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Heiberg Forest

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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

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