Summary

In ecosystems such as the two ponds, West Woods, or Maple Creek area it is amazing how conditions such as soil temperature, and composition change, even in areas only a few feet apart. Other things vary as well. For example, there are certain plants and animals found in West Woods, that are not found in the Maple Creek area. The same is true when comparing a pond ecosystem to a creek ecosystem. The water conditions differ (pH, hardness, amount of chlorine), and the different plants and animals that are found in each.

Ecological Studies of Clermont College began by mapping around the ponds. With this information new maps of the area were made. Samples of soil was tested and it was found that soil taken from river areas such as five falls creek is a clay soil. This type of soil helps to prevent erosion. Clay soil is pliable and contains relatively high amounts of potassium when compared to soil from different areas. On the random pairs tree analysis performed on maple creek the greatest density of trees found happened to be the tulip tree, followed closely by the sugar maple. There were more maple trees than the tulip trees, but the circumference of the tulip trees happened to be significantly larger to make up for a lack of numbers. This data shows that there is a large number of younger maple trees and it can be predicted that in future years as the older tulip trees die the younger maple trees will be larger. Data can also be better analyzed with a larger sample size, weather permitting, on a different day this analysis could show different results. When looking at environmental factors there is many aspects to examine. Soil temperature was found to be rather high, in some cases higher than the air temperature. The soil thermometer must have been incorrect. The data was collected on May 1, which is quite early in the year for these results. Higher winds were found out in open places like for example the ponds. This is due to lack of cover that can be found among trees. The wind speeds were found to be lower in the woods for this reason. A higher wind speed was also recorded when the wind meter was held at head height as opposed to ground height. Along the ground there is more cover from the herbs and grasses to impede the wind. Comparing the ponds to Maple Creek, it was found that Maple Creek contained more dissolved oxygen, more chloride, and was slightly more acidic. These things are due to the running water of the creek along with run off of the surrounding area. Maple Creek is a shaded area where the ponds are exposed to direct sunlight. At a higher temperature there will be a smaller amount of dissolved oxygen. More organisms were seen in the water sampled from the ponds than from Maple Creek. The pond water was standing water among algae and weeds, while the water taken from Maple Creek was flowing atop rocks. The standing water and algae provide better food and stability than does the running water of Maple Creek.

UC Clermont is a small college campus, but it has much diversity when it comes to the surrounding ecosystems. This is probably one advantage most major universities do not have. It is easy to learn about ecology because there is such a wide variety of ecosystems. Ecology lab has shown how diverse such a small area can be, and how to test for these diversities.