March 5th

As said inĀ Wetlands, Woodlands, Wildlands, a natural community is “an interacting assemblage of organisms, their physical environment, and the natural processes that affect them.” Ecological influences plays a huge role in how the community works through climate, interactive contact between species, soils, and hydrology.

After carefully searching WWW, I came across a community that is the picturesque of Red Rocks Park. This would be the natural community of a Limestone Bluff Cedar-Pine forest. These forests are dominated by Northern white cedar and are found in Vermont mainly along the short of Lake Champlain. In addition, these type of communities thrive on the top of limestone or dolomite bluffs and other calcareous bedrock. This was the telltale sign because I remember learning about the type of bedrock on the Shelburne Farms lab last semester. Red pine, white pine and hemlock are also commonly found trees within the community and if you look back at my photos I included some red oak pictures.

Finding Red Rocks Park on Biofinder was easy enough. I simply did the things that we did in lab. Layer wise, I checked the component box and then went box by box under the Community and Species Scale. As I went along, I found the the park has a wide range for vernal pool appearance, so I will definitely need to check that out one spring day. In addition, the park has the honor of being home to both rare and uncommon species.

As I wrap this update up, I will mention some simple observations that stuck out to me since last time I visited. I can see why we were asked to keep an eye out for the hydrology and substrate change. All the snow melting has caused deep ruts in the soil and paths. As a result, the substrate is being washed out into Lake Champlain through these rivets. What does this do? I can imagine that this would cause soil instability and result in more erosion.

~ by aeromano on March 5, 2018.

 
Skip to toolbar