Woodland Ecosystem-The Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve Field

Study

Yip Ching YiChan Hao Yan

Geography

Foreword

The Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve has a good environment with fresh air, rich diversity of plant species, trees with special characteristics of roots and leaves, etc. This powerpoint would show you more details of them! Enjoy in the nature!

• It is a forest reserve located on the road between Tai Po and the Chinese University of Hong Kong

• It is Hong Kong's largest secondary forest

• It holds good stands of mature plantation and native trees.

Introduction of The Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve

• Date: 16th January, 2010• Weather:

- temperature: 18 C- light intensity: intense- relative humidity: 55%- wind speed: low

Details Of Our Field Study

Start now!

There are many plants in The Tai Po Kau Nature

Reserve, most of them are useful. Now, let’s

introduce these plants to you!

This is a herb which can be used to make herbal

tea.Its flowers are white, but now we cannot see the

flowers because it is not the season they grow!

They are Archidendron clypearia which belong to Mimosaceae .

They are Lemmaphyllum microphyllum. They intercrescence on trunks or rocks.

They are Rubus reflexus.There are fluff on the surface of leaves, and stings at the bottom of leaves.

-This is Liquidambar formosana which originated in Hong Kong.-Height: the maximum is 40m- Uses:1. trunk :make dried

mushrooms2. Resin :medicine3. Woods :building. 4. Leaves :feed saturniid

-In summer: the leaves are yellow-In winter: the leaves are red-The leaves smell sweet if we shutter them!

Tree species

This is Ficus microcarpa, which is evergreen.

Layered Structure

Five layered structures in the forest: 1.Emergent layer2.Canopy layer3.Understory4.Shrub layer5.Forest floor

Lower layer Middle layer Emergent layer

Light intensityWith the higher layer, more light intensity received.

Relationship between layered structure and light intensity

Little sunlight reaches the ground layer.

Relationship between layered structure and light intensity

Buttress roots are always growing sideways from trees. These give increased stability and also bring surface nutrients to their trees.Buttress roots help trees to remain standing, and overcome the challenges of high winds or soft unstable ground. In forest like Tai Po Kau’s, buttress roots are relatively small but in tropical forests they can reach 10 metres or more.

This tree belongs to

emergent layer.

Epiphytes

Epiphytes live attached to trees, they do not live from trees in the regard, parasites are fundamentally different, they actually tap into the body of trees or other plants, seeking nutrients by taking them from the host tree or plant.

Climbers

They are named Climbing Entada which are climbers. They are woody plants that start at ground level. They climb along the trees to reach the canopy where they will spread from tree to tree to get as much sunlight as possible.

There are many animals in The Tai

Po Kau Nature Reserve too!

They are termite, the greatest decomposers. Do you know what they were doing? They were destroying the wood!

The huge hole is the destruction made by termite!

Simplified Nutrients cycle

Biomass

Litter

Soil

Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner, usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium.

Other learnings

Those white areas are Lichans.

The concentric circles show how old the tree was when it died. This is because each tree ring shows one fast growing season, which in Hong Kong is the hot, wet summer. Every year the tree adds another outer woody layer.

Annual growth rings

ReflectionDuring the trip, we found that there are so many plant species in the forest, they are special and useful, which we have never seen them before, we learned a lot! On the other hand, we were excited that we could understand more about what we had learnt from the books in the trip, such as layered structure of trees. The resources in the forest are treasures, we have to protect them, and not to destroy them!

The End.Thank you so much for

watching!