10 CHAPTER 4: Physiology and Life History of Trees Biological Energy Is About Moving Electrons Forest Energy Comes from Sunlight; Wood Comes from Thin Air Why Are Leaves Green? Leaves Are Not Always Green Carbon Uptake Is the Second Half of Photosynthesis Growth Happens After Photosynthesis – Sometimes Long After Trees Do Not Live by Carbon Alone Photosynthesis and Growth Depend on Acquisition of Resources More Leaves Means More Light Capture, up to a Point One Square‐Meter of Leaves Has a Mass of 50–150 g Each Square Meter of a Forest has Multiple Layers of Leaves above Large Trees Depend on Large Roots Networks of Fine Roots Permeate Soils Do Roots Take Up Water and Nutrients? Trees (and Mycorrhizal Fungi) Obtain Nutrients by the Interaction of Mass Flow and Diffusion Life History Is the Story of Going from Seed to Mature Seed‐Producing Tree Tree Seeds Range in Mass from Smaller than a Flea to Larger than a Mouse Why Is the Understory of a Forest a Tough Place for Small Trees to Thrive? All Good Summers Come to an End Most Trees Die Young Reproduction Is the Beginning and the End of Life History Stories Ecological Afterthoughts: What Benefit Comes from Aspen Having Chlorophyll in Its Bark?
11 CHAPTER 5: Ecology of Wildlife in Forests Many Species of Trees Coevolved with Animals as Seed Dispersers Some Animal Species Specialize in Eating Trees Livestock Grazing and Browsing has been a Core Part of People’s Livelihoods Through History Was Aldo Leopold Right About the Kaibab Deer Herd? Wildlife Population Dynamics Occur Within Complex Ecological Systems Moose and Wolves Established New Populations on Isle Royale in the Early 1900s The Cycles of Snowshoe Hares and Lynx Repeat, but They Are Far from Simple Patterns and Processes of Wildlife Population Dynamic Shift Across Space and Time Good Ideas Without Good Evidence May Be Unreliable, or Wrong Strong Evidence Comes from Comparisons of Treatments at the Same Point in Time Ecological Afterthoughts
12 CHAPTER 6: Forest Soils, Nutrient Cycling, and Hydrology Forests Need Soils for Physical Support Soils Here Are Different from Over There, and Soils Now Are Different from Soils Then Organic Matter is the Top Feature of Soils Clay Content Comes in Second to Organic Matter Soils Breathe The Variety of Soils Is Parsed into Soil Taxonomic Groups Soils Differ in Age, Even if Most Don't Have Birthdays Trees Affect Soils Decomposition Reverses Photosynthesis and Nutrient Uptake Almost all Forest Biodiversity Is Found in the Soil Leonardo da Vinci Couldn't Figure out How Water Got to the Top of Mountains The Atmosphere Holds Only a Few Days of Precipitation Forest Water Budgets Begin with Precipitation Water Use by Forests Can Be Measured Across a Range of Scales Trees Use Most (or All) of the Water George Perkins Marsh (and Everyone Else) Was Wrong About the Effect of Forest Cutting on Water Reliable Generalizations Require Evidence from More than One Case Nutrients Make Life Possible Nutrients Come From the Atmosphere and From Rocks Biogeochemical Cycles Are Complex Decomposition is the Centerpiece of Nutrient Cycling in Forests Nutrient Losses Are Chronic and Episodic Ecological Afterthoughts: Consequences of a Warmer World for Snow, Streams, and Forests