What is biodiversity?

Quercus rubra by Bruce Kirchoff.

Northern red oak, Quercus rubra

Oaks like the northern red oak support more wildlife than any other trees in the Northeastern forest. An oak can produce over 3 million acorns in its lifetime, which more than 100 different animals depend on. Over 500 different caterpillar species eat oak leaves, and those caterpillars in turn become food for hundreds of animals, from birds to bears and everything in-between. And each year the leaf litter, if left unraked, protects the soil and replenishes nutrients

Trillium Flower by David Joyce

White trillium, Trillium grandiflorum

Spring ephemerals like white trillium bloom in early spring before the deciduous trees towering above them have fully leafed out. By doing so, they can take advantage of this rare period of direct sunlight. After just a few weeks, the plant will die back to the ground completely, waiting safely underground until the next spring. Many spring ephemerals have specially coated seeds that attract ants. After eating the coating, the ants discard the rest of the seed and inadvertently disperse the plant farther than it could go by itself.

Pileated Woodpecker by Sunny.

Pileated woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus

The pileated woodpecker is Maine’s largest woodpecker. Listen for its whinnying calls or the echoing drumming on tree trunks as it hunts for food. They primarily eat carpenter ants and other wood-boring insects, leaving distinctive rectangular holes behind.

Red Fox, f. by Kelly Colgan Azar.

Red fox, Vulpes vulpes

The red fox is the most widely distributed carnivore in the world and lives most commonly in habitats that are a mixture of field and forest. They are solitary hunters and survive primarily on a diet of mice and voles, which they hunt using their characteristic high pouncing technique.

Spotted salamander (ambystoma maculatum) by smashtonlee05.

Spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculatum

The spotted salamander is an amphibian native to Maine, living in forests near freshwater wetlands. Each spring, in order to reproduce, mature male and female salamanders migrate from the forest, returning to the seasonal vernal pools from which they hatched. There is a unique symbiotic relationship between the salamander eggs and a particular green algae (Oophila amblystomatis). The algae take waste and CO2 from the developing egg and produce oxygen that helps salamander larvae grow.

Ghost Plant by Joshua Hurd.

Ghost pipe, Monotropa uniflora

The ghost pipe is a parasitic plant that doesn’t make its own energy through photosynthesis like most other plants do. Instead, it uses mycorrhizal fungi to tap into surrounding trees’ roots, stealing some of their nutrients. Because it doesn’t photosynthesize, it doesn’t need to produce chlorophyll, hence the plant’s ghostly white color.

Io moth caterpillar (Automeris io) by Malcolm Manners.

Io caterpillar, Automeris io

Io caterpillars were once very common in southern Maine and New England forests, feeding on the leaves of many different kinds of trees and shrubs like maples, birches, alders, and willows. However, their populations have declined significantly in New England, perhaps because of the release of a parasitic fly that was meant to control the populations of the invasive gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar.

Birch Polypore – Fomitopsis betulina by Björn S…

Birch polypore, Fomitopsis betulina

The birch polypore is a bracket fungus that grows almost exclusively on dead or dying birch trees. The brackets, or fruiting bodies, emerge annually from the dying trees although the dried “shelves” may persist on trees for many years. The brackets are technically edible, although they can be tough and have a bitter, earthy flavor.