Hiking in Reston

We were lucky enough to find alot of examples of what we have been studying in class on our hike last week in Reston. Here are some pictures of a few things you might recognize from class

Sporangia was a common sight for us during the hike. You can make it out as the things that look kind of like pine needles in the picture above.

In the picture to the left you can see the curve in the creek we were hiking next to. If you look closely you can see that were the water flows against the outside of the bend in the creek erosion is occurring slowly pushing the corner of the path farther and farther over.

Recognize the tree bellow from lab?
This tree is 60ish years old

Its hard to make out, but in the picture to the right half of the whole tree was covered in lichen.

Below is a better picture depicting lichen.

The picture to the left shows a different kind of lichen to the usual light green that we had been seeing.

Here is a really cool mushroom we found with fungi on top about 6 feet up a tree.











Below you can see what happens when a giant tree falls. It pulls up a ton of surface rock, but also becomes the home for many animals. On the right you can see the 56' Chevy bryophyte we saw that was abandoned at the top of a hill.