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

Oak/Hickory forests

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

Posted on May 14, 2010 05:30 AM by tomtorres