Ecological Cross Section Studies

INNER + OUTER COASTAL PLAINS 1 mount holly + rancocas center nj

4 FRESH + SALT WATER MARSHES 2 franklin delano roosevelt park pa

PINE BARRENS CYCLE + ADAPTION 3 pine barrens nj

CHRONO - LITHO SEQUENCE STUDIES 4 ringing rocks + mariton sanctuary pa

THE POWER OF WIND 5 island beach state park nj

1 2 5

3

ECOLOGY WORKSHOP 511 jackie martinez_instructors: sally willig + nick pevzner

CONIFER PLANTATION

MOUNT HOLLY FOREST

natural landscape constructed landscapes

O horizon

2” leaf litter

Oe horizon

1” forest floor

A horizon

1” sand + roots

+

vertical rows planted not on a grid

+

MEADOWS

B horizon

alleé

12” loamy sand COLOR: red 2.5 WR 4/6 - 2/6

+

american chestnut deciduous, alternate, simple gradually tapering to both ends veins straight, parallel 15–20 per side

30 ft 65 ft

japanese stiltgrass

sweetgum

120 ft

100 ft

american beech

white oak

5 ft 1 ft

+

INNER + OUTER COASTAL PLAINS traversing through natural and constructed landscapes

japanese stiltgrass

white pine

grasses

SWEETGUM SUCCESSIONAL FOREST

purpletop

sub-canopy

panic grass

persimmon

pin cherry

flowering dogwood

american chestnut

sassafras

canopy

herbaceous layer

+

arrowwood

swamp azalea

fetterbush

sweet pepperbush

american holly

river birch

pin oak

ironwood

basswood

pin oak

chestnut oak

sweetgum

BLUFF FOREST

arrow arum

spatterdock

wild rice

water pepper

bur marigold

flowering dogwood

red maple

sweetgum

+ FLOODPLAIN FOREST

MATURE SWEETGUM FOREST

+ +

FRESHWATER TIDAL MARSH

distinct doubletoothed margin

80 ft

115 ft

65 ft

annual

perennial

10 ft

floodplain

tidal marsh

surface zone soil zone

U3

+

+

U1 effective rainfall

C1

groundwater zone

soil flow

U2 x1

Qu

• Va •O exp abo • Lo

scale 2

direct runoff flow

ground water flow

} (1-U ) x 2

C2

scale 1

freshwater marsh ecology

UPLANDS

SALTWATER MARSH

saltwater marsh ecology

1

X2

salt contamination diagram

salt spreading from the highway system for ice traction collects in soils and water below creating a micro-climate of a salt induced ecology

35 ft

plants typical to sand-dunes and other salt induced areas florish under the highway systems beacause of the overflow of salt into the soil system. these plants, all though mostly non-native produce an intriguing micro-climate into the urban fabric inviting diverse wildlife and softening the hard and “undesirable” real estate of highway infrastructure.

red maple

ragweed

japanese hops

EMERGENT SALT INDUCED LANDSCAPE

hearty non-natives

seaside goldenrod

atroplex

phragmites

basswood

ulmus americana

+

FRESH + SALT WATER MARSHES exploring inner coastal plain wetland + marsh edge conditions

river birch

PULSING WATER TIDAL MARSH

uercus macrocarpa

ariable in shape Often with a broadly panded toothed portion ove 2 deep notches ower surface hairy

RIPARIAN BUFFER

reaching towards water

rice cut-grass

river birch

pin oak

+

50 ft

leersia oryzoides

flower head (seeds)

scale 3 leaf blade

pickerel weed

goldenrod

duckweed

walters barnyard grass

primrose willow

arrow arum

spatterdock

duckweed

soft stem bulrush

rice cut--grass

jewelweed

typha latifolia

cattail

bur oak

american elm

distinct doubletoothed margin

cattail clusters

black willow

+

STILL WATER TIDAL MARSH

+

soft stem bulrush

white pine blackoak

pitch pine

jointweed

shrub layer pennsylvania sedge

PINE BARRENS CYCLE + ADAPTION examining the natural and human hand adaption to disturbances

+

post oak

black huckleberry

white pine

atlantic cedar

soil is extremely sandy and acidic with little to no nitrogen and iron due to the loss of decomposion from the lack of bacteria in the acidic serlizing soil. because of the well drained and super moist sand, the barrens act as a swamp with unique plantlife that can tolerate the acidicy.

pitch dine

quartz sand- cohansey formation

pine-barren heather

canopy

PINE BARREN UPLANDS

pine beatle 5 mm

removing groups of infested trees scattered over a large area.

pitch pine

black jack oak

80 ft

black jack oak

+

beatles lay eggs under the bark, introducing a fungus into the sapwood that prevents the tree from repelling and killing the attacking beetles. normally, the beatle plays an important role in the forest cycle attacking old or weakened trees to start the development of a succesional younger forest.

snip and skid

heat activated cone opening

pitch pine

pinu

s ine

PINE BEATLE ATTACK

p

FOREST FIRE CYCLE

majority of forest burns with the exception of pitch pines beacuse of their thick bark. the comination of a cleaned forest floor from the fire, along with the heat from the fire activating the cone opening process, new pines are germinated creating a pine dominated forest.

oaks emerge dominate post beatle blight

oaks

+

pines dominate post fire

RIPARIAN EDGE

us rigida

+

white pine

white pine

scirpus subterminalis

atlantic cedar red maple

insect-nitrogen source

4 ft

dionaea muscipula

canopy

sub-canopy

scirpus subterminalis

nymphoides cordata

shrub layer

atlantic cedar

floodplain

emergents

herbaceous layer

bayonet rush

floating heart

pondweed

swaying rush

+

pickerelweed

ACIDIC SWAMP

pickerelweed large cranberry

red maple

atlantic cedar white pine viburnum

inkberry

atlantic cedar

sweet pepperbush

white pine

sourgum

r

because the soil is so acidic, there is no nitrogen and iron that most plants survive on. in order to get nitrogen and iron, carnivorous plants, typically found in acidic ecologies get their nutrients from insects

sedimentary

igneous lichen growing in moisture crack

H2O

H2O H2O H2O

H2O

+

emergent micro-climate

+

ing

elt

m

magma

sediments

02 DIABASE EMERGES THROUGH

pr hea es t su + re

weather + erosion

er ath n we osio r +e

compaction + cementation

melting

METAMORPHIC

er ath we osion r +e

ng

oli

co

pre heat ssu + re

IGNEOUS

SEDIMENTARY

03 DIABASE BOULDER FIELD

moisure collects in cracks of diabase promoting an emergent micro-climate producing lichen and other plants, such as black birch. the moisture, along with the lichen begin the erosion process by breaking down the rock water at intersection between 2 rock types

04 DIABASE ERODES

01 SEDIMENTARY SHALE

rainwater

65 ft

lichen

black birch sapling

+

canopy

2 type rock collision shale, a softer sedimentary stone, yields to the diabase, a harder igneous rock, creating horizontal fractures on the shale, and fractal scores on the diabse rock

+

CHRONO LITHO SEQUENCE STUDIES an exploration of successional geologic + human disturbed ecologies

betula lenta - early success

sional tree

03 GNESIS MATURE FOREST

moisure collection - diabase erosion

herbaceaous

+

+

+

01 GNESIS MOWED MEADOW

moss covered diabase - moisture increase at edges

japanese stiltgrass

yarrow

aster

golden rod

big blue stem little blue stem

woodland sunflower

wild bergamot

japanese stiltgrass

spicebush

witch-hazel

spicebush

red maple

red oak

tulip-tree

tulip-tree

sassafras

tulip-tree

flowering dogwood

japanese barberry

shrub layer

02 GNESIS MEADOW

sub-canopy

american beech

white oak

black birch

+ fagus grandifolia

quercus alba

05 DIABASE ERODED TO SOIL

IGNEOUS+ SEDIMENTARY ROCKS geological succesional sequence METAMORPHIC ROCK human disturbed successional sequence

rounded lobes black birch tulip tree

150 ft

rough to touch

extending towards light

8 ft

4 ft

formed from the sand movement billowing down the slip face of the primary dune, or a migrated primary dune inland. protected from the wind by the primary dune allowing for a more diverse plant community

THICKET

Sand dunes are formed by sand grains getting trapped by some starting obstacle, such as vegetation which then causes the sand to accumalate. The wind coming from the ocean side then starts to affect the sand dune by eroding the sand partices, moving them from windward side to the leeward side on the slip face. Overtime, this process can cause the sand dune to migrate inwards as it accumulates more sand.

SECONDARY DUNE

sand dune formation + erosion

+

salt spray wind

+ em

en

t

+

nd

m

ov

slip face

sa

salt spray wind deformation Salt pruning is the process by which saline mists coming from the ocean’s seawater are blown ashore by winds and over time alter the structure of trees and shrubs. The salt spray kills the branches in its path which are then detoured and start growing in the opposite direction.

stunted canopy of thicket primary dune: first obstacle against winds and salt spray

+

terminal paniculiform inflorescence

HARSHER CONDITIONS fewer plant species

PROTECTION FROM WIND diverse plant community

beach grass

solidago sempervirens

tree taken out by wind and salt spray

japanese sedge

THE POWER OF WIND effects and adaption from the role of wind

high bush blueberry

panic grass

sassafras swamp sedge black blackberry

black alder

virginia creeper

black poplar

blackjack oak beach plum

wild black cherry

american holly

shrub layer

tall blackberry

gray’s cyperus

canopy seaside spurge

seaside goldenrod

sand grass

matting panic grass

japanese sedge

seaside goldenrod

beach grass

grasses

sea rocket

PRIMARY DUNE

more diverse secondary dune plant community

fiddler crab

BAYSHORE

FRESHWATER MARSH

cordgrass

marsh elder

ribbed mussels attached at base of cordgrass

+

+

TIDAL MARSH

symbiotic relationship

MARITIME FOREST

+ curvy form produced from wind and salt spray

highest protection from salt spray wind allowing for more diverse and old plant community. plants still feel effects from the wind stunting the trees and shrubs but generally taller then the harsher climate of the thicket.

eelgrass

phragmites

white cedar widgeon grass

pitch pine

pin oak

beach heather

white oak

smooth cordgrass

common saltwort pickleweed

salt marsh hay

marsh elder

scrub oak

red maple

marsh fern peat moss

yellow loosestrife

royal fern

netted chain fern

+

american holly

Ribbed mussels attach themselves to the base of cordgrass for structure against the wind. The cordgrass benefits from both the extra support and the nutrients from the mussel deposits. The intense web of the cordgrass root system helps support the fiddler crab’s tunnels which thus aerates the soil.