GEOG 310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Forest Ecology, Forest Dynamics, Ecosystem Management
Document Summary
An ecosystem --> a series of different species that live together, and interact at a particular given place and time. These species have managed to live relatively stable over long time periods. The entire forest is actually one organism --> all the trees are actually roots/stems/shoots growing up out of the organism (they are singular genetically identical) These "trees" form by sprouts coming off of the original parent tree. Thus it is not really a bunch of trees, but rather it is a singular. Organism --> this would change the way we manage resources, hence it is important how we define trees. They are constantly transforming throughout their lifespan --> they are spatially and temporally changing (through time and space) They also don"t change individually, but are involved in a number of different processes (e. g. other ecosystems, other biological communities) Trees only exist as part of that community. They are a clearly bounded object of a tree.