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Tree Roots.

Every fallen tree trunk contains its own population of 'litter fauna' - ants, woodlice, centipedes and smaller invertebrates (animals without spines). They all help in breaking down the dead wood and extracting new life from it. In winter, slugs and worms burrow deep into the earth under the leaf litter. The hedgehog and badger who feed on them must hibernate. If disturbed, their energy reserves may be used up so causing shock, possibly leading to death. This wood in winter is a silent place as many animals are asleep and the trees are bare. Woodlands give food and shelter to many species from the leaf-eaters to the fungi growing on tree trunks. The multitude of plant eating insects provide food for meat-eaters, carnivores. In some way all animals depend on plants. Plants and animals interacting as a community is called an ecosystem, if imbalance occurs, it has implications for that community.

Everything in woodland life is inter-connected. It is good not to tidy away as even when a tree falls, it still provides a micro-habitat for a variety of living things which play its part in breaking down the dead wood and extracting new life from it which enriches the soil.

The root system seen here can be compared to our vascular system. It transports water and minerals from the soil which forms xylem, which, together with the descending stream of sugary sap which is phloem form conducting tubes. A new ring of tubes formed each year is called the annual ring - by counting these we know the age of the tree.

[The Rabbit] [The Badger] [Ivy] [Honeysuckle] [Moss] [Common Oak] [Pedunculate Oak] [Lichens] [Common Lime]
[The Hedgehog] [The Bramble] [The Chiffchaff] [The Frog Hopper] [Hawthorn] [Tree Roots]
[The Wood Mouse] [The Pigmy Shrew] [The Sycamore] [The Guelder Rose] [The Ash] [Gorse] [Hazel] [Tootworth]
[Goat Willow] [The Rowan] [Common White Beam] [Spindle] [Dog Rose] [The Blackthorn] [Birds] [Grasshoppers & Crickets] [Dragonfly & Damesify] [Feral Goat] [Silver Birch] [Pine Martin] [Fungi] [Lough Carra] [Brown Trout] [The Mute Swan]
[The Otter] [Limestone] [Holly] [The Fox] [The Mighty Oak] [Common Polypody] [Treecreeper] [The Irish Stoat]
[The Hornbeam] [Bats]