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Lecture 5

Lecture 5. ENV 259 11/03/2012. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Hill country. Most Forested in Ohio Pioneers clearcut for fuel (iron industry ). Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Hill country. Mining for bituminous coal (strip mining ) Much is reforested – covers 70 % of the region.

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Lecture 5

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  1. Lecture 5 ENV 259 11/03/2012

  2. Unglaciated Appalachian PlateauHill country • Most Forested in Ohio • Pioneers clearcut for fuel (iron industry)

  3. Unglaciated Appalachian PlateauHill country • Mining for bituminous coal (strip mining) • Much is reforested – covers 70 % of the region

  4. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Geology • Rock Layers • Middle to late Paleozoic acidic sandstones • Shale • Coal • Limestone, seldom • Knobs predominate along Ohio River & along Appalachian escarpment (lower, rounder hills) • ¾ of Hill country streams were once a part of the ancient Teays River system • Dover & Steubenville Rivers actually flowed north

  5. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Glacial impact • Unglaciated…yes, Unaffected…no. • Profound glacial impact • Redirected river systems (reversed) • Filled valleys with water • Formation of the continental drainage divide • Impacted plant/animal populations by genetically & physically isolating them • Unusual drainage patterns & constituents • Alkaline waters • Glacial outwash (sand or gravel carried by glaciers)

  6. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Climate & Weather • Variety of microclimates present due to topographic variation • Frost pockets in valleys – frequently the coldest temperatures in the area • But presence of a stream can make them warmer • Wind, humidity, evaporation impacted by direction of slope • Sun exposure, surface temperature – southern face • Microclimate (along with varied soil and land surface types) have encouraged biological diversity in the Hill country

  7. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Plant/ Animal Communities • Upland Mixed Oak Forests • Mixed Mesophytic Forests • Lowland Forests

  8. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Upland Mixed Oak Forests • Widespread in unglaciated Appalachian plateau • Canopy tree communities • White Oak is dominant species • Oak-Hickory communities • Loose, open tree canopy • Flower communities • Wood rush, fire pink, dittany • Beggar’s ticks, thorny greenbriar

  9. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Upland Mixed Oak Forests • Understory tree communities • Sassafras • Provide food for promethea silk moth larvae • serviceberry • Provide early summer berries consumed by birds, & nesting site • Dogwood • Chestnut oaks • Mixed pines interspersed • Virginia Pine • Yellow Pine, White Pine • Both native & Reforested pines

  10. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Upland Mixed Oak Forests • Small Mammals • Gray squirrels – remember me • Flying squirrels (rarely seen) • Hairy-tailed moles • Short-tailed shrew • Fox shrew • Pygmy shrew (rare) – smallest mammal in Western Hemisphere • Eastern wood rat

  11. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Upland Mixed Oak Forests • Larger Mammals • Raccoons • Opossums • Skunks • Woodchucks • Weasels • Bats • Cottontail rabbits • Gray foxes – remember me • Other Animals • Turkey vultures • Swifts (fence lizards) • Large-headed skink • Snakes • Puff adders (Hognose) • Poisonous copperhead • Timber rattlesnake

  12. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Mixed Mesophytic Forests • Mesophytes: plants growing in area with average water supply • Trees (20-25 spp primarily) • White & red oak, tuliptree, sugar maple, beech, wild black cherry, white ash, blackgum, red maple, shagbark hirckory, bitternute, white basswood, black walnut, cucumber tree (north), yellow buckeye (south) • Less common: hemlock • Mainly moderate climate • Moist, well-drained, moderately acidic soils

  13. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Mixed Mesophytic Forests • High tree and plant diversity • 1000’s of types of plants, mosses, fungi, lichens • Undercanopy trees • Hornbeam (musclewood or ironwood) • Dogwood • Redbud • pawpaw • Wildflowers • Hepaticas • Anemones • Mayapple • Phlox • Indian-pipe flower • Sullivantia • Non-native flowering plants • Bigleaf magnolia • Umbrella magnolia • Sourwood • Flame azalea • Great rohododendron

  14. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Mixed Mesophytic Forests • Fauna • Deer, gray squirrels, raccoons, skunk, weasels, bats • Black rat snakes, box turtles, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, great horned owls • Zebra swallowtail butterfly (eats pawpaw leaves) • Salamanders (vernal pools) • Red-tailed hawk, screech & barred owls, pileated & downy woodpeckers, chickadees, tufted titmouse (permanent residents)

  15. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Lowland Forests & Streams • Trees (must survive on floodplains) • Black willow, non-native white willow, sycamore • River birch (south & in acid-mine drainage streams) • Cottonwood, silver maple, box elder (limey soils) • Origin of “Buckeye state” nickname • Michaux, 1818 botanist 1st called Ohio’s 2nd buckeye tree species (after the yellow buckeye) the Ohio buckeye • W.H.Harrison used buckeye wood to create walking sticks for his presidential campaign • Species differ: • yellow buckeye= smooth seeds • Ohio buckeye= prickly, bumpy seeds

  16. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Lowland Forests & Streams • Common animals • Mink, muskrats, beaver, rarely river otters (note water) • Birds (waterfowl) • Kingfisher, phoebes, wood ducks • Aquatic species • Northern water snake, painted turtle, snapping turtle, brown soft-shell turtle, hellbender (salamander) • Muskellunge, fresh-water mussels (important historic food source)

  17. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Mining • Coal & clay mining • Why damaging? • Bound with sulfur…causes environmental damage when released during mining • Acid mine drainage – “Yellow Boy” • If abated, waterways may recover (didn’t begin until post-WWII) • Many are not abated due to costs • Small scale strip-mining (pre-WWI) gave way to larger scale mining efforts over time

  18. Unglaciated Appalachian Plateau Apple Country? • Rome Beauty • 1817 • Named 1848 • Gallia Beauty • From a Rome Beauty seedling • Named 1865

  19. Glaciated Plateau (Allegheny plateau) Geology • Glacial till weathered into rich agricultural soil • Bedrock (visible in roadcuts) • Limestone, shale, sandstone, conglomerate & coal, Pennsylvanian period • e.g. Sharon Sandstone • Shale & Sandstone, Mississipian • e.g. Berea Sandstone • Oldest rocks, Devonian • e.g. Chagrin Shale

  20. Glaciated Plateau (Allegheny plateau) Geology • Human utility of materials • Quarried bedrock for building material • Clay & shale are also taken for brick, tile, pottery • Lesser presence of coal & gas • Rock salt mining

  21. Glaciated PlateauGlaciers & Landscape • Glaciers impact landscape • Influence on soil – brought in till material, broke down bedrock • Influence on topography – leveled the larger hills, dug deep valleys • Influence on water – created Lake Erie basin, river valleys during retreat

  22. Glaciated PlateauPlants • Historic meeting point between N. Allegheny & Central Appalachian forests (noted during last 200 yrs) • White oak, like Appalachians • N. Hemlock forests similar to Allegheny woods in NY and PA • Most forests are secondary, regrown • Deep glacial till deposits support widespread beech-maple forest growth • Maple syrup production (Geauga county) • Blueberries, clubmoss, pink ladyslipper like the acidic soils

  23. Glaciated PlateauPlants • Wildflowers • Painted trillium (very rare) • Purple trillium • Spring • Spring beauties, anemones, Dutchman’s breeches, purple cresses • Mayapples • Wild phlox • “Signal” Tree • Bur Oak • N. of Akron off of Peck Road • Native Americans used it to designate crossing (portage) of Cuyahoga-Tuscarawas divide

  24. Glaciated PlateauFauna (Animals) • Settlers saw vast forests populated with • Wolf, elk, bear, mountain lion (mainly predatory) • Today, remaining forests populated with • Cottontail , red fox, raccoon, fox squirrel, skunk, deer, woodchucks, weasel, muskrats (hearty, non-predatory to human species) – “edge species” • Birds, both resident and migratory • Robin, wood thrush, warblers, ruffed grouse, red tailed and coopers hawks, owls, bald eagles, tree swallows, veery…live on forest edges. Why? • Reptiles & amphibians • Red-bellied snake, Mountain dusky salamanders • Greater variety of landscape = greater diversity

  25. Till PlainsGeology • Sedimentary bedrock (Ordovician through Devonian) (500 to 350 million years old) • Mainly limestone • Smaller areas of shale (youngest rocks present here) • Fossil-rich (particularly Ordovician rocks) • Marine invertebrates

  26. Till PlainsGeology • Cincinnati Arch was created during Late Ordovician formation of Appalachian mtns (gentle slopes, exposing bedrock, particularly in highest areas of arch) • Most bedrock covered by thick glacial till • Massive erosion (by the Teays River) eroded away large portions of bedrock

  27. Till PlainsGlaciation • Wisconsinan was most recent (peaked 20,000 years ago), traveling southward across the region • Advanced & retreated several times, leaving layers of impact (morains) • Created rolling hills • Campbell Hill, Ohio’s highest point, an end moraine • Kames & Eskers are extensive in some areas • Boulder belts – large glacial erratics big as quarries

  28. Till PlainsSoils • Miamian soils • Loam/Clay loam till (south) • Clay rich till (Blount soils) (north) • Both are high-lime & found in Wisconsinan till • Low-lime tills resulting in Alexandrian soils to east • Soils here are formed primarily by parent material & time • Extremely fertile

  29. Till PlainsVegetation • Settlers saw woodlands, forests & wet prairies • Today 95% of land is farm or urban • Agriculture mainly seen today • Corn, soybeans, wheat • 1st growth vegetation almost non-existent • Cedar Bog still remains…white cedar wetland

  30. Till PlainsFauna • Intense farming has led to less diversity • Ag resulted in destruction of valuable habitat • Fish • Mad River – cold water Brook trout • Big Darby – Scioto Madtom • Amphibians • Striped chorus frog, small-mouth & tiger salamanders, cave salamander • Reptiles • Eastern garter snake, Butler’s garter snake blue racer, northern copperbelly, eastern massasauga, painted turtle

  31. Till PlainsFauna • Intense farming has led to less diversity • Birds (attracted to open fields & plains with forest nearby) • Kestrels, eastern meadowlark, horned lark, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, woodcock • Region is also a large migratory path for multitudes of birds • Edge species – Ringneck replaced the Grouse

  32. Till PlainsFauna • Intense farming has led to less diversity • Small Mammals • Fox Squirrel replaced the Grey • Red Fox replaced the Grey • Forest species vs “woodlot” species • Neither species existed in Ohio prior to clearing

  33. Final Class Time • 2 Weeks left • 1 More lecture • Presentations last class – must be here to present • Field trip next week – Canalway Center • Presentations: • A few slides • 10 minutes tops • Tell us what your paper was about and a few interesting findings

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