| Edge Effect |
| Location: Forest edge, across from Ovalwood Hall entrance |
| Stand in the lawn, away from this
sign and look at the forest. Can you see a long way into the
forest or is your view blocked? For comparison, walk into the
forest and see how far you can then look through the forest. Yes! When you are outside the forest you cannot see as far into it. This is because your view is blocked by the shrubs, small trees, and other softer stemmed plants that grow along the edge of the forest. The edge of the forest has a different group of plants than the forest itself. This is what forest ecologists call edge effect. Can you think of ways the environment at the edge of the forest is different from the environment deeper into the forest? What factor would differ most between the two locations? Water? Minerals? Carbon dioxide? Light? Something else? Yes, the most important factor in creating edge effect is the intensity of light. Plants in the center of the forest are in deep shade. Nevertheless, some of them are able to grow at a normal rate and even get enough energy to produce flowers, fruits, and seeds. These are “shade plants.” Plants growing at the forest edge get more light, at least during certain parts of the day. The plants that grow on the edge are those that like some shade but also need some good sunlight during part of the day. We call these “partial sun plants” or “partial shade plants.” They do not thrive deep in the forest nor would they grow normally if you planted them in the middle of your lawn, in full sunlight. If the edge is disturbed, light-loving plants (“sun plants”) will begin growing there. Some of them might be very pesky weeds like dandelion or multiflora rose! So if you build your house in a beautiful woods, keep it natural by allowing the edge effect to do its job in protecting the forest from light-loving invaders. Look at the woods in front of Bromfield. Its edge was destroyed almost 10 years ago. Can you see how it differs from this woods? Is it more attractive or less attractive? Once you have damaged the environment in this way you will have to expend lots of effort to keep the weeds cleaned out of it. This is expensive and time consuming. It might be better to let edge effect control the situation. --David Kramer
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