Fagus Grandifolia And Acer Saccharum Case Study

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

The purpose of this experiment is to observe secondary succession at Umass Dartmouth and test the prediction that diversity increases through ecological succession. Students went outside to the lawn underneath the wind mill on campus. 3 transect sites were located by the instructor. Students predicted the species and percent cover of each species on each trail site. Bar charts were made to compare the number of species in each transect. Pi-charts were made to compare the percent coverage of species in each transect.

In the Everglades these patches of trees or islands of them are an essential piece of the landscape. These islands of trees are seen in both the short and the long hydro period wetland of the Everglades. What these islands start to do is provide a web of shade and they gives opportunity for these forest-dwelling plants and animals to perform important biodiversity and nutrient cycling functions (Gained et al. 2002, Ross 2009). Tree islands can be all different sizes, in the short hydro period area these sizes can vary from anything of two to three trees to as big as several hectares with hundreds of trees. The size of these tree islands have a direct effect on the amount of species there are, the larger the tree island the more chance there is to have more

The Chaparral and Coastal Sage Scrub have a variety of different plant species, from Torrey Pine to Cacti. They each contain some helpful adaptations that have resulted from directional selection over

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 our experiment of field ecology at A-mountain, the purpose were to understand the specific factors that affect the distribution and abundance of plant species at north facing slope and south facing slope. The availability of plants in certain area depends on temperature, availability of water, sunlight and nutrients. A-mountain which is in Arizona has different desert plant that includes; grass, brittlebush, bursage, creosote bush, mesquite, palo verde, fishhook barrel, hedgehog, pincushion, teddy bear cholla, staghorn cholla, chain fruit cholla, prickly pear and others.. and some are specifically found on either north or south side of the mountain. The fact that the south slope receive more direct sunlight than the north facing slope, soil moisture will evaporate faster in south side of the mountain than in the north side thus the availability of different drought resisting plant whereas in north side where there is a slower evaporation due to lack of direct sunlight hence few drought resistant plants compared to south side (Wyant, unpublished data). We predicted that to the south side of the mountain there be will more diversity, evenness and drought tolerant plants species than the north side.

These areas are called the Coastal, Lowland, Temperate rain forest, Montane, Subalpine, and Alpine. The most common trees and plant in the Coastal Forest is the Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), Salal (Gaultheria shallon), and the Deer fern (Blechnum spicant). Second, the Lowlands common species are Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Coast Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), and Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa). Third, the Temperate Rain Forest most common trees and plants are Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis), Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), Licorice fern (Polypodium glycyrrhiza), and Oregon Oxalis (Oxalis oregana). Fourth, the Montane Forest includes the Alaska Yellow-Cedar (Chaemaecyparis nootkatensis), Salal (Gaultheria shallon), and Coralroot (Corallorhiza mertensiana). Fifth, the Subalpine Forest trees and plants are the Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana), Blueberries (Vaccinium sp.), and Avalanche Lily (Erythronium montanum). And lastly the Alpine Forest includes only a few common species the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), and Flett’s violet (Viola flettii). The variety of tree and plant seem to change with

Biodiversity loss threatens to disrupt the function of ecosystems, with the potential of consequences for humans as well. Often this loss is measured by species extinction rates, but considerations should be made to include population diversity with measures including changes in size, number, distribution and genetic composition of population and potential implications those changes may have (Luck et al., 2003). Avise (2004) goes as far as to say biodiversity is genetic

The land itself is thin and hardly fertile, only drought and fire resistant vegetation are capable of surviving in the Chaparral’s conditions (Raven, 116). Some examples of plants found in the Chaparrals in California are Blue Oak, Coyote Brush, Common Sagebrush, Manzanita, and Mountain Mahogany (W, Sofia, 2002). Other common vegetation in Chaparrals around the world are drought-resistant pine, scrub oak trees and agricultural plants such as olive, carob, and vineyards (Raven, 116-117). The vegetation in Chaparrals are characterized by being lush and green during the rainy winter, and dull and unsaturated during the dry summer (Raven, 116). Thus, the vegetation in chaparrals must be able to resistant into these changing conditions for long term survival in this

Biological diversity, also known as biodiversity, describes the huge variety of species found on Earth and the natural way in which ecosystems and communities are formed. In the past few centuries, humans have had an especially negative

Biodiversity is the variety of spices within plants and animals in the environment, it is an indicator of ecosystem health.

After I carried out the entire investigation, I got the results showing biodiversity of two different ecosystems trough Simpson`s reciprocal index showed in graph 3. If we look generally on biodiversity index of both ecosystems, in both cases it is higher than 1, meaning that biodiversity index is not low. As the maximum value is equal to the number of species in the sample, we can say that in case of meadow, biodiversity is optimal, at medium

In addition, biodiversity will be crucial for humanities continued survival in the case of climate change or widespread crop failures. The majority of people on earth are reliant on four crops for subsistence; wheat, rice, corn, and millet. (11) These crops are threatened by climate change and the spread of disease facilitated by modern transportation. If humanity is to survive such an eventuality it must be ready to draw upon the earth’s biodiversity for replacements. And while there are approximately 50 thousand plant species that could offer alternatives, this bank of resources is quickly thinning as various ecosystems are being destroyed. (11)

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.

Franck and Brownstone define biological diversity as 'the variety and variability of living organisms and the biological communities in which they live' (36). Decades of progress in both the scientific and political arenas have advanced environmental legislation to protect biodiversity at not only the ecosystem level, but for specific species and genetic material as well. Research has shown the importance of every organism and their role in the global ecosystem, and legislation has gradually matured to protect not only species which may become endangered, but the habitats they need to survive as well. Growing consciousness surrounding environmental issues has enabled these protections to be