This week I had to look at the plant species in my park and find a native species. I chose the garlic mustard because this plant is everywhere in the woods. This plant is a small white flower with many big green leaves compared to the flower. You may see this in the woods or in fields quite a bit when you take a walk outside. In some areas this plant is a big problem. It grows at a stupendous rate producing thousands of seeds in the early spring. This is a problem plant because insects and animals do not eat it do there is nothing to keep it in check. The problem with this is that it shades out the forest floor leaving the area with a degraded ecosystem. This is a problem because it doesn't let anything grow underneath it so not many new things growing can compete with it.
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Eastern Cottonwood Chalk Maple
My park does not have a system to take care of these pesky garlic mustard plants. A good way is to pull them by hand if they get out of control. They come out easy. The best way is to bag them and not let anymore seeds spread.
As you can see from the different pictures of trees there is diverse plant life in my park. This is a good thing because sometimes only one type of plant will feed one animal and if you only have that plant nothing else can live there, but that consumer and its predator. With diversity in plants you can also have diversity in animals in your park. Without a big amount of plants your ecosystem will suffer and eventually cese to exist. With all one plant it would be good for pollination, but it would just be bad for what has to live around this plant. Plant diversity would impact the food pyramid of the ecosystem eventually if you let it get out of hand. If you have too much of one plant it might mess up the pyramid. This might cut off the growth of one species or increase it too much to a epic amount not letting other things grow with it.
American Hornbeam Red Pine
White Oak
Southern Catalpa
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