Field Study #5

  Date: 11-20

                                                                             Time: 3:15

Air temp: c

Surface water temp:  c

Weather: cloudy, rainy 

Day length: 9h 30m

Changes:

-No leaves on trees

-Colder

-no purple flowers left

-No bug sounds

-I didn't see any fish at the surface

-No dragonflys

-Much less plants growing on the surface

-leaves on the ground

-plants in the water looked less green

-Water level higher

-Water was completely still for the first time

5 photos:

#1

9/4



#2

9/20



#3

10/7





#4

10/27







#5

11/20










#1

#2

#3

On this last visit I noticed that there was no bugs or fish coming up to me in the time that I was there. Everything was seemly completely still including the water witch was unusual because normally there are fish splashing around at the surface. I also saw no frogs or minos so it makes me wonder where they all went. Did they all go into deeper water? The deepest point in this pond is about 13 feet so would that be deep enough for the fish to have more stable temperatures? 

Frogs and Fish: I did some quick research and learned that the fish are definitely still alive because i didn't see any dead fish hanging out on the shore or the surface which makes sense. Most pond fish like bass are fully capable of surviving the winter about 3 feet below the surface so they are perfectly fine in the 13 foot pond! Because it was rather cold the day I went it makes sense that I didn't see any of them because they were deeper down in an effort to slow the metabolism down and conserve energy as some of their food begins to die or move elsewhere. (ex. Bass: frogs & insects) I saw no frogs anywhere on the shore line either so this makes sense.

Sources: https://www.adkwatershed.org/blog/what-happens-to-fish-in-the-winter 

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/fish-freeze.html 




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