Forest ecosystem service value and biodiversity Lab (Itree) edited (2) (1)
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Dec 6, 2023
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Forest Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity
Introduction
Forest biodiversity provides many valuable ecosystem services which are frequently undervalued.
Intact forests serve as habitat to a diverse set of animal communities with tropical rainforests having
the highest biodiversity of any terrestrial ecosystem.
80% of the world’s terrestrial species are forest
dwellers. The biodiversity of plants, animals and microbes within a forest ecosystem is essential for
the maintenance of ecosystem functions
As forests are degraded the value of the ecosystem services they provide are likewise reduced.
For
provisional services such as wood, food, and medical materials the economic loss can be calculated
fairly easily.
However the cost of diminished regulating and cultural services is often more difficult to
assess. These include climate regulation, soil conservation, water regulation and purification, and
recreation among others.
Task #1 :
Collecting Data for Forest Trees
Each group will collect the following data for 13 different trees.
Clearly mark your tree with the
colored chalk supplied to your group. At each tree: identify the species, measure the diameter at
breast height and assess the health of the tree using the following scale.
Condition of Tree
The following classes are available to choose from. If
it's
winter and your tree is deciduous, think
about what the tree looked like when it did have leaves.
• Excellent – Tree has less than 1% of its leaves missing.
• Good – Tree is missing 1-10% of its leaves.
• Fair – Tree is missing 11-25% of its leaves.
• Poor – Tree is missing 26-50% of its leaves.
• Critical – Tree is missing 51-75% of its leaves.
• Dying - Tree is missing 76-99% of its leaves.
• Dead – Tree is missing all of its leaves.
Tree ID
Specie
s of
Tree
DB
H
(c
m)
Condition
of Tree
1
Sycamore
9.5 inch
Alive
2
Pine
16.6 inch
Alive
A
Holly
5.7 inch
Alive
4
White Oak
27.6 inch
Alive
5
American Beech
30 inch
Alive
6
Pawpaw
6.5 inch
Alive
7
Pawpaw
4.1 inch
Alive
8
White oak
15.7 inch
Alive
9
American beech
14 inch
Alive
10
White Oak
14 inch
Alive
11
Sassafras
7 inch
Alive
12
White oak
26 inch
Alive
13
Sassafras
10.5 inch
Alive
Task #2: Measuring proximately
and direction to buildings
Pick a single tree and record the following information.
You will use this information to calculate the
carbon sequestered by all of the trees measured by the class.
Since we are only calculating a rough
estimate and our forest is very small it should not make a significant difference if you repeat the
general location data when calculating the value for the forest.
I:
Tree Stats
.
Sun exposure is the amount of sun that reaches the leaves of the tree based on its surroundings
(i.e., the presence of additional structures or trees that may shade the tree)
Choose Full sun, partial sun, or full shade.
1.
What is the sun exposure of your tree? ____Full sun
exposure___________________________
Find the nearest building. Measure or estimate the distance from the building to your tree.
2.
Building name __Nova Building_____________________
3.
Distance to tree
____48__________________ meters
Use the compass feature on a phone or borrow a compass from your teacher. Determine the
direction walking from the tree to the building. Choose N, S, E, W or SE, NE, SW, NW.
You can assess this by using google maps.
4.
What is the direction walking from the tree to the building? ___southeast_____________
Explore #1 Computer Calculations of Forest Benefits
Go to
https://mytree.itreetools.org
A.
Enter the data for a single tree
1.
Where is your tree?
a.
Enter the school’s address: 8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale VA
b.
Click on the location of the forest we surveyed
2.
Tell us about your tree
a.
Location will be selected
b.
No project name needed
c.
It is not part of the Trillion Trees campaign
d.
Type of tree – existing
e.
Tree species – start typing to find the species name (If you do not know the exact
species pick the more general classification.
For example if you know it was an oak
tree, but not which type just select oak)
f.
Tree condition – select from description previously provided
g.
Trunk size – Keep defaults-
diameter and inches
h.
Sun exposure
i.
Distance to a building
j.
“When was the building built?” choose “After 1980, because the buildings were
modernized in 2005.
B.
Enter the data for the forest
You will use the same Tree Stats information recorded above for your single tree for all of the trees
the class surveyed as you enter the data into the Itree program.
1.
You will repeat the steps completed in
Part A
for all of the trees we surveyed by selecting “+
Add Another Tree”.
Once the information for all trees has been entered select “Calculate All
Trees”
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Take a screenshot of your report and paste it below or print the page to pdf and submit it with this
lab assignment on Canvas.
Questions
1.
Describe the ecosystem functions
listed on the report.
The forest sequestration is verry important for this areas averment a lot of carbon is in this Forrest
showing how important the Forrest near us is important for are carbon process.
It also is a big part in
the carbon uptake around us.
2.
Recall that the supporting ecosystem services explain the process responsible for the
accomplishment of regulating functions.
For each of the ecosystem functions you described
in question 1 give the supporting service performed by the trees.
Storm water mitigation and the production of trees through photosynthesis
3.
Of the ecosystem functions listed which one has the highest monetary value assigned?
Why
do you think this is the case?
The carbon dioxide uptake had the highest monetary value assignment to it.
I think this is the case
because.
4.
Would cutting down our small greenhouse forest and selling the wood make sense from an
economic perspective in the long run?
Explain your answer.
I don’t think it would because I think the greenhouse Forrest is verry important for are carbon
production in this area for financial gain it would maybe work
but for are environment I think it
would be the wrong move
Explore #2 Evaluating Biodiversity (taken directly from
https://geographyfieldwork.com/Simpson'sDiversityIndex.htm)
A community dominated by one or two species is considered to be less diverse than one
in which several different species have a similar abundance
Simpson's Diversity Index is a measure of diversity which takes into account the number
of species present, as well as the relative abundance of each species. As species richness
and evenness increase, so diversity increases.
n = the total number of organisms of a particular species
N = the total number of organisms of all species
The value of
D
ranges between 0 and 1. With this index, 1 represents infinite diversity
and 0, no diversity.
To calculate Simpson's Index for Muntanyans, two areas (natural vegetation and
disturbed vegetation) must be sampled using quadrats placed randomly or
systematically. The number of plant species within each quadrat, as well as the number
of individuals of each species should be noted. There is no necessity to be able to
identify all the species, provided they can be distinguished from each other.
As an example, let us work out the value of
D
for a single quadrat sample of ground
vegetation in the Muntanyans dunes. Of course, sampling only one quadrat would not
give you a reliable estimate of the diversity of the dune flora. Several samples would
have to be taken and the data pooled to give a better estimate of overall diversity. The
method used to optimize the sampling is the
Optimum Quadrat Size technique
.
Species
Number (n)
n(n-1)
Sea holly
2
2
Sand couch
8
56
Sea bindweed
1
0
Sporobolus
pungens
1
0
Echinophora
spinosa
3
6
Total
15
64
N = 15
n(n-1) = 64
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Putting the figures into the formula for Simpson's Index:
Simpson's Index of Diversity = 0.7
I.
Assessing the Diversity of our Forest
We are now going to calculate the Simpson Diversity Index for our greenhouse forest.
Since we did not follow a random sampling protocol, nor did we count all of the trees in
the forest (we got most of them) this number will be an estimate.
You will need to tally
the number of each species from the raw data and enter those values in
the
spreadsheet below.
I have already entered the formulas into the excel worksheet.
Your Simpson Diversity Index will show in the highlighted cell.
Enter that number in the
table comparing the diversity indices below
Forest
Simpson Diversity Index
Tropical Rainforest
.901
Temperate Forest
.691
Greenhouse Forest (your calculations)
.13258
Questions
1.
How does your forest diversity compare to the Tropical Rainforest and
Temperature Forest as indicated by the Simpson Diversity Indices?
Based on the Simpson
index this shows that
are greenhouse forest
is less diverse than
that of a temperate
forest and a tropical
Forrest because their
scores are closer to 1
meaning they are
more diverse while are
greenhouse Forrest is
closer to zero meaning
it is less diverse
2.
Does our greenhouse forest represent a natural forest?
How do you know?
Since are Forrest is
less diverse it might
indicate that are
Forrest is more
manmade than it is
natural
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