Field Ecology, Day One (05/13/10)
Georgia: Hall County: Oakwood: GSC Campus: Trails
A
South Entrance//mostly cloudy with slight wind//cultivated landscape area
- Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus)
- long, soft, needle-like leaves; in bundles of five
- white male flowers
- dry, long, open, flexible cones (resinous at first)
- clearly a mature tree, from size and dark-brown bark with deep furrows; known to have very sticky sap, although the bark was dry during the time of observation
B
South Trail Entrance//edge of forest
poison ivy
known for groups of three leaves
virginia creeper- easily mistaken for poison ivy, but has groups of five leaves
C
South Trail//'Pine plot'
lat: 34.23948
lon: 83.86378
Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)
-long-leaf pines are uncommon this far north (?)- bread-brown bark in plates with deep furrows
- leaves in clusters of three
- cones with prickles in tight formation
- Southern pine beetle will probably kill off this specimen, if the thick poison ivy vine creeping up the trunk doesn't first
D
-[Oak ?] [Quercus SPECIES]
- 6.5cm DVH @ 130cm
leaves sprout from alternating buds on twigs (rather than opposite)
-dominant in immediate vicinity
-suppressed: not a large amount of sunlight on sides, most on top
"There's another loblolly on the ground. They're all destined to be there. Aren't we all?" (paraphrased)
Next, we established a plot-less site, with a point-centered quarter method. In a (mostly) straight line, we placed Yellow Flags @ 10m intervals.
0m Flag @ (lat: 34.23971, lon: 83.86378).
60m Flag @ (lat: 34.23928, lon: 83.86387), adjusting slightly for bike trail.
water oak: fire-resistant leaves (?), rounded lobes (bullets)
red oak: pointed lobes (arrow-points)
0m: pine/hardwood transition
*Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina)under leaves
*harvestman
- second legs for feeling (?)
- related to scorpions (not spiders)
- no venomous or silk sacs
American Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
- weedy, grows rapidly, spiky balls, sweet sticky sap
E
- South trail//possible second plot (lat: 34.23881, lon: -83.86290)
- slight transitional forest; white oak-dominated canopy
- American beech (Fagus grandifolia)
- (lat: 34.23928, lon: -83.86257)
-
lots of foliage, low-quality nuts
-adolescents carve into bark, where scars remain - cool/shade-tolerant [see area description]; remnants of ice-age
-
not much growth in underbelly, due to shade/lack of sun
[ABBREVIATIONS]
[less than 2.5=not a tree, less than 24]
'apical dominance' density/dominance