Every forest has a story to tell. By looking closely at its habitants, that story can be interpreted. Much of this narrative is written in the trees: their age, their tolerance to shade, and the rate at which they grow are all characteristics that can imply a lot about their environment. Exploring these relationships and how they connect with each other can indicate the health and history of the land. Heiberg Forest, located in northern New York, was once used for agricultural purposes in the 1800-1900’s. (Nowak, Lecture Notes) Much of the land once used for farming was left to regrow back into a young forest. The life history of different tree species can be determined by examining the most common species in Heiberg. The growth rate of native tree species compared to the shade tolerance can be viewed in Figure 1. The general trend is as growth rate increases, the shade tolerance decreases. Trees that depend on sunlight, like the American beech, need to have a faster growth rate in order to compete with other species. On the other hand, trees with shade tolerance such as the sugar maple don’t need to grow as fast, as they can still thrive with less sunlight. An exception to this general trend would be striped maple, whose growth rate is fast and is also shade tolerant. This species has adapted itself …show more content…
A shade tolerant species such as eastern hemlock, which also has a slow growth rate, must compete with much faster growing, shade intolerant species such as black cherry or white ash. While the cherry and ash grow faster, hemlock has a much longer life span, thus has a good chance of outliving these species. As always, there are exceptions to the general trend. Striped maple is both fast growing and shade tolerant, but is very short lived. Along with the red oak, this species has adapted in order to even the odds for
The topography of the island is also of note. The west end of the island features a closed-canopy forest with more hardwood trees. The east end of the island is better characterized as a “boreal forest,” a term used to describe regions that are mostly covered by coniferous forests. It is good to note that the balsam fir is found on both ends of the island, but that samples used in the study from the west end of the island were, on average, older, but shorter, than those samples found on the east side of the island.
Boxelder Maple trees depend on the dispersal of their samaras to reproduce. The samaras are the seeds of the tree that are shaped in such a way that the wing of the seed causing it to spin. The seed does not fall directly but instead twirls like a helicopter making it stay in the air longer. With the wind the seed can then me dispersed away from the parent tree to take rout and grow on its own. Not all seeds float away from the parent seed and take rout. Some end up falling to close to the parent tree not allowing them to survive due to not getting nutrients and sunlight. “Recent field studies have made progress in elucidating the mechanisms behind these patterns and the implications of these patterns for recruitment success”
The Acadian forest in Canada takes up 12.1 million hectares, and can be distinguished from other parts of Canadian forests by its location in the lowlands and deep valleys and by its mixed hardwood and softwood composition. The position of these trees in deep valleys isolates them from other forests, and limits their ability to further naturally spread their population geographically, and causes them to be more significantly impacted by disturbances. The Acadian forest region covers the Canadian provinces of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, with a rich diversity of plant and animal species consisting of many shade-tolerant trees and lichens. Yet these shade-tolerant trees are slowly transitioning into small seedlings as logging practices abolish old trees. The old-growth hardwood population in specific provides critical habitats for animal species though these trees are declining in numbers due to extensive logging. With the declining old-growth trees, the number of critical habitats will also decline and animal species will most likely die out. These regions are affected by climate change at the same time, which increases the vulnerability of Acadian biodiversity.
Based on the current conditions of the area, we hypothesis that tree survivability will be highest in elevations above 3,000 feet and below 3,300 feet, highest in slopes between 0 - 45 degrees, and highest in aspects between 0 - 33 degrees. Tree survivability will also be highest in area with the best soil, water quality, and forest health conditions for successful tree sapling growth.
The rest of the plant population in the rich cove ecosystem consists of Pine Trees. White Pines, Pine Oaks, and Hardwood Pine trees are all present. The reason these types of plants thrive in the rich cove ecosystem is because they are all moisture loving plants. The rich cove ecosystem has a naturally moist, and nutrient soil, which allows these plants to not only survive, but thrive. The trees within the rich cove ecosystem are incredibly old, and serve as a display of one of oldest deciduous forests in all of the United States. Because there are so many old and tall trees in the rich cove ecozone, the tree canopy is very thick. In the spring time, the rich cove ecosystem has a flourishing floral community. There are remarkable amounts of wild flowers that grow in the rich cove forest in spring. Animal life in the rich cove forest is very abundant, because a majority of this forest is very remote. One issue that dangers the rich cove forest is the severity of the cold in the winter, making it difficult for plants and animals to survive in some of the more harsh areas within the rich cove
“Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped” (“Dormancy”). Some native plants have learned to adapt to grow a mixture of both short and long roots, so they can absorb moisture from both depths. After the winter season, the deeper roots reach down to absorb the water that has soaked into the deeper ground. Once the water lower in the ground has been absorbed into the tree, the plant uses its shallow roots to begin absorbing the moisture at the surface (Schwinning, Susan. “Sensitivity”). Exotic plants in a new area can cause irregular forest fires, floods, and other unwanted natural disturbances. To prevent these disturbances from occurring, Exotic Plant Management teams are trying to remove unnecessary plants that are only hurting the soil. The Exotic Plants team gives the people taking care of the plants two recommendations. First, they recommended to not worry as much about the bigger exotic plants and try to eliminate the weeds and exotic grasses. Second, is to put as much effort into restoring the native plants that are struggling through the droughts (Daw). Cold season shrubs are one of the few native plants that were not affected by the change in the climate
Silver maple on good sites can be managed for timber – it is often cut and sold with red maple as “soft maple” lumber. © William S. Justice Dept. of Botany, Smithsonian Institution @ PLANTS
In the forests of Argentina where the trees stand tall and the soil is moist and fertile, live a variety of dwelling species who are extremely adaptive to the moderate and constant environment. The temperate deciduous forest has a great beauty and countless wonders that make it stand out from many other biomes. With its indifferent temperature and substantial habitats, many animals, like the crab-eating fox, are able to inhabit the environment with the use of many essential adaptations. The very fertile and rich-nutrients soil allow many magnificent vegetation to thrive and succeed. With temperate meaning “not to extreme” or “in moderation” and deciduous meaning “to fall off,” there would
Only a century ago, South America's primitive forests blanketed the entire region from the southern tip of the continent north half the length of Chile's coast and eastward into Argentina's Patagonia. Beech trees of the genus Nothofagus covered most of the region, mixed with evergreen and various deciduous trees. Once extending more than 35 million acres, these forests comprised the largest stands of pristine temperate rainforest in the world (Nash 1994). Nothofagus beeches are among the most ancient species of trees and have been on Earth more than 150 million years. Soon after their arrival in the 16th century, European settlers began logging these forests, but not until the 20th century did widespread clearance begin. During the 1940s
Oaks are among the most genetically polymorphic forest species , hence their high adaptivecapacity 19 .
This lab is designed to help student observe the forest community. After this lab, student will be able to distinguish the ecological concept that determine the distribution of population size. The main objectives of this lab were to figure out the density of tree species in the forest community, explain the significance of each species, interpret the concept of species diversity or similarity, contrast between the canopy and understudy forest structure, explain the affect of abiotic and biotic conditions on forest community. We have used the point quarter method to collect our data. We have predicted that there was a significant difference in the abiotic condition between the slope site and the lower site. We concluded that abiotic condition can affect the growth of a population by influencing an organisms to grow and
The main purpose for the field trip was to assess and understand forest succession using fundamental field ecological techniques. Forest succession plays a role on the ecosystem, driving changes in the development of its contained environment. Time is a factor in succession since succession has a slow development rate. Furthermore, forest succession is categorized into two stages: Primary and secondary. The difference of both succession stages are noticeable due to its characteristics. Primary succession stage contains pioneer plants where low-height plants such as shrubs and lichens thrive because of its newly developed environment. On the other hand, secondary succession stage contains structured trees, developing a forest setting. The fieldwork
Our lab investigated the morphological characteristics of leaves found in the sun and shade on various species of maple and oak trees around campus. Our null hypothesis was Acer and Quercus acclimate similarly with regards to SLW (specific leaf weight), size, and sinuosity. Our hypothesis was Quercus acclimation is greater than Acer SLW, size, and sinuosity. We tested these hypotheses by picking small sections of a branches from both maple and oak trees. A group was assigned either a maple or an oak tree, and needed a total of three different trees per group. Once three different trees were chosen, groups needed three shade leaves and three sun leaves of off each different tree. In total, each group should then end up with 18 leaves for testing. After collecting the leaves, we ran them through the LiCor 3100 leaf area meter to identify the area of each leaf. Major results found by the classes’ mutual data was each one of our p-values were greater than .05. This means that we failed to reject the null hypothesis. Thus, the lab results do not support our hypothesis that Quercus acclimation is greater than Acer SLW, size, and sinuosity.
In this paper, I will explain what is the Anthropocene and how it is affecting the mortality of trees. Tree especially forest can be wiped out in two way, abiotic and biotic. Abiotic means of death are naturally accruing events that trees experience and with given time build resilience to, but with the help of man these events have become more reoccurring and much more extreme. Climate change is a great factor in the increase of tree mortality, with the rise in global temperature and the increase in extreme weather from the intense burning of fossil fuels. Biotic means that affect the mortality of trees are starvation due to lack of light, water and sometimes lack of Carbon dioxide. There are also diseases, insects and direct biotic means such as deforestation, all will be discussed at some point in this paper.
Acer saccharum has different growth habits depending on the environment. The largest reported individual tree was found near Bethany, West Virginia; it had a diameter of 5.6 feet, a crown spread of 75 feet and its height was over 100 feet (Luzadis & Gossett, 1996). Generally, those trees grown to maturity in the open have a crown of 60-80 feet in diameter, a height between 70-90 feet and a trunk diameter of 2-3 feet. Trees grown in the forest are not as big nor do they have as wide a trunk. In addition to their smaller size, trees grown in the forest or woods have branches closer to the canopy than trees