Plants Flashcards
What is a natural community?
An assemblage of plants and animals living together in the same environment
What is the Shrub Carr?
A region between the herbaceous zone of swamp vegetation and trees of the swamp forest
The emergent zone in the Shrub Carr is the…
Most biologically diverse eco-region on Earth
What is the swamp forest?
The wet forest is home to the greatest number of tree species among natural communities
What roots do lowland trees in swamp forests have?
Shallow and wide-spreading roots instead of tap roots
The upper story of the swamp forest has…
Sycamore, elms, silver maple, and black and yellow birch
The understory of the swamp forest has…
Blue beech, and spice bush
What kind of roots do upland forest trees in the dry forest community have?
Long taproots that reach to the groundwater table
Early succession in dry forest communities include…
Poplars, pines, pin oaks, pin and black cherry, and red maple
Middle succession upper story of the dry forest community include…
Oaks and hickories
Middle succession understory of the dry forest community include…
Redbud, flowering dogwood, and ironwood
Late succession upper story of the dry forest community include…
Beech and sugar maple
Understory late succession of the dry forest community include…
Redbud, flowering dogwood, and ironwood
How to tell if something is a weed:
If it’s a prolific seed producer and thrives in disturbed areas
Weeds like __________, mostly originate from ______, are prolific ____ _________, and don’t compete well with _____ species
Disturbance, Europe, seed producers, native
Examples of weeds
Queen Anne’s Lace, Hoary alyssum, and Saint Johnswort
What are annuals?
Plants that sprout from seed each year, bloom, set seed, then die; one year cycle
What are biennials?
Plant sprouts from seed during first growing season, comes back from rootstock for second growing season during which they bloom, set seed, and die; two year cycle
What are perennials?
Plants that die back to root each fall, but return from rootstock each year
Most native weeds are…
Perennials
Examples of annuals:
Ragweed, purslanes, and chickweeds
Examples of biennials:
Common mullein and Queen Anne’s Lace
Examples of Perennials:
Pokeweed, Milkweed, Ragweed Native) and Saint Johnswort
Examples of weed field grasses:
Timothy and Quack
If we let it become a weed field, it is…
Fallow
European invasive weeds are much more common in the Americas than American invasives are in Europe because of…
Predominant form of succession; European weeds have had 2000+ years to adapt to constant disruption
Where are sedge meadows found?
Swampy, riverbank, or wet environments
What are wetlands?
Any area either covered by shallow water or containing waterlogged soil where soil lacks oxygen and grows water-loving plants
What are 3 limiting factors of plant growth?
Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium
Types of wetlands:
Marshes, swamps, bogs, fens, wet meadows, temporarily flooded (seasonal) wetlands
What are marshes?
Wetland composed of open water and standing vegetation such as bulrushes and cattails
soil usually fertile muck
lack woody plants
What are swamps?
Wetlands containing shrubs and trees such as alder, dogwood, and silver maple
What are bogs?
Dominated by sphagnum (peat) moss that hold water
Highly acidic and anoxic
Woody plants like tamarack and high bush blueberries
Native carnivorous plants like pitcher plant and sundew
What do acids do?
Preserve things
Why are bogs poor in nutrients?
They’re acidic and acid preserves things
What are fens?
Similar to bogs but highly alkaline
Sedge and rush dominated
Occurs in alkaline saturated peat and/or marl influenced by groundwater rich in calcium and magnesium carbonates
What is the edge effect?
When animals tend to populate edge zones of natural biotic communities
Why does the edge effect occur?
Edge zones is where animals find the best supplies of space, shelter, food, and water
What is succession?
Orderly and predictable change of one plant community to another
What is primary succession?
Begins in a virtually lifeless area where soil has not yet formed
Soil gradually develops as rock weathers and decays from activity of early colonizers like algae and lichens
What is secondary succession?
Where an existing community is cleared by a disturbance that leaves soil intact, like fire or farming
What are biomes?
The largest biotic units on Earth
Typically defined by plant communities dominant within that range
What is old field succession?
Type of secondary succession that begins with open soil already in place
What does primary succession begin with?
Raw rock surface
In old field succession, disrupted land, often agricultural, is populated by _____, later replaced by ______, and then _____.
Weeds, shrubs, trees
What are invasive species?
Organisms that cause ecological harm to a new environment where they are not native
What is a key characteristic of invasive species?
They lack predators
What are invasive species capable of?
Causing extinctions of native plants animals, reducing biodiversity, competing with native organisms for limited resources, and altering habitats
What is an example of an invasive species?
Gypsy moths
What are naturalized species?
Non-native organisms or species that spread into the wild and are capable of reproduction sufficient to maintain a population in that new environment
What is an example of a naturalized species?
Daphadils
What are prairies?
Climax communities, sustained populations within a stable community no longer undergoing succession
What are American prairies populated by?
Mostly native plants, but occupied by wheat and corn acreage as well
The bulk of the bio masses in the prairie is below the _______, in the root mass, reaching to ___ feet in some areas
Surface, ten
What is succession in the prairies limited by?
Rainfall
What is the first stage of secondary succession?
The weed field
What separates prairies from forests?
Rainfall
What are prairies dominated by?
Species of European origin
What are tundras characterized by?
Far north, cold temperatures, short growing seasons, permafrost causing poor drainage, flat terrain
Tundras in alpine regions are typically of high ________ with slightly longer _______ _______ but _______ days and better ________ on _____ terrain and typically no permafrost
Altitude, growing seasons, shorter, drainage, rough
What is a characteristic of the tundra?
Water won’t evaporate
What is the tundra defined by?
Grasses, sedges, low shrubs like creeping willows, mosses, lichens, other herbaceous plants, and lots of mosquitoes
Explain the process of pond wetland succession
Sedimentation, leaves, logs, etc. sink and form layers at the bottom of the pond and eventually fills it up completely and becomes dry land
Explain the process of bog wetland succession
Sphagnum (peat) moss grows out each year and weighs the previous moss down and the whole bog fills up completely
What is our home biome?
Temperate deciduous forest
How many layers of growth does the temperate deciduous forest have?
3 layers
The temperate deciduous forest’s growing season is now long enough to support an investment of energy into…
Broadleaf production
The temperate deciduous forest has…
More moderate temperatures and seasonal patterns
In the temperate deciduous forest, leaves fall each year to allow __________ sites to ____ and prevent __________ during the winter months of inactivity
Attachment, heat, infection
List characteristics of the temperate deciduous forest
31+ dominant species of trees and greater rainfall/snowfall (30”-60”, mostly rain)
What is the primary herbivore in the temperate deciduous forest?
The white-tailed dear
Where is the bulk of organic material in the temperate deciduous forest found?
The leaf litter
List characteristics of the tropical rain forest
Over 550 species of broadleaf evergreens, many species but few organisms within populations, as many as 7 layers of vegetation, 50”-200” of rain per year, 68°-93°
What is an epiphyte?
Plants in the canopy anchored in trees
What’s one way researchers discovered new species in the tropical rain forest?
Found beetles locked inside the epiphytes
What is the bulk of organic material in the tropical rain forest?
Living things because the soil is leached by heavy rainfall and nutrient poor
The temperate rainforest is home to…
Some of the largest trees in the world (firs and hemlocks)
The temperate rain forest has a…
Colder climate, and gets around 80” per year of rain and up to 12” of fog
The prairie/grassland is home to…
The most productive agricultural land
List characteristics of the prairie/grassland
No trees, no annual rainfall (10”-30”) because rate of evaporation exceeds rainfall, flat or rolling terrain
What type of prairie has the highest amount of rainfall?
Tall-grass prairies (found furthest to the east)
The Earth in prairies are…
Rich, sod tough and thick
Characteristic plant populations within the prairie community include…
Big and little bluestem grasses and Indian grass growing up to 7”
The mid-grass prairie is further west and has…
Less, intermediate rainfall with intermediate soils and grass height
Short-grass prairies have…
Poor soil and are the furthest west
In short-grass prairies in the Dakotas and Idaho
Poor soils and requirement of irrigation for crop production gave rise to the Buffalo Commons
How are prairie plants adapted to the region?
Having massive grown fibrous roots to trap water to reach the surface or (further east) thick, deep roots that penetrate to the aquifer
In reduced leaf area, leaves are…
Either highly dissected or very slender
Where is the majority of plant mass?
Below ground
Plants have developed habits to…
Reduce evaporation
How have plants developed habits to reduce evaporation?
Leaves are more vertical
Grass blades roll when dry
Fuzzy hairs protect leaf surface from desiccation
Thickened sap
Hard-coated seeds
When do ephemeral species live?
During the highest period of rainfall in the spring
What is the desert characterized by?
Very low rainfall (< 10”)
Evaporation exceeds rainfall 5:1 to 50:1
Bare ground between plants
Cacti
Home to specialized shrubs
What do we find in the mountains?
Vertical biomes
The forest floor of the swamp forest has…
Skunk cabbage, lizard’s tail, marsh marigold
The forest floor of the dry forest community has…
Wild ginger, trillium, may apple
Species in the Shrub Carr include:
Dogwoods
Alders
Arrowwood
Poison sumac
Choke cherry
Describe field A in crop rotation
- Corn 2. Beans 3. Fallow 4. Fallow 5. Corn
Describe field B in crop rotation
- Corn 3. Beans 4. Fallow 5. Fallow
Describe field C in crop rotation
- Corn 4. Beans 5. Fallow
Describe field D in crop rotation
- Corn 5. Beans
Species in the Sedge Meadow include:
Sedge
Joe-Pye weed
Boneset
Bedstraw bellflower
Swamp milkweed
Where is the largest biome on Earth?
Northern Coniferous Forest (north of us)
List characteristics of the Northern Coniferous forest
2 layers of vegetation
Longer growing season than tundra
Cannot afford development of large deciduous leaves
Populated by needled trees like spruce, fir, and tamarack
16”-39” mostly snow
What is the diagnostic herbivore of the Northern Coniferous forest?
Spruce/Moose
Describe environment of the Northern Coniferous forest
Dense shade
Shorter days
Cold winters
Many bogs, typically sandy soils
Ground dwelling plants like blueberries, bearberries, and leatherleaf
Northern Coniferous forest has many bogs dominated by ________ moss and home to several species of ______________ plants including _______ and _______-_____
Sphagnum, insectivorous, sundew, pitcher-plant
When do the bogs in the Northern Coniferous forest form?
As rate of decay is slowed by an absence of substantial populations of bacteria
What are the plant communities in the mountains determined by?
Local climatic effects of altitude
