Thursday, March 18, 2010

What is happening in the woods now

Phenology is a word that I really didn't learn until I moved to the lodge in Minnesota. It is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate.

To me this translates into 'what is happening in the woods now'.

I try to listen to WTIP from Grand Marais streaming on PC and they have been giving phenology reports regularly. These are the changes we see every day in the woods but probably a little more interesting when someone else explains them to you and the reasons that they happen.

Tree Wells: Tree wells are when the snow melts at the bottom of the trees. Any woody growth above ground absorbs heat from the sun, uses some of that heat and emits some of that heat. The well of water that forms at the bottom a tree is from the heat of given off by the tree melting the snow at the bottom.

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