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Purpose
To observe the changes in the plant life along the Red Cedar. We visited site #1 and anticipate the pictures will demonstrate the changes in plant life through the course of one semester.
These pictures were documented over a span of 3 months. We hope that they acurately dipict our hypothisis of;
Plant life will chronologically disapate as a result of the seasonal and atmospheric changes through the semester. -
Week 1
During the first week of documenting the plant life along the Red Cedar river, the trees and surrounding life were all very green and alive looking. The temperature was still very warm and none of the leaves had fallen yet.
The trees were recieving a good amount of sunlight every day and the great summer temperature we were having allowed for the plants to stay in their summer form. -
Week 2
During the second week of school, the temperature and outside environment stayed very consistant. The plant life continued to thrive and keep its green color. However, since this is usually the time that fall comes around, very few individual leaves began to change thier color at the tips. As you can see, only a select few have a bit of yellow coloring at the tips. -
Period: to
Changes along the Red Cedar
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Week 3
On week 3 of class, the trees were slowly beginning to change color and loose only a few leaves. As you can see, some of the areas in the tree are very full of leaves and there are only a select few brances that are beginning to look bare. Although the fall is beginning to set on the Red Cedar, the trees still look full and green. The leaves are pretty consistant with those of the previous week. -
Week 4
As fall quickly began to settle in with the arrival of October, the plant life along the Red Cedar began to change drastically. This picture clearly shows the color transformation in the tree, however this tree still has yet to loose its leaves. The weather began to be a bit dull therefore it is difficult to observe the many colors displayed in the photo.
This tree had leaves of many colors, and they included; green, yellow, orange, redish orange, and some brown leaves ready to fall -
Week 5
By week five of the semester the trees surrounding the area began loose more leaves. Although the leaves are still changing and many are still on the branches, they have just about all started to change colors and many have already began to fall. -
Week 6
During week 6 of classes, the plant life stayed pretty consistant with that of the previous week. Although the leaves are beginning to change colors, the trees still have many of thier leaves and are just starting to loose them as the days go by. The temperature has become a bit cooler however, it fluctuated a great deal between warm and cool. -
Week 7
As seen in this shot, the leaves that were only beginning to change before are already completely turned from green to yellow. something else that can be observed is the drastic change from one week to another in the amount of leaves on the branches. The surrounding plant life all has different colors and leaves missing. -
Week 8
Between weeks 6 and 9, the plant life stayed very consistant. After observing the subtile changes, I think the lack of drastic change may be a result of the fluctuating temperature we experienced this fall. The leaves continued to change, and fall, however it did not happen as quickly as it usually does.
In this picture you can see the coloration of the trees as well as the leaves on the ground of the bank that have already fallen -
Week 9
The leaves during the 9th week of classes, began to fall much faster. Suddenly the temperature changed drastically, and the leaves not only changed colors more rapidly, but also began to fall. As the strong winds and rain storms became frequent, the plant life began to model that of which it usually looks during the second week of November in Michigan. -
Week 10
As the middle of November settled in, every tree along the Red Cedar had already lost some of its leaves. At this point, many trees were half bare, and half multi-colored. Others had already lost all thier leaves, and many looked bare.
The colors were beautiful and leaves flowed down the river as they fell into the water. -
Week 12
After the Thanksgiving break, when we retured to school, the Red Cedar looked completely transformed.
The brances were all bare, and no leaves reamained on any trees. All the leaves which lay on the ground were dead and brown. This picture shows the areas which were previously covered by leaves on these trees. It is incredible what a seasonal change can do in just a short amount of time like 2 weeks. -
Conclusion
As previously predicted, the seasonal and atmospheric changes have caused this particular tree as well as the surrounding plant life to slowly disapte. The plant life will remain this way until the next seasonal change into Spring, with the blooming of new buds.
These changes are accurately displayed through the timeline provided here.
