aesa

Ayer Environmental Study Area (AESA) Student Page
(Quarterly observations on the first week of September, December, March, and June.) media type="youtube" key="rzE6BNNLew0" height="250" width="445" __**History**__ The AESA was established in September of 1996 to answer two questions: **"What happens when you stop cutting the grass?"** and **"What happens when you remove all of the plants from an area?"** Fifth graders in 1996 dug up 50 square meters of lawn (the right side) and left 50 meters of lawn (the left side) undisturbed. Since this time nothing has been planted in the site and the area has not been cut. This 100 square meter site (10x10) is located near the entrance to Ayer, and is marked by four wooded corner-fence posts. Each September from 1996 to 2011, fifth graders visited the site to conduct a tree-count survey as the number grew from ZERO to 210 trees. Fifth graders visit this site in each season in order to study seasonal change, biodiversity and succession of ecosystems. Other Photos:, : , July 2005 (front) , Sept. 2002 (front) , Sept. 2002 (side).

__**Concepts**__
 * biodiversity—the amount and variety of different living organisms in an area. In general, the greater the biodiversity, the greater the health of an ecosystem
 * seasonal habitat change—the changes that take place in an ecosystem as a result of seasonal changes throughout the year such as with plant and animal life cycles
 * succession—the process of long-term change whereby an ecosystem progresses through successive phases of change toward a climax community/ecosystem. In Ohio, a typical succession would be as follows: pond >> marsh >> field >> young forest >> old growth forest (the climax community/ecosystem)