Cedar Bog in Urbana Ohio is filled with Biodiversity.

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Picture retrieved from: https://www.cedarbognp.org/

Today our Botany class was given the pleasure of a speaker Tracy Bleim to present on trees. She began the lecture on asking us one important question. “Why do we love trees?” She expressed of the common and complex reasons that trees are used for in our daily lives. She expressed that they have historical value, they are used to build our homes, and they provide extensive biodiversity for our environment. I was very interested with the facts that she presented throughout her lecture.
I was intrigued to find out that there is not a filtration system for water in the United States of America that can remove pharmaceutical waste, but she explained that wetlands can indeed remove this waste. The biodiversity that is located in a wetland can actually remove this waste. It is fascinating that the biodiversity itself can remove unnatural waste.
There were many other interesting facts presented during this informative lecture. She used a local nature preserve The Cedar Bog to guide her lecture. It was very interesting that Cedar Bog provides so many functions to the environment. (Each listed below)
·       Flood Control
·       Water Quality
·       Fish Nursery
·       Water-foul & Shorebirds
·       Plant Life
·       Endangered Wildlife
·       Recreational Use
Each of these important functions of the wetland make it definitely a very important resource to our environment.
            After her discussion on the use of the area, she then explained the difference between a bog and a fen. This was very interesting as I didn’t know of any such thing. She expressed that  bog is “clogged” and fen “flush”. This analogy allowed me to picture what each of these allow and do for an ecosystem.
            Overall, I found this guest lecturer very interesting and I would like to eventually visit the Cedar Bog once more. I have visited in the past and I loved the environment. All of the thriving plants and wildlife in the area. It is rich in biodiversity and is a great ecosystem that sustains life. Her passion and knowledge for wildlife was clearly evident and it was a great addition to our study of trees.
Picture retrieved from: https://seasonsflow.wordpress.com/2017/08/05/cedar-bog/

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