natural history of the berkshires - fall 2007 · national audubon society field guide to new...

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Natural History of the Berkshires - Fall 2007 INTR/BIOL/ENVI 225(F) Natural History of the Berkshires

This field-lecture course examines the rich diversity of upland and wetland communities

within a 20-mile radius of the Williams College campus. Lectures focus on the

biological, geological, climatological, and historical underpinnings needed to observe,

interpret, and analyze the biological communities in the region. The Field/lab sections

will engage students in reading the landscape, field identification of indicator species,

natural history, and using historical documents and materials ranging from photographic

images, tax data, newspaper articles, and other resources. On Tuesday/Thursday

afternoons we will visit sites in the region and familiarize ourselves with the

environmental processes and historical legacies at work. One all-day field trip across

Berkshire County will take place on Tuesday 18 September from 8:00 a.m. to 3:50 p.m.

Students will undertake a field project carefully observing and, over the course of the

semester, interpreting changes in a landscape close to campus. Weekly field journal

entries will be submitted and these will serve as the core of an interpretive guide to be

submitted at the end of the semester.

Instructor: Henry W. ART 203 TBL x2461 [email protected]

Websites:

BlackBoard: Biology 225 Web Site: http://cdm.williams.edu/nhb/ Field Botany Web Site: http://www.williams.edu/Biology/botany/ WSB Purchases: Alden, P, & B. Cassie (et al.), 1998. National Audubon Society Field Guide to New England. Knopf., NYC. 447 pp. From Instructor {Charged to your term bill}: Sketch Book ($8.00) Williams Naturalists, 1995. Farms to Forest. CES Williams College, Williamstown,

MA. 169 pp. ($5.00) Reading Packet (~$25) Other Helpful Items: 8x – 10x binoculars (can be borrowed from Bio Dept). Digital Camera - (can be borrowed from AV/OIT-Stetson). Warm, weatherproof clothing. – including umbrella Colored pencils Good eraser Bird, Wildflower, Fern, Tree, etc. Field Guides - (can be borrowed from the instructor)

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Field Journal of Campus site. You will be assigned an individual site on or near campus in which to make weekly observations throughout the course of the semester. The sites are approximately a quarter acre. You should visit the site at least once a week starting 9 September, making detailed observations recorded by words, digital images, and field sketches. You will then submit a two-page electronic journal (using pdf sender – and email) entry by Friday morning each week commencing 17 September. The weekly journal submissions will be evaluated. Field Trip Reports. In lab we will be visiting natural sites within the region You will be responsible for electronically submitting a 2-page report (by the Monday following the field trip) on the site, which should include not only a site description, but also an integration of the week’s reading assignment as they pertain to the field trip. Disaster Week Presentation & Report. During the week of 15 October each student will present (PowerPoint) the results of their historical research on an assigned “natural disaster” such as a flood, fire, landslide, blizzard, storm, hurricane, drought, etc. A 10 page paper will be submitted in addition to the PowerPoint presentation. Field Quizzes – Periodically you will be quizzed on the animal, vegetable, or mineral components of sites we are visiting. The quizzes will be only on material that you have encountered on previous field trips. Interpretive Guide Term Project. At the end of the semester you will use your weekly entries as the foundation for a field guide to the site. The guide will additionally contain materials covered in the readings and historical research that you have conducted on the site. Typically the guide includes interpretations of the history, geology, soils, microclimate, flora, fauna, ecological processes, and other relevant features of the site. It is expected that the guide will be roughly 20 pages of text and 20 pages of maps and images. The guides will be in both printed and in electronic format will eventually be posted on the course web site. Honor Code – The provisions of the Williams College Honor Code are in effect throughout the course. While some of the “data” in the course may be collected in teams, all written and examinations are independent work. Course Evaluation Components: Field journal of Observation Sites (submitted electronically on Fridays) 20% Field Trip Reports (submitted electronically on Mondays) 20% Disaster Week Report /PowerPoint 10% Field Quizzes 5% Hour Exam 20% Interpretive Guide Term Project - 25%

PROVISIONAL BIOL/ENVI/INTR 225 Calendar 2007

SeptemberSunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

2 3 4 5 6 Introduction 7 8

9 10 11 SPRING! Journals FIELD #1: Vernal Pools & Mt. Meadow

12 13 SUMMER! Biotic Communites of the Berkshires FIELD #1: Vernal Pools & Mt. Meadow

14 15

16 17 7:30 a.m. Bird Walk - Eph's Pond FT#1 Report

18 All-Day Field Trip FIELD: Berkshire County 8:00a.m. -4pm {G&G}

19 20 History of Natural History FIELD: None

21 7:30 a.m. Bird Walk - Eph's Pond Rain Date FJ#1 Report

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23 Hopkins Forest Fall Festival 24 FT#2 Report 25 Bedrock and Geologic History of Berkshires FIELD: Stone Hill

26 27 The Plesitocene FIELD: Stone Hill

28 FJ#2 Report 29

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OctoberSunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 FT#3 Report 2 AUTUMN! FIELD: Pine cobble

3 4 Historical Documentation -- Williams Archives. FIELD: Pine cobble

5 FJ#3 Report 6

7 8 FALL READING PERIOD 9 FALL READING PERIOD FIELD: None

10 FIELD: p.m. Saw-whet Owl Study

11 Berkshire Soils FIELD: p.m. Saw-whet Owl Study rain date

12 FJ#4 Report 13

14 15 FT#4 Report 16 Weather and Climate FIELD: Mt. Greylock - {G&G}

17 FIELD: p.m. Saw-whet Owl Study- Rain Date

18 Hydrology & Berkshire Waters FIELD: Mt. Greylock - {G&G}

19 FJ#5 Report 20

21 22 FT#5 Report 23 Disaster Week 1. Student Reports FIELD: Roaring Branch - Green River 12:20-4 p.m. {G&G}

24 25 Disaster Week I1. Student Report FIELD: Roaring Branch - Green River 12:20-4 p.m. {G&G}

26 FJ#6 Report 27

28 29 FT#6 Report 30 Regional Wetlands FIELD: Eph's Pond & Hoosic River Floodplain

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NovemberSunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 Hour Exam FIELD: Eph's Pond & Hoosic River Floodplain

2 3

4 5 FT#7 Report 6 History of the Hopkins Memorial Forest FIELD: Farms in the Hopkins Forest

7 8 Reading the Landscape I. Successional Patterns FIELD: Farms in the Hopkins Forest

9 FJ#7 Report 10

11 12 FT#8 Report 13 The PreColonial and Old-Growth Forests FIELD Torrey Woods & Beinecke Stand {G&G}

14 15 Reading the Landscape III. Land Use Legacies FIELD Torrey Woods & Beinecke Stand {G&G}

16 FJ#8 Report 17

18 19 FT#9 Report 20 Invasins, Outbreaks and Eruptions FIELD: None

21 22 THANKSGIVING 23 24

25 26 Hunting Season starts 27 WINTER! FIELD: Pownal Bogs

28 29 Extinctions & Conservation FIELD: Pownal Bogs

30 FJ#9 Report

DecemberSunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

12 3 FT#10 Report 4 Site Presentations 5 6 Site Presentations 7 Fall Semester Classes End

FJ#10 Report8 Reading Period

BIOL225- 2007Readings.xls

Day Date Topic Readings

Th 6-Sep-07 Introduction Perry, A.L., 1894. The Setting. Pp 1-70. Origins in Williamstown. Chas.Scribner's Sons, NYC.

Tu 11-Sep-07 Spring // Journals Scudder, S.H., 1874. In the laboratory with Agassiz. Every Saturday 1: 369-370.Darwin, C.R., 1884. Galapagos Archipelago. Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of HMS Beagle Round the World. Appleton. NYC, pp372-401.Thoreau, H.D., 1856. . The Journal of Henry D. Thoreau April 9 - 15.Krutch, J.W., 1949. April. The Twelve Seasons.Wm. Sloane, N.Y., pp. 3- 13.

Tu/Th FIELD: Vernal Pools & Sketching @ Mountain Meadow

Leslie, C.W., 1984. Chapter 2. The Art of field Sketching. Kendal Hunt Publishing.

Th 13-Sep-07 Summer // Communities Westveld, M., 1950. Forest Types of New England. J.Forestry.Krutch, J.W., 1949. August. The Twelve Seasons.Wm. Sloane, N.Y., pp. 63- 78.Milham, W.I., 1950. Meteorology and Meterological Observations in Williams College also at the Hopkins Memorial Experimental Forest and in North Adams. McClelland Press, Williamstown.

Tu 18-Sep-07 All-Day Field Trip National Geographic 1970 - the BerkshiresFIELD: Berkshires Niles, G.G., 1912. The Hoosac Pass of the Taconic Mountains. The Hoosac Valley

:Its legends and Its History. Putnam, NY. Pp 1-13.

Th 20-Sep-07 The History of Natural History - Williams and Beyond

Art, H.W. & M.E. Johnson, 1993. The Lyceum of Natural History at Williams College: Science Far Afield. Web Document on BlackBoard Site.

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Tu 25-Sep-07 Bedrock Karabinos, P., 1996. Field Guide to the Taconian Orogeny in Western New England. 9thKeck Research Symposium. 23 pp. SelectionsWilliams Naturalists. 1995. Chapter 2. Farms to Forest. Center for Environmental Studies. Williams College.

Tu/Th FIELD: Stone Hill Livingston, MD., 1972. A Portraiture of Stone Hill. CES Publication

Th 27-Sep-07 The Pleistocene Dethier, D.P. & D.J. DeSimone, 1996. Late Quaternary Evolution of the Berkshire-Taconic Landscape. A Field Guide for the 9thKeck Research Symposium. 34 pp.

Tu 2-Oct-07 Autumn Lee, D.W. & K.S. Gould, 2002. Why Leaves Turn Red. American Scientist 90: 524-531. Krutch, J.W., 1949. October. The Twelve Seasons.Wm. Sloane, N.Y., pp. 95- 110.

Tu/Th FIELD: Pine Cobble Management Plans for Conservation Lands - Pine Cobble: http://www.williams.edu/CES/mattcole/resources/onlinepaperhtml/cclands.html#Pi

Th 4-Oct-07 Williams Archives Visit: http://archives.williams.edu/http://www.williamstown.net/house_of_local_history.htmhttp://www.uvm.edu/perkins/landscape/

Tu 9-Oct-07 Fall Reading Period

Th 11-Oct-07 Berkshire Soils Scanu, R.J., 1987. Soil Survey of Berkshire County MA. U.S.D.A. - N.R.C.S. Selections

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Tu 16-Oct-07 Weather & Climate Alden, P., et al., 1998. Weather. National Audubon Society Field Guide to New England. Knopf, NYC. Pp 54-61.Zielinski, G.A. & B.D. Keim, 2003. New England Weather , New England Climate. University Press of New England, Lebanon, N.H., 276 pp. Excerptshttp://oit.williams.edu/weather/

Tu/Th FIELD: Mt. Greylock Dwight, T., 1800. Journey to Whitstown. Travels in New EnglandThoreau, H.D., 1867. Ascent of Graylock, July, 1844. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack.

Th 19-Oct-07 Berkshhire Hydrology Dethier, D.P., S. Brown, & A. deGarmo, 1992. Portrait of the Birch Brook Watershed. Center for Environmental Studies, Williams College, 24 pp.Ouimet, W.B., & Dethhier, 2002. Modeling sediment flux from Birch Brook, and undisturbed catchment in northwestern MA., NE Geo. & Envi. Sci. 24(3): 176-184.MacFadyen, J.A. & J.E. Ruth, 1972. Ground Water Geology of the Hoosic and Housatonic Valleys, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Berkshire Panel for the Public Environment. - Excerpt

Tu 24-Oct-07 Disaster Week None

Tu/Th FIELD: Roaring Branch / Green River

http://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri934076/stations/01333000.html

Richardson, J.L., 1957. An ecological study of faunal distribution in two aquatic communities. Senior Thesis in Biology. Williams College. pp. 70-134. Excerpt

Th 26-Oct-07 Disaster Week None

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Tu 31-Oct-07 Wetlands Southworth, A.D., 1986. Willilamstown Wetlands. Senior Thesis in Environmental Studies. Williams College. 115 pp. Excerpt

Tu/Th FIELD: Eph's Pond & Hoosic River Floodplain

Alliance Report Exercepts

Richardson, J.L., 1957. An ecological study of faunal distribution in two aquatic communities. Senior Thesis in Biology. Williams College. Pp. 1-69.Excerpt

Th 1-Nov-07 Hour Exam None

Tu 6-Nov-07 History of the HMF Art, H.W.1993. An ecclectic history of the Hopkins Memorial Forest. See: http://www.williams.edu/CES/hopkins/history/historyhome.htmWilliams Naturalists. 1995. Chapter 1. Farms to Forest. Center for Environmental Studies. Williams College.

Tu/Th Field: Farms in the HMF Olivo, R,F H.W. Art, & A.E Rosenburg, 1975, Afred Moon's Farm. Natural History 84(9): 74-84.Williams Naturalists. 1995. Chapter 6. Farms to Forest. Center for Environmental Studies. Williams College.

Th 117/2007 Succession Art, H.W. & D.P. Dethier, 1986. The influence of vegetative succession on soil chemistry of the Berkshires. Water Resour.Res. Cntr. UMASS Publication 153, 167pp. ExcerptWilliams Naturalists. 1995. Chapter 3. Farms to Forest. Center for Environmental Studies. Williams College.

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Tu 13-Nov-07 Pre Colonial Forests Cogbill, C.V., J. Burk, & G. Motzkin, 2002. The forest of presettlement New England, USA: Spatial and compositional patterns based on town proprietor surveys. J. Biogeog. 29: 1279-1304.Art, H.W. 1989, 'This Mountain was Exceeding Good Land….' A Journal (CES): 6:30-33.Day, G.M., 1953. The Indian as an ecological factor in the Northeastern forest. Ecol. 34: 329-346.

Tu/Th Field: Torrey Woods & Beinecke Stand

Collier, C. A., 1993. Forest dynamics in the Beinecke Stand, Hopkins Memorial Forest. Thesis - Williams Biology. 45 pp. Excerpt

Th 15-Nov-07 Land-use Legacies Bellemare, J., G. Motzkin, & D.R, Foster, 2002. Legacies of the agricultural past in the forested present: An assessment of historical land-use effects on rich mesic forests. J. Biogeog. 29: 1401-1420.

Tu 20-Nov-07 Invasions, Outbreaks, Eruptions

Morse, L.E., J.M. Randall, N. Benton, R. Hiebert, and S. Lu. 2004. An Invasive Species Assessment Protocol: Evaluating Non-Native Plants for Their Impact on Biodiversity. Version 1. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Titus, E. O. 1975. Hopkins Forest response to defoliation by the saddled prominent caterpillar Heterocampa guttivitta. Thesis - Williams Biology. Excerpts.Billo, T.J., 1997. A study of the past and present ecology of the American chestnut (Castanea dentata [Marsh.] Borkh.) in a northern hardwood forest. Thesis - Williams Biology. Excerpts.

Th 22-Nov-07 Thanksgiving Break

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Tu 27-Nov-07 Winter Halfpenny, J.C. & R.D. Ozanne, 1989. What and Where is Winter? Winter, and Ecological Handook. Johnson Books, Boulder, CO. Pp. 38-63Krutch, J.W., 1949. February. The Twelve Seasons.Wm. Sloane, N.Y., pp. 155- 169.

Tu/Th Field: Pownal Bogs Bentley, D.R., 1962. A post-glacial pollen diagram from Pownal, Vermont. Senior Thesis in Biology. 42pp. Excerpt

Th 29-Nov-07 New England Biological Conservation

Barbour, H., T. Simmons, P. Swain, & H. Woolsey, 1998. Our Irreplaceable Heritage. Mass. Nat. Heritage & Endangered Spp. & MA. Nature Conservancy. 83 pp.http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/nhbiomap.htm

Tu 4-Dec-07 Project Presentations

Tu/Th Project Presentations

Th 6-Dec-07 Project Presentations

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BIOL 225 - 2007 Field Journal Sites

Site # Name Street Image

1 Stetson Parking Island

Hopkins Hall Drive

2 Williams College Cemetery

Mission Park Drive

3 Hockey Pond Stetson Road

4 Practice Field Forest Stetson Road

5 Eph's Pond Stetson Road

6 Eph's Pond Bluffs Forest

Mission Park Parking Lot

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7 Buxton Farms Manison Site

Northwest Hill Road

8 Buxton Lane Wet Meadow

Northwest Hill Road

9 Hunter Lot Forest

Petersburgh Road

10 Buxton Brook Petersburgh Road

11 Garfield House Woods South Street

12 Clark Art Institute Woods Trail

South Street

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13 Clark Art Institute Pasture Trail

South Street

14 Williamstown Stone Hill Woodlot

Stone Hill Road

15 Denison Park Creek Wetlands

Denison Park Drive

16 Christmas Brook West of Renzi Lamb Field

17 12th Hole Woods Water Street

18 Power Line Right-of-Way

Linear Park Drive off Main Street

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2007 Natural Disaster Week.xls

Floods 23-24 Oct 187820-21 Aug 1901

3-4 Nov 192713-21 Mar 1936

21-Sep-19381-3 Jan 194926-Nov-1950

9-10 Aug 197630 Mar-8 Apr 1987

8-9 Oct 2005.

Storms 11-14 Mar 1888. 3-Mar-1947

4-Oct-198713-15 Mar 1993

15-Jul-1995

Unusual Weather May-Sept 1816 Year without a summer11-May-1945 Weird one

Fires 18 Jul 1884 Mt. Greylock19-28 Oct 1908 SW VT- NW MA

25-Apr-1979 Pine Cobble - East Mountain

Drought Jun-Sep 1965 New England Drought

Mt. Greylock Landslides Aug 1891 Hopper20 Aug 1901 Adams, MA21-Sep-1938 Hopper

14-May-1990 Adams, MA

Cold wave 7-9 Feb 1861

Heat wave 1-12 Jul 1911

Tornado 28-Aug-197329-May-1995

natural history of the berkshires - fall 2007 · national audubon society field guide to new...

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