Aspen Tree
The aspen tree is also known as Populus tremuloides. The aspen tree prefers cooler areas of North America, but has also been known to live in temperatures between -57° C and 41° C. The aspen tree grows best in a narrow elevation belt, between 2100m to 3350m.
A full grown aspen tree is in between sixty and a hundred feet tall and half a foot to a foot wide. The aspen tree will usual bloom in early spring, but will not get leaves until later in the year. It will keep its green leaves for the whole summer. Then, at about the first frost of the year, the leaves will start to change colors and fall off the tree. All through the winter there will be no leaves on the trees and by the next summer the
cycle will start over. The leaves that fall off the tree are then eaten by decomposers such as mushrooms. The remains are then put back into the ground and fertilize the aspen tree. This is a symbiotic relationship, as the aspen trees help the mushrooms and in turn the mushrooms help the aspens trees. This is called mutualism, when two organisms help each other.
The direct translation of the words Populus tremuloides, is Quaking Aspen. This is because the deciduous tree has flattened petioles on its leaves that cause the leaves to tremble and quake. Petioles are when a leaf connects to the tendril before the apex. Another very unique characteristic of the aspen tree is that one grove of trees are actually all connected by one intricate root systems. The trees themselves may not be over one hundred years old, but the system as a whole can be thousands of years old. Unfortunately, this does not apply to the aspen tree in my study area because there is only one tree in my area.
