List and briefly describe at least three living things you are able to observe near you.

For this assignment, watch this TED talk (Links to an external site.) about urban nature if you have not already seen it in class. Then, go outside and find a place where you can sit and observe nature around you. Spend at least 5-10 minutes just sitting still and paying attention to the living things in your immediate vicinity.

1) Where did you go?
2) List and briefly describe at least three living things you are able to observe near you. These could be trees, other plants, birds, insects, squirrels, or anything else that you observe.
3) If possible, take a picture of one or more of the living things you observed and upload it with the assignment.
4) Choose one of your organisms. Think about the environment it lives in. Describe that environment. What challenges might your organism face in this environment (temperature, food and water availability, habitat, predators, diseases, etc)? What adaptations does it have, or would you expect it to have, to be able to live where it does?
5) Think about how climate change and urbanization have already affected the environment you are observing, and what additional changes may happen in the coming decades. What selective pressure do you think your organism will experience, and how might its characteristics change over many generations in the future?
Washington D.C.