Murphy's Bottom Pond and Knapp Run Explorations

In the morning we went to a lake. Years ago they used the area to mine coal, now the Duquesne University uses the lake and the nature around the lake for research. There we met biologist, Brady Porter, who took us on a hike down to the lake. On our way we looked under some dubris, placed there on purpose, for snakes. We found a young black rat snake who was about to shed her skin. Brady said that she was probably a female because of her short tail. When we arrived at the pond, we prepaired to get wet, but nothing could've prepared us for this. We stepped into the mud and sank instantly. The clear water became black with the sturred up mud and our shoes stuck in the mud while we tried to walk around. We used large nets to capture the tiny blue gills and bass that inhabited the area. We also caught the occasional crawfish or dragonfly nymph, which Brady collected for research back at Duquesne. When we finished, we headed back to the van where Chris Statzer was waiting with our lunch. We ate hungrily then set off for the stream. On our way to the stream, we were taught about many invasive plant species such as Japanese knot weed. In the stream we caught many species of salamandar including: long-tails, two-lines, and mountain and nothern duskys. We also collected all the male crawfish we could find for a study at Duquesne. We had a great time!