Woodland Eco-systems

Woodland Ecosystems

Ecosystem: ˈiːkəʊsɪstəm - a community of living organisms (biotic) in conjunction with the non-living components (abiotic) of their environment, things like air, water and mineral soil, interacting as a system.

At Greave Primary’s Forest School site we have a combination of trees – it would be considered broadleaved woodland. Again using a scavenger hunt type activity children explore and find out the details of what can be found in out forest school area.

The two main British Woodland ecosystems are broad leaved and coniferous. They are useful to explain to children about contrasting ecosystems. The main differences are:

"   Coniferous woodlands contain fewer species of vegetation on the forest floor as, due to them being evergreen, the light levels are similar all year round; therefore not allowing new plants light to grow in springtime.

"   Coniferous woodlands are e up of evergreen trees that don’t lose their needles at a specific time – compared to broadleaved woodlands where they begin to lose their leaves with the seasons in autumn time; this subsequently increases the variety of plants that get an opportunity to grow as it is lighter.

"   In coniferous woodlands the field layer is made up of acid tolerant, whereas in broadleaved woodlands there are flowering plants and ferns.

"   On the ground level there is a difference between rotting leaves in a broadleaved woodland, whereas it is mainly fallen wood that is rotting in a coniferous woodland – beetles are more popular here in comparison to a vast range of mosses, lichen, fungi and ivy thriving on the ground in broadleaved woodlands. Woodlice, millipedes, spiders and earthworms are some of the creatures that live in the ground layer and are found in the rotting leaves on the floor. They break the waste materials of the forest allowing for new plant growth. Link to Sci: Food chains and food webs.

"   Coniferous woodlands are generally planted for timber production and are managed accordingly. Plants are thinned out for best timber production.

Layer	Characteristics	Broadleaved	Coniferous
Canopy	Species	Oak, Ash, Beech, Birch, Sycamore	Scots pine, Yew (native) (Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce, Norway Spruce, Yew, Juniper)
	Average tree age	100 years	35
	Tree age range	0-600 years (Old oaks)	0-70
	Average distance between trees	2-3 metres	2-3 metres (> 1,000 ha-1 – tree density is high)
Shrub	Tree seeding presence	Lots at different stages of maturity (Beech, Oak, ash, sycamore)	Minimal (Rowan)
	Species	Blackberry, Elder, Hawthorn, Hazel, Field Maple, Holly, Blackthorn, Guilder Rose	Juniper
Herb	Species	Ferns, Lesser Celandine, Dog's Mercury and Wood Anemones in early Spring; Bluebells and Ground Ivy in May; later on shade-tolerant plants, delicate Enchanter's Nightshade, nettle and Yellow Pimpernel. *These appear through the seasons depending on the amount of warmth and light	Chickweed Tormentil Foxglove Heath Bedstraw Heather Bracken                     *These will be found in more natural woodlands or on the paths and edges of a plantation
Ground	Frequency of bare ground (%)	20%	70%
	Average number of species in 0.5m2	5	2
	Description of litter	Rotting leaves, moss, lichen, small twigs, fallen branches	Pine needles, pine cones, fallen dead wood
Soil	Depth of soil	Deep	Deep for roots of tall trees but very dry on top to dig into – appearing shallow
	Texture	Heavy and compact	Loose and quite light / dry- lots of pine needles
	pH	7 (neutral)	5-6 a little acidic
	Invertebrates found in soil	Woodlice, centipedes, millipedes and worms	Ants