Trees, Timber, and Trade Fall 2001

Forest Ecology Study Questions #4

FE Ch 5, 10 + Salmon. These are due Monday, Nov 12th at the beginning of class. Write your answers neatly and legibly on a separate piece of paper that you will turn in. You may need to access outside resources to completely answer the questions. Be prepared to discuss your answers with your study group.

Seminar Presentation that may be of interest: Tuesday, Nov. 13, 11-12 a.m., Dave Lytle: Disturbanc-mediated switches between forests and barrens on a Michigan sand plain. These seminars are open to the academic and professional natural resources community of the greater Olympia area. They will be held at the Olympia Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 3625 93rd Ave. SW.

  1. The forest on the southern aspects of Mt. Elinor is significantly different than on the northern and eastern aspects. List the differences that you might expect to observe and give some potential explanations for these differences.
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  2. Briefly outline a study that would gather data to support or disprove your explanations given in #1. List the type of data you would gather.
  3. Salmon are roughly 21% protein and proteins are about 22% nitrogen. Estimates of historical salmon inputs into forest ecosystems are about 100 carcasses/ kilometer of stream. Assume that the salmon nitrogen input is within 200 m of the stream and that about 45% of the salmon nitrogen enters the forest ecosystem. Using an average weight of the salmon as 3.6 kg, calculate the nitrogen input into the surrounding forest ecosystem. Give your answer in kg N/ hectare of forest.
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  4. Will salmon make a significant nitrogen contribution in a stream that is lined with red alder growing on the flats around the stream? Why or why not?
  5. You have a map of the plant communities for a given area. You are seeking the most diverse areas. Where are you going to look for them and why?
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  6. Are gaps a component of old-growth forests in the PNW? What function(s) do they perform in the forest?
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  7. Outline six functions that coarse woody debris serves in the forest ecosystem. Describe two processes that create coarse woody debris.
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  8. Outline and briefly discuss four different examples of how disregard of externalities impacted salmon.
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  9. What are serpentine soils and how do they influence the forest composition?
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  10. What are some of the differences in tree health between old-growth forests and the even-age monocultures that replace them?
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  11. A cloudforest is located on the windward (western) side of a mountain range, starting around 3,000 ft. The top of the mountain range is 6,500 ft. Dry adiabatic rate -10°C/ 1000m, wet rate is -6°C/ 1000 m
  1. The average summer conditions on the lowland (300 ft elevation, west of the mountains) are 20°C and 60% RH (dewpoint is 12°C). At what elevation would clouds begin to form? And what would the air temperature be at the summit? (assume all heating/cooling is due to elevation changes only).
  2. Due to clearing of the lowland forests, the temperature of the air in the lowland goes up to 24°C and 50% RH (dewpoint 13°C). Will this impact the cloud forest? Support your answer with calculations.