PINE BARRENS

The Pine Barrens of Long Island

The Pine Barrens of Long Island

Pine Barrens

Pine Barrens Covering one-fifth of the area of New Jersey, the Pine Barrens are a vast wilderness of pitch pine/oak forests growing on sandy soil, interrupted by white cedar swamps and slow- moving rivers of tea-colored water. Never glaciated, the deep Cohansey sands that define this area were deposited in the sea between 5 and 136 million years ago. Later deposits include the more gravelly Beacon Hill formation in the central part of the region (Lehr, 2002).

During the Pleistocene Epoch, rivers and wind reworked the sands to create the current undulating topography. During the Wisconsinan glaciation, lowered sea level exposed the Atlantic shoreline for tens of miles east of its present position. This provided a migration corridor for many species from the south as the climate warmed 18,000 to 10,000 years ago. As the climate warmed yet further and sea level rose, many species were isolated here, contributing to the unique flora of the area. Several very large aquifers underlie the Pine Barrens, the uppermost of which is in the Cohansey sands (Carpenter, 2005).

These factors—very sandy soil, minimum relief, glacial migration history, high water table, and frequent fires—have led to unique ecosystems and flora and fauna. Pine (most commonly pitch or short leaf pine) and oak trees dominate the upland forests, while white cedar, swamp hardwood (red maple, black gum and sweetbay magnolia) and lowland pitch pine forests dominate most of the wetlands. Insectivorous plants such as sundews and pitcher plants are common. Along some rivers there are open pine savannas which support large numbers of rare species. Globally rare ecosystems include the dwarf pine plains, with pitch pines and scrub oaks that only grow to shoulder height (Lehr, 2002).

Abiotic and Biotic Factors Are Unique To The Pine Barrens

The study of abiotic and biotic factors has a considerable legacy in ecology and geography. The concept refers generally to the sum total of all genes, species, and ecosystems in a particular region. How many bird species occur in a particular area, for example, and how does this feature change in response to latitude (Gaston, p.466). Abiotic and bioticas a field of interest thus has come to encompass not only understanding species numbers and patterns but also ecological interactions, conservation status, and relevant management strategies (Carpenter, 2005).

Although the number of plant and animal species is fairly well-known in the mid and higher latitudes, the number of distinct rank of organisms in the tropics, especially of insects and microorganisms, will never be fully enumerated. Estimates place the total number of biota (plant and animal life) at between 4 million and 20 million species, although only 1.7 million species have been documented to date. Compare this group to plants, which make up 14%, and birds and mammals, which together make up only 2.7%, of the world's species. There are various means of measuring and conceptualizing abiotic and biotic, and each possesses its own merit depending on the objective ...