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Ecological Evaluation of Brovelli Woods P.C. Muick <br /> A Comparison of the Two Forest Sections <br /> Visually , the eastern forest has a much different character than <br /> the western forest. The eastern forest is more open with a dense <br /> understory composed primarily of shrubs . There is four times more <br /> shrub cover in this section of the forest versus the western section. <br /> Also, herbs and grasses cover slightly more of the ground ( 61 percent <br /> versus 53 percent) . Numbers of vines and species per plot are <br /> similar , with an average of three lianas and seven plant species per <br /> plot. <br /> Although the same tree species are found in both sections the <br /> structure of the two sections of the forest is quite different. <br /> Interior live oaks are similar in size although differ greatly in density <br /> (numbers per acre ) between the two sections . In the eastern forest <br /> interior live oaks average 23 trees per acre but are over twice as <br /> dense at 48 trees per acre in the western forest. <br /> Valley oak were similar in density between the two sections ( 7 <br /> per acre on the eastern forest and 11 per acre on the western forest ) <br /> but differed greatly in size. Valley oak were much larger, in both <br /> height and diameter in the eastern forest. Not only were the valley <br /> oaks smaller in the western forest but several were dead or dying. <br /> Only a few small box elder were found on the plots , averaging <br /> seven stems per acre on the western forest and three per acre in the <br /> eastern forest. Several species of trees observed in the forest were <br /> not found on sample plots: ash, cottonwood, walnut. Table 4 <br /> summarizes the comparison between the two forest sections. <br /> TABLE 4 : Comparison Between the Eastern and Western Oak Forests <br /> Forest Eastern Forest Western Forest <br /> Characteristic Preserve Plots Fairway Plots <br /> ---------------------------------------------- <br /> Acres (Est. ) 38 52 <br /> Number of Plots 4 6 <br /> Cover: 92 <br /> Trees { 83 <br /> Shrubs I 32 7 <br /> Herbs 61 53 <br /> Stem density per acre: 48 <br /> Interior live oak 23 11 <br /> Valley oak 7 <br /> Box elder 7 3 <br /> Vines ( lianas ) 22 33 <br /> ------------------------------------------------------------- ------- <br /> Air Photo Interpretation <br /> The most interesting observation about the oak forest, gleaned <br /> -from the historic air photos, is the rather recent nature of the <br /> western section of the forest, confirmed by counting rings on stumps <br /> in the field. In the 1940 air photo, only a few large trees are <br /> visible in a matrix of either low trees or shrubs . Over the past <br /> forty years the western section of the forest has changed from a <br /> 10 <br />