UNDERC HABITATSUNDERC HABITATS(terrestrial & aquatic)(terrestrial & aquatic)

CHANGE CONTINUES• EVOLUTIONARY AND GEOLOGICAL CHANGE (inherent)

• ECOLOGY OF AQUATIC HABITATS (inherent)

• ECOLOGY OF TERRESTRIAL HABITATS (inherent)

• HISTORICAL CHANGES WITH HUMANS(Native Americans and Europeans) – environmental history

FORESTSFORESTS(taught by Dr. Walt Carson, U. of Pittsburgh)(taught by Dr. Walt Carson, U. of Pittsburgh)

AQUATICSAQUATICS(taught by Dr. Todd Crowl, Utah State U. & NSF)(taught by Dr. Todd Crowl, Utah State U. & NSF)

Aquatic Environments

• Oceans• Coastlines/Estuaries• Streams• Lakes• Wetlands: bogs and fens

StreamsOpen systems, constant input of water and

nutrients

Precipitation flows into streams via 2 routes:– Overland flow through surface runoff– Infiltrating soil surface, then flowing

underground and into streams as groundwater

Types of flow – permanent, intermittent,interrupted

Watershed

The area that a stream drains, a.k.a, drainage basin, or catchment area

UNDERC area is near continental divide between Great Lakes drainage basin and Mississippi River basin

Water flows downhill– Upstream– Downstream

River Continuum Hypothesis

Predictable structure of river (physical features, dominant organisms) from upstream “headwaters” to downstream

LakesMay be created by a variety of geologic and climatic

events:– Movement of tectonic plates– Volcanic eruptions– Landslides– Fluvial processes– Glaciation

Lake Zonation

Lake StratificationDifferent zones or layers due to water

temperature and water density

Lake StratificationDifferent zones or layers due to water

temperature and water density

Nutrients

Temperature not the only stratified element of a lake– Oxygen: highest concentration near

surface (photosynthesis)

– Nitrogen: NO3- at surface, NH4

+ at benthos

– Sulfur: SO4 at surface, H2S at benthos

– Iron: Fe+3 at surface, Fe+2 at benthos

Crampton Lake (oligotrophic)

Brown Lake (mesotrophic -

eutrophic)

Aquatic Succession

Marsh(Eutrophic)

Bog(Dystrophic)

OligotrophicLake

Mesotrophic

to Eutrophic

Lake

Terrestrial

Sphagnum

Wetlands: technical definition

Vegetation– presence of “hydrophytic” (water-loving, flood-

tolerant) plants

Soils– presence of “hydric” (flooded, reduced) soils

Hydrology– water table at or near the surface for part of the

growing season

Wetland examples

• Marshes• Swamps• Glades• Bogs• Fens

Bogs• Acidic (pH < 4.1)• Nutrient-poor soils• Ombrotrophic:

precipitation-fed system• Dominant vegetation:

Sphagnum moss, Vaccinium (cranberries and blueberries), and other low-lying species

• Slightly less acidic (pH 4.1-6.0)

• Soil more nutrient-rich• Minerotrophic:

groundwater-fed system• Dominant vegetation:

sedges, rushes, and grasses

Fens

Ziesnis Bog (dystrophic)

Ecological

succession

results in change

over time as lakes

gradually become terrestri

al habitats.

Succession in Terrestrial Plant

Communities

After a community reverts from aquatic to terrestrial, succession continues resulting in successive species replacements until a climax community is established. The species composition of the climax community is determined by climate.

TYPES OF SUCCESSIONTYPES OF SUCCESSION

• PRIMARY -- from bedrock (no soil) through a seriesof communities (seres) to climax.

• SECONDARY -- successional progression is pushed backby a disturbance to a point where soil still existsand then proceeds.

• What did the glaciers do at UNDERC?• What does a large windstorm do?• What does aquatic succession represent?

Modeling Forest Dynamics(SimForest, a simplified version of JABOWA, a

model by Dr. Dan Botkin,http://ddc.hampshire.edu/simforest/

you will try to parameterize the model for UNDERC, learn about it to be prepared)

White Pine

Hemlock

Other

2%

10%

88%

0.08 trees/m2

CHANGES WITH FORESTSUCCESSION

ANIMALS CAN MODIFYFORESTS & AQUATIC HABITATS

FROM A CONSERVATION PERSPECTIVE:

WHAT FOREST & AQUATIC HABITATAGES DO WE

WANT TO ENCOURAGE?