Introduction
Slope remains as one of the most important factors in the variation of growth and diversity among trees due to the effects of run-off, evapotranspiration, and water penetration. Its common knowledge that vegetation needs water to grow and reproduce but on the steepest slopes the support for plant life is very low. Steep slopes produce high levels of soil erosion that results in a lost of organic materials and essential nutrients needed for plant growth. Along with slope is exposure of sunlight on vegetation that can also vary growth outcomes. Slopes facing different directions may have similar precipitation amounts but direct sunlight can cause soil moisture to evaporate quicker that then forms a dryer, shady slope. However other …show more content…
There will be a less in abundance in the dryer site that will consist of vegetation, with less needs of soil moisture. We also expected that in the wet areas, there would be a larger amount and variety of tree species thriving than on dry slopes. Those living on dry slopes will be more drought tolerant. Battle Park’s 93-acre forestry consists of good habitable communities to observe these vegetation differences among several species habitable there, largely including white oak, sourwood, and red oak among others. The Park predates European settlement in 1740 of the area. The study site is located downhill from Coker Arboretum on the east side of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s campus. Battle Park is home to many tree species. (Peterson et al. …show more content…
Thus supporting the hypothesis that a change in vegetation occurs based on the supply of water and soil moisture that is dependent on the slope of the forest floor. Also a difference in variation of phenotypes at the different sites also infer adaptations to their environment like leaf size and tree height. From our data white oak and short leaf pine were observed more often in the dry site than the wet site. This infers that these species prefer more sunlight exposure for optimal growth however but still have the potential to grow in dry and wet sites. Even though these species, like some others, can live in both areas, species like yellow poplar, southern sugar maple, American beech, black gum, tulip tree, and red oak could not grow in dry areas. This then makes the wet site have more of species richness and with variation makes it a better community. Furthermore, the result also support that since there is a difference in density of certain tree species in the wet and dry sites, there will also be a difference in non-plant life, like insects that utilized resources from certain tree for various necessities. Similar to slope indifferences is elevation. Trees that grow at higher elevation would consist of upland species, and tree in valley would posses facultative to wetland
Slope remains as one of the most important factors in the variation of growth and diversity among trees due to the effects of run-off, evapotranspiration, and water penetration. Its common knowledge that vegetation needs water to grow and reproduce but on the steepest slopes the support for plant life is very low. Steep slopes produce high levels of soil erosion that results in a lost of organic materials and essential nutrients needed for plant growth. Along with slope is exposure of sunlight on vegetation that can also vary growth outcomes. Slopes facing different directions may have similar precipitation amounts but direct sunlight can cause soil moisture to evaporate quicker that then forms a dryer, shady slope. However other …show more content…
There will be a less in abundance in the dryer site that will consist of vegetation, with less needs of soil moisture. We also expected that in the wet areas, there would be a larger amount and variety of tree species thriving than on dry slopes. Those living on dry slopes will be more drought tolerant. Battle Park’s 93-acre forestry consists of good habitable communities to observe these vegetation differences among several species habitable there, largely including white oak, sourwood, and red oak among others. The Park predates European settlement in 1740 of the area. The study site is located downhill from Coker Arboretum on the east side of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s campus. Battle Park is home to many tree species. (Peterson et al. …show more content…
Thus supporting the hypothesis that a change in vegetation occurs based on the supply of water and soil moisture that is dependent on the slope of the forest floor. Also a difference in variation of phenotypes at the different sites also infer adaptations to their environment like leaf size and tree height. From our data white oak and short leaf pine were observed more often in the dry site than the wet site. This infers that these species prefer more sunlight exposure for optimal growth however but still have the potential to grow in dry and wet sites. Even though these species, like some others, can live in both areas, species like yellow poplar, southern sugar maple, American beech, black gum, tulip tree, and red oak could not grow in dry areas. This then makes the wet site have more of species richness and with variation makes it a better community. Furthermore, the result also support that since there is a difference in density of certain tree species in the wet and dry sites, there will also be a difference in non-plant life, like insects that utilized resources from certain tree for various necessities. Similar to slope indifferences is elevation. Trees that grow at higher elevation would consist of upland species, and tree in valley would posses facultative to wetland