This week I am home for Thanksgiving, so I am in a different location for my phenology blog. The place that I chose is a wooded area in Danville, NH.
As I mentioned in my very first post, Eastern White Pines are one of my favorite trees. In this spot, there were at least 20 Eastern White Pine saplings. I really enjoy the smallest of the saplings because they remind me of truffula trees from the Lorax! (This is not the greatest picture, but I hope that you can see the resemblance)
Something that I find really interesting is how different my new site in Danville is from my old site in Burlington. If you scroll down, you can see that my original site had few trees, yet there were multiple species. At my new site, there are at least 20 different Eastern White Pine trees/saplings, however, there is no other vegetation at this site.
In the woods surrounding this site, there are a variety of different species, which is why I was so drawn to my specific area. It is so dense with one particular type of tree, unlike the other areas in the woods that I could have chosen.
The main difference between the sites is how many trees there are. At my original site, there were very few trees, but majority of them were mature, towering up in the canopy. At my new site, all of the trees are still quite young. Once they are able to grow, I think a lot of the trees will end up dying due to the amount of competition there would be.
Additionally, since most of the trees at my original site were apart of the canopy, there was a lot more shade. This was favorable for trees like the Eastern Hemlock since they are one of the most shade tolerant trees. At my new site there is more sunlight available since it is closer to the edge of the woods. This promotes the growth of intermediately shade tolerant trees like the Eastern White Pine.
Geographically, my original site was at the bottom of a hill alongside a river, but my new site is at the top of the hill away from a constant water source.
My key takeaway from comparing the two sites is that the age of a site plays an important role in determining how many trees will be there, but also what species will be present as well.