In This Community

Important natural processes in the Basic Mesic Hardwood Forest include

• soil formation
• canopy gap regeneration
• microclimate
• processes that create soils that are not too wet, not too dry

In the Broader Landscape

Some natural processes act on large scales and affect more than one natural community at a time. For example, in Rock Creek Park three natural communities are found in similar positions in the landscape. The Basic Mesic Hardwood Forest, the Mesic Mixed Hardwood Forest and the Coastal Plain Oak Forest all occur on rolling uplands and lower slopes of ravines, where they are protected from extreme weather conditions—such as the greater exposure to sun and wind at higher elevations, and flooding at lower elevations.

In fact, these three natural communities can be grouped into a larger unit that ecologists refer to as the Mesic Hardwood Forest Ecological System. An ecological system is a group of several natural communities that share many of the same natural processes and aspects of physical setting. By extension, they may also share many of the same plant and animal species.