Transcript The forest as an ecosystem

THE FOREST AS AN ECOSYSTEM
WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM?
• Ecosystem: A community of living and non-living components in relationship
with each other and their environment
• An Ecosystem includes
• Non-living components• Living/ biotic components
TYPES OF LIVING/BIOTIC
COMPONENTS
• 1 _____________: any organism which uses energy from the sun to produce its
own food (ie. all plants)
• 2 _____________: an organism which feeds on other organisms in an
ecosystem (ie. Animals)
• There are 3 types of Consumers
• ________________: a plant-eating animal
• ________________: a meat-eating animal
• ________________: an animal which eats both plants and animals
• 3______________: an organism which breaks down material and litter (ex.
________, bacteria, _________, mold, ___________, __________, etc.)
• Trees have a significant effect on the conditions beneath the canopy. They
act as a windbreaker, and with less air movement there is less drying. In
addition, trees shade from the sun, lowering air temperature and also reduce
drying. Because of these effects, forests tend to be humid and the soil moist.
Trees contribute leaves, branches and stems to the organic material which
decomposes into humus which becomes a rich source of nutrients.
• Herbivores (such as deer and many caterpillars) have a negative effect on
trees because they eat leaves. Large populations of tent caterpillars can
have a devastating effect on poplar trees in Alberta, wiping out all the
leaves in stands such trees in a short time. These trees will grow secondary
leaves which are fewer in number and smaller in size. The trees will not
survive two successive summers of tent caterpillars.
• Coniferous trees are also affected by certain
insects. The spruce bud worm kills the growing
shoots on Spruce trees. Yellow bellied
Sapsuckers peck rows of shallow holes around
the trunk of trees to draw out the sap. As the
holes fill with the sap, the bird sucks it up. Often
the birds will make a series of holes on one tree
and drain enough sap to kill sections of the
tree. Blight and other fungi as well as bacteria
get on leaves and into the wood of the tree
stems, gradually destroying leaves or wood and
eventually killing the tree.
• Eats the inside of leaves which
stops the trees ability to
produce food
Leaf Miner
• Feed on deciduous trees
Blight
• Intense feeding on sap that
strips the tree of bark
• Over graze which limits natural
regrowth or delays growth
Deer
• Rapid and complete browning
(chlorosis) and death of plant
tissue
Tent Caterpillar
Yellow Bellied
Sapsucker
FOOD CHAINS
Grass
Grasshopper
Frog