Unburned Species Diversity

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 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.

The ancient forests of the Northeast aren’t the only aspect of the bioregion that’s fate have been at perpetual risk since the early settlement of Europeans. There is no question that forests still dominate the landscape of Northeastern region accounting for “60% of the total land area, and in New England alone, the coverage is 80%”. Still the species that exist within the understory of the forests have undergone an equally dramatic transformation because of human interaction with the land and the harvest of its resources. Some species in the understory of the mixed forests of the Northeast have been driven out of the region, are under intense ecological pressure, are on the brink of extinction, or have already gone extinct in the region. Perhaps one of the most harmful and impactful effects colonization of the Northeast has had on the resources of the land is the introduction of non-native species and diseases into the region. Over time the overall makeup of the forests have changed drastically as an example, “…the American chestnut once made up as much as 25% of the trees in some areas and was economically the most important hardwood in the Eastern forests”. The introduction of chestnut blight at the turn of the century accounts for

The Appalachians span over a distance of 1,600 miles, ranging across 14 states, from Newfoundland in the North, to Alabama in the South. The Appalachians are the oldest chain of mountains on the North American continent. With forest, comes forest fires, some natural and some prescribed by humans. In order to reduce the calamitous damage caused by natural wildfires, the technique of prescribed fires is used. This is done by diminishing the amounts of trees, shrubs, and brush in the intended area. By doing this, new native plant growth is encouraged and it helps maintain some plant and animal species that depend on the periodic fires. With this man made force comes numerous effects on vegetation, wildlife, and the human impact.

This was attributed to the ranges of vegetation type with elevation and slope, with mixed conifer tree species growing at higher elevations with increased tree cover. Similar patterns can be identified with the Rim Fire in the Stanislaus National Forest. The Pinus ponderosa (ponderosa pine) or Calocedrus decurrens (incense cedar) tree species tend to favor higher elevations, slopes between 0 - 45 degrees, and aspects between 0 - 33 degrees from North (Myers).

Looking further into the impacts of the Rodeo-Chediski fire the trees saw the greatest impact of the fire. Almost 90% of the trees suffered complete crown kill (Ffolliott, 2008). Either some trees had survived with low severity, were harmed, or dead because of the drought and the fire combined. Even though some of the trees that had faced high severity apparently after having seen what trees had survived the fire yet by 2004 two years after the fire they had died (Ffolliott, 2008). The wildfire also impacted the standardization structure, post-fire mortality of trees, and stocking of tree reproduction on the Steamer Ridge Watershed (Ffolliott, 2008). After the fire had finally been contained the density of the forest had been forever changed.

This region is “heavily influenced by natural disturbances”. Species here have adapted to large wildfires; some, including the jack pine and black spruce, require these fires to reproduce. Heat is needed to release their seeds, and seed germination only occurs in favourable conditions produced by the fires.

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

The variations in temperature, elevation and rainfall make for an ideal habitat for more than 130 species of trees and 4,000 other plant species. Can you believe there are 450 mosses and liverworts and 50 types of ferns? There are five forest types in the Great Smoky Mountains including small sections of the park that are considered as

In Idlewood, the open area was the second to least populous and had the least number of different species. While Tyler State park’s open area has the second to most diverse and populous recorded number of birds. The open area in Idlewood included a grassy field that was cultivated by humans for recreational reasons, but the open area in Tyler State Park included a farmland and the shrubs alongside of it which is the cause for the difference in population and diversity among the two areas. All habitats have limited space because of their boundaries (which were established in the classroom and can be found in the Field Study) but some habitats, such as the young forest, are able to provide more space for more species than other habitats, such as the wetlands. In regards to species diversity, Idlewood’s mature forest has the highest species diversity percentage at 8.52 because of the species: population ratio. Tyler State Park’s young forest has the highest species diversity percentage at 12.88 because it had a higher number of different species than the other

In North America, the boreal forest is known to be one of the largest carbon storage systems. A boreal forest is a biome that is made up of trees such as pines, spruces and another conifer species, the Black Spruce being one of the most essential species of the boreal forest. Fires may be a significant element to the ecosystem in terms of maintaining an ideal community by selecting for species and their traits that, in return, shape the environment, however forest fires are causing the Black Spruce species to deteriorate in population size due to the effects of the fires, caused by a rise in temperature. Clearly, temperature is the leading factor causing constant wildland fires across North America. This concludes the degree of heat intensity in the environment is

First, the reading passage poists that the Yellowstone fire caused termendus damage to the park's trees and other vegitation. The professor contradicts this notion by stating that the scorched area was a suitable place for emergence of new plants which were unable to grow before the Yellowstone fire. Thus, according to the professors claims, this area will have more diversy vegitation than before the Yellowstone fire.

Many environmental benefits result from prescribed burns. One benefit resulting from prescribed burns is the “control [of] hardwoods and invasive exotics” (Robinette). The purging of invasive species and hardwood allows for an increase in biodiversity in a couple of ways. A large presence of hardwood trees creates a threat to the forest’s biodiversity, because their foliage creates a dense canopy which sunlight has trouble penetrating, which causes the lower-level, ground cover

When both changes of climate and fire regimes were simultaneously accounted for, on average, the climate scenario RCP2.6 resulted in the highest values for NPV, size diversity and total carbon stock under all management intensities, and the highest species diversity under most intensities. In year 2100, in general, the 20-year cutting cycle led to higher total carbon stock and size diversity but lower NPV and species diversity. Low-intensity management caused the highest total carbon stock (10 years: 823 – 854 ton ha-1; 20 years: 864 – 888 ton ha-1) and size diversity (10 years: 1.93 – 2.11; 20 years: 1.95 – 2.10) but the lowest NPV (10 years: 9,318 – 9,955 $ ha-1; 20 years: 3,426 – 4,056 $ ha-1) and species diversity (10 years: 1.28 – 1.31; 20 years: 1.18 – 1.22). Lower total carbon stock (10 years: 778 – 814 ton ha-1; 20 years: 800 – 828 ton ha-1) were expected with medium intensity but satisfactory species diversity (10 years: 1.50 – 1.53; 20 years: 1.36 – 1.39), size diversity (10 years: 1.47 – 1.59; 20 years: 1.91 – 2.02), and NPV (10 years: 18,721 – 19,812 $ ha-1; 20 years: 7,749 – 9,596 $ ha-1). High intensity resulted in the lowest total carbon stock (10 years: 740 – 775 ton ha-1; 20 years: 768 – 794 ton ha-1) and size diversity (10 years: 0.89 – 1.02; 20 years: 1.27 – 1.40), but the highest NPV (10 years: 26,749 – 27,440 $ ha-1; 20 years: 13,302 – 13,757 $ ha-1) and species diversity (10 years: 1.58 – 1.61; 20 years: 1.53 – 1.56) (Tables 2-4).