Transcript 113023_ecosystems_wkst_answers.pptx

1. What are the 2 classifications of
trees and shrubs in Alaska?
Woody = hard stemmed
herbaceous = soft stemmed
Birch
Devils Club
2. What is the difference btw. An
annual and perennial?
Annuals grow from a seed and die each year
Perennials die down to the ground in the fall
and return again in the spring.
3. What is the difference between
a tree and shrub?
Trees have 1 erect perennial stem
shrubs have several erect perennial
stems
4. Does Alaska have poisonous
trees or shrubs?
No, however several species have
poisonous fruits or leaves.
We do have poisonous herbaceous
plants and fungi
5. How many species of woody plants
are found in Alaska?
133 total
33 reach tree size and only 12 species
are considered large and get over70 ft.
6. Name the 2 types of conifers found
in Southeast Alaska
Sitka Spruce
Western Hemlock
7. Name 3 types of conifers & 3 types
of hardwood trees
White Spruce
Black Spruce
Tamarack
Balsam Poplar Quaking Aspen Paper Birch
8. What is the difference btw. a
conifer and a hardwood?
Conifers have cones and most have needles
(modified leaves) and hardwoods have broad
leaves and no cones
9. What are commercial forests? Give
an example.
It is a forest which timber reserves are
logged for a profit.
28 million acres
Chugach National Forest
Tongass National Forest
10. How are forests important to
birds and mammals?
They provide food and shelter
11. What is the most abundant
mammal in the forest and what is
it’s primary food during the
winter?
Moose – browsing on willow and
other shrubs
12. Why is the forest important to
the small red squirrel?
Shelter and relies on seeds from
spruce cones throughout the
winter
13. Who is the small red squirrel
important to?
Larger Furbearers
Hawks, Eagles and owls
14. Name the 3 bird species dependent on the
forest and for what?
Ptarmigan – willow & birch buds
Sharp tailed and ruffed grouse – berries and
buds of shrubs & trees
Spruce & blue grouse – needles and buds of
spruce trees & berries
ptarmigan
spruce grouse
15. Name the two most common
trees of the coastal forest?
Hemlock and Sitka Spruce
16. Name the two most common
trees of the interior forest?
White Spruce and Paper Birch
17. What is a treeless bog and
what is found growing there?
Area with poor drainage, so it’s too
wet for tree growth
18. What is tundra?
Large area of flat land in northern
parts of the world, there are no
trees just low growing vegetation.
The ground may contain permafrost
19. Name the 3 types of tundra and
their locations.
Moist – foothills and lower elevations
of mountain ranges: AK Range, Seward
Peninsula and AK Peninsula
Wet – Along the coastal plain north of
Brooks Range
Alpine – above tree line on all
mountain ranges of Alaska