Lecture 7 Flashcards
Sutton Hills/Ridges
- nest site for golden eagles
- disjunct population of plants, meaning that they are greatly separated from the regular population
Disjunct populations of plants
- rock polypody
- greenland sandwort
- alpine saxifrage
Types of rocks in the boreal forest
- Igneous
2. Metamorphic
Boreal forest southern boundary
Great lakes st lawrence forest region
Dominant Conifers
- black spruce
- white spruce
- white birch (after forest firest)
- jack pine
Site Conditions
1-neg 3 average daily temp
- more precip
- more relief
- more decomp, therefore richer soil
- no peat/muskeg here
Clay Belt Boreal
full of cattail marshes
Black Spruce
spindly growth pattern for shedding snow
White Spruce
more full figured, rounded needles. Single needles are attached to the branch. Pine trees have cluster needles
Balsam Fir
has a very sharp point at the top. Spire shaped, growth pattern for shedding snow. The needles are flat, not rounded. The bark is smooth and grey, they have a chemical inside that stops insects from maturing. Single needles are attached to the twigs.
Tamarack/Larch
drops needles in autumn, grows new ones in the spring
Red Squirrels
Store cones in the ground.
Deer mice
use the subnivean space during the winter.
Owls
- Great Gray Owl- corpuscular
- Northern Hawk Owl- hunts during the day
- Boreal Owl- nocturnal
White winged crossbill
nomadic and erruptive
Boreal Chickadee
northern chickadee, used to be called brown capped chickadee, does not migrate
Gray jays
linked to spruce trees because of food storage. They store food under loose bark and lichens, they have an incredible memory. They nest early to allow time for food storage. Eventually the dominant young kicks out its siblings
Sawflies
the female has a saw, uses this to make places in twigs to lay eggs.
Spruce Grouse
eats spruce needles, common throughout the boreal forest.
Snowshoe hare
big feet are an adaptation for the snow. Reproduce super quickly, depending on the food source. There is a great fluctuation in their numbers with a peak approximately every ten years
Causes for a population crash
- starvation
- predation
- disease
- sex ratio
- stress induced hormonal changes
Spruce Budworm
eat spruce and balsam fir needles, this enhances the survival of the spruce, also affects the survival of birds.
Warblers
- budworm warblers
- tennessee warbler: often feed at the top of spruce trees
- cape may warbler: methodical feeders, often feed in the middle of the tree
- bay breasted warbler: probes in the middle of the tree for the budworm (resource partitioning)
