Bushes on the Urbana University Campus!

Our class had the privilege to participate in a bush tour led by Jim during our lecture time. Jim was an outside lecturer who was very eager to give us a new perspective on bushes and plant life on the Urbana University campus. I was so surprised to know that our campus is filled with so many different types of bushes. I was intrigued to be introduced to many different types of bushes on the campus. Urbana University is a biodiverse campus in the deciduous forest ecosystem. This ecosystem is rich in plant life. The soil is rich and nutrient which allows many different types of plants to grow, develop and change. This will create a rich life history for each of the plants in this environment.

Jim first began the lecture with introducing us to vocabulary terms that will be used throughout the rest of the course. (urban, forest, hardwoods, canopy, and understory) He then asked us a question about how woody plants are important. Most people in the class answered the they filter the air and produce oxygen from CO2. They are otherwise known as ecological bankers which transform sunlight and CO2 into complex organic compounds.

Jim also shared something that I found to be very important. He expressed that there are 120 species of native Ohio trees. But, we have introduced more than 500 additional tree species to our environment that were not here 250 years ago.

He also shared that we have cleared 23 million acres from settlement in 1940 for agriculture. By the mid 1990s we were at 8 million acres of forests with no additional growth, because of habitat shift, and deforestation. I found this very interesting because as the world becomes more populated, we will continue to lose habitat and areas for forest.

Jim introduced us to many different plants that have been introduced to America. The first plant is the tree of heaven, which isn’t originally from around here. It produces about 30 million seeds a year. Another plant that we were introduced to was the Callery pear. This pear tree is a white flowering tree, and it was originally brought to the environment because it is described as “beautiful”. Birds eat the fruit on the tree and defecate out the seeds which spreads them throughout the Americas. Other plants that we were introduced to that were not part of the original biodiversity include the White Mulberry, Bush Honeysuckles, Olives, Buckthorns, Roses, the Japanese Barberry, the Winged Euonymus, and the Common Privet. There were reasons at the time for bringing these plants to this new area, but studies show that they are impacting our environment and need to be removed.

After the lecture, Jim took us outside for a tour looking at different bushes that were located on campus. We were introduced to some that we looked at in the lecture in class as well as some other plants that were not in the powerpoint in the lecture.

            This campus tour was very informative and allowed myself as well as the other students to learn about the bushes that we walk by each and everyday on the Urbana University Campus and I thank Professor Cai for allowing Jim to come in and present over this topic. I also would like to thank Jim for providing knowledge to myself and the other students in the Botany class.