Forest Ecology & Silviculture Flashcards

What is the primary ecological function of coarse woody debris (CWD) in a forest ecosystem?

Answer: Providing wildlife habitat and serving as a nutrient and carbon reservoir

CWD serves as critical habitat for cavity-nesting birds, amphibians, and invertebrates while slowly releasing nutrients back into the soil as it decomposes and storing significant amounts of carbon.

Which of the following silvicultural treatments is specifically designed to concentrate growth on the best trees by removing competitors, and is most commonly applied in young stands?

Answer: Crop-tree release

Crop-tree release removes trees immediately adjacent to selected crop trees to free their crowns on multiple sides, concentrating diameter growth on the highest-quality individuals in young to mid-rotation stands.

Nitrogen fixation in forest ecosystems is carried out by which of the following organisms associated with red alder?

Answer: Actinomycetes of the genus Frankia

Red alder forms a symbiotic relationship with Frankia actinomycetes in root nodules, allowing the tree to fix atmospheric nitrogen and significantly enrich forest soils.

The 'intermediate' crown class designation refers to trees that:

Answer: Receive limited direct sunlight and are mostly shaded from above

Intermediate trees have smaller, crowded crowns that extend into the general canopy level but receive only limited direct light because they are largely overtopped by dominant and codominant trees.

Which of the following best describes the 'masting' phenomenon in forest trees?

Answer: Episodic, synchronous production of large seed crops at irregular intervals

Masting is the synchronized, intermittent production of large seed crops (mast years) by a population of trees, thought to overwhelm seed predators and improve regeneration success in favorable years.

In a forest stand subject to chronic browsing pressure from white-tailed deer, a forester is most likely to observe which long-term vegetation change?

Answer: Shift toward browse-resistant species like hay-scented fern and spicebush

Heavy deer browsing selectively removes palatable tree seedlings and forbs, causing a shift toward unpalatable or browse-resistant species such as hay-scented fern, which can then suppress tree regeneration for decades.

The concept of 'carrying capacity' in a forest ecosystem context refers to:

Answer: The maximum population of a species a habitat can sustain indefinitely

Carrying capacity (K) is the maximum population size of a species that a given environment can sustain indefinitely, given available food, water, habitat, and other resources.