Service Learning: Bird Walk

Initially, for my service learning project we were supposed to go on a bird walk where we would look at different species of birds, however due to the daylight savings time change, our event organizer was an hour late. Because of this, we ended up doing something else that involved learning about invasive and native plants. How does invasive and native plants relate to animal biology? Well for one example, I learned that salmon depend on forests for when they migrate. Fallen trees allows a place to rest when the current is strong. The streams surrounded by forests allow the salmon to migrate in. So if the invasive species cause harm to the native plants and forests, then that means that it’s also causing harm to fish and other animals habitat and is reducing biodiversity.

During our service learning project, we walked around and identified invasive and native species.

A picture of an invasive species, the Yellow Archangel

A picture of an invasive species, English Holly

The goal of the event was for us to be able to learn about the invasive and native plants and for us to be able to understand the importance of biodiversity and how we can help eradicate these invasive plants. From this service learning project, I learned about the invasive and native species. Before, I didn’t realize how much damage invasive species can do to the habitats of animals but after learning about this, it helped me understand how a small community could make a huge difference just by removing the invasive species or making sure it can’t grow. As I have said before, invasive species cause a lot of harm to the environment. It reduces biodiversity. The invasive species takes over other native habitats, therefore it reduces biodiversity. This relates to the evolution chapter we covered in class.

The title of the project is called Bird Walk and we volunteered for 2 hours. The name of the event organizer is Ekaterina Rar. Her email address is ekaterina.rar@email.edcc.edu.

Four questions that were raised:

1. How exactly were the invasive species brought in?
2. Why were invasive species brought in?
3. Why are invasive species so successful in taking over native species?
4. What are the characteristics of the native species and why are the native species so vulnerable to the invasive species?