Ch-ch-ch-Changin'!

This week's assignment is about stability and change.  Ecosystems change on a daily basis.  Most of these changes are small, but when you put a bunch of small changes together, you can see some larger differences as the seasons or years go by.  Our assignment was to find pictures in a habitat of something that changes in one day, something that changes in one season, something that changes in one year, and something that changes in 20 years.  All of my pictures were taken at Ha Ha Tonka State Park.  I love that I live so close!

1.  Something that will change in One Day

From this.......

To this.....

 

These are pictures of a sassafras tree.  In one day's time, the bud of a sassafras can be closed like the first picture to open with seed pods like the second picture.  It's amazing to see how quickly plants can change.

 

 

2.  Something that will change in one season

 

Here we see a gravel bar at a cove of Lake of the Ozarks on the edge of Ha Ha Tonka.  Over the course of the spring and summer, more rain will come and they will change the flood gate flow on the Bagnell Dam.  This gravel bar will disappear as the water levels rise.


3.  Something that will change in One Year

This picture reminds me that life will find a way.  This oak tree has lost all of its limbs, and yet, new limbs grow.  They are all small and thin, but they are producing leaves so the tree can go through photosynthesis.  By next year, the current limbs will be bigger, and we may be able to see some new limb growth.


4.  Something that will change in 20 Years

My original thought was to take a picture of a seedling of some kind and talk about how it will grow and become a large tree.  But then I saw this lying in the woods off the walking path.  This fallen tree has obviously been down for awhile, and in twenty years, it will be even more decomposed.  We may even be able to see pieces that have rotted off - chunks of wood lying on the ground next to the original log.  It's amazing how the life cycles.

Until next time,

Clara