Quaking Aspen

Quaking Aspen

Populus tremuloids also known as the Quaking Aspen is mentioned many times in my observations. The quaking aspen is the widest spread tree in America. They cultivate from Alaska to New England and down through the rockies. During the fall the yellow and green colors this tree makes are astonishing. The quaking aspen benefits many birds and animals, from elk and beavers to pika and grouse. The quaking aspen gets its name from its leaves. The leaves quake in gentle breezes from their flattened leafstocks. They flex as they move in one direction and so that means they twist easily. The name tremula comes from the Eurasian aspen, so its cousin is the American aspen also called tremloids.

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What is interesting about this tree, is that it’s bark offers no protection against fire. When a fire of any size that can effect the aspen in any way, the trunks die. However, the roots are protected by four to five inches of soil, so they can survive through fires. The lodge pole pine reacts the same way as the quaking aspen during fires. Aspens grow much faster than the lodge pole pines, because the roots hold more energy than the seeds of the lodge pole and it’s own seeds. A recent study has shown that fires also stimulates the germinations of the seeds buried in the soil. Most of the aspen trunks came from root suckers, not seeds. Groves of aspens are all the same sex, with one interconnecting root system. Aspen groves can be very large, one grove near us in Utah is 106 acres and in all weighs around 6,600 tons.

Reproduction from aspen seeds are very rare because fires burn the seeds. Now reproduction from root sprouts is becoming rare too, because of animals eating the suckers before the aspens reach tree size. For many years there has been controversy in Yellowstone over the aspen trees, because some people think that the aspen trees are declining in population and humans need to step in and start to help. On the other side, people think there are too many animals eating these trees and that some of them need to be removed from their habitat. Yet another opinion is that biologists argue that elk and other animals are not effecting the aspens. Some say that elk lower most of the aspen groves, but in the long run, aspens will regrow quickly and reestablish the population.