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Post 9. Field Research Reflections.
This project opened my eyes to a feature of the forest that I see all the time but didn’t know its importance. I always liked looking at the advanced nurse logs bearing huge trees on top of the dead wood. There are many examples in parks on Vancouver Island. I thought they were a mere curiosity; but they are an important part of the rainforest ecosystem. My study determined that dead wood hosts a wider variety of plants than the ground around them. They also have more individual plants packed on top of them than on the ground. Plants that grow on the nurse logs tend to be taller than equivalent plants growing nearby on the ground. These trees that died are literally supplying their own replacement.
Some areas for future study could include why some logs and stumps did not host any growth at all or if nurse logs are as important, or even exist, in other types of forests.
