We dealt with three different forest types: mixed trees, pine, and thick shrub. In each section, we measured the diameter at breast height (DBH) of each tree in a circle with a 10 meter radius. The largest, dominant trees of the mixed forest were white pine, with deciduous trees mixed in under them. Although the second area was mostly pine, the dominant trees were deciduous. The third section, located closer to the edge of Centennial Woods and with power lines running over it, was mostly small buckthorn trees. The largest trees in this area were box elders, and looked as though they had grown for most of their lives in the open.
    We also ran a 30 meter transect of the undergrowth in the first two types of forest to get an idea of the types of invasive species growing there. Honeysuckle and buckthorn, both invasive, made up almost the whole shrub layer. These plants were most likely introduced to the area by human activity, and are crowding out native shrubs and tree seedlings.

Bennett and Luke coring a tree	Cyndie inventorying trees

The trees in Site B, designated as mixed forest, were almost half red maple. Based solely on the graph of the species, this would indicate that red maple was the dominant species. However, most of these trees were less than six inches in diameter. The white pines, although sparse, were much larger. The deciduous trees were all smaller, and many were overtopped from trying to reach the light. Due to the abundance of honeysuckle shrubs, there were very few tree seedlings. The rapid spread of this invasive plant crowds out the small trees even more effectively than the native dominance of the pines.