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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
