Chapter 3

FOREST ECOLOGY
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Abiotic – non-living component of the ecosystem.
Autecology – a branch of ecology dealing with individual species rather than with groups
of species or with communities.
Biogeochemical cycle – a cycle wherein in the chemical elements tend to circulate in the
biosphere in characteristics paths, from the environment to the organisms and back to the
environment.
Biomass – is the weight of all the procedure, consumers, and reducers that exist in an
ecosystem at a particular time.
Biotic – the largest and most nearly self-sufficient biological system.
Carnivores – animals feeding only on animals.
Climax – the final stage of succession wherein the same kind of plants and animals
simply replace themselves.
Coevolution – community evolution between organisms in which genetic information
exchange is absent or minimal.
Communities – natural association of plants, animals, and microorganisms that are
directly or indirectly dependent on each other for their survival.
Ecological dominants – species or species groups which largely control the energy flow
and strongly effect the environment.
Ecology – a branch of biology which deals with the study of system at a level In which
individuals or whole organism may be considered elements of interaction, either among
themselves, or with a loosely organized environmental matrix. Systems at this level are
named ecosystems. Ecology, of courses, is the study of ecosystems.
Ecosystem – regardless of size, consists of an assemblage of pants and animals linked by
a fundamental need: food
– a unit which consists of living and non-living components interacting with
the physical environment, so that the energy and material flow and the unit system attains
a degree of stability.
Ecotones and edges – are those places where there is a mixture of two or more plant
types.
Evolution – the gradual development of all forms of life through modifications of
successive generations.
Food chains – are the pathway by which living things obtain, use and transfer energy.
Food webs – describe the interlocking of food chains in the ecosystem.
Habitat – the place where plants, animals, and microorganisms live.
Herbivores – animals that feed exclusively on plants.
Homeostasis – steady self-regulating state.
Micro-communities – smaller communities existing within larger communities, where
habitat conditions differ greatly from those of the general conditions.
Niche – more or less specialized set of relationship within a population established with
the environmental resources of energy, nutrients, water, air and space.
Nutrient cycling – the movement of elements and inorganic compounds that are essential
so life.
Omnivores – animals that feed on both plants and animals.
Solar flux – is the total radiant energy of all wave lengths reaching the earth.
Species diversity – refers to species richness.
Succession – a subsequent development of the vegetation, by modification of the
environment followed by the appearance of the fresh species.
Synecology – branch of ecology which is concerned with problems solved by studies of
natural groups or communities, or it may involve study of the many factors affecting
communities.
Trophic level – refers to the functional position of a group of species in a food chain.
SALIENT FEATURES
Ecological levels of organization:
1. Autecology – branch of ecology which deals with interaction in one organism.
2. Synecology – branch of ecology dealing with interaction between two organism.
Habitat:
1. Terrestrial – forest, grassland, tundra, desert, etc.
2. Aquatic – marine, fresh water
Taxonomic lines:
1. Plant ecologist
2. Insect ecologist
3. Animal ecologist
4. Microbial ecologist,
 Etc.
Basis of ecological work:
1. Floristic composition – what species are present
2. Life form composition – what their distribution is
3. Structure of vegetation – what the relative degree of abundance of each species is
Life Form - arranged life forms of species in a natural series using the height of
perennating buds, which appeared to reflect adaptation to climate, as criterion (Rankiaer).
Types:
1. Phanerophytes
– perennating buds or shoot apices borne on aerial
a) Evergreen phanerophytes without bud scales
b) Evergreen phanerophytes with bud scales
c) Deciduous phanerophytes with bud scales
Classification according to height
a) Nanopharenophytes (less than 2 meters)
b) Micropharenophytes (2-8 meters)
c) Megapharenophytes (greater than 30 meters)

2. Chamaephytes – perennating buds or shoot apices borne very close to the

ground.

Types:
a) Suffruticose chamaephytes
– erect aerial shoots which in part at the onset of an
unfavorable season of the year
– perennating buds arise on the lower portions of the erect
stems where they are less exposed to the environment.
b) Passive chamaephytes
– similar to the last group but at the onset of adverse
conditions the weakened erect- axes fall over and buds arise along
the horizontal stems where at ground level they obtain some
protection from the environment.
c) Active chamaephytes
– vegetative shoots are persistently oriented along the
ground usually rooting along their lengths.
d) Cushion plants
– Base only reduced and very compacted of the last group.
3. Hemicryptophytes
 – perennating buds are ground level, all above ground parts dying
back at the onset of unfavorable conditions
– stolons may or may not be present.
Types:
a) Proto hemicryptophytes – lowermost leaves on stems are
perfectly developed than the upper ones; the perennating
buds arise at ground level.
b) Partial rosette plants – best developed leaves form a rosette
at the base of the aerial shoot, but some leaves are present
on the
c) Rosette plants – leaves are restricted to a rosette at the base
of the aerial shoot
4. Cryptophytes – perennating buds below ground level or submerged in
water.
Types:
a) Geophytes – rhizome, bulb or tuber geophytes, overwintering by
food store under ground from which arise the buds to produce the
next season’s aerial shoots.
b) Helophytes – perennating organs in soil or mud below water-level
with aerial shoots above water-level.
c) Hydrophytes – perennating buds under water, and with their leaves
submerged or floating.
– buds may occur on rhizomes or winter buds may become
detached from the plant and sink to the bottom of the water and
there survive the unfavorable season.
5. Therophytes – annual species ice complete a life history from seed during
the favorable season of the year.
– life span can be so short as a few weeks, and they are
characteristics of desert regions and cultivated soil where the interference
of man protects them from their natural competitors.
Ecological Concepts and Principles
Ecosystem components:
a) Autotrophic
– fixation of light energy
– utilization of inorganic substances
– build-up of complex substances
b) Heterotrophic
– utilization
– rearrangement
– decomposition of complex substances
Components based on structural or descriptive standpoint
a) Energy circuits
b) Nutrient flow or cycle (biogeochemical cycles)
c) Food chain
d) Diversity pattern in time and space
e) Development and evolution
f) Control mechanisms
Energy in Ecological Systems
Laws of Energy
- Laws of Thermodynamics
a) First Law: “Energy only be created nor destroyed: it can only be
transformed.”
b) Second Law: In all these transformations of energy, there is always a less
of energy in the form of heat.
Concept of Productivity
a) Primary productivity
– amount of biomass photosynthesized by plant per unit time.
1. Gross primary productivity
– total photosynthesis
2. Net primary productivity
– total photosynthesis – respiration
3. Net community productivity
– net primary productivity – heterotrophic consumption
b) Secondary productivity
– amount of biomass photosynthesized by animals per unit time
Requirements for higher rates of production
a) Favorable physical condition – maintained order
– lesser environmental stress
– physical factors are more or less equal to biological
factors
b) Energy subsidies from the outside
1. Natural
– evapotranspiration
– waves
– animal work, etc.
2. Artificial
– fertilizer
 – pesticide
– machines

c) Biogeochemical cycle – involves organisms, geological environment and

chemical nutrients
Nutrient Components
a) Macronutrients – composed of one percent of dry weight of organisms
– example: C, H, O, N, P
b) Micronutrients – composed of 0.2 percent to one percent of dry weight of
organisms
– example: S, U, K, Na, Ca…
Components of biogeochemical cycle:
a) Reservoir – large, slow- moving, generally non-biological component
b) Exchange or cycling pool – smaller but active portion that is exchanging
(I, e., moving back and forth) rapidly between organisms and their
immediate environment.
Basis phases of biogeochemical cycle
a) Gaseous phase
– shows little or no exchange in abundance or distribution (e., g.,
C, N)
– the reservoir is in the atmosphere or hydrosphere
b) Sedimentary phases – has the tendency to stagnate and be lost to the
cycling
c) – the reservoir is in the earth’s crust
Form rate concepts:
a) Turnover rate – fraction of the total amount of a substance in a component
which is released (or which enters) in a given length of time.
b) Turnover time – the time required to replace a quantity of substance equal
to the amount of component
– Opposite of turnover rate
c) Residence time – the time given amount of substance remains in a
designated compartment of a system
– Similar to turnover time
Recycling
a) Primary animal excretion – predominant in grazing communities
b) Microbial decomposition – predominant in grasslands, temperate forests
and tropical forests
c) Direct cycling – plant to plant; through symbiotic organisms
 – predominant in tropical forest
– example: mycorrhiza
d) Autolysis – predominant in aquatic ecosystem
– Chemical–physical action

ECOLOGICAL CYCLES

a) Nitrogen biogeochemical cycles (see forest soil – FRM)

A. Nitrogen biogeochemical cycle
B. Simplified form of the nitrogen bio-geo-chem cycle
C. Carbon biogeochemical cycle
D. Phosphorus cycle
E. Sulfur cycle
F. Energy flow
G. General pathway for the breakdown of higher plant tissue
H. Pyramid of biomass
I. Plant succession (vegetational changes)
Law on Limiting Factors
1. Leibig’s Law of Mininum
Under steady state, essential elements which are in critical minimum will tend to
be the limiting one.
2. Shelford’s Law of Tolerance
a) Organisms may have a wide range of tolerance for one factor and a narrow
range for another.
b) Organisms with wide ranges of tolerance for all factors are likely to be
most widely distributed.
c) When conditions are not optimum for a species with respect to one
ecological factor, the limits of tolerance may be reduced with respect to
the other ecological factors.
d) Very frequently it is discovered that organisms is nature are not actually
living at the optimum range with regards to a particular physical factor.
e) The period of reproduction is usually a critical period when environmental
factors are most likely to be limiting.
Community Organization
1. Biotic community
a) Organized unit – the sum of the whole is more than the sum of its
parts
b) Functions as a unit – through coupled metabolic transformations
2. Unity in community
 a) Functional unity – have characteristic trophic structure and patterns
of energy
– Same community will have same function at any place
b) Compositional unity – certain species occur together
– Provided that the same environment is present regardless of
the place, the same species will occur together
3. Kinds of community
a) Major – large enough and with completeness or organization and
does not have to depend on adjacent community
b) Minor – a community within a major community
4. Characteristics of community
a) Unity of taxonomic composition
b) Relative uniform appearance
c) Definite trophic organization
d) Definite metabolic pattern
The simplified form of the nitrogen bio-geo-chem described below. The
circulation of nitrogen between organisms and environment is depicted which are
responsible for the key steps.
PROTOPLASM
AMINO ACID
AMMONIA
NITRITE
NITRATE ENERGY BARRIER NITROGEN GAS
2. Specific mortality – percent initial population dying/time
d.) Age distribution
1. Rapidly expanding population = large proportion of young individuals
2. Stationary population = even
3. Declining population = large proportion of old individuals
4. Normal population = at which population reach for
5. Zero population = birth = death
e.) Biotic potential – maximum reproductive power
– environmental resistance = biotic potential – rate of increase in field
condition
f.) Growth form
1. J–shaped
2. Sigmoid form
g.) Population regulation
1. Territoriality
2. Group behavior, e.g., dominance
3. Genetic feedback, e.g. coevolution
h.) Aggregation
1. Clumped – better capacity to modify the environment
2. Solitary – less chance of survival
i.) dispersed
1. Immigration
2. Emigration
3. Migration
The species and the individual in the ecosystem
1. The direction of ecosystem development (E. P. Odum, 1971)
Pioneer State Climax State
1. Few species Many species
2. One or few species dominate Relative equality of species
The same basic steps are arranged in an ascending – descending series, with the high
energy forms on top to distinguish steps which require energy from those which release
energy.

Steps requiring energy from other sources steps providing energy to the decomposer
organisms
ENERGY FLOW
ENERGY FLOW
TROPHIC LEVEL
PLANT SUCCESSION
SULFUR CYCLE
Population Organization
1. Characteristics
 a) Density = population size
Space
i.) crude density = no. of biomass
unit total space
ii.) Specific ecological density = number of biomass
habitat space
iii.) Relative density
time density, i.e., = no. of birds seen
hour
percentage relative, i.e. = % sample space occupied
b) Natality
i.) absolute = new individuals
change in time
ii.) specific = new individuals
time per unit population
iii.) maximum – population optimum for reproduction
iv.) ecological or realized natality
c) Mortality
1) Minimum mortality = number of individuals dying under ideal
condition
2) Quantity growth = quality growth
3) Few symbiosis, most competitive = many symbiosis, mostly
cooperative
4) Short, simple life cycles = long, complex life cycles
5) Mineral cycles relatively circular = mineral cycles open and linear
and closed.
6) Rapid growth = feedback control/homeostasis
7) Relatively inefficient use of energy = efficient use of energy
8) Low degree of order (high entrophy) = high degree of structured,
complex order (negentrophy)

2. Behavioral characteristics and patterns

a) Ecological dominance concepts
1) Association – dominant species + associated species
2) Sociation – dominant species + “constant” species
3) Gradient analysis
b) Species diversity characteristics
1) Low in physically controlled environment
2) High in biologically controlled environment
3) Correlated with stability
4) Increase with a decrease in ecological turnover
c) Pattern diversity features
1) Stratification
 2) Zonation
3) Activity
4) Food web
Selection and species evolution
Plant succession phases:
1) Nudation – initiation of the succession by a major disturbance in the environment
2) Migration – available species fill the vacant ecological niche
3) Ecesis – subsequent ability of the misrule to germinate, grow and reproduce
successfully
4) Competition
5) Reaction
6) Final stabilization
Types of succession
1) Secondary succession – by a major environmental disturbance and disrupting a
previously initiated succession or producing a marked modification in stable
vegetation
2) Primary succession – initiated on a bare area where reactions initially at least are
clear
3) Climax state
a. Monoclimax theory – relates the control of climax vegetation to one
factor, that of climate
b. Polyclimax theory – relate the control of climax vegetation to a number of
factors ranging from climatic to less obvious physical or even biotic
factors.

Evolution characteristics
1. Orderly and directional
2. Community controlled although physical factors set limits
3. Culmination into a stabilized system
The essence of Evolutionary and Ecological Development (After McHarg, 1971)
Evolution --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Immaturity Maturity
Simplicity Complexity
Uniformity Diversity
Fragility Stability
Disorder Organization
Poverty Richness
Quantity Quality
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Retrogression

METHODOLOGY/PROCESS
Vegetation Assessment
A. Subjective assessment of abundance
1. Frequency symbols
1) Ratings
– Dominant
– Abundant
– Frequent
– Occasional
– Rare
2) Disadvantages
– Difficulty in distinguishing between adjacent abundance
classes as the total number of such classes increases.
– Species that form clumps are more conspicuous than
species that are more evenly scattered and would be
preferentially classed in an abundance scale.
– Assessment is not constant from person to person.
– Use of frequency symbols should be strictly limited to
initial description and the degree of error present always
remembered.
– Dominant also means in sociological sense that species
which exerts the most influences on other species in the
community. So species may not be most abundant yet it is
dominant.
2. Braun-Blanquet’s System of Rating
a) Rating
1) Number combined and cover of a species
 = sparse or very sparsely present; cover very small
1= plentiful but small cover value
2= very generous, or covering at least ½ of the area
3= any number of individuals covering ¼ to ½ of the area
4= any number of individuals covering ½ to ¾ of the area
5= covering more than ¾ of the area
ii. Measure of the grouping
Soc. 1 = growing single, isolated individuals
Soc. 2 = grouped or tufted
Soc. 3 = in small patches or cushions
Soc. 4 = in small colonies, in extensive patches, or forming carpets
Soc. 5 = in pure populations
b) Methodology
Assessment of plant abundance and distribution is obtained from a
series of adjacent quadrants of increasing size which are laid down
so as to continuously increase the sample area.
3. The Domain Scale
– Modification of Braun- Blanquet
– Increased number of division for a more detailed assessment and higher
accuracy with sufficient experiences.
Ratings:
Cover about 100 percent 10
Cover 75 percent 9
Cover 50-75 percent 8
Cover 33-50 percent 7
Cover 25-33 percent 6
Abundant, cover about 20 percent 5
Abundant, cover about 5 percent 4
Scattered, cover small 3
Very scattered, cover small 2
Scarce, cover small 1
Isolated, cover small +
Quantitative assessment of abundance
1. Density
– Counts the number of individuals with in a series of
randomly distributed quadrats, calculating the average
number of individuals relative to the size of quadrat used,
from the total sample.
 2. Cover
– Defined as the proportion of the ground occupied by
perpendicular protection on it of the aerial parts of
individuals of the species under consideration.
– Methodology: using a frame of pins that can be adjusted to
the height of the vegetation.
a. Pins are lowered one at a time
b. Species touched by pine is recorded
c. Final number of “hits” from a number of sample
frame is expressed as a percentage of the total pins
3. Frequency
– Measure of the chance of finding a species with any one
throw of a quadrat in a given area
Methods of Population Measurement and Evaluation
a) Quadrats
They are common sample units for population measurements. A temporary quadrat is
used only once. Permanent quadrats are selected carefully and are marked so that they
can be found and studied for changes through periods of time. The size and distribution
of all the plantsyard/or animals in a quadrat are listed. Habitat descriptions are often
supplemented with photographs. To study the effects of animals on the plants in an
ecosystem, animals may be kept out of the quadrat. This is called an exclosure – in
contrast to an exclosure quadrat.
Shapes and sizes of quadrats very depending on the objectives and on the kind of
population being studied originally, all quadrats were squares, but it has been
demonstrated that data varies less when the quadrats are rectangular. Quadrat size is
determined by the size and number of organisms being measured.

Number and location of quadrats is determined after inspection of the entire area to be
studied. The problem may be located complex in large, variable areas. The quadrats may
be located at random, equally spaced, or sometimes along compass lines.
b) Transects
They are long, narrow sample units that may vary from several miles to only a
few feet in length, the size of a transect is determined in the same way as is the size of
a quadrat. Transects are particularly useful when the objective is to learn how
individuals are distributed within and between several adjacent communities. Line
transects are made by stretching a tape and recording the species intercepted by the
tape.
c) Bisects
 They are transects that sample the vertical and linear distribution of plants and
animals. They show the layers of the habitat in profile. Some bisects include the
distribution of root systems and soil animals as revealed by a ditch dug along the
transect lines. Often the plants are illustration by symbols.
QUESTIONS
I. True or False (T/F)
True 1. Ecology deals with the study of living organisms interacting with other
organisms.
False 2. In biogeochemical cycling, the concentration of a nutrient is more
important than its flux rate in maintaining high rates of organic production.
False 3. Primary productivity refers to the storage of energy by heterotrophs
through the process of consumption.
False 4. Net primary productivity is equal to the total photosynthesis.
False 5. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy is lost as it is
transformed or utilized from one trophic level to another.
True 6. Energy flows through ecosystems in a linear manner while nutrients flow
in a cyclic manner.
True 7. The trophic structure refers to who eat who in the ecosystem.
True 8. The flow of energy in an ecosystem leads into a defined biotic diversity
within the system.
False 9. It is more energy efficient to eat meat than to eat vegetables.
False 10. Nutrient cycling is a physical process.
False 11. Evolution is a physically controlled non-directional change over time.
True 12. Smaller biomass have an advantage in a nutrient rich environment than in
one where nutrients are tied up in the bodies of organisms.
False 13. Species diversity is high in physically controlled environments.
False 14. Age distribution has no effect on natality or mortality.
True 15. Aggregation of organisms have survival at advantage over the solitary
type.
False 16. Rates of change occur faster at the mature stages of succession.
True 17. There is loss of energy in its transformation from carnivore to herbivore.
False 18. Ecological dominants determine species diversity.
True 19. A rapidly expanding population have a large proportion of old individuals.

II. ENUMERATION
1. Components of energy that reach a plant
a) Scattered
b) Reflected
c) Direct
2. State the two Laws of Thermodynamics
a) 1st law: Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed.
b) 2nd law: In all these transformations, there is always a loss of energy in the form
of heat.
3. Two phases of biogeochemical cycling
a) Gaseous phase
b) Sedimentary phase
4. Three types of population dispersal
a) Immigration
b) Emigration
c) Migration
5. Four recycle pathways
a) Primary animal excretion
b) Microbial decomposition
c) Direct cycling
d) Autolysis
6. Three components of energy-in and four components of energy-out in a plant’s
energy transfer
a) Direct or solar radiation a. reflection
b) Reflected b. conduction
c) Scattered c evapotranspiration
d. convection
Differentiate Synecology vs. Autecology
Synecology is concerned with problems solved by studies of natural groups or
communities, or it may involve study of the many factors affecting communities, while
Autecology deals with individual species rather than a group of species or with
communities.
Differentiate radiant energy vs. thermal energy
Solar/radiant energy
 comes from the sun
 directional
 present only during daytime
 less absorbed (by biomass)
 most important for productivity and nutrient cycling
Thermal energy
 comes from any object of temperature
 comes from all directions
 determines “conditions of existence” to which organisms must adapt
Differentiate gross primary productivity vs. net primary productivity
Gross primary productivity is equal to the total photosynthesis, while net primary
productivity is equal to the total photosynthesis minus respiration.
Differentiate maximum natality vs. ecological natality
Maximum natality is the theoretical maximum production of new individuals
under ideal conditions, while ecological or realized natality is the population increase
under actual environmental condition.