Ferntree Gully

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Introduction
Ferntree gully is an area of the Dandenong national park which is approximately 30 km northwest from central business district which can be seen in figure one. It has the lyrebird walk and the 1000 step walk which are surrounded by residential areas and Burwood high way. Moreover, in terms of UTM coordinates Ferntree gully lies at E: 352095 and N: 5805278.

Site 1 (E: 351975 and N: 5805566, Elevation: 285 meters) is the interaction point of Lyrebird Track and Tree Fern Gully Track.

Site 2 (E: 351908 and N: 5805885, Elevation 326 meters) and

Site 3 (E: 351899 and N: 5806258, Elevation: 378 meters) are along Lyrebird Track.

Site 4 (E: 352034 and N: 5806529, Elevation: 408 meters) is the intersection point of Lyrebird
We observe five points of the track which the elevation is between 200 to 450m. The interesting point is that the PH of the soil in these five points is all nearly to 8 which are close to the normal value 7. The reason why this phenomenon happened is the amount of rainfall washes the ground surface from the top to the bottom of the mountain and it maintain the same PH value of surface. Furthermore, according to the Australian soil club (2013), the soil profile in this area is probably sodsol which is only found in poorly drained sites. Due to the wet soil, it can be implied the basic reason is the rainfall. On the other hand, it also can be implied that the erosion and degradation happened in Ferntree gully due to the rainfall.

According to the forms above, it is apparently that the colour of soil in site 1 and 2 are lighter than in site 3,4 and 5. The soil in bottom of the mountain is dry, coarse and powdery and the trees are open canopy which allow much sunshine get in the ground. Compare to the site 3,4 and 5, the trees are taller and it have bigger shade which can let the soil escape from the sunshine. So the soil colour is darker. The reason also might be the soil contains organic stuff and it is silty clay loam which is silky smooth. However, this moisture area should have some mushroom though we couldn’t find it on that
In positive aspect, we noticed that there are lots of artificial stone steps and sandy paths have been built for human doing excises, like pushing up, sitting up, running, hiking and jogging. These facilities provided human being a chance to gain access to stay with nature and understand how the ecology system work. Further more, it helps us realise how human activities influence natural environment and protecting them is our responsibility. On the other hand, according to “a vegetation community listed as threatened under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.” (Dandenong Ranges National Park Management Plan, 2006), Ferntree gully also is a suitable place for scientists to do research of low temperature rainforest in order to take more efficiency measurements to prevent the places from human destruction. To illustrate, there are some tags on the trees, which may help scientists to collect data.

However, the negative point is that human activities are able to destroy the balance of the ecological system. Human being need substantial natural recourses from nature, like logging, polluting river and air. During the visit, the figure20 below demonstrates that the water bottle was thrown in the river which will be washed down to the Blind Creek then pollute the Merrie Creek. Consequently, human being should realise what is good to environment then use their high technologies to protect