Black Gum Tree Lab Report

Materials and Methods The materials used in this laboratory was the diameter tape that we used to measure the tree’s width. We were designated the middle team and at our first point we used the quadrant method, and the quadrant method is when pick our first point that we started off with and extend both our arms facing north and south respectively to form two quadrants. The quadrants are then separated in half when we extend our arms east and west. Whichever tree that is closest to the point in each quadrant is then measured by the distance in which it is away from the point and also the width of the tree. We only measured living tree’s and not ones that were dead.

Another criteria that had to be met was that the tree being measured had to

The reason why I think it was the most dominant tree species is because the blackgum species tends to usually grow on wet flatlands and usually on uplands, meaning that they grow on hilly areas and are usually on the top regions. This makes sense because the middle region we were in was the top of a very small hill, and so the result of us having a high number of black gum tree’s corresponds with where they are usually found. Our least dominant tree was the white ash (Fraxinus Americana) tree, that had an importance value of 6.31. Looking at the species diversity the top team had the most species diversity at 6.84, we had a species diversity of 6.25 and the bottom team had the lowest species diversity of 3.55. This could be because on the bottom of a hill/slope its harder for trees to grow and not every tree can live in those conditions where the soil isn’t as mineral rich as other regions such as the top of a hill or on the very bottom of a hill. The higher the species diversity, ecologically the better it is because there is less chance of extinction of certain trees. The average density of trees for our team was 708, for the top team it was 337 and for the bottom team it was 625. Looking at this data I agree with what we got for our average density of trees but I was shocked to see that the bottom team had more average density of trees than the top

This tree holds a lot of significance in economic value, the environment and community. It produces hundreds to thousands of acorns a season and this feeds many animals including rabbits, deer and squirrels. The Black Oak tree also has holes in its trunk that can contain nests for birds and other animals. Another way the Black Oak tree holds economic value is because its leaves can also be used for furniture and one of its other uses is for flooring as well. Black Oak can also form a basis for the formation of new soil when it falls of the tree, this in turn can aid in plant growth and soil enrichment. Black Oaks are usually found in poor, sandy hillsides and so it shouldn’t have been in the area where we were in because we were the middle team. The reason why it is found and grows in these conditions is because its roots are very deep so they extend deep within the soil for water and