The Canopy to the Forest Floor

Field Observations:

 It is Sunday evening; I arrive at Merry Lea Learning Center, driving none other than my Eco-friendly Ford Festiva.  I appear to be the only one at the learning center, which will make for great observations, I lace up my boots, grab my pack, ID guides and my chair.  I take off down the gravel path towards my lowland forest.  I hike into the forest, in search for a good area to set up camp and to make my field observations.  As I sit down to observe the forest, I notice that it is relatively quiet, the sun is slowly making its descent across the clear sky and the bugs quickly find me and begin to attack.  It is a peaceful evening, the temperature is in the low seventies, and a calm breeze sweeps through from time to time.  The breeze carries the distinct aroma of decomposing forest matter as well as the sounds of forest life.

As I quickly sit and wait for the woods to become accustom to having me as part of the ecosystem, I begin to hear sounds of life.  To my right, a pair of woodpeckers is hammering the tree with their beaks in search for worms below the bark of a tree.  Behind me, a squirrel scampers down a tree and then limb to limb, treating the woods as his personal jungle gym.  The sound of tree tops rustling above from the breeze slowly picks up and then dies down again.  As I glance around to observe the vegetation, I notice the area that I am in is dominated by maples and willows.  The forest floor is spotted with ferns, false nettle, poison ivy and millions of sugar maples fighting for survival.  Since my last visit to the lowland forest, not much has changed, the moisture is about the same and the vegetation similar.   

New Species:

Black Willow

(Salix nigra)

The black willow is a medium tree with spreading, irregular limbs and has small branches that usually droop a bit.  It has alternate, narrow, curved, lance-shaped leaves and the the branches are brittle.  The leaves are finely toothed, bright green on the top and the lowers are pale green.  The bark of the tree is dark-grey brown to black and is deeply furrowed.  The black willow is common on wet sites along stream banks, in low wet woods, this is why it is found in my lowland forest.  The willow has several common uses which include: barrels, boxes, creates and can be used as an erosion control of stream banks. 

Jackson, M. T. (2003). 101 Trees of Indiana (pp. 208-209). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Slippery Elm

(Ulmus rubra)

Slippery Elm is a medium sized tree that is native to North America and can reach over a hundred feet tall with a spreading crown.  The leaves are very rough and sand-papery on the top and the underside is hairy.  It flowers in March to May.  Slippery Elm has been used in North America for centuries as an herbal remedy.  Native Americans were the first to use slippery elm in healing salves for wounds, boils, ulcers, burns and skin inflammation.  The inner bark is dried and powdered, which is used as the medicine.  The slippery elm received its name because the inner part of the bark is very slippery when cut or torn from the tree.  It is commonly found in a flood plain forest or bottom land woods, it is common in the lowland forest of this area.  It is also common because the Dutch Elm disease really attached the american elm more readily than the slippery elm

Ehrlich, S. D. (2011, May 2). In Slippery Elm. Retrieved July 21, 2014

Royal Fern

(Osmunda regalis)

The royal fern is a large fern species from a distance, but up close it has the appearance of a locust tree or a possible member of the pea family.  It grows in erect clusters, has bright pale green foliage when in sunlight.  The leaves are oblong, slightly alternate, have eight or more pairs, are slender and rounded.  In areas with high level of water, it can reach heights of six feet.  It prefers swamps, low woods, along stream banks and marshes, that’s why it is found growing so abundantly in the lowland forest. 

Cobb, B., Farnsworth, E., & Lowe, C. (2005). Ferns of Northeastern and Central North
America (Second ed., pp. 176-177). New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Pin Oak

(Quercus palustris)

The pin oak is a medium to large tree that has a pyramid-shaped crown with drooping lower branches.  Leaves are long, deeply lobed, having 5 to 7 lobes, dark green, shinny, smooth and bristle tipped.  The leaves ill change color in the fall from a dark green to a deep red.  The bark of the tree is smooth, reddish to grayish brown at a young age, it slowly becomes darker and somewhat fissured.  The pin oak occurs on moist floodplains, along edges of swamps or ponds.  It is found in the lowland forest due to the organic and very wet soil.  Pin oaks can often be confused with scarlet oak, due to similar appearance, but the scarlet oak prefers upland soils with good drainage. 

Dickerson, J. (2002, February 5). In Pin Oak. Retrieved July 21, 2014, from http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/index.php

Succession of the Lowland Forest:

The lowland forest that I am observing is in later stages of succession, once disturbed and experiencing secondary succession. Jackson (1997) states that cleared forest land will gradually transform though a succession of weeds, forbs and grasses, then it will give way to blackberry briars and golden rod. After that, a brush fallow of young saplings and another 20 or more years later, small trees, shrubs, and flowering herbs begin to dominate the area. This is a shortened version of the process that takes place for secondary succession.

It looks as if the area has experienced secondary succession, from previously being farmed and possibly grazed due to the heavy amount of water that stays in the area. There are many dominate oaks in the lowland forest, along with red and silver maples, black and green ash, and other species that hint at the fact that the forest has been under succession for a very long time according to Jackson (1997). In the future, the lowland forest will succeed to another type of forest, with different flora and fauna types. The lowland forest most likely began as a small lake or marsh; later it was probably drained for farming. Once it was turned back into a forest, it began to be taken over by trees; the organic matter is slowly filling up the lowland forest. It the future, the trees and plants will slowly change to a mixture of maple, oak and beech forests that will eventually then change to an oak-history forest. Over time, as the soil loses it high amounts of moisture, new trees will dominate the area, trees such as the willow will struggle for survival, as the area will become a much dryer one. This change will not be sudden; it most likely will take hundreds of years, for this to happen. The forests will succeed to being dominated mainly by oaks and hickories.


Jackson, M. T. (1997). The Natural Heritage of Indiana (pp. 110-123). Bloomington, IN: Quarry Books.

Creative Piece:

In the face of tragedy and death, there is a wonderful creation of life! During a storm a few years ago, it looks as if this tree was uprooted and toppled over, leaving behind a shallow wetland. This area is springing with life; I came upon it as I was hiking around the lowland forest. As I approached the uprooted tree, several frogs jumped under the water for hiding and there were several small frogs all around the pool. It was amazing to find a small wetland within my lowland forest, springing with life that was different from the surrounding area.