The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature (36 page)

sac, 131–33, 134

spores of, 131, 133–34, 224

underground network of, 136

furca, 232

ginseng, 166–67

gnats, 233

goldfinches, 82

golf balls, 156–59

Gordian knot, 6, 7

Gordian worms, 6

Gray, Asa, 144

Hanton, Baron de la, 31

Harriot, Thomas, 31

hawks, sharp-shinned, 208–12

heat loss, 12–15, 19

hemipteran bugs, 224

Hepatica,
46–50, 54, 72, 127

in autumn, 207

fruits of, 87–92

reproduction of, 60, 68, 70, 129

seed dispersal of, 91

herbivory:

insects, 102–8

mammalian, reduction in, 33

hermaphroditism, 70, 127–30

hickory trees, 73–77

and canopy openings, 219

fallen, 100, 216, 218

flowers of, 87

seeds of, 86

hoatzin, 26

holly trees, 33

honey locust trees, 33

hornworts, 36

horsehair worm, 5–6

hurricanes, 218

hydrogen ions, 225

hyphae, 226–27

hypostome, 119

ice ages, 32

insects:

plant eaters, 102–8

and pollination, 57–58, 60–62, 68–72, 88–92

populations of, 106

invasive species, 220

jasmonate, 187

Jefferson, Thomas, 33

Joseph of Arimathea, 118

katydids, 160–63, 194

Kepler, Johannes, 8–11

kinglets, golden-crowned, 21–22

Lao Tzu, 99

leafcup herbs, 24, 207

leafhoppers, 103–6

leaf miners, 103

lenticels, 213–14

Leopold, Aldo, 243, 244

Lewis and Clark, 33

lichens, 1–5, 105

light, quality of, 200–203, 206, 216–17, 239

Linnaeus, Carl, 243, 244

litter, 222–29

liverworts, 36

logging, 63–67, 91–92, 237

London
Times,
107–8

lone star ticks, 117, 119, 120, 121

Lorenz, Konrad, 197

Louisiana waterthrush, 81

luciferin, 139–40

Lyme disease, 121

malaria, 111, 112–13

mandala, creation of, xi–xiv

maple trees, 73–77

caterpillars feeding on, 108

fallen, 100

flowers of, 87

seeds of, 86, 100–101, 188–93

as shade tolerant, 219

mastodons, 32, 33

mayapple, 165–66, 167

meadowsweet, 165

medicine, 165–68

meditation, 245

meniscus, 36

methane, 224

microbes, 25–26, 27, 28, 177, 222–24

millipedes, 233

mitochondria, 135, 136, 140

mosquitoes, 109–13, 116

mosses, 23–24, 35–40

moths, 78–80

English peppered, 203

tussock, 170, 172, 173

mountain lions, 34

mushrooms, reproduction, 133–34

musk oxen, 32

mycorrhizae, 227–28

myrmecochory, 90

natural selection, 91, 92, 98, 129–30, 137, 167

nectar robbers, 70–71

nematodes, 230, 234–35

newts, red-spotted, 148–50

New York Times,
107–8

night vision, 137

nitric oxide, 140

nuthatches, 83

nymphs, 120

onychiurid family, 232

orchids, 61

osange oranges, 33

owls, barred, 240

oxygen-free environments, 26–27

parallel worlds, 242

partnerships, 1–7

in lichens, 1–5

worm and cricket, 5–6

pattern-recognition systems, 204–5

Paulownia tomentosa,
220

peccaries, 32

Philomycid family, 199–200

phloem, 75, 104

phosphates, 227

photons, 84–85, 139

photosynthesis, 26

phytochromes, 217

pinks, 72

plants:

fertilization,
see
pollination

and fungi, 226–29

healing roles of, 48, 107, 165–68, 223

and insects, 60–62, 88–92, 102–8

resurrection of, 22–24

rootlets of, 224–29

seed dispersal, 86–92

and vitamins, 24

winter, 22–24

Plethodon,
42–45

plumage, 202

pollination:

and insects, 57–58, 60–62, 68–72, 90–91, 92

wind dispersal, 86–87, 188–90, 192

potassium, 80

potworms, 234

predators, elimination of, 34

Princess Tree, 220

propagules, 132

protists, 27–28, 224

Pterophylla camellifolia,
160–66

questing behavior, 118–21

rabbits, 26

raccoons, 195–96, 198

radula, 234

Reid’s paradox, 89–90

rhizosphere, 225–26

Richter scale, 94

Rocky Mountain spotted fever, 121

rootlets, 224–29

rue anemone, 54, 60, 72

rumen, 26–29, 105

sabertooth cats, 33

sac fungi, 131–33, 134

salamanders, 41–45, 147–50, 231

detachable tails of, 45

diversity of, 44

lunglessness of, 43–44, 45

poachers of, 164

rootedness of, 44

samaras, 191–93

seeds:

dispersal of, 86–92, 188–93

helicopter, 100–101, 188, 191

samaras, 191–93

seed shadows, 190

seed ticks, 120

seismographs, 94

self-fertilization, 68–69

shaggy scarlet cup, 131–33, 134

sharp-shinned hawks, 208–12

shinrin-yoku,
187

shrews, short-tailed, 56–57

sloths, giant ground, 32, 33

slugs, 199–200, 204, 206

snails, 51–53, 97, 114–16, 127–30, 233–34

snowflakes, 8–11

sodium deficiency, 79–80

sperm, 134

spicebush, 102

spiders, 233

spores:

of ferns, 123–24, 125

of fungi, 131, 133–34, 224

of mushrooms, 133–34

spring beauty flowers, 54, 56, 60, 61, 70

spring ephemerals, 54–56

and bees, 57–60

and evolution, 92

hermaphroditism of, 70, 129

and insects, 60–62

populations of, 89

seeds of, 87–92

springtails, 232–33

squirrels, 186, 194–95, 213, 236–37, 238

sulfuric acid, 115

sunflecks, 141–43, 145–46

syrinx, 84

tachinid flies, 163

tannins, 108

Taoism, 99, 101

tapeworms, 129

tapirs, 32

termites, 26

Thoreau, Henry David, 83

thrushes, 167

wood, 83–84

ticks, 30, 117–21

lone star, 117, 119, 120, 121

seed, 120

titmice, tufted, 18, 21–22, 81

Tongass National Forest, 237

toothwort, 54, 61

tree frogs, 200, 202

Tree of Heaven, 220

trees, 73–77

and canopy openings, 219

competition for light among, 215–16

fallen (“coarse woody debris”), 45, 100, 216–18

flowers of, 87

invasive species of, 220

logging, 63–67, 91–92, 237

phloem of, 75, 104

plantations of, 65–67

treetops, 236–38

and twigs, 213–21

water-lifting system in, 74–75

and wind, 98–101

xylem of, 75–77, 104, 225

trichromats, 204–5

trillium, toadshade, 55–56, 89, 102

tufted titmice, 18, 21–22, 81

tuliptrees, 191, 219

turkeys, 83

turkey vultures, 174–79

turtles, box, 166

tussock moths, 170, 172, 173

twigs, 213–21

underground bestiary, 230–35

underground networks, 136

variation, 193

viburnum, 25, 103–4

vireos, red-eyed, 82–83

vitamins, 24

vultures, 174–79

walnut trees, 219

warblers:

black-and-white, 54, 81

black-throated green, 54, 83

Cape May, 181

Connecticut, 181

hooded, 81, 180–81

Kentucky, 82

magnolia, 181

migrating, 169, 173, 182–83

Nashville, 181

Tennessee, 169, 181

worm-eating, 81

wasps:

ichneumon, 143–44

larvae inside caterpillars, 143–45

and sunfleck, 145–46

watching, 239–42

water:

animals in, 231

eroding power of, 39

tree systems for, 74–75

West Nile virus, 111–12, 116

White, Gilbert, 244

willow bark, 165

wind, 97–101

pollination by, 86–87, 188–90, 192

storms, 218–19

winter plants, 22–24

winter solstice, 239

winter survival, 12–20, 22

wolves, 153–54

declining populations of, 151–52

dire, 33–34

gray, 34

woodpeckers:

downy, 18

hairy, 242

pileated, 82

plumage of, 202

red-bellied, 21, 82

wood thrush, 83–84

worms:

earthworms, 234

horsehair, 5–6

nematodes, 230, 234–35

potworms, 234

wrens:

Carolina, 21–22, 82

winter, 82, 207–8, 212

xylem, 75–77, 104, 225

yam, wild, 166, 167

Zhuangzi, 2