ERS 346 - Outing #3

Time and Date: 26/10/12 15:00
Duration: 45 minutes
Location: Lion’s Head, ON
Weather: Sunny, 21 degrees, 20% cloud cover
Habitat: Side of limestone cliff exposed to wind from large fresh water lake, temperate forest above and below the cliff.

The town of Lion’s Head is named for a cliff that looks like the head of a lion with a mane of cedars, looking out over Georgian Bay. It is a beautiful and relatively easy to access lookout that attracts many hikers and tourists. The extensive limestone cliffs is also a draw for many climbers to come to the area. My observations for this journal entry were from photographs taken while rappelling down the side of the cliff in 2 places – one just down the Lion’s Head Lookout and the other about 40 meters to the southwest of the lookout. All observations were made above the canopy.

All of the species found on the side of this cliff need to be adapted to live in harsh conditions, with very little soil and constant high wind exposure off of Georgian Bay. That being said, there did seem to be one species out of place, there was some sort of deciduous tree growing. I could not identify the tree from pictures – I should have gotten a better look in person. But this tree was growing on horizontal ledge of about 1 square meter. The tree seemed to be holding a large amount of soil on the ledge and so had by far the most biodiverse microhabitat on the side of the cliff. The tree is in the observation “angiosperm”.
Eastern white cedars are common to see growing on the sides of cliffs. They are able to grow just in the cracks of the rock. Unlike the deciduous tree, the cedars were not supporting a large amount of soil to allow for other species to grow.

The smooth cliff brake is a species especially adapted to grow on the cliff faces in small cracks (https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/smooth-cliff-brake) . The smooth cliff brake seemed to always be growing on its own and not with any other species present. Maybe this is because they are easily outcompeted, and so they can only live in these harsh environments. The cliff brakes were not found in the microhabitat around the deciduous tree. Also, a cliff brake was found in a small cave, showing that it can survive with minimal light.

I was excited to see one animal on the cliff, it was a ladybug just below the Lion’s Head Lookout. It was hanging onto the cliff just under a ledge, potentially hiding from predators. I do not know what sort of food it could have been looking for in it’s location.

The geranium flower and the golden rods were found in areas where some soil had accumulated.

The wild strawberries were growing in cracks and on small ledges. Maybe the seeds were transported here by birds. In one of the strawberry pictures, a bird’s feather can be seen next to the plant.

There were also some grasses growing in cracks and ledges down the cliff. Lichens were growing along the entire face of the cliff.

Publicado el octubre 31, 2019 04:46 TARDE por jlpolgar