are typically dry, the olive and grape leaves trees give the area a lively appearance. Therefore, it resembles a unique aspect of the Middle East’s nature and history.
Most planted trees will have large rocks between them that act as a border and a barrier between the trees. There is a large fence that encloses the space which separates it from the outdoor olive trees. There is no grass and only soil in this flat topography. Although seeing wild animals around the area is uncommon, other species such as outdoor cats and dogs, squirrels, lizards and birds can be seen. Among the insects that may have been seen are bees, ants, snails, flies, spiders.
Questions:
- What could be the possible outcomes of adjusting the amount of water provided to trees, either by increasing or decreasing it?
- Which species rely on olive trees (or the other types of trees) as their food source?
- How do different levels of sunlight exposure cause different species to behave differently and would the trees be affected?
Your backyard sounds like it will work well for a project. As you work through the next couple of modules you will get a better sense of what questions will work. Remember your project is on a natural gradient so not an experiment like adding/changing water. You have some potential gradients here, you mention a sunlight gradient. You have different types of trees which could form a gradient. With backyards you have limited space and so I encourage students to make sure they will have replication in their study design, but you will get into that in later modules.