The ECOSYSTEM of Witmer Woods

Welcome to Witmer Woods.

 

The 17.92 acre site was acquired by Goshen College in several parcels. The river bank was purchased with funds raised by faculty and students in the early 1940s to preserve a small part of the shoreline from development for private housing. The larger area East of the present College Cabin was donated for use as a park. Subsequently the whole area has been developed for outdoor recreation, nature education, and esthetics. The entire site was used by Dr. Witmer and his students to create an arboretum of plants native to Indiana. This arboretum constitutes a unique resource to naturalists and is invaluable for botanical teaching.


Witmer Woods contains diverse organisms. The woods is known for its tree species, but it also contains a variety of shrubs and small flowering plants, not to mention the diverse fauna. Illustrated to the right is a mix of low growing plants naturally multched by fallen pine needles. Plants make up the bottom level of the food chain in this forest ecosystem. All the energy that is available for animals to use comes either directly or indirectly from plants. Insects eat many of the plant leaves and insects also pollinate many of the plants in Witmer Woods. The animals eat the plants and then other animals eat them. When plants or animals die, the nutrients and energy that is stored in their bodies is broken down by decomposers and put back into the soil for plants to use. In this way, all the organisms in the woods interact on various levels.

 

 

 

The fungi in this photograph is decomposing the plant material around it. The visable part is the spore-bearing structure, however, the majority of the body of this fungus is underground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forest Strata.

All forests contain different layers of plant life ranging from the tops of the tallest trees which form the canopy to the low growing ground plants. In the particular plot that a section of the conservation class analyzed in May, 1997, the canopy consisted mainly of red and white pine. The understory trees were redbuds and an ashleaf maple plus some white ash seedlings. The redbuds are common understory trees because they can only grow up to about 50 feet. Grape vines where in the canopy because of their ability to climb the tree trunks. The adaptation of vines in this way makes the sunlight that they need acessible. The shrub layer makes up the next strata and these plants tend to be adapted for the low light conditions of the forest floor. The last layer mainly consits of grasses, herbaceous flowering plants, fungi, tree saplings, and leaf liter.

Witmer woods is a relatively young forest. Although it has been dedicated to woodland use for over firty years, it is still in the beginning stages of ecological sucession as evidenced by the species of trees growing there. As sucession continues to progess, and Witmer Woods continues to move towards being a climax forest, more hard wood trees such as walnuts and oaks will begin to make their home there. Another change that will occur in the coming years is that the amount of underbrush will begin to decrease as the more mature canopy blocks out the light to the understory. It is important to note that these types of changes will be long in coming. While Witmer Woods has come a long way from being the farm land that it once was, it has many, many years to go before it will be a true climax forest.

 


Human intervention: Though the goal of Witmer Woods is to be an example of a native ecosystem, pathways are mowed throughout the plot to allow students and other nature-lovers easy axcess to its interior. Obviously lawn mowers damage ground plants (see picture at right), but grasses grow back easily if they are not clipped too short.


 

 


Animals

Animals are a fascinating part of the ecosystem in woods. The patient observer may be able to see rabbits, both gray and black squirrels, deer, and any number of birds, including Indiana's state bird, the Cardinal. Smaller bugs and insects are abundant; one only needs a careful eye to see the biodiversity that existswithin this relativley small area.

 


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