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UW-Madison ENVIRST 260 - Woodlands and Forests

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ENVIR ST 260 1st Edition Lecture 16Outline of Last Lecture I. DefinitionsII. GrazersIII. Carbon CycleIV. Group Work ConclusionsOutline of Current Lecture I. Misconception from Grassland WorksheetII. Lecture Activities / E-WritingIII. Woodlands and ForestsCurrent LectureMisconceptions from Grassland Worksheet Climate Most people were in the right ballpark, however when we’re looking for answers about climate, we’re looking for temperature and precipitation. We should provide numbers for average high and low temperatures as well as annual rainfall. Saying that the climate is temperate with moderate rainfall is too vague. Grazing Animals A lot of people listed animals that weren’t grazers. In just about every modern day grassland or savanna ecosystem, cows are the main grazers due to the huge beef industry. This goes in contrast to the “natural” grazing animals such as bison, antelopes and zebra. We should realize that cattle operations behave very differently than natural grazers. Cows tend to herd up and stay in the same place so they can really deplete an area of resources. On the other hand the natural grazers roam around so their impact is less.  A high concentration of cattle in one area acts to compact the soil and their waste is different from natural grazers since they’re domesticated. This all affects the microbial community. It’s something to think about how we as humans are modifying grasslands. Carbon Storage Belowground: It’s really stored below ground in roots and soils in grasslands. These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute. Charcoal: Because fire is common in grassland and savanna ecosystems, a lot of carbon gets locked into charcoal Grasslands are a great way to store carbon. There’s a lot of evidence coming out now that grasslands are a carbon sink which makes them of greater interest for conservation. However, since they haven’t always been a focus of conservation, it’s difficult to shift the attention to them. Conservation and Restoration Focus on other ecosystems The idea of allocating conservation dollars. People are often more interested in protecting other areas. Applying fire is difficult A lot of systems are fire dependent, but it’s really difficult to set fires. Invasive grasses and trees When you’re dealing with large landscapes, finding invasive grasses in a sea of grass is really difficult. Herbicide treatments are hard to do because they could kill everything Conversion for agriculture A lot of times they make great places to plant crops. It’s really hard to say we should keep an area for biodiversity and not convert it to agriculture. If there’s been agriculture on a site, it creates problems for restoration because it’s difficult to get your native plants to grow in the crop fields.Lecture Activities / E-Writing Lecture Activities Class poll about lecture activities says that most people would prefer 50 minutes of straight lecture Her rational on having us do lecture activities A study compared straight up lectures with lectures combined with active learning. “Active learning” is broad and covers things such as group problem solving, worksheets and personal response systems.  In a straight up lecture you get about 35% failure rate, but when combined with active learning components, that rate gets pushed closer to 20%.  It’s been shown over and over again that it’s beneficial to do active learning E-Writing Assignments Final product due December 2, 2014 – Rubric and format details will be posted soon Start making edits based on feedback from peer review (Don’t wait till you get the sheet back from her.) Rubrics back and grades posted next week Woodlands and Forests Major difference between these and grassland ecosystems is tree density General Characteristics of Woodlands and Forests Both are tree dominated ecosystems Difference between a woodland and a forest is canopy cover Woodlands have less densely packed trees Forests have high tree density, little light reaches the ground- One way to think about this is how much light can reach the ground. In woodlands, thereare more grasses and forbs because light can get through. In forests, there’s a canopy that blocks sunlight and limits the amount of life that can grow on the ground, so you don’t have a big grass component. Forest ecosystems are highly variable There are temperate forests, tropical forests and coniferous forests. They’re all forests but they all have different species, nutrient cycles and structures.  Tropical Rainforest  Rainfall and average temperatures are going to be different from your temperate forest as well as the soil and nutrient cycles. Tropical plants include big palms instead of just trees.  Boreal forest These include coniferous forests up in Canada and northern Russia. They’re typically pine dominated. They see a lot of precipitation in the form of snow with cooler temperatures. These are ecosystems with very long fire return intervals. Therefore, they grow for hundreds of years until a fire will come through and wipe them out: infrequent disturbances but high tree density. Do trees planted in neat rows constitute a forest or woodland? Majority of students believed it would be a woodland or forest.  People that said no: This is a just a tree farm with the same type of tree, equivalent to a cornfield. The lack of species diversity is one thing that’s a problem. The other would be that once we set things up in a linear fashion, we really alter how light filters down to the ground which influences whether or not other species are going to be present; you don’t get a lot of wildlife. The single input of pine needles on the ground changes the microbial communities.  Just because there are trees does not mean that there is a forest. If you see something like this on the landscape (linear lines of trees), it’s not natural. Having an even aged group of trees that grow up together isn’t necessarily a problem. Sometimes a fire will come through natural ecosystems that burns down adult trees allowingseedlings top pop up that are all the same age. An even age strand is not a problem. An evenaged strand planted in rows is. Planting things in neat rows make you lose


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UW-Madison ENVIRST 260 - Woodlands and Forests

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