e-mail: faithann@ntsg.umt.edu Tree Biology FOR 240 Dr. Faith Ann Heinsch phone: 243-6218 e-mail: faithann@ntsg.umt.edu

Syllabus Midterm (100 points) Final (120 points) Project (130 points) Tuesday, October 17 Final (120 points) Wednesday, December 13, 10:10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. Project (130 points)

Textbook Class Notes http://www.eres.lib.umt.edu/ Password: lodgepole Forest Ecology, 4th Edition by B. Barnes et al., 1998 Class Notes Select PowerPoint Slides will be made available on Electronic Reserve at the library. http://www.eres.lib.umt.edu/ Password: lodgepole

Why Learn About Plants? (Or: Why should we care about this class?) The air we breathe comes from plants How? Plants give off oxygen The air we breathe is cleaned by plants Remove CO2 and toxins “Clean Air Plants” #1: Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea Seifritzii)

Why Learn About Plants? 18.5% of the human body (dry mass) is composed of CARBON Where does this carbon come from? From eating plants! You are a meat-eater, you say? How do those animals get so tasty? THEY eat plants and gain carbon, which is then transferred to us. How does this happen? It starts with PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Why Learn About Plants? Over half the medicines we use are derived from plants Example: Gingko Antioxidant Memory enhancer Also Multivitamins Poppies – codeine, morphine

Why Learn About Trees specifically? We use trees and their products every day Wood Paper Fruit Shade

And, finally……. COFFEE!! caffeine

Why learn about plants? Origins of fossil fuels Ecological buffers Coal, Oil, Natural Gas Ecological buffers Oxygen Water Carbon Nutrients

Figure 3-1: Schematic of chemical and transport processes related to atmospheric composition. These processes link the atmosphere with other components of the Earth system, including the oceans, land, and terrestrial and marine plants and animals

Plants Take In & Use Energy The sun provides a sustainable energy source All organisms require energy growth, repair, maintenance Cellular Respiration & Photosynthesis are probably the two most important activities on earth

Course Overview Genetics Regeneration & Seed Production Tree Structure & Growth shape, stem (bark & wood), roots, leaves Bioclimatology temperature, precipitation, solar radiation Water Carbon & Resource Allocation Nutrient Availability Stress Physiology & Dormancy Site Quality & Growing Seasons Climate Change The book covers many ecosystems, we will be focusing our attention on trees. This is a general outline of the class, and we will adjust accordingly.

Components of Landscape Ecosystems Entity (FOR330) Inorganic and Organic Components Ecosystem Abiotic Components (Physical environment = site) Climate (macro- and microclimate) Physiography (form of land and parent material) Soil (edaphic factors of water, air, nutrients, etc.) Biota (Biotic community) Plants – Plant communities Animal - Animal communities Microbes - Microbial communities What is an ecosystem? A. Ecosystem - community of organisms interacting and functioning together through: 1. Flow of energy 2. Cycling of energy

This is a diagram of an ecosystem from 1962. It is somewhat surprising that we had such a good understanding of ecosystems back then. Basically, all we have done since is fill in the boxes themselves.

This is more of what we see today – lots of boxes and arrows. This class is designed to gain a first understanding of the boxes AND arrows.