Forest Stucture schmied©2012 Go to SCIENTIFIC METHOD Center Plant, etc. List all rights reserved 1. The Canopy Layer: Mature Trees
Conifers
Douglas Fir
Western Hemlock
Western Red Cedar
Grand Fir
Sitka Spruce
Noble Fir
Ponderosa Pine
Western White Pine
Shore (Lodgepole) Pine
Pacific Yew
Deciduous Trees
Red Alder
Big Leaf Maple
Bitter Cherry
Horse Chestnut
Black Hawthorn
Garry Oak
Black Cottonwood
Birds
Chestnut backed Chickadee
Sharp Shinned Hawk
Red Breasted Sapsucker
Red Breasted Nuthatch
Northern Flicker
Downy Woodpecker
Great Horned Owl
Barred Owl
Steller's Jay
Pileated Woodpecker
American Crow
Black capped Chickadee
2. The Understory Layer
Tree Saplings: see all
trees listed above
Understory trees
Cascara
Pacific Crabapple
Pacific Dogwood
Sitka Mountain Ash
Pacific Yew
Vine Maple
Madrone
White Birch
Tall Shrubs
Mock Orange
Beaked Hazelnut
Red Elderberry
Pacific Rhododendron
Blue Elderberry
Indian Plum
Serviceberry
Ocean Spray
Birds
Bewick's Wren
Spotted Towhee
Dark Eyed Junco
American Robin
White Crowned Sparrow
Bushtit
Red Winged Blackbird
Anna's Hummingbird
3. Shrub Layer: About 3' and 7' from the ground.
Young Tree Saplings: See all trees listed above
Mature Shrubs & Bushes
Evergreen Huckleberry
Salal
Red Huckleberry
Oregon Grape
Nootka Rose
Red Flowering Current
Oceanspray
Pacific Ninebark
Salmonberry
Snowberry
Douglas Spiraea (Hardhack)
Red Osier Dogwood
Gooseberry
Black cap Raspberry
Thimbleberry
Bald Hip Rose
High Bush Cranberry
Black Twinberry
Trailing Blackberry
4. Herb/Fern Layer: Tree, Shrub, and Bush Seedlings
Herbs
Trillium
Camas
Wild (Trailing) Blackberry
Stinging Nettle
Foxglove
Bleeding Heart
Fireweed
Fringe Cup
Vanilla Leaf
Columbiana Lily
Star Flower
Ferns
Sword fern
Bracken fern
Deer Fern
Lady Fern
Maiden hair Fern
Grasses & Weeds
Sedges
Rushes
Bull Rushes
Bull Thistle
5. Litter Layer - Primary Vegetation: Decaying plant and animal matter
Mosses
Fungi (many) esp Bracket fungi
Lichens
Bacteria
Arthropods
Springtails
Insects (carabid beetles, dragonfly, yellow jacket, caddis fly, mites, ants, cabbage white butterfly...)
Bananna Slugs
Salamanders
(Long toed, Northwestern, Ensatina)
Centipedes
Slime molds
Isopods (Pill bugs)
Frogs (Pacific Tree & Red Legged)
Rough Skinned Newt
Garter Snake
6. The Soil: Layers (Mainly Topsoil / Humus: A horizon, B layer, C layer
Examples
Earthworms
Nematods
Bacteria
Fungi
Voles
Moles
Shrews
Mountain Beaver
Protozoans
Forest Ecology Index Project Page Home © 2012 John Schmied & Mike Reid all rights reserved
