Chesapeake Beach Observation Essay

For this Field report, I visited a wooded area that is near the beach in Chesapeake Beach. From a quick glance, I saw a combination of mature trees and young trees. Since I can see that the trees lost their leaves during the Fall, I will state that they are deciduous trees. They shed their leaves through the process of abscission. For the mature tree in this picture I observed that the trunk is darker than the younger trees in the background and about 15 to 20 feet tall if not higher. Walking through the fallen leaves you can hear branches and twigs break and when I touched the soil it did not feel totally dry since it rained the day before.
The sun was casting a shadow on the trees which are “producers” since they make their own food. I did not see any squirrels running around which are considered “consumers” since they feed on the
I touched it and it felt sturdy and rigid and the diameter is about at least three inches. It is brown in color. It appears invasive since it has reached the top of the tree. I know this is not good for the tree since it is taking nutrients away from it.

I also saw a lot of branches that had fallen down but this is the only one with mushrooms growing on it. It is the shape of a clam and it is brown and white in color. Mushrooms are considered decomposers and are part of the Kingdom Fungi.
An ecosystem is composed of the producers, consumers, decomposers and the living organism that interact and reside in this habitat. They are part of the food web and their roles are important in maintaining the environment. Producers make food, the consumers feed on it but at the same time the decomposers also break down the food to go back to the food web. Mother Nature has assigned different roles (plants and animals) that will sustain our environment and as caretakers we must preserve the ecosystem (no land clearing) so that it will continue to thrive and