WOODY PLANTS FINAL OH GOD HELP ME

um so basically there are 16 lectures and we don't have slides for 2 of them and i haven't heard a word zimmy has said for the past 3 months

Anthropogenic Plant Communities

An assemblage of plant populations shaped primarily by human disturbance rather than previous ecological process

Develops in urban, suburban, and rural conditions

Anthropogenic Plant Communities Key Characteristics

Occur in disturbed soils

Dominated by stress tolerant species

Often has non-native species

CSR Model

C = Competitors
S = Stress tolerators
R = Ruderals

Urban Metabolism

Flow of energy, materials, water, nutrients, and organisms through a city, similar to how metabolism flows through living organisms

Urban Soils

Anthrosols = human-altered soils

Shallow soil horizons

Altered pH

Increased runoff

Urban Hydrology

Channelized stream increase flow velocity (urban stream syndrome)

Altered by impervious surfaces

Stormwater infrastructure moves water off site instead of permeating through soil

Drought stress for plants

Urban Atmosphere

Urban heat island effect

Increased rainfall due to rising warm air (creates microclimates)

Air has elevated levels of nitrogen oxides, ozone, and particulate matter

Rules of 10s

10% of important species escape cultivation
10% of escaped species establish
10% of established species become invasive

Only about 1 in 1000 introduced species become invasive

History of Northern Successional Forest

ICE AGE MADE DECIDUOUS BROADLEAF FORESTS

AFTER THIS FIRE WINDER FLOODING AND BEAVERS DISTURBED FORESTSIN THE U.S.

These disturbances let successional forests happen

Before European settlement, 90% of land was forest
By the 1800s, 70% converted to fields

Early 1900s, fields abandoned and grow into mature forests
These forests are MODIFIED successional forests

Presently challenged by invasives, deer, fragmentation, and no disturbance

Makeup of Northern Modified Successional Forest

Degraded by invasive species

Dense shrub, vine, and herbaceous layers

Chaotic structure

Makeup of Northern Modified Successional Forest After Disturbance

Four Stages

Stand initiation: woody generalists

Stem exclusion: canopy closes, growing space occupied by trees / woodies

Understory reinitiation: shrubs and herbaceous plants occupy the ground layer

Old growth / mature forests

Elk Neck State Forest

Formerly agriculture for European settlements in the early 1700s. After this, it was harvested for charcoal for iron furnaces until the early 1900s when it matured into the forests that we have today

Mesic Mixed Hardwood Forests

They develop on acidic and nutrient poor soils

Often on ravines or slopes (or undulating uplands)

Coastal Plain Oak-Pine Forests

Dry fire prone woodlands

Sandy and gravely soil

Steep slopes, north facing bluffs, dunes, and terraces

Mainly made of oaks

Coastal Plain Pitch Pine Forests

Dry mixed woodlands

Flat or gently rolling uplands

Considered an extension of the New Jersey Pine Barrens

Disturbed by fires

Pinaceae and Fagaceae (canopy)

Ericaceae (understory)

Coefficient of Conservation

Measurement used mainly for wildflowers

1 = very common generalist

10 = very rare habitat restricted plant, dependent on unmodified habitats

Eco-tone

Transition zone between two habitats

Management of Forests

Invasive species suppression

White-tailed deer management

Replanting native trees / shrubs

Prescribed fire

Threatened species protection

Grassland definition

“Any natural community or ecosystem in which the herbaceous layer is dominated by grasses, other graminoid (grass-like) plants, such as sedges and include associated forbs (other herbaceous flowering plants)”

Process of a Grassland

Because of succession, there has to be periodic disturbances to keep it a grassland and not have trees

History of Eastern Meadows / Grasslands

Tens of millions of acres prior to settlement (10% of grasslands remain)

Eastern different than Midwest because Eastern grasslands were not affected by the last ice age

Historically most eastern grasslands were not recorded because they settled quite quickly (due to a lack of trees)

Prairies

Mid to tall grasses

Deep hydric soil

Lack of trees

Historically disturbed by fire, drought, and herbivores

Savannas

Dense grass layer, sparse tree canopy

Deep hydric soils

Rolling hills

Disturbed by fire

Barrens

Short to mid grasses

Shallow rocky soil

Exposed rock

Caused by extreme conditions

Disturbed by fire

Glades

Short to mid grasses PLUS succulents & bryophytes

Thin hydroxeric soils

Often within forest groves

Balds

Short to mid grass

Moist soil

Often above 5,500 feet

Often surrounded by shrubs

Disturbed by climate, grazing, fire, HUMANS

Riverscours

Patchy short to mid grass

Sandy hydroxeric soil

Exposed bedrock

Shaped by flooding and stream currents

Vegetation must be tolerant of sediment movement

Meadows

Mid to tall grass

Lots of flowers

Found in floodplains

Deep and saturated soil

Disturbed by beaver floods…

Fens

Mid to tall grass

Found in floodplains

Fed by ground water

Basic peat soils

Disturbed by fire and flood

Montane Bogs

Peat moss DOMINATES this. (sedges and rushes are cucks)

Found in forest groves

Fed by rain water

Disturbed by fires, floods… AND beavers.

Depression Ponds

Submerged and floating aquatics and grass like plants

Seasonal or permanent water bodies

Found in forest groves

Disturbed by flooding

Delaware Grassland Communities

Upland Switchgrass

Successional Broomsedge

Little Bluestem Field

Serpentine Barrens (ecology)

A barren where the ecology is dominated by Serpentinite

VERY thin, infertile soils (toxic to many plants)

Unique flora because of this

Serpentine Barrens (history)

Mined for chromium and feldspar

Not used for farming during colonization because of toxic soils

State Line Serpentine Barrens are the last major Serpentine Barren in the Eastern US

European settlers suppressed fire which negatively impacted it, currently managed with prescribed fires

The Piedmont Province

Plateau region in Eastern US between Atlantic Coastal Plain and Appalachian Mountains

The border between the Coastal Plain and Piedmont is called the Fall Line

Goes from New York to central Alabama

Rolling hills, 200-1,000 FASL (feet above sea level)

Crystalline metamorphic and igneous rocks, often exposed

Communities in the Piedmont Province

Rich uplands / terrestrial forests

Floodplains

Groundwater seepage wetland

The Coastal Plain Province

Flat, highest is 100 FASL

From Cape Cod to Florida, west through the Gulf Coast, to east Texas

Formed from sediments eroded from the Piedmont Mountains

Sediments have deposits of sand, silt, and gravel

Communities in the Coastal Plain Province

Forested wetlands
Atlantic white cedar swamps
Bald cypress swamps
Seasonally flooded wetland depressions
Freshwater tidal rivers and marshes
Inland sand dunes
Atlantic maritime habitats, beaches, dunes
Maritime woodlands
Tidal salt marsh
Salt panne
Salt shrub zone

Pennsylvania Plant Species

Over 3100 plant species in PA
Flowering plants
-1900 native
-1200 non-native
25 conifers
100 ferns

Currently 496 special concern PA plants
232 endangered plants
78 threatened
39 rare
148 undetermined
2 federally endangered

Goat Hill Historical Land Use

Fire and grazing until 1940

Mining 1800s
(citizens saved it from being a quarry)

Settlement 1700s

Native Americans created fires to maintain grasslands

Wetland

Hydrophytic plants

Hydric soil

Seasonal or permanent water saturation

Wetland Systems

Marine

Estuarine

Riverine

Lacustrine

Palustrine

Marine Wetlands

Open ocean and associated high-energy coastline

Extends from outer edge of continental shelf shoreward to one of three lines

Subsystems
-Subtidal
-Always covered with tidal water
-Intertidal
-Tide goes in and out

Marine systems and what species are where in the system are heavily influenced by tidal energy

Estuarine Wetlands

Tidal habitats that are semi enclosed by land but have access to the ocean

Ocean water is usually diluted by freshwater runoff (salinity variation)

Subsystems
-Subtidal
-Always covered with tidal water
-Intertidal
-Tide goes in and out

Includes estuaries and lagoons

Low energy wave action

North Atlantic Salt Marsh

Community of Estuarine Wetlands

At shores of coves and bays

Strongly influenced by saltwater from multiple daily floodings, this means the plants must be well adapted

Known for having lots of biomass (especially unseen roots and rhizomes)

Organic peat substrate

Typical Profile of North Atlantic Salt Marsh

Low, regularly flooded marsh with heavily salt tolerant grass

Higher, irregularly flooded marsh with less salt tolerant grass

Low hypersaline pannes with glassworts

Salt scrub ecotone with shrubs

Ecosystem Services of North Atlantic Salt Marsh

One of the most productive and valuable ecosystems in the world

Store water and nutrients

Slow waves and wind

Provide habitat

Valuable

Habitat Degradation of the North Atlantic Salt Marsh

Being lost to human development, sea level rise, and erosion

Estimated that fringing salt marshes of Delaware will be gone in two to three centuries

Woodland Beach Wildlife Area

Land started getting bought in 1950s

Oldest wildlife area in DNREC fish and wildlife

Combination of hunting, fishing, and nonconsumptive use

Three main areas:
-Upland forest
-Early/mid successional habitat
-Salt marsh

Upland Forest

An area of the Woodland Beach Wildlife Area

Deciduous hardwood canopy

Shrub berry understory

Managed by felling trees

Prescribed fires

Mortification
-Kill trees with girdling or herbicide application

Big machines to mulch and mow

So pretty much they’re racist against deer in some areas to prevent over browsing pretty much

Early Successional Habitat

An area of the Woodland Beach Wildlife Area

Managed for the Northern Bobwhite that needs 4 types of cover: nesting, brooding, woody escape, and winter thermal

Prescribed fire 1-3 years

Ground disturbance to remove woody masses and increase brood habitat

Salt Marsh

An area of the Woodland Beach Wildlife Area

Makes up most of the landscape at Woodland Beach Wildlife Area

Marsh helicopter

Marsh MASTER

Sea level rise is a huge issue

Riverine Wetlands

Rivers

All water habitats within a channel with two exceptions
-Water habitats dominated by trees, shrubs, emergents
-Water habitats with ocean-derived salts of 0.5 ppt or greater

On either side of the channels there are trees / shrubs

Stops being riverine when it stops being a channel (duh)

Four Subsystems of Riverine Wetlands

Tidal
-Extends from the upstream limit of tidal fluctuations down to the upper boundary of the Estuarine System. The stream bottom is mainly mud with occasional patches of sand. The floodplain is typically well developed.

Lower Perennial
-Characterized by a low gradient. There is no tidal influence, and some water flows all year, except during years of extreme drought. The substrate consists mainly of sand and mud. The floodplain is well developed.

Upper Perennial
-Characterized by a high gradient. There is no tidal influence, and some water flows all year, except during years of extreme drought. The substrate consists of rock, cobbles, or gravel with occasional patches of sand. Very little floodplain development.

Intermittent
-Channels that contain flowing water only part of the year. When the water is not flowing, it may remain in isolated pools or surface water may be absent.

Lacustrine Wetlands

Lakes

Water habitats with the following characteristics:
-Always in a depression (or dammed river channel)
-No trees, shrubs, emergents
-At least 8 hectares (20 acres)

<0.5 ppt salinity

Two subsystems
-Limnetic: Deepwater habitats, depth of >2.5m
-Littoral: Wetland habitats, max depth of 2.5m

Palustrine Wetlands

Marshes, swamps, bogs, fens, wet prairies, ponds

Often occur as islands within lakes or rivers

All nontidal wetlands dominated by trees, shrubs, and emergents

But oh wait nvm it also includes wetlands without such vegetation as long as it has these 4 following characteristics:
-Area less than 8 hectare (20 acres) (1st difference from lacustrine if no vegetation)
-Lacking active wave-formed or bedrock shoreline features (2nd difference from lacustrine if no vegetation)
-Water depth is <2.5m
-Salinity is <0.5 ppt

Wetland Plant Classifications

Indicator
-Definition
-Rate of Occurrence in Wetlands Only

Obligate (OBL)
-Occurs almost always in wetlands in natural conditions
-99%

Facultative Wetland (FACW)
-Usually occurs in wetlands but occasionally found elsewhere
-67-98%

Facultative (FAC)
-Equally like to occur in wetlands and non-wetlands
-34-66%

Facultative Upland (FACU)
-Usually occurs in non-wetlands, but occasionally found in wetlands
-1-33%

Upland (UPL)
-Almost always occurs in non-wetlands
-<1%

Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Swamp Forest

Palustrine wetland

Diverse group of poorly-drained basin wetlands

Flat Coastal Plain terraces

Even forest stratification layers

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Park

In Philly, upriver from salt front

Lenape peoples

Was marsh and meadow until heavy alterations in 1900s

Tons of human development disturbances through the 1900s

Currently being recovered / restored

Ecological Recovery in Context

Recovery debt
-Interim reduction of biodiversity and biogeochemical functions occurring during ecosystem recovery

Disturb with purpose

Steepen the recovery trajectory