BiodiversitIntroduction y he wild communities of the New Jersey Pine one may encounter well over a dozen different TBarrens have often been described as a broad categories of natural communities, over 800 mosaic. As the observant explorer moves across the different vascular plant species, about thirty-four land and over the water bodies, he or she will surely mammals, 144 birds, thirty reptiles, twenty-four notice that the appearance of the landscape is amphibians, thirty-six fishes and about 10,000 constantly changing. This is most apparent on insects. Add to this the abundant and diverse cross-country treks. At times, you are surrounded species of mosses, liverworts, lichens, fungi, and by thick, old gnarled Pitch Pines with bristly-look- algae, and the inestimable number of arthropods ing trunk sprouts, with huckleberry bushes provid- other than insects, and one can only conclude that ing most of the under- the Pine Barrens really story. In other areas, the isn’t barren at all. pines are scattered here Acidic soil and water and there, upstaged by are hard on most plants stately oaks, and per- and animals. The rea- haps Bracken Fern sons this is so are not dominates the forest yet clear to scientists. floor. As the land slopes Nor is it clear how cer- to damp and wet areas, tain plants and animals you’ll see an abrupt, have adapted to these dramatic change of conditions. Why can scenery, as oaks and Pine Barrens Treefrogs pines disappear to be prosper in an acidic replaced by tall, hand- Highbush Blueberry environment, while Bull some Atlantic White Frog eggs seem to wither Cedars. Suddenly, Highbush Blueberry bushes sur- and die in these conditions? Why are the heath rounded you, and sedges and rushes are springing family of shrubs so happy in acid soils, while most from the lush, green sphagnum moss. others simply cannot live or cannot compete suc- The same is true when you visit the water bodies cessfully in Pine Barrens conditions? of the Pine Barrens. A canoe trip on the Oswego The Pine Barrens’ droughty, acidic and nutrient- River takes you winding along a narrow corridor poor soil and water also create a natural barrier with tall cedars on each side. On a similar trip in against invasive species that cannot tolerate this the upper reaches of the Mullica River, you’ll paddle environment. As a result, the Pine Barrens is one of past numerous beaver lodges in a wide vegetated the few places in North America that has not suf- pond. Batsto Lake provides a stunning display of fered significant ecological disruption from non- Spatterdock and White Water-lilies, while the native, invasive species. At least, that’s true where numerous intermittent ponds scattered throughout the ecosystem has not suffered chemical changes to the Pinelands host globally rare wildflowers and soil and water from fertilizer runoff, liming of soils provide breeding sites for Pine Barrens Treefrogs. and other contaminants from suburban lawns and We call it the “Pine Barrens.” Most experts have farm fields. attributed the name to early settlers who couldn’t The unique geological history of the Pine grow the crops they wanted. Others have pointed Barrens has left here a unique plant community - or out that the Pine Barrens isn’t rich in species diver- rather collection of communities - where northern sity - that is, the total number of distinct species - and southern species survive together as they do compared to some of our other forests. This is nowhere else in the world. The distinctive commu- undoubtedly true, yet within the Pinelands region, nities of plants and animals inhabiting intact Pine B-2 | The Pine Barrens: Up Close & Natural | Inquiry Based Curriculum Barrens habitats tell us about the special geology grow deep root systems, allowing them to reach and history of this ecosystem. They also provide a down to the water table in many upland areas. test or a standard for judging how well the Pine Pitch Pine are a key food source for deer, which Barrens ecosystem is faring amidst human alteration browse sprouts and seedlings; rabbits, mice and of the landscape. For more than 10 years, scientists birds, which eat pine seeds; and many insects, which have been studying whether suburban, urban and feed on various parts of the tree and needles. agricultural development are altering the Pine Each Pitch Pine tree has both male “flowers” Barrens ecosystem. As we will discuss in the and female “flowers,” although these organs are section on Human Impacts and Conservation, really cone-like structures, not true flowers in the scientists have found that the chemical features of scientific use of the term. This species relies on stream water (such as pH and dissolved nutrients), wind to blow the pollen from male “flowers” onto the plants in and along the streams, and the fishes the ovulate cones of female “flowers” on the same or and frogs inhabiting the streams and wetlands are different trees in the area. The ovule produces the very accurate indicators of human impacts on the seeds and the pine cone, which protects the seeds ecosystem. while they develop. On any given tree, some of these cones may open Plants of the Pine Barrens and release their seed upon maturity, but others are Broom Crowberry is a quintessential northern “serotinous” and will only open after being heated plant found as a disjunct population in the New by a hot fire. The dwarf pines of the Pine Plains Jersey Pine Barrens. Thought to have arrived here are almost entirely serotinous. Why would Pitch in front of the glaciers of the last ice age, Broom Pine evolve to have serotinous cones? What is the Crowberry is quite common in the New Jersey Pine evolutionary advantage? The answer appears to be Plains, but is entirely absent, with few exceptions, that Pitch Pine seeds can out-compete oak seeds outside the Pine Barrens until one reaches its “nor- only when wildfire has cleared the ground of dense mal” habitats in Labrador. The exceptions are sev- beds of fallen leaves and needles. When there is a eral other, smaller disjunct populations in the thick cover of needles and leaves, Pitch Pine seeds Shawangunk Mountains of New York and along the do not germinate as readily as the acorns of oak coasts of Massachusetts and Maine. Broom trees. Where oak seedlings germinate more readily, Crowberry’s northern origins are displayed in the the saplings and trees into which they grow block very early blooming period – around the middle of sunlight and take up moisture and minerals, making March – of the Pine Barrens population, and in its it even more difficult for pine seedlings to grow. In tough, woody stems and needle-like leaves. In its contrast, where ground conditions favor pine seed unusual origins, unassuming appearance and adapta- germinate, pines beat oaks to the punch by grabbing tions to difficult conditions, Broom Crowberry the sunlight, moisture and minerals. exemplifies the fascination which the plants of the Pitch Pines have another extraordinary adapta- Pine Barrens hold in store for us. tion: they can easily grow new branches from their The Pine Barrens is home to many species that trunks and even from their roots. This unusual feat are considered threatened or endangered because of is possible because Pitch Pines develop dormant their rarity in the State, the nation or the world. buds beneath the trees’ thick bark. The thick bark First, some numbers. The Pine Barrens is home to protects the cambium layer and dormant buds from 8 species of gymnosperms (plants like the pine trees all but the hottest fires. The dormant buds begin to that do not produce true flowers), 800 species of grow when stimulated by fire damage (or other sim- flowering plants (angiosperms), 25 species of ferns, ilar harms.) Some of these buds lie at the base of 274 mosses, and at least 100 (but probably 300-400) the tree, where Pitch Pines typically produce a species of fungi. Of these 180 species are currently “basal crook” or bend that keeps the base of the deemed threatened or endangered. trunk beneath the soil. Again, this is an adaptation King among the gymnosperms of the Pine that takes advantage of the fire-prone conditions in Barrens is the Pitch Pine, the single most character- the Pine Barrens. After a wildfire, you will often istic plant species of this ecosystem. The Pitch Pine see Pitch Pine trees that are completely blackened has evolved to prosper in the Pine Barrens’ by the fire and appear to be dead, except for the droughty, acidic and highly fire-prone conditions. bright green shoot coming out of the trunk of the Pitch Pine occupies about 283,300 hectares tree. The shaggy look of so many pines in our (700,000 acres) in New Jersey. Pitch Pines have region results from repeated cycles of fire and new thick, resinous bark, which helps to protect them growth from the trunk. from being killed by fire and insects. They also Within a season after a fire in the Pine Plains, Biodiversity: Introduction | B-3 one may see broad stretches of trees burned to mimicking the effects of wildfire on Pitch Pines. black above ground, but growing new shoots from The understory of Pine Barrens forests and their roots – a process that frequently creates trees stream-side vegetation are dominated by members with multiple trunks. This ability to sprout from its of the Heath family of plants. Heaths of the Pine trunk and roots is unique to just a few species of Barrens include Sheep and Mountain Laurels, pines.