I choose Fern Forest Nature Center as my study site for my research project. It is located in South Lyons Road, Coconut Creek, Florida with the coordinates of the center being latitude 26.2297743 and longitude -80.1857513. It a friendly nature walk free zone for family to visit within the hour of 9am-5pm. The forest is 247.1 acre with its habitat been urban wilderness area because of its ecosystem structure. There 4 trails in the park split between 3 plant communities’ (Wetland, hammock and Cypress-maple swamp) inhabitants due to the center large distinct of ferns and species.
First visit information:
Date ; December 30th,2023
Time: 13:07pm
Weather forecast: 48% humidity with 8mph wind, mostly cloudy
Temperature: 70 degree
Season: Mid-winter
Observation questions:
- Why is beautyberry the only flora beside the million fern species found in the nature center?
- Does the difference community have a affect on the beautyberry growth?
- What is the tortoise distribution abundance in this ecosystem ?
Hi, your study site looks great. In this first post you can think of broad questions though as you go through the next few modules you will narrow down to something you can answer in this course. For example, in your question 1 I am not sure you can address why there are not other non-fern species. However, you might be able to look at sunlight availability/soil moisture to examine where beautyberry tends to occur relative to ferns.