Springbrook National Park Ecology

Plants are found everywhere on earth, up high on the ridge and down low in caves and caverns. The types of plants that live in these places depends on many factors. These factors are separated into two different categories, the biotic factors and the abiotic factors. Some of the biotic factors include, predation, competition, and habitat destruction. Plants with limited competition and large amounts of resources will be in a higher abundance than plants with limited resources and higher competition rates will be confined to areas and either out competed or will be the dominant species. Certain plants adapt to these factors and thrive and others don’t do as well. Some of the abiotic factors include, sunlight, water, temperature, and wind. These

Lick Creek Park is made up of 500 acres of a variety of plant and animal species native to the College Station, TX area. It is located on the southeastern corner of College Station, TX in the Post Oak savanna vegetation zone. The park covers a section of the flood plain and is a primary tributary for the Navasota River. The soil in the area consist primarily of sandy loam, sandy, and sandy clay loam. According to a report by the city of College Station, “College Station has a temperate climate with warm summers and mild winters. The mean average annual temperature over the past 30 years (between 1981 and 2010) was 69°F. The average high and average low during the same time frame was 79.2°F and 58.8°F respectively. The hottest month on average is August, with an average maximum temperature of 96.2°F (1981 to 2010). The coolest month is typically January with an average low temperature of 41.2°F. Annual occurring precipitation averages over 40 inches a year, with the most rainfall occurring during June and October, which have average 4.45 inches and 4.91 inches, respectively”(City of College Station). Lick Creek Park has two distinct microclimates: the upland Savanna and Bottomland forest.

Heathland is favoured where climatic conditions are typically hard and dry, particularly in summer, and soils acidic, of low fertility, and often sandy and very free-draining; mires do occur where drainage is poor, but are usually only small in extent. Heaths are dominated by low shrubs, 20 centimetres (7.9 in) to 2 metres (7 feet)

An ecological niche is the mode of existence that a species has within an ecosystem (The Ecological Niche, n.d.). A species niche includes three main things. First its habitat which is where a species lives in an ecosystem. Second is relationships which is all interactions with other species in the ecosystem. Finally, nutrition which is its method of obtaining food. A niche can be divided into two different types of niches fundamental and realized niche. These two different branches of niches are what I will be talking about in this paper. I will describe what a fundamental and realized niche is, as well as I will talk about the human fundamental niche an I will also talk about my own realized niche.

This pristine environment also provided habitat for great diversity of plants and wildlife. Hundreds of species of native plants thrived in forest, marsh, and meadow. But now, in scarcely a

The Wollemi Pine is a unique,, cone-bearing tree that grows to 40m in height it also has a very long life time. This species is often multi-stemmed and have a diameter of up to 1.2 m at breast height Bark is thin, it is fragile and densely covered with dark brown spongy, slightly cushioned tubercles, which looks similar to black Branches are arranged in continuous whorls which extend from the main stem. The side branches terminate in a cone. Wollemi Pine is most commonly located in western Sydney at the Wollemi National Park (NP) with a population of fewer than 100 adult trees in multiple stands and about 200–300 seedlings in total from within the Wollemi National Park, it Is considered an endangered species.

A serenity garden at Wekiwa Springs State Park, which will expand access and enhance the park experience for visitors with diverse abilities, is currently in the design phase and is expected to open within a year.

Looking at Graph 3, it can be seen that the majority of the Drooping She-Oak population was sampled between the elevation of 750m and 800m. The graph also suggests that no drooping She-oak were located below the elevation of 700m. This means that the elevation range of the species has shifted from 0-800m to approximately 750- 850m.

Recently a group of grade 11 students went out to the Burrum Coast National Park to undertake in observing the relationship between living organisms and their environment, much like ecologists do. Ecologists seek to understand the dynamics of the plants and the world around them. While out on this field trip we studied three ecosystems of the Burrum Coast National Park, the Banksia forest, mangroves and the pioneer zone.

National Park Service (NPS) spent over 100 years of preserving America’s parks, monuments, and historical sites.

Patterns of plant successional change in Gatineau Park, Old Chelsea, were studied quantitatively. The relations between different successional stages of plant communities and abiotic factors were descried. To test these, we went to the fields, and worked on two transect in groups of 4. We counted the trees and measured the diameter at breast height (dbh) for tree with a dbh value greater than 2cm. The dbh measurements (cm), percentage of fern cover and percentage of

Staver et al., 2009). On the other hand, scholars who are against this hypothesis argue that the

Ecology is defined as: “the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.” (Dictionary.com). My chosen biome was the taiga, a frigid and desolate ecosystem found in higher elevated areas. My partner, Elizabeth, had rivers and streams. Both of these ecosystems are vastly different yet share quite a few similarities as mentioned below.

The Great Barrier reef is one example for ecosystems which can be found all around the world. In general an ecosystem is a biological community that consist out of a physical environment in a certain area and its inhabitants like animals, humans, plans etc. As a community all factors are dependent on and affect each other.1 It becomes understandable that if one factor changes the whole system has to cope with it and so the whole ecosystem can be improved or damaged.

This exercise was taken place in Mr. John Gough’s property, ‘Pamplemousse Park’, 95 Mc Leans Ridge Rd, Wollongbar, Northern NSW. The plantation is a mixed-species rainforest, established in 1997. Equipment required for this practical exercise was clinometer, diameter tape, 30-measuring tape, basal area prism, point sampling ‘dendrometer’, ruler, calculator, booking board and writing implements