Do You Know Where You Live?

You live in a place that used to be a forest!

Eastern Deciduous Forest

On The Piedmont

Four Layers Of the Forest

What Lives in a Forest?Native Plants

• Native Plants have lived here for thousands of years

• Native Plants are food.• Feed Insects which are

food to small mammals and birds.

• They are the start of the food chain.

Canopy - The Tall Trees

Shag Bark Hickory

• Name Algonquin

“Pohickery”• Flowers at age 20• Hickory nuts at age 40• Life span 200-300

years

Shag Bark Hickory

• 70-100 Feet Tall• If the forest is left

alone for hundreds of years you will find more hickories than any other tree.

Insects that Use Hickories

• Hickory Horned Devil

• Largest Caterpillar in North America

• Comes out in Late Summer/Early Fall

More Insects That Use Hickories

Animals That Depend on Hickories for Food

More Animals That Depend on Hickories

American Beech

• Smooth Grey Bark• It takes 10 years to

make seeds.• Beeches can live 300

to 400 years.

American Beech

• Beech nuts were eaten by Native Americans.

• Many Insects, Birds and animals use this tree for homes and food too.

Insects

Birds That Prefer Beech Trees for Nesting

Animals that Depend On Beech Trees for their Nuts

More Animals that Love Beech Nuts

One small Mammal

And one Big Mammal

Native Trees are Very Important

• Trees Feed Insects• Trees Feed Birds• Trees Feed Small and

Large Mammals• A Big Oak Tree can

feed and give homes to as many as 1000 creatures!

The Shrub Layer

Muscle Wood

Muscle Wood

• Carpinus caroliniana• Muscle Wood• American Hornbeam• Ironwood• Blue beech• Water beech

Muscle Wood Flowers Feed:

Muscle Wood Favorite Nest Site For:

Muscle Wood Nuts Are Eaten By:

Mammals That Eat Muscle Wood

• Beaver cut down Muscle Wood for food and for their lodges.

• White Tailed Deer eat the leaves in Summer and the twigs in Winter.

Sassafras Tree

Sassafras Tree

• Leaves

• Bark

• Fruit

• Flowers

Sassafras Tree Leaves

What are These Flies Doing?

What is it?

Insects that Use Sassafras Trees

• Spicebush caterpillar rolls itself up in a leaf to hide from birds.

Spice Bush Swallowtail

Insects that use Sassafras

Yellow Poplar Weevil

18 Types of Birds Eat Sassafras

Mammals

• White Tailed Deer eat leaves and twigs• White Cotton Tailed Rabbits east twigs and bark

People are Mammals Too!

• Root Beer was made from the roots

• Used in chewing gum and toothpaste

• In 1603 Sassafras was the first forest product the colonists exported to Europe. The bark was used as a dye.

The Herb Layer

Wintergreen

Wintergreen

• Ruffed Grouse eat berries and leaves

• White Tailed Deer eat the twigs in winter

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

• Spring Flowers fill the forest floor before all the leaves come out in the canopy and shrub layer.

What is a Native Plant?

• All the plants that you have just seen are called

Native Plants.

What is this?

Hard to Find

• Do you know this bird?

Hard to Find

What kind of birds are these?

Hard to Find

• This is a special bird.• Where does it come

from?• Where does it nest?

Why? Loss of Habitat.

• The birds are missing because they have lost their homes and the native shrubs that have nuts and berries that feed them

• They have lost the insects that need native plants to eat.

Why? Too Many Deer

• Deer eat a lot of plants• Native plants are their

favorite.• Too many deer means

that all the small plants, shrubs and small trees disappear

Forest Floor with Too Many Deer

Why? Invasive Plants

• All the animals in the web can’t find food if the plants that are growing don’t feed insects.

• They can’t find food if invasive plants crowd out native plants

What Invasive Plants Do

Healthy Forest

Healthy Forests Have Many Layers

Tomorrow: Invasive Plants and How you can help!