Disturbed vs. Undisturbed Forest

Long-term ecological research is particularly valuable for understanding disturbance dynamics over long time periods and placing those dynamics in a regional context. The important role of disturbances in shaping landscapes and influencing ecosystems is now well recognized in ecology. Fires, storms, floods, pest outbreaks, species invasions, human interaction and resource extraction, to name but a few types of disturbance, affect many ecosystems over a range of scales. Disturbance is defined as any relatively discrete event in time that disrupts ecosystem, community, or population structure and changes resource pools, substrate availability, or the physical environment (White and Pickett 1985).

The relationship between humans and the environment

The discoveries of this experiment have brought forth several interesting pieces of information. First, humans play an integral role in the health and stability of their environments. Although, more plant life was found in the disturbed region, the majority of that consisted of grasses. There were not many other forms of plants located. Second, the amount of trash observed in the disturbed areas notes that well-traveled locations are more likely to become polluted and destroyed by human interaction. Third, there was not a notable amount of coarse woody debris in the disturbed forest. This leads to the conclusion that trees are not extremely prevalent in the surroundings. Pathways, driveways and parking lots were built near the surveyed area and therefore, trees and other obstructions were cleared.

The ground cover experiment shed light on the content of materials located throughout the forest. As expected, the amount of coarse woody debris, leaf litter and bare soil was higher in the undisturbed areas (Figure 1), while the trash content was higher in the disturbed portions of the surveyed forest (Figure 2). One unexpected result occurred with the plant life. It was noted that more plants were found i

Some topics in this essay:
DISCUSSION Overall, University Middletown, INTRODUCTION Long-term, , Ground Cover, White Pickett, METHODS MATERIALS, ground cover, coarse woody debris, coarse woody, disturbed undisturbed, woody debris, ground cover experiment, human interaction, plant life, leaf litter, cover experiment, amount coarse woody, amount coarse, results ground cover, results ground, woody debris disturbed,