Forest Succession Report

On September 17th, 2015 our group went on the Orange Trail of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia in Athens, Georgia to collect data for our lab. The biome of this area that we explored fit a temperate deciduous forest type. We walked along the trail and picked random spots to start measuring our transects. We measured DBH size and canopy coverage at 10, 20, 30, and 40 meters respectively along each transect for a total of six transects. We used a densitometer to measure the percent of canopy coverage of the tree closest to the center of the sampling points along each of the transects. We used a measuring tape to measure out 10, 20, 30, and 40 meters respectively along each of the six

Each study site is 1 km by 0.5 km in area. Three rodent trapping webs and four replicate experimental blocks of plots are randomly located at each study site to measure vegetation responses to the exclusion of small mammals. Each block of plots is 96 meters on each side. Each block of plots consists of 4 experimental study plots, each occupying 1/4 of each block. The blocks of study plots are all oriented on a site in an X/Y coordinate system, with the top to the north. Treatments within each block include one unfenced control plot (Treatment C), one plot fenced with hardware cloth and poultry wire to exclude rodents and rabbits (Treatment R). The two treatments were randomly assigned to each of the four possible plots in each block independently, and their arrangements differ from block to block. Each of the plots in a replicate block are separated by 20 meters. Each experimental measurement plot measures 36 meters by 36 meters. A grid of 36 sampling points is positioned at 5.8-meter intervals on a systematically located 6 by 6 point grid within each plot. A permanent one-meter by one-meter vegetation measurement quadrat is located at each of the 36 points. A 3-meter wide buffer area is situated between the grid of 36 points and the perimeter of each plot. The foliage canopy area and maximum height of each plant species is measured from each quadrat. All cover values are measured from the vegetation measurement frame, which is 1 meter by 1 meter, and partitioned into a grid of 100, 10 cm by 10 cm squares. Cover is measured by counting the number of

Our ecosystem is described depending on the location we are located in. There is different plants, animals, and environments in different environmental regions. For this paper we are focusing on the six different biomes structures we have in the state of Texas.

Fire has long been understood to have an impact on the ecosystem of our native woodlands, but it is only recently that we have come to understand its importance in maintaining the ecosystem. This report takes samples of the flora structure and growth in two different areas of Anstey Hill Recreation Park. The first was last burnt in 1995, and the second burnt in 2012. The results of these samples can be compared to data sampled in 2011, when the 2012 burnt area had not been burnt since Ash Wednesday in 1983.

The rare Daintree Rainforest is one of the forest that has been demolishing slowly because of logging. With this ecosystem fragmentation is occurring (“All about carbon dioxide”). Ecosystem fragmentation is where the forest is separated into smaller pieces over time because of human activity (“The Daintree Rainforest Australia”). With this happening, animals habitats are becoming even smaller (“All about carbon dioxide”). With more habitat space becoming less it is causing more animals to become threatened and an endangered species (“Deforestation”). Smaller amount of habitat is also affecting the animals migration patterns, their ability to collect food, and provides less shelter (“All about carbon dioxide”). This fragmentation also makes it a struggle for animals to move from one part of the rainforest to another and it also affects the limit it has on the animals breeding population. The ecosystem fragmentation is making them become more vulnerable to extinction (“Population in Daintree”). Logging is cutting down one and one-half acres of trees each second and eighteen million acres of forest are destroyed each year. It is estimated that in over the next quarter of a century up to twenty-eight thousand animal species may become extinct all because of logging and human damned for lumber (“All about carbon

Ecological succession is the slow replacement of an ecological community by another, as one gradually overtakes another. Primary succession is when a landscape previously devoid of life starts to grow small shrubs, and eventually trees. Secondary succession is the replacement of life with more life. A pioneer species is the first species to begin primary succession. Climax communities are achieved in the last stage of succession, remaining unchanged until an outside event

The reduction of vegetative cover during and after fire can have a severe negative impact on several different factors including: water quality, soil erosion, wildlife and threatened or endangered species, introduction or spread of invasive and exotic species, and economic or social impacts to the surrounding communities. We will implement a vegetation monitoring protocol that will help guide us in restoration and recovery efforts of the High Park fire scar and the surrounding areas and watershed. A collaboration with the US Forest Service will be aggressively pursued in the hopes that a combined use of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program and our separate vegetation monitoring protocol can be utilized. We will use the burn severity field data collection points and cross-reference them with the FIA data points to see if there is any overlap between them. If there is then the FIA data points will be given preference as those points can possibly provide more information than solely High Park Fire data collection points. If there is not the ability to utilize the FIA data collection points, due to privacy, cost, or unforeseen reasons, then the High Park Fire data collection points will be

What made this location different than the other two locations was that it was set on private land rather than public land. The vegetation was dominated by sugar maple, with more red oaks than in the first site. The canopy was not as closed as the first location but still consisted of coverage of about 90%. Pleasant Mile Woods had less foot traffic than that of the Kettle Moraine State Park, being that it is a private land, and had more wind than the previous location due to the increase in farmland surrounding the patch of woods. The final location, Kohler-Andrae State Natural Area, is right off the shore of Lake Michigan and the part of the site which was surveyed was the woody area off of Black River Trail. Once again, this area was heavily shaded and dominated with sugar maple. This site had the most foot traffic due to the occurrence of more trails and surrounding lakeside suburbs along with having more wind than the other two locations. At each of the locations, square quadrats of 10 meters in length were sampled using a stratified random sampling technique. At each location, a total of 25 quadrats were analyzed leading to a total of 75 total

Little Bluestem is one of the most abundant grasses in Kansas, and its roots which grow 5-8 feet long, enable it to resist moderate drought conditions (SITE). Plots 5 and 6 contain co-dominant species; Yellow Indian Grass (20%), Big Bluestem (30%), and Prairie Dropseed (35%) are all dominant. In Plot 7, the dominant species is Prairie Dropseed (40%). The dominant species in Plot 8 is Big Bluestem (25%). In Plot 9 and 10, Little Bluestem becomes dominant again, and Switchgrass is observed to be the co-dominant. Species richness is shown in the Figure 5; there is a higher species richness in Plot 1 through

The list ranges from dry prairies, terrestrial shrublands, wetlands, marshes, bogs, swamps, savannas, lowland forests, upland forests, to wet prairies. The dry prairies consist of pure marram grass and sand reed where mice, shrews, and squirrels are found. Terrestrial shrublands is the area between grass-covered dunes and forested dunes where you will find saplings of oak, basswood, and conifer trees. The area where there’s marshes, swamps, and bogs are all known as wetlands. Savannas also have oak and conifer trees found in them too. This type of habitat is the breeding grounds for lupine and Karner Blue butterflies. Lowland and upland forests are slightly different from each other. They each have different types of plants found there. Lastly, wet prairies have a wide variety of grasses. The thickness of the grass keeps the ground moist and provides homes for smaller animals. All of these habitats have their own characteristics and helps make up the Indiana Dunes State Park (“Indiana

Forest communities like Battle Park have different environmental factors within their area. On different slopes, depending on the direction it is facing, the soil and area could be wetter or drier. This study is looking to see if the north-facing and south-facing sites have differences in basal area, density, species richness, and diversity. Also, there may be some similarities in the area since both are from the same park.

Sixty five measurements were made for the Southwestern Grady Oak Savanna area and part of the Green Prairie, by sampling 7 of the transects based on the UW Arboretum grid. The first two transects were sampled every 10 meters but the 5 remainings were sampled every 50 meters, due to time concerns (Figure 10).

When analyzing the map obtained for percentage of canopy density in Southwestern Grady Oak Savanna and part of the Green Prairie unit, we can see how there’s some areas that are close to what we would expect in terms of canopy density for an Oak Savanna. This areas, like the ones in the Northwestern part of the Southwestern Grady Oak Savanna and the northern half of the Green Prairie present percentages of canopy cover lower than 50%. However, most of the area analyzed presents a percentage of canopy density bigger than 50%, with some areas presenting values ranging as high as from 86% to 99%. The southern part of the Southwestern Grady Oak Savanna is one of them. The effects of this closed canopy can be

However, the Dwight-Irwin soil has more of a deeper, moister quality. Benfield and Dwight-Irwin soils do allow for more species richness than other lower elevated ecosystems but due to the drier soils, Little Bluestem is still the most dominant plant recorded. The dominance of Little Bluestem extends down to the lowest boundaries of the ecosystem, indicating that the soil conditions do stay relatively consistent, despite the change in soil type. This allows “Little Bluestem” to again be the dominant plant species component. The drier qualities of the upper Benfield soil combine with the slightly moister qualities of the lower Dwight-Irwin soil to give the “Dry Mesic” classification. These soil moisture content qualities, the location of this ecosystem along side slopes, and the consistent dominance of the Little Bluestem plant species allows this ecosystem to be classified as Little Bluestem-Dry

I visited the Wayside Woods Prairie preserve on November 26 Sunday for the service learning. The Wayside Woods Prairie is an Illinois natural preserve which is a former baseball diamond which is now covered with prairie flowers joining two small, high quality prairie remnants. Many of the classic prairie plants are found here, including grasses such as big bluestem, switch grass and norther dropseed; stiff and Riddell’s goldenrods; tall coreopsis, prairie dock, compass plant and many others. Rapid expansion of buckthorn trees has been occurring in this forest preserve which is major obstacle in the survival of this preserve’s native species which are mainly grasses.