I have selected to observe the pond in the centre of Diefenbaker Park. This is a city park, with an ornamental fountain in the pond and a small dock to walk out and observe from the middle.
The pond is the centre piece of Diefenbaker park, surrounded by a forested hill wrapping around from the North, to the West, then South. There flat grass portion with sparse trees before the hill to the South and West, and a small waterpark to the East. There is also a small stream that runs down the hill and into the pond. There was a posted sign saying that the park had previously been a gravel pit and was terraformed into a park in 1976, perhaps creating an unnatural gradient between different environments. The vegetation surrounding the pond is that of a wetland, that turns into forest-like vegetation the further you move from the pond and stream.
I visited the park on August 19th, 2024 at 3:15pm. The skies were overcast and it rained later that evening. The humidity was found to be 62%, and the wind was 11km/h from West-Southwest. The time period was late summer, the vegetation showed no signs of autumn, leaved trees still appeared fully green with no observable yellowing.
I also observed two types of birds, one kind of fish, and potential signs of mammals or other creatures that make use of tunneling. The first of my potential questions is why the density of the different kinds of aquatic plants/algae significantly favour one side of the pond. Another question relates to the artificial nature of the park, if left unattended, will the environment continue to conform to how the park was constructed, or change significantly based on the attributes of the organisms found in/around the pond. The third question comes from the observed patterns of the location of the tunnels exit points. Why are the certain spots that exits were found used rather than somewhere else around the pond?
Notes taken are attached. Aug19-2024EcoNotes