The area I have chosen is King’s Park located at 198 Kings Drive, Winnipeg, Manitoba. On November 7th, 2023 at 14:36 CST I visited the area and noted the weather which was 0°C with a humidity of 86%, wind at 11km/h SE, and very cloudy with freezing rain. I also noted that the season for the area is entering winter from fall. King’s Park is 92 acres (37.4 ha) in size and is located at 49.7989° N, 97.1248° W. King’s Park has a small elevation range of 230- 236m making it a low-lying plain. The park includes many paved walking paths, forested areas, a small wetland area, and is surrounded by the Red River.
I would specifically like to focus on the marshland and surrounding forested areas of the park. The wetland and surrounding forested area are approximately 4.06 acres (1.64 ha) in size. The vegetation surrounding the wetland consists of cattails and grass. Surrounding the wetland are various types of trees including pine, maple, and poplar.
During my observation, I noticed that the water surface of the wetland had partially frozen over with a thin layer of ice covering approximately half. No wildlife was seen during this observation.
Questions for potential study subjects:
- What are the plant species that dominate the area, and how do they affect surrounding species?
- Which species rely on the wetland as their main water resource?
- How does weather affect the species living in the wetland area vs the forested area?
Your study site sounds great and focusing on the wetland should work. Your questions have potential, you need to think about reframing them in terms of a natural gradient and pieces you can measure. I think the next few modules will help you think through these sorts of details.