Dendro terms Flashcards
Terminal moraine
Edge of a glacial range- Gravel, soil
Outwash plains
Water and area beyond moraine. Sandy, dry jack pines
Kettles or pothole lakes
Big chunk of ice broke off during retreat and made a hole. Wetlands with no inlet or outlet
Drumlins
Teardrop shaped hills oriented in retreat direction
Glacial erratic
Rocks dropped that don’t belong
Esker
Narrow hill created by streams and rivers under glacier. Thin, snakes, gravel hills. Oaks and Sugar Maples
Kames
Irregular hill. Soil, till, gravel that accumulated in depression on retreating glacier
Till
Unsorted glacial sediment from erosion
Glacial grooves
Cut into bedrock by gravel/rocks carried by glacial melt and water
Roche moutonnee
Passage of ice over bedrock, creates asymmetric erosion. Stoss side is gently slopped. Lee side is steep drop.
Peat
Thick organic matter, doesn’t decompose, Acidic, stores carbon
Peat wetland
Carbon sink
Bog
Acidic, cool climate, slow decomposition, no inlet or outlet. Less oxygen doesn’t allow decomposition with stagnant water
Marsh
Open grassy, sedges, etc. Less woody vegetation and open
Swamp
Woody vegetation, trees, which creates shade and canopy
Bog acidic
Wetlands due to stagnant H2O Sphagnum moss and other moss common
Fen
Over calcareous (limestone) glacial deposits. More basic from limestone
Vernal pool
seasonal depressional wetlands. Spring snow melt and rain. Amphibians breed ground and bears
Coastal wetlands
tidal marsh, slightly brackish to saline
Mangrove swamp
Trees adapted to brackish/saline water. Bird and other animal habitat
Primary succession
Happens when a site has rebuild soil layers, such as after a retreating glacier, volcano, exposed sand bars along rivers, or following very extreme fires that burn to bare rock. (Less common)
Secondary succesion
(more common) Happens when tree canopy is removed but soil stays intact. Wind disturbance, most moderate fires, hurricanes, or after clearcut harvests.
Stand initiation
Young intolerant pioneer species fill in open area. Reset intentionally by harvest or to get moose/deer
Stem exclusion
Established pioneers create closed canopy leaving no sunlight or nutrients for any new regen (a few decades)
Understory reinitiation
Pioneer trees start to die off, opening up sunlight and soil nutrients for new regen, often with some shade tolerant species. (70-100 years)
Old growth
Tends to be dominated by tolerant species that now regen by filling in small gaps as trees die or blow over
Dendrochronology
Study of changes in growth rings in living and old wood to investigate past environments
Wetland only plants
Obligate wetland plants
Often wetlands but can grow upland
Facultative wetland plants
Eutrophication
Buildup of organic matter over hundreds and thousands of years that can fill in lake and wetlands
Very Intolerant
Black spruce, black willow, eastern cottonwood, jack pine, quaking aspen, tamarack